That's right, a never-before-done (that I can find) Top 10 list!  What are the top 10 "top 10's" that football fans debate???

10.  Top 10 running backs.  Everyone loves to argue running backs, right - which is better, the smaller, elusive, slasher type or the big bowling-ball thunder guy?  Who's the best running back ever?  This is the 10th top 10 in my list because there simply aren't that many current RBs out there with a pedigree like an Emmitt, Barry or even Walter.

9.  Top 10 Best Defense Ever.  Oh, this is a big one around year, because usually the Steelers are at the top of that list.  But it's a good argument - comparing stats, players, and the style (and era) of play.  It's all moot, of course, because defense doesn't play defense, but it's fun to debate.

8.  Top 10 Best Super Bowls.  This too gets higher billing these days because the last two Super Bowls are now arguably the 1-2 punch of great games.  In 42, the big underdog won complete with the sensational, amazing, almost-indescrible catch by David Tyree, and in 43 the twin comebacks first by Arizona then Pittsburgh to win it made for an exciting game that exceeded all expectations.

7.  Top 10 Best Linebackers.  NFL fans love their big-hitting, tooth-jarring hits, and what better way to celebrate that with a top 10 list of the best linebackers of all time!  When you get guys like Butkus, Huff, Lambert, Singletary and Taylor, you have a great list and a fun debate.

6.  Top 10 Best Coaches.  While Lombardi is almost always number one on the list and in your hearts, a list containing the likes of Noll, Shula, Landry, and Walsh make for a pleasant diversion.

5.  Top 10 Greatest Nicknames.  Take your pick - team edition or player edition.  But any guy named Night Train has to be as scary as my personal favorite nickname - The Purple People Eaters!

4.  Top 10 Best Wide Receivers.  Why is this so high?  On the field right now we have Randy Moss.  Jerry Rice is recently retired (relatively speaking).  And there's a long, LONG list of fantasic receivers so the battle of inclusion/exclusion may get more debate than the actual ranking. 

3.  Top 10 Best Draft.  The gold standard is the 1974 Steelers draft - only 4 Hall of Fame players.  But - making this more interesting, which is better overall, the 74 Steelers draft or the 83 quarterbacks drafted?  Hmmm...now opening this to debate makes this far more interesting doesn't it?

2.  Top 10 Best Plays Ever.  Whether you're looking follies (Marshall runs the wrong way), excellence (Montana to Clark's "The Catch") or sheer disbelief (Immaculate Reception and the Music City Miracle) you have people that will debate which was the greatest play ever until time immemorial.

1.  Top 10 Best Quarterbacks.  Man, people love this one.  Since the QB is the most important player on the offense - some might argue the entire field - this one gets a ton of attention.  Plus, in this era we've seen three guaranteed lock HOFers on the field (Favre, Manning, Brady) and plenty of others that are awfully good in their own right.  You've gotta begin asking now - where does Favre, Manning and Brady end up on that particular list (if they make it at all?)?

And a bonus Top 10!

What are the top 10 ways of avoiding work?  #1 in a bullet - writing up the Top 10 "Top 10s" in football, of course!

I love this argument - which conference is better, the AFC or NFC?

Let's start at the bottom.  Who has the weakest teams?

AFC - Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs
NFC - Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams

OK, so the Raiders are a chinese firