Hello friends,

As you know I'm a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and I'm always positive and optimistic and hopeful about their chances each season. But if I look at the Steelers objectively after their Week 1 performance and dominating win against the Houston Texans 38-17, I also am looking around the rest of the NFL and especially the AFC and wondering if the Steelers a division winner from last year and a good team are being underrated?

With the major season ending knee injury for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, the tough loss for the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning against the Chicago Bears Sunday Night and the tough last second loss for the San Diego Chargers against the Carolina Panthers with already injured Chargers Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman who's taking a risk by playing.

Now the Patriots, Colts and Chargers were the other division winners last year and they've all been favored to go to the Super Bowl and gotten more coverage than the Steelers along with the Brett Favre story of course.

So why aren't the Steelers getting more coverage and not being given more of a chance in the AFC?  I know the Steelers are a low key organization who often goes about their business quietlty and performs on the football field when it counts. I know they have what is considered the toughest schedule in the NFL this year playing the NFC East, AFC South and the other AFC division winners mentioned above along with their own division in the AFC North.

But they're the Steelers and for the last 35 years or so they/ve been playing tough competition and handling it for the most part so I'm not worried. They also lost ofensive guard Alen Faneca to free agency but the Steelers have replaced people and moved on well before so again I'm not worried.

Running back Fast Willie Parker came back from a broken leg injury and looked strong with 139 yards. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a strong game and the defense led by linebacker James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu was strong as well. And they've got rookies like running back Rashard Mendenhall and a solid backup quarterback in Byron Leftwich.

So in summary to sort of quote Kurt Russell from the movie Miracle about the 1980 USA hockey gold medal team that beat the Soviets, Russell quoting the team's Head coach Herb Brooks said "I don't know why were not giving this guy (or team in this case) a heck of a look.

And that's the way I'm seeing the Steelers objectively after Week 1. There's a long way to go and a lot can happen in an NFL season but I like this team both as a Steelers fan and a fan of the NFL.

But you know the Steelers. They'll seldom tell you and just go about their business and you'll likely see their positive results later in the season as they play for and towards a sixth Super Bowl Championship for their franchise.

So good luck to your teams as well down the road and maybe they'll be playing a team like the Dallas Cowboys who also have five Super Bowls for that sixth ring. But that's a long way down the road. I realize that. But for now after Week 1 I think the Steelers are playing well and are a surprisingly underrated football team as they head to Cleveland to face the Browns on Sunday Night in Week 2.

Let me know what you think as always friends and take care and best wishes. Have a great and productive day friends. fenfan

Hello friends,

Well Brett Favre Is now a Jet and the PreSeason Football schedule has started in full. A backup quarterback Charlie Batch on my favorite football team the Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a broken collarbone against the Philadelphia Eagles, and it reminded me the main reason I don't like preseason football and want it reduced or eliminated. Well getting rid of the games isn't possible because coaches and teams need to evaluate players and get them in shape.

But when a player gets injured in a preseason game, especially if he's a veteran like Charlie Batch it gets me upset. Yes injuries are a major part of football, maybe more than any other sport where a single play can end a career, paralyze a man or god forbid end a man's life.

It is a risk football players put themselves through in a collision sport. It can happen anytime maybe even practice but when it happens in an exhibition game like to Charlie Batch, you wonder why was he playing so much if he already has probably made the final roster. Remember Quarterback Trent Green then with the St Louis Rams in 1999. Hit and out for the season with a broken leg. Of course the Rams had a untested backup named Kurt Warner who led them all the way to a Super Bowl Championship. That was the fairy tale unpredictable ending and it worked out all right for the Rams that year.

But most of the time when a veteran player goes down a team has to have a good backup or scramble to find a replacement. In the Steelers case the injury happened to their backup quarterback Charlie Batch and he'll be out 4-6 weeks with his injury. The Steelers third string quaterback is newly drafted rookie Dennis Dixon and their starter is Super Bowl Champion Ben Roethlisberger. Now the Steelers don't want to play Roetlisberger too much in the preseason bcause he is the franchise quarterback and they don't want to play Dennis Dixon too much because he's too inexperienced to be the first backup.

So Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has to search the waiver wire to find a quality backup which isn't easy. So how do football teams get around this delicate problem of getting teams in shape and ready to play without keeping their best players injury free until at least the regular season when the games count?

