PSaMP's Halfie Birthday Extravaganza: Larry Brown Sports

(To commemorate the 6 month anniversary of PSaMP, I invited some of my favorite bloggers to take over PSaMP for a week. I'm calling it, PSaMP's Halfie Birthday Extravaganza. Well, its been extended to an obnoxiously long two week blogapalooza, per se. Several kickass local and national blogs agreed to share their feelings on Pittsburgh sports. Hopefully, some will also provide a Mini Pony of the Day. In my mind, it will rule. I hope you enjoy it. Monday's blogger is Larry Brown of Larry Brown Sports. He also writes for the ridiculous AOL Fanhouse. Today, Larry writes for PSaMP. Destroy him if you disagree. I'll allow it.)
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Well, I used to hate the Penguins because they were in the same division as my favorite team, the Bruins. But then the Pens got Sid the Kid and some other really cool players, so now I don't mind em as much. Also helps that they're in a different division now too. The Pirates really haven't been worth much more than a few sentences in like a decade, so I'll pass on them. I guess I'd like to share with you a few thoughts on the Steelers.

I can't stand the Steelers. I highly dislike the Steelers. In fact, they are just one step below serious and utter hate. See, I'm a Bengals fan. And it really didn't matter, rain, shine, Kordell, Tomczak, or whatever, the Steelers always seemed to win. I liked to attribute it to the coaching of Bill Cowher. Because of that slapdick and his persistence, the Steelers always seemed to be a good team. They could lose an All-Pro every off-season -- it seemed like they did -- yet they were still always in the playoff hunt. In fact, I really count the Steelers in the same class as the Patriots for being so organizationally sound. So even though I can't stand the Steelers, and up until recently I could count on them to hand my Bengals two losses every single year, somewhere, deep down inside me, there is a small little area in my body where I compartmentalize a great deal of respect for the Steelers organization. That being said, I still wish upon them a century of 0-16 seasons.

- Larry Brown

100th Post! Awesome.

And the 100th post is about...the Pens. Come on, with game 4 tonight and the Pens looking at a 2-1 series deficit, what else could consume my attention? Also, since I'm graduating from college in a couple weeks, I need to get my mind off of the tragedy at Virgina Tech yesterday. Seriously, all prayers and thoughts go to the entire Hokie nation.

With that being said, its time to look at what the Pens need to do differently in game 4 (uh...everything?), in order to have a fighting chance against Daniel "I'm going to outshoot the Pens in this series" Alfredsson and Company.

The shooting is a big problem. Although Geno has 4 assists in only 3 career playoff games, he has been nearly nonexistant. 8 needless penalty minutes in the series will do that to a player. If he doesn't snap out of this shooting slump, there might be problems in Penguins-land. Sidney Crosby needs to pull the trigger more as well. Actually, all of the Pens need to start firing the biscuit. How many times has just putting the puck on net helped the team? Isn't this one of the reasons that we picked up Gary Roberts? Haven't both of his goals in the series come while cleaning up in front of the net? And what about redirects ? Even unintentional redirects will find the back of the net. Ryan Whitney's goal in game 2 hit a Ottawa leg before going in.

But back to Sid. I know he's already got a goal in each game and he's a great passer, but he is passing up way too many scoring opportunities by trying to feed his teammates with better shots. I can't count how many times during this series, as well as the final 2 weeks of the season, in which Sid was streaking down the right wing with a teammate to his left, and he opted to pass to the teammate rather than shoot (for which he still had a good angle). Many of these passes were intercepted or blocked by the opposition, so the Pens got no shot rather than a clean look. Its a best of 7 series, and any smart team would put a lot of time into learning the tendencies of a superstar like Sid. Eventually, they are going to figure out that Crosby looks to pass first when he's coming down the right wing with a teammate to his left, and blocking these passes become an easier task. If Crosby puts the puck on net rather than passing to the guy to his left, he can set up a perfect rebound just as easily as he can fire a perfect pass. All I'm saying is mix it up, Sid. What's the harm in putting the puck on net? There's 3 outcomes.

