Hello, FOX Bloggers and FOXY Bloggers alike, this is Mike Greenspire, and I am here to award the first annual Pittsburgh Sportsman of the Year Award!

The award goes to the best player or coach in Pittsburgh Pro sports of the past year, starting in August 2007, and going to July 2008. Any Pittsburgh sportsman in that time period is eligible for votes!

I have limited the field down to contestants!

Ben Roethlisberger

Evgeni Malkin

Sidney Crosby

Nate McLouth

Marc-Andre Fleury

Jason Bay

Mike Tomlin

Michel Therrien

Get voting, my vote is below!

-Mike Greenspire

Billionaire Chairman of Duquesne Management, Stanley Druckenmiller, is a lifelong Pittsburgh Steelers fan, and apparently thinks he can run the team.

Druckenmiller is asking Chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney for majority ownership of the team.

Druckenmiller has also said that if the bidding is opened to the public, then he will withdraw his offer.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer, Gerry Dulac, says that those close to Druckenmiller know the man’s intent:

“His intent is to buy the shares,” Dulac said in an interview with KDKA TV 2-Pittsburgh reporter, John Shumway. “whether all or a portion, but enough to have majority control of the Steelers and to buy the shares of the other four Rooney brothers.”

Art Rooney, Jr. had only one comment on the story, and shared it with John Shumway:

“Never count Dan out; he knows how to negotiate. Dan’s a great Pittsburgher, a good guy, and he’s Mr. Steeler. He is a phenomenal operator, and don’t be surprised if things work out his way.”

I wouldn’t mind seeing Druckenmiller with 49% of the stakes. I never want to have one guy out of the Rooney family with more than 49% of the team. Druckenmiller a Pittsburgh boy, from what I know, and paints his face Black & Gold when attending Steelers games. I think Dan Rooney will be bale to work out something so that Druckenmiller is not majority owner, but the largest shareholder.

Let me hear your thoughts on this story. Take care!

-Mike Greenspire

I read a post by jaguarjoe72 that gave me the idea to throw out my picks for the 2008 NFL season. We are all bored, and most of us have to put up with our teams losing all summer in baseball (unless you're a D-Backs or Rays fan. Lucky dogs!), so here they are as of right now!

AFC East
New England---------13-3
Buffalo------------------6-10
New York Jets--------5-11
Miami-------------------4-12

AFC North
Pittsburgh--------------11-5
Cleveland---------------7-9
Baltimore---------------5-11
Cincinnati--------------4-12

AFC South
Jacksonville-----------12-4
Indianapolis-----------11-5
Tennessee------------10-6
Houston----------------6-10

AFC West
San Diego-------------13-3
Oakland----------------10-6
Denver------------------7-9
Kansas City-----------3-13

NFC East
Dallas------------------12-4
New York Giants----11-5
Philadelphia----------10-6
Washington-----------7-9

NFC North
Minnesota------------11-5
Green Bay------------9-7
Chicago---------------7-9
Detroit-----------------6-10

NFC South
New Orleans--------10-6
Atlanta-----------------9-7
Tampa Bay-----------9-7
Carolina---------------8-8

NFC West
Seattle-----------------12-4
San Francisco--------10-6
Arizona------------------9-7
St. Louis---------------2-14

So here are the standings after the regular season in playoff contention:

AFC
1. San Diego
2. New England
3. Jacksonville
4. Pittsburgh
5. Indianapolis
6. Oakland

NFC
1. Dallas
2. Seattle
3. Minnesota
4. New Orleans
5. New York Giants
6. San Francisco

Super Bowl XLIII
Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers

Final Score = San Diego-23 Dallas-21

Let me know what you think!

-Mike Greenspire

I know it's still only the beginning of May, but I am too anxious, and the torture of having to wait so long for football season to start up again is killin' me. But, I thought of something to do while we wait!

Pick pre-season bandwagons!