No one likes to see a player injured but you would rather see it in a regular season when the games count?  Should they have more regular season games or eliminate them like they do in college football where they don't have any? And yes I know a player can get injured in practice as well.

Preseason games are tedious to the fans as well. We wait all summer for our favorite teams and players to play. We get excited and dress up like it's a regular season or playoff game. And then our favorite players only play a quarter or two before giving way to the backups. Ever watch a second half of a preseason game? Local announcers, a blowout score with backup players and you can hear the public address announcer say 3rd and 5 on the 47 yard line. And they're talking about the Shrine Game or whatever.

So can you see why I as a fan dont like preseason football. I wish the veterans never played and I cringe when they do. I don't like to see any player get hurt and it's worse in NFL preseason football than any other sport. And don't give me examples of other sports cause yes I know injuries can happen there. Just not like the frequency and severity of football.

Is there a way we can make all the games count? Have a 16 game season with no preseason or one or two games. It's always debated this time of year. Maybe college football has it right with no exhibition games What do you think friends? I welcome your comments as always and thank you for reading. Take care, best wishes and have a great and productive day friends. fenfan

Hello friends,

I've got nothing special to talk about tonight except for some pretty good blogs I've been reading on here and putting my two cents in. From the guy who explained why the Steelers won't be as good this year. I disagree with his opinion but the Steelers have always been consistent and rarely terrible. Consider since Chuck Noll's 1-13 record in 1969 the Steelers have never won fewer than 5 games in a season and they have won 5 Super Bowls. I hope I don't jinx them. I just hope they get their ownership situation figured out. A billionare Stanley Druckenmeier wants to buy the team but I hope they can keep the team in the Rooney family who founded the team and made the Steelers the proud team and organization that they are.

Also tundratrugger brought up some good comments on the Brett Favre situation with the Packers. We all like or admire Brett Favre as a football player and person. As football fans we just wish he would make up his mind about his future and go on with it. I couldn't personally go out on an interception in the NFC Championship Game if I knew I had a good team but that's his decision. Lets just make that decision Brett and get on with the 2008 NFL season.

In baseball I'm  excited to see one of my favorite small market teams the Milwaukee Brewers making some big noise in the pennant race again this year. The experience of last year's winning record has helped and so apparently has new acquistion CC Sabathia with a 4-0 record and 3 complete game wins since joining the Brewers. I don't want the Brewers to throw away their future and maybe by signing their core players like Ryan Braun, developing a great farm system under general manager Doug Melvin and getting good draft picks will help the small market Brewers stay competitive in the long run. But in the short term Go For It Brewers and good luck the rest of 2008 and we'll worry about 2009 later. When you think of it that should be every team's philosophy but for a small market team like the Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays it is crical to keep going and keep competive. I wish baseball had a salary cap like the other sports, but with smart management it can be done successfully.

Well I guess I did have some stuff to say tonight about some of my favorite teams. I also enjoyed blogs about the most hated teams in sports and the greatest players to never win a championship. Read those if you get the chance. I always enjoy a good blog and great sports talk and I thank you friends for reading mine. I'm almost to 150 blogs overall now and I hope I keep it interesting for you readers. Take care, best wishes and talk soon friends. Have a great and productive day always friends. fenfan

Hello friends,

Yesterday was one of my favorite non game day sports events of the year. The NFL Draft in a few weeks. Way overhyped by the media in my opinion. You could read about that in the newspaper or online without 10 hours of commentary from Mel Kiper JR, Chris Berman and others. Fans get dressed up for the event in their tean colors like their favorite new player is going to come running out of the tunnel that night in a game and be their team's savoir. Too bad it's April and they have to wait 5 months until September.

But yesterday another event the announcement of the full NFLschedule  was announced and you finally know when and where your teams will play their games this fall. This is exciting to me more than any other sport because there are only 16 regular season games and each game is magnified at least 5 to 10 games over the other major sports. So we'll see what happens and I wish your teams the best of luck friends as we look forward to another great NFL season.

My favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers is supposed to have one of the tougher schedules in the NFL. Besides division opponents Cleveland, Cincinatti and Baltimore the Steelers play Houston in the opener at home, they go to Philadelphia, Washington, New England, Jacksonville and Tenesseee. At home they play the world champion NY Giants, Indianapolis, San Diego, Dallas and I think that's it. Fortunately they play a lot of those tough playoff teams at home and some on the road, but we'll see what happens. Let me know anout your team friends. Have a great and productive day and talk soon. Best wishes friendsand good luck! fenfan

Hello friends,

Well the quarterbacks on the two teams I follow and root for most were in the news for different reasons. First Brett Favre's retirement. It will get a lot of emotions and reaction on this blogosphere and in the sports world in general. No matter how you feel about him and what you think of his career or how iy ended if it has ended for sure, you have to respect him and admire him as a legend. He has most of the passing records, he's won a Super Bowl and lost another one dramatically to John Elway and the Broncos and he led the Packers back to the brink of a Super Bowl with a tough loss in the NFC Championship last year where he threw an interception against the Giants which led to a game winning field goal and an apperance in the Super Bowl where the Giants ended up winning the championship.

We can all sit and debate whether or not Favre should have retired now and come up with a lot of reasons why he should come back or retire, but in the end that is Brett Favre and his family's decision. It is his body which he played every game the last 17 years almost more remarkable than Cal Ripken's streak in baseball, and it his his life to decide what he wants to do next with it. As football fans if he doesn't come back and he still might. Remember Michael Jordan was 99.9 % sure about retirement after leading the Bulls to their sixth championship in 1998  after making the final shot to win, but he returned with the Wizards a few years later so who knows. If not  Favre certainly has a date in Canton Ohio at the Pro Football Hall of Fame where he will likely be a first ballot Hall Of Famer in 2013. Good luck Brett. You will be missed by NFL Fans.

As for Ben Roethilisberger the Pittsburgh Steelers current quarterback who led them to a Super Bowl Championship two years ago, he just got his personal pay day in a contract extension of $102 million over eight years. The Steelers  are usually a very conservative organization and don't usually even pay their star players this kind of money so Ben and the Steelers will definitely have the football crazy Pittsburgh market on his and their back to do well and win. He'll have to do it without his best current offensive line blocker Alen Faneca who signed with the Jets, but Pittsburgh has always been good at replacing their key players in the system over the years and they keep winning so good luck to him and the Steelers and the future.

It's too bad these two great quarterbacks couldn't have met on the field in November 2005 when the Steelers beat the Packers 20-10 at Lambaeu Field. Roetlisberger was injured at the time and Charlie Batch quarterbacked for the Steelers that day.. The Packers and Favre were not at their best either going through a miserable 4-12 season so it's too bad we couldn't have seen a great matchup between a legend and a current up and coming quarterback. It's just kind of interesting to see these two stories come together at the same time.

Well I'll look forward to your comments. Best wishes friends and have a great and productive day.  fenfan

Hello friends,

I am writing this blog especially for my friends and family who live in Wisconsin and who are Packers fans especially to my good buddy fishrmn who's been a blogger, contributor and the person responsible for me becoming a blogger here. Thank you fishrmn and I know you're a huge Packers fan so this one's for you and all the other cheeseheads out there.

I grew up in Wisconsin and was born in 1967 right during the last season of the Packers dynasty of 5 titles including the first two Super Bowls under the legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi which that season won an unmatched in NFL History, third title no other team has won more than two in a row. That was also the year of the famous New Years Eve Ice Bowl Game vs the Dallas Cowboys when the temperature dipped to -15 below zero!!!

Everyone remembers Vince Lombardi's last three wins that year in the playoffs against the LA Rams, the Ice Bowl win over the Cowboys for the NFL Championship and the win over the AFL Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl 2.  Every football fan remembers that and then Vince Lombardi retired for a year before coaching the Washington Redskins in 1969 and dying of cancer in 1970.

But did you know who Vince Lombardi's last loss as Packers coach was to and that's where my story begins. The Pittsburgh Steelers, a bad team before Chuck Noll became coach of the legendary Steelers dynasty in 1969, went to Green Bay on December 17, 1967 just two weeks before the famous Ice Bowl game and upset the Packers 24-17. If anyone has an accounting of this game I'd love to see it because I have been a Steelers fan for over 30 years.

