On location in St. Paul: Penguins 4, Wild 1

by • Game previews

IMG_8017

The scene on this sunny Tuesday in quaint, eclectic downtown St. Paul, home of the Wild. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Getting ready for faceoff …

Game: Penguins (7-2-1) vs. Minnesota Wild (7-3), 8:08 p.m., Xcel Energy Center

Goaltenders: Thomas Greiss (0-0-1, 3.75) vs. Darcy Kuemper (6-2, 1.62)

TV, radio: Root Sports, 105.9 the X

Online: Live box score / Multimedia / Official game notes

UPDATE 7:43 p.m.: Olli Maatta had his surgery today to remove the tumor from his thyroid gland. No immediate word on whether it was cancerous, but his prognosis was unchanged.

Tuesday 12 Qs: Stephon, Olli, Russ, Dri, Hack

by • Tuesday 12 Qs • Tags: , , , ,

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

photoST. PAUL, Minn. — Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m. and offers you a chance to dictate the discussion.

The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit it early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live. All topics welcome, as always.

UPDATE 1:13 p.m.: Sorry, a bit late. Fairly eventful morning of travel. But all ready to go now …

Dom: Cam Thomas played more than half the snaps on Sunday. Yet, he seems to have done little to warrant such major playing time. Why do the Steelers feel it is better to go with Thomas as opposed to Stephon Tuitt or Daniel McCullers?

DK: Because they’re stubborn like that, Dom. No other way to put it. No other explanation. Doesn’t take much at all to see Tuitt was a beast out there and made a significant difference, just as it doesn’t take much to see Thomas almost never does.

MORE

Steelers PATs: Ben more than MVP candidate

by • News/views • Tags:

Baltimore Ravens v Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger passes the Steelers out from under their goal post in the first quarter Sunday. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• The NFL’s MVP award might as well stand for Most Valuable Position, as it’s got an excellent chance of going to a quarterback, a so-so chance of going to a running back and virtually no chance of going to anyone else. In the past 20 years the Associated Press has picked its MVP, 14 on the list have been quarterbacks, six running backs.

Wide receivers?

Not one. Ever. And the award began in 1957.

Defensive players?

Only Lawrence Taylor and Alan Page.

So let’s start with this premise when discussing whether or not Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown should be in anyone’s discussion for MVP: Brown has virtually no chance. If Jerry Rice didn’t get an MVP in 1987, when his 22 touchdown catches were double the total of the next-highest receiver, then Brown won’t, either.

MORE

News/views: Pirates offer Martin, Liriano

by • News/views • Tags:

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: The Pirates extended qualifying offers today to Russell Martin and Francisco Liriano, each for the mandated one year at $15.3 million. They have a week to accept or reject.

Views: The Martin offer was a no-brainer, just as it will be a no-brainer for him to reject.

MORE

Column: This one’s for you, Mean Joe

by • Columns • Tags:

Baltimore Ravens v Pittsburgh Steelers

The Ravens’ Joe Flacco is thrown hard to the grass by Arthur Moats for a second-quarter sack. — GETTY

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Not on this night.

Not in this town.

Certainly not against this particular opponent.

“This was about the greatest of all the Steelers, about Mr. Steeler,” Willie Gay was telling me as the clock approached midnight Sunday but Heinz Field’s home locker room was still lit up like a thousand suns.

“And you know what else?” Gay kept on. “It was about Steelers football.”

Sure was, Will. One that Pittsburghers will be able to cherish on so many levels for a long time.

That was the greatest of all the Steelers, Mean Joe Greene — never leave off the ‘Mean,’ no matter how gentle the actual giant — receiving the ultimate honor from a franchise that’s famously never retired numbers: His No. 75 was put to rest, once and for all. As it had to be, for no one ever again will carve the face of the NFL’s only six-time Super Bowl champion.

And yes, that was Steelers football out there.

MORE

Monday planner: It’s Jets-Jets week

by • Site stuff

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A look at the week ahead on the site:

• Monday: This week’s Steelers PATs will be up by nightfall. And once they’re done, I’ll be packing up for a busy week of travel that could only be called Jets-Jets week.

• Tuesday: Tuesday 12 Qs live from St. Paul, Minn. Later, I’ll cover Penguins-Wild at Xcel Energy Center with a column very late at night.

• Wednesday: Flying up to Winnipeg. I’ll cover the Penguins’ practice that afternoon and hope to produce an interview video. Rest of the day will be mine in this very special city.

• Thursday: Penguins vs. Jets at MTS Centre. Column to follow.

• Friday: The Friday Insider will be up at 1 p.m.

• Saturday: Off. For real. Pitt has a bye week.

• Sunday: Flying over to Jersey for Steelers-Jets at MetLife Stadium. Column to follow.

As always, expect News/views entries along the way, as well. In this case, that means following any Pirates-related developments in free agency.

Podcast: Steelers-Ravens on Winnipeg radio

by • Podcasts • Tags:

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Here’s the podcast of my talk just now with good friends Gary Lawless and Andrew Paterson previewing Steelers-Ravens tonight on Winnipeg’s TSN 1290 Radio.

Column: A program running scared

by • Columns • Tags:

10491255

James Conner blows through Evrett Edwards (2) and Duke’s defense for an overtime touchdown. — PITT ATHLETICS

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

“It’s hard,” James Conner was fairly whispering, followed by the most uncomfortable of pauses. “We wanted to win. We wanted this.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the big man had to gulp to collect himself.

Yeah, it’s hard, all right. It’s hard to see someone like Conner lay it all on the line, level defenders left and right, run for 263 yards and three touchdowns, then forced to sit there and talk about losing as if somehow he’d done something wrong.

No. 24 Duke 51, Pitt 48.

Double overtime.

Because you can run and run and run, but it will all feel like a treadmill so long as those in charge of the University of Pittsburgh’s once-proud football program keep running scared.

MORE

Saturday site stuff: Apparently, apparel

by • Site stuff

FullSizeRender

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

A weekly look at what’s new, what’s coming on our site …

• For once, that’s not a photoshop over this feature. Those are real, live garments featuring our logo and colors, courtesy of a very generous benefactor who’s pushing me to market this site even if it means not wearing Winnipeg stuff everywhere I go.

So there they are, hoodies, collared shirts, a jacket, a bag, all bearing the logo.

And no, there’s absolutely no plan to sell anything like this, if only because, at the risk of sounding willfully self-deprecating, there isn’t a chance in Arizona anyone would buy it.

I’m just sharing a fun story here, as well as thanking the benefactor anew. We have some incredible support from, quite literally, all over the world.

MORE

Friday Insider: Gay would welcome fine

by • Friday Insider • Tags: , , ,

0ap3000000420269

William Gay, sporting purple cleats, carries home a pick-6 Sunday against the Colts. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

fridayinsiderA weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time around our local teams …

• Willie Gay is wearing purple cleats — yes, even against the Ravens — and he doesn’t care if the NFL fines him for it. He almost sounds as if he’d welcome it.

“They can fine me, and I’ll pay it. Happily,” the Steelers’ corner was telling me this week on the South Side. “It’s for a good cause and a cause that people should be know about. It can’t be a secret anymore. Been a secret too long.”

The cause is domestic violence awareness, a hotter button than ever in the NFL, and no one is better equipped than Gay, for tragic reasons, to discuss it. When he was 7, his mother, Carolyn Hall, was shot and killed by his stepfather after an extended period of abuse. The stepfather then killed himself, and Gay and his two brothers were left without parents.

MORE

«< 33 34 35 36 37 >»