1. Save
2. Goal
3. Rebound

Plus, more shots equals a greater chance of numbers 2 and 3 happening. The Pens have been outshot 99-66, so its not hard to see the biggest reason we're down 2-1. Actually, the Pens are fortunate to have 1 game. A few different bounces in game 2, and we're down 3-zip. Good article here regarding the "must-win" status of tonight's game, by Penguins playoff-beard wearer, Larry Brown.

I think Laraque needs to play game 4. He seemed kinda frustrated with not being in the lineup for games 2 and 3. I read an article yesterday, but can't seem to find it again, where Laraque basically said, "I'm not going to talk about it now," in response to his benching for games 2 and 3. If I was Laraque, I'd be upset, too. The Senators have been much more physical than the Pens, and its come down to Sid, Max Talbot, Gary Roberts and Colby Armstrong to provide the physical plays to boost the team. Now each guy can hold their own, but no player on this list is Georges Laraque. And now with a huge bullseye on Colby Armstrong (that was a legitimate hit, though), Big Georges needs to be in uniform for game 4.

The game starts at 7. My predicted score for game 3 was right, but the Pens scored the 2 rather than the 4. Tonight, I think the Pens will (must) win, by a score of 3-2. I know, I'm boring. I always pick the Pens to win. However, tonight can be (needs to be) the Penguins night, because a 3-1 hole might be impossible to climb out of. Plus, LBS will have to shave his playoff beard, which is just starting to come in nicely.

Those Pens, They'll Get Ya

larry brown sports has officially pledged allegiance to our pittsburgh penguins! touche, larry brown sports. keep that playoff beard going, and ill loan you my pens, seeing as how the bruins are home, resting right now (sorry, had to throw that in). this picture is his last attempt at a playoff beard. im not too concerned about the fullness of the beard, its the dedication that im happy about. as long as the beard grows, ill accept a new pens fan. however, if the pens keep playing the way they did in the first period, i might have to ask mr brown to buy a mach 3, or a fusion, or some scissors, or anything to break the pens outta this sloppy play. the sens scored twice in the opening moments of the game, and clearly came out with more purpose than the pens. however, the pens did kill two 5 on 3s, one in the middle of the opening period and one that carried over to the start of the 2nd frame. score right now: pens 0, sens 2.

Some Losses Leave A Bad Taste In Your Mouth

this was one of those losses. leading 2-nill in the 9th inning, "previously 4 for 4" salomon torres decided to emit shades of jose mesa (or mike williams...ew). torres let 2 runs score in the ninth, blowing his first save of the year. the buccos hung around until the 12th, but paulino couldnt hold on to a jason bay throw on a sacrifice fly, and the cards prevailed 3-2. bautista homered, and the pirates squandered a quality outing by gorzo. having never faced pujols before, gorzo got sir albert out 3 times to end innings (read that last line again)! why is this important? uh...take a look at alberts numbers against the pirates entering this season (thanks to albert pujols club). its losses like this that have me wondering if the buccos can take that next step, and actually compete in the central this year. if not, us loyal fans can settle down and take in another long, hard-to-watch season.

enough with the past, and on to the future. the pens are about 7 1/2 hours away from their first playoff game since 2001. i sometimes feel a little weird, because im way too pumped for the second season to start. with the success the pens had this season, as well as the whole arena/kansas city/las vegas ordeal and the maturation of staal, geno, maf and sid, the playoffs are basically the icing on the cake. i do agree with ray shero, though, that the pens cannot be satisfied by simply being in the playoffs, and must be prepared for a long run (get that playoff beard going larrybrownsports! i want pictures...just kiddin). ottawa has been somewhat shaky (im being nice by saying somewhat) in the playoffs in the past few years, and bryan murray isnt necessarily the most playoff-savvy coach (dude has never made it out of the 2nd round, in the pros and in the minors). that doesnt really mean anything this year, but its good to know.

scott burnside of espn.com wrote a story about sid that was both compelling and rich (thanks, ron burgandy). it actually made the front of espn.com (what?...hockey news on espn? you gotta be kidding). this comes only days after scotty picked the sens to win the series in 5 games. way to straddle that fence, scott! (side note: another reason to get angry at espn: the first time i clicked on espn.com today, the site crashed each site i had open, and i had to completely rewrite this entry. looks like espn has changed tactics from bashing sites on espn radio to crashing browser windows.)

thats all for now. mpotd will be coming up soon. i know you cant wait. neither can i.