Anyway we all know about the Steelers dynasty of the 1970s and the success that the team has had for the most part until this day. My  grandparents lived and worked in Pittsburgh in the 1960s and 1970s for the most part so that's how I became a Steelers fan and they were very good of course with 4 Super Bowl titles in 6 years.

The Packers on the other hand were not good. For 25 years from 1968-1992 they had two playoff apperances a playoff loss to the Redskins in 1972 and a 1-1 playoff record in a strike shortened 1982 season, a win over the St.  Louis Cardinals and a loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Other than that the Packers had a lot of bad teams, a few good ones here and there like the Lynn Dickey, James Lofton John Jefferson years but even that couldn't keep former Packer quarterback and coach Bart Starr and later Forrest Gregg also from the 1960s glory days among others who were Packer coaches and players in this era and failed

It got bad and embarrasing to play in Green Bay until the early 1990s and it wasn't fun to watch them lose so my interest was pretty much lost in the Packers. Then coach Mike Holmgren came, a trade for an unknown quarterback from the Atlanta Falcons named Brett Favre and free agent defensive lineman Reggie White came  over  to Green Bay from the Philadelphia Eagles and within the next few seasons the Packers were suddenly winners again and eventually champions after the 1996 season culminating with a Super Bowl 31 win over the New England Patriots 35-21.

Green Bay and Wisconsin were estatic as they should have been and I celebrated too although it was somewhat harder for me since I was more of a Steelers fan who was living in Wisconsin. Thank goodness they didn't beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl or I would have never heard the end of it. The next year the Packers went back to the Super Bowl and got upset by John Elway  and the Denver Broncos 31-24.  This time I was somewhat glad not  only because the long suffering Broncos and John Elway had won but also because the Packers had lost and the hysteria had died down again. The next year when the Packers got beat by  the San Fransisco 49ers on Terrell Owens last second catch I felt bad for the Packers again. This was a part of the up and down rooting interest I had in the team because of the way they won but also had a lot of losses in this long 30 year period of time.

Well in the next few years I moved to Texas with my family away from Packers country and I began to see and hear the team a little differently because I didn't hear the local Packers coverage as much and while Cowboys and Texas fans are spirited and loyal it just isn't the same as living in smaller town areas like Green Bay and Pittsburgh.

In 2004 I got to go see the newly remodled Lambeau  Field and Packer Hall of Fame. I had been to Lambeau Field once years earlier for a game and win against their rival Chicago Bears, but it was special to go back and see the Packers history in person. Then of course my Pittsburgh Steelers won their 5th Super Bowl in 2005 after 26 years after their last Super Bowl win. Now that ties for the most Super Bowl wins with Dallas and San Fransisco who also have 5 Super Bowls but what people often forget is the Packers have the most NFL Championships in league history with 12 because they foget about pre Super Bowl NFL history.

Well the Packers and Brett Favre are back in the NFC Championship game against the New York Gianys under current head coach Mike McCarthey. I hope they do well and I'll be rooting for them unless of course they ever play  the Steelers for the Super Bowl. Still I've come a long way rooting for both teams and I thought I'd share my story with you today. Best wishes and have a great and productive day friends and we'll talk soon again. Sincerely,  fenfan

Hello friends,

I just wanted to make a few comments about the Steelers game and loss to the New England Patriots 34-13 in Foxboro, Mass last weekend. Not so much for the loss which happened convincingly to a great team the Patriots which is going for an undefeated season. Losing doesn't bother me in a sense as well because it happens especially when you play better teams ans sometimes against lesser competition as previous Steelers losses this season to the Cardinals, Broncos and Jets proved you can lose on any given week.

But what bothered me most about the loss to the Patriots was the trash talking especially the guarantee by second year safety Anthony Smith of the Steelers. No he wasn't even on the Steelers Super Bowl team a few years ago and he's talking trash about the three time Super Bowl Champion Patriots of quaterback Tom Brady and Head Coach Bill Belichick. Did Smith ever think of humiltty or the opposition he and the team were facing. Did he have their back or did he hang them out to dry as Smith got burned a couple times for touchdowns in the game.