There's always the surprise team that comes outta nowhere:

In 2004 it was the Steelers
In 2005 it was the Panthers
In 2006 it was the Saints
In 2007 it was the Packers

So, who's gonna be the pre-season surprise team? Here are a couple of bandwagons to pick from!

Minnesota Vikings
With the additions of Jared Allen, arguably the best DLineman in the game at this time, and John David Booty, one of the best QBs in the Draft, I see this team going 10-6, no worse than 9-7 and being a real contender come playoff time, perhaps even stealing the division from the Packers, which is what I see happening.

Baltimore Ravens
In my opinion, moving back up after moving down to get Joe Flacco was the right move for the Ravens and new head coach, John Harbaugh. This guy will be sure to lead a team for years. Also, the addition of Ray Rice from Rutgers is bound to help them. McGahee and Rice will make it an interesting dual-RB situation in 2008 for the Ravens. All those pieces minus McNair are still there from that 2006 13-win team, so I see the Ravens going 10-6, and making it intot he playoffs via wild card.

Kansas City Chiefs
A really good draft, probably the best will higher the pressure on Herm Edwards to get this team back to the post-season. If he does not, with all this talent, I think he should be fired. Perhaps surprisingly I only see this team going 5-11. It techniacally is an improvment... Way to go, Herm.

Carolina Panthers
A good draft, picking up Jonathan Stewart, Jeff Otah, and Dan Connor will take some pressure off Delhomme, and hopefully he won't get hurt this year. If he stays healthy with the seoncd-best blocker and running-back in this year's draft, watch out for the Panthers. I forsee a 9-7 year with a possible wild card berth.

But, the bandwagon I'm jumping on is...

New Orleans Saints
Some great off-season moves, and by far the best off-season so far. With so many good players, there is no way the Saints will be bale to screw this up. I see an 11-5 season with a division title. The Bucs will have to settle for at best a wild card berth now.

Thanks for reading! Who do you guys think will be 2008's surprise team?

-Mike Greenspire

This whole week, I will be reviewing the biggest player or players drafted by every team by division. Let's get started with the North divisions! AFC North now, NFC North should be up later.

AFC North

Cleveland Browns
Beau Bell, LB, UNLV
I like the pick, and in my opinion, I don't know how this guy got skipped over to the 4th round, because I had him going in the late first-early second about two weeks ago, but definitely a steal by Cleveland, and he should immediately help out that defense that had some glaring holes last year.
Grade: C+

Cincinnati Bengals
Keith Rivers, LB, USC
By far the best linebacker in the draft, and this guy will be a force that no RB will wanna go up against in 2008. Best move Cincy could have made at their position.
Jerome Simpson, WR, Coastal Carolina
Coming from a small school, it's hard to know what to expect out of thi guy, but I se big progression in his rookie year. Chad Johnson and TJ (SOMETHIN-ZADABER) look like they will be the starting wideouts, but Chad may make room for Simpson by whining and moaning.
Grade: B-

Pittsburgh Steelers
Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois
Wow, I wasn't expecting this, but I couldn't be happier. This was probably the smartest late-first round pick, and this guy is a beast. Second only to Darren McFadden, and not by much. Definitely a ROTY pre-season candidate.
Limas Sweed, WR, Texas
This may be the taller wideout Ben had asked for. 6-foot-5, and quite a physical player. His speed and agility, despite being that tall, are terrific, and I expect a good season outta this guy. Watch out for the Steelers.
Grade: A-

Baltimore Ravens
Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware
My favorite QB in this class, Joe Flacco, ended up a 1st-rounder to the Ravens. I'm feeling that he's a Week 1 starter over Boller and Smith. This guy has great leadership ability, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he started the first game.
Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers
This guy is small and quick, and I would compare him to Maurice Jones-Drew out of Jacksonville, and I think he could have a similar rookie season impact. With McGahee and Rice, the Ravens have been building all off-season, and could make a real run at the AFC North division title.
Grade: A

Thanks for reading! Check back in later or tomorrow for the NFC North report!

-Mike Greenspire