No this is just young bravado trying to trash talk against who they perceive as the big bad bully in the Patriots. Forget the spygate controversy of the Patriots. They're just better than the Steelers, they proved it Sunday and the Steelers Anthony Smith and his bravado teammates, not all of the Steelers mind you got caught up in thinking they needed to say something to get themselves fired up to play better. My advice is just go play Steelers. If you're better it will show up on the field in results. Former Steeler greats from the 70's championship teams, the 90's teams which were competitive and also the 2005 Super Bowl winning team never exhibited this bravado. They just went and played and mostly won as good teams do and showed dignity off it which good and smart teams also do.

Anyway I haven't been this embarrased about the Steelers since former tight end Eric Green talked about making Super Bowl rap videos before the Steelers 1994 season AFC Championship game which they lost and got humbled by the San Diego Chargers in Pittsburgh.

In closing I hope the Steelers organization led by the Rooney family and head coach Mike Tomlin sit down with Anthony Smith and his few other teammates who decided to talk such unwarranted bravadoes and guarantees. It may have worked for Joe Willie Namath in the Super Bowl years ago but it still isn't a good idea win or lose. Just play the game and the results will take care of themselves. Anything less is an embarrasment to those watching. Let me know what you think friends and talk soon. Best wishes and have a great and productive day. fenfan

Hello friends,

In this post I want to talk mainly about the latest in the NFL and a few other things that are happening in sports lately. So what was the biggest moment in the NFL last weekend. Was it Adrian Peterson running wild in only his eighth NFL game setting a new single game rushing record with 296 yards and his second 200 yard rushing game overall. Was it the Colts Patriots on Sunday afternoon which turned out to be a pretty good game 24-20 Patriots but not the shootout everyone expected in Super Bowl 41-1/2. Or how about Big Ben Rothlisberger and the Steelers throwing 5 touchdown passes in the first half against the Ravens in a 38-7 win in the rain on Monday night in front of all the Steeler Super Bowl legends who were being honored. Nice throwback jerseys as well Steelers. And oh yeah to my buddy fishrmn congatulations to Brett Favre and the Packers on their 7-1 start but you'll still need a running game as the cold weather starts and the playoffs come later on.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the start of the second half of the NFL season this Sunday when Adrian Peterson and the Vikings visit the cold Lambeau Field and the Packers in Adrian Peterson's first great cold weather outdoor test. Remember back in the 1990's the great Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders rushed for only minus one yard against a great Packers defense in the playoffs so I'll be interested to see how Adrian Peterson does this weekend and beyond as we push towards playoff time in the NFL. The Steelers have a divisional game in the AFC North against the up and coming Browns who are only currently a game behind the Steelers, but they're still a young team and I like the Steelers this weekend as they make their push towards a division title and the playoffs after that. I think they can play with the Patriots and Cots and they have a matchup with the Patriots on December 9th. However I've learned that regular season wins don't always mean a great deal if teams meet in the playoffs again and sometimes the regular season winner will lose the playoff game so I don't know how excited you can get about the regular season wins. Just play as well as you can get in the playoffs and go from there. Even if a team has to play on the road in the playoffs they can win sometimes if they're the better team or have they have the momentum. We'll see and hopefully they'll be some good playoff rematches this year.

Another matchup I'm looking forward to in the NFC later this month of November is the Packers at the Cowboys on Thursday November 29. It's on NFL Network so it will be harder to find without satellite besides local areas but it will be quaterback Tony Romo of the Cowboys who's from Wisconsin against his boyhood idol Brett Favre who's never won in Dallas and it will be interesting to see how this game comes out and if they meet in the playoffs as well. Finally will the Patriots go 16-0 or 19-0. I don't know but I think it will be hard for a few reasons. Teams occasionaly slip up although that doesn't appear to be the Patriots problem, coaches sit players but Bill Belichick will play everyone even in a 52-7 win like the had against the Redskins a few weeks ago. So what will happen. They''ll probably trip up against some inspired team when they're coasting or trying to get ready for the playoffs. And if they do get in the playoffs I wouldn't want to be the team that wins all their regular season games, but loses in the playoffs so we'll see friends and enjoy the rest of the season and best of luck to your teams.

Finally one last comment outside the NFL. In college basketball last night there was an upset as Gardner Webb beat Kentucky in an early season non conference game just like Appalachian State did to Michigan in footballl. Ironically both are from North Carolina. But as big an upset as these both are it doesn't surprise me as much as it used to because of the increasing parity in college sports. Even George Mason in the Final Four a few years ago didn't seem as big as it would have 20-30 years ago because athletes don't stay in college as long and they go to the smaller schools more often when they're turned down by the big ones.

Well I look forward to your comments friends and we'll talk soon again. Have a great and productive day and best wishes always friends. Your pal. fenfan

Hello sports friends,

Well yesterday was March 1 and in the NFL that means the start of free agency when teams can gain and lose players or decide to resign them based on their salary cap situation which is a fact of life in todays NFL where there is more parity but also more roster turnover where teams don't stay together for a long period of time in general like they used to. However most teams try to keep their best players if they can within the salary cap.

Anyways yesterday the Steelers my favorite team released linebacker Joey Porter because of salary cap reasons they say he was supposed to get a bonus in the final year of his contract and they didn't want to renegotiate or sign an extension. Now I am really disappointed in this because Joey Porter has been one of the Steelers best players both on and off the field the last decade. He has been the emotional leader with big hits on the field and emotion good and bad off the field He stood up to Seahawks player Jeremy Stevens taunts against the Steelers before the Super Bowl, he led pre and post game team dances in the locker room and he was a great hard hitter who also incidentally unfortunately got shot as an innocent bystander in Colorado a few years ago and came back. which shows a lot of heart.  Now he also has a big mouth which got him in trouble like the pregame fight with the rival Cleveland  Browns during a pregame a few years ago which got him kicked out o####ame, but his emotion was always for the team and former coach Bill Cowher and that will definitely be missed. He was this Steeler teams Jack Lambert and Ham from the 70s and Greg Lloyd from the 90s. A great player with heart whoI think should have been one of the special Steelers to retire a Steeler and I am very disappointed. Hopefully the Steelers and their new coach Mike Tomlin know what they're doing and they usually do as an organization. Great players come and go I understand that but this is one I really wish hadn't gone and they might pay for the loss of Joey Porter because of the kind of player he is on and off the field.

Also shortly I want to mention a few other things quickly. It was nice to see Lovie Smith get his well deserved extension and raise in Chicago as their head coach. Despite the Super Bowl loss the Bears could be headed for great things if they can figure out if Rex Grossman is their long term quarterback or not. Meanwhile north of Chicago in small town Green Bay they are thinking of bringing fomer Vikings and Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss to the Packers which would be like bringing the next notch of Terrell Owens to Green Bay. A great talent especially from his years with the Vikings but a lot of attitude and he once mooned the Packer fans in a playoff game. But Brett Favre says he would like to play with a player like Moss and I'm wondering what my friends in Packer country think. I know you're out there reading. Anyways take care friiends, best wishes and have great and productive days always.

Hello Sports Friends,

I thought I'd try a blog on here today where I talk about the state of my favorite teams. I saw another blogger on here do this. I think he was from the Boston area. Anyways in this past month we've had the State of the Union, the NFL has the State of the NFL with the commisioner at the Super Bowl this week so this is the state of my teams, we'll do it with the pro leagues in this post and see where it goes.

Anyways my number one favorite pro team in sports is the Pittsburgh Steelers who are defending champions for a few more days. They had a rough season being Super Bowl champs, Ben Roethisberger's on and off field injuries, Bill Cowher leaving as coach and now hiring only their third coach in the last 38 years Mike Tomlin. Still as tough a year as it was they rebounded from a 2-6 start to finish 8-8 and I'm proud of them for that.

Number two would be the Boston Red Sox. After winning the World Seies championship in 2004 they have had some injuries and roster changes and of course always have to deal with the Yankees in the AL East. Still they have David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek and Curt Schilling from that team along with a core of good or young players and if they can find a way to get a closer or Jonathon Papelbon, then I think they'll be ok and contend in the AL East again. Matsusaka is also an X factor that we have to find out about.

Number three is the San Antonio Spurs. I'm not the biggest basketball  fan anymore but I like this team and their rivalry with the Dallas Mavericks. With Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and the rest of the team they have won three NBA championships and still have a good veteran core that can contend although it's a lot tougher in the West with teams like Dallas, Phoenix and the two LA teams the Lakers and Clippers to deal with. Still if they stay healthy and play well in the playoffs they have as good a chance as any so we'll see.

Number four I'll pick the Dallas Stars, my local area team and the team in my second favorite sport after football,  hockey. I got to go to a Stars game a few years ago, I like following them as the local team and they have had a good contending team, changing every year of course but still in the mix every year since winning the Stanley Cup in 1999. Mike Modano is still there and they have a good mix of veterans and youngsters when their healthy. The only problem has been their lack of recent playoff success, but if goalie Marty Turco could turn it around and the team could stay healthy and play well then they could go a long way. We'll see wehat happens down the stretch and in the playoffs.

To round out my top five of teams I'll pick a team I like unconditionally the Milwaukee Brewers. I realize it is tough for them being a small market team in baseball withough any kind of salary cap which the players refuse so I root for them whether they're good or bad because they're my original hometown team from childhood, they play hard and I have memories of the 1982 World Series which they could have won if  relief pitcher Rollie Fingers among othyer things   had not been injured and I just like going out to the ballpark in the summer soI'll include them..

Anyways that's my top five teams in pro sports. Shortly my second five include the Chicago Cubs, Toronto Maple Leafs, Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Vikings who all can never seem to win the big one in a long team. Other teams I like are NFC North rivals the Chicago Bears who I'm rooting for in the Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers who are my original home state team and who I take a lot of good natured grief from family and friends who want them to be my favorite team, sorry , but I still like and respect their team especially when they win. Other teams I like are the Canadian hockey teams because that is where the core of hockey fans is and finally the Texas Trio of the Rangers, Astros and Mavericks who have a good chance to win an NBA championship this year. We'll see. Well I hope you have enjoyed looking at my sports teams this week. We'll watch the Super Bowl and see what happens and we'll talk soon. I'm also excited to see how Wisconsin men's basketball does as they push for a possible #1 ranking and the NCAA tournament in March.Anyways have a great and productive day friends and we'll talk soon. Best wishes always. Fenfan67

Hello Dear Sports Friends,

Today I'm going to try something different and we'll see how it goes. An open letter to Steelers coach Bill Cowher which he'll never probably read of course, but we'll see how it goes and let me know what you think of it and my blogs as always. As always best wishes and have a great and productive day.

Dear Bill Cowher,

I am a great Steelers fan for over 30 years and I am so happy that you have been able to continue that tradition the last 15 years and I am so happy that you and the organization were finally able to win a fifth Super Bowl last year and get that #### of your back so to speak.

Anyways I know this season has been a tough season with injuries, key losses not to mention the hangover that comes with being a Super Bowl Champion. None of these are excuses of course and shouldn't be taken so, but that is the way it's worked out and while we're all grateful for the Super Bowl championship, now all we can do is look to finishing this season and going forward with the future.

Now we have all heard rumors and we know how far blown those go sometimes that this might be your last season and that you might retire to North Carolina where you recently bought a home to retire or coach elsewhere. Now I have said I would be happy when you finally won the Super Bowl which you have and you can do anything you want of course. But before that I would like to reflect a few points about your destiny in Pittsburgh.

You took over the head coach from Chuck Noll when you were 34 years old in 1992 and you have had mostly great success in the 15 years since. As for the future if you want to I would like to see you coach in Pittsburgh another 10 years so you could surpass Chuck Noll who had 23 years of service and you would then have about 25 years or so of service and that  would make two Steeler coaches in about 50 years time which is incredible in today's revolving door hiring and firing of coaches, but stability is a trait I've always admired about the Rooney family among others.

Anyways you might or might not win four Super Bowls like Chuck Noll who knows, but if you could win one or two more with Ben Roethlisberger or whoever else might play on the Steelers in the future. Even if you don't win a Super Bowl you have been to two and won one and you have developed a strong legacy as a playoff coach and leader even in a year like this one when the team is down and struggling. But I also know that if you decide to stay the Steelers will quickly rebound to success and that is a part of the stability I talked about earlier. Anyways I just want to say happy holidays and best wishes with your choices in the future wherever they may be and thank you again for all your hard work and success in bringing a Super Bowl trophy back to Pittsburgh and as I said I look forward to hearing about you in the future whatever it is that you do. Take care and best of luck from all the great fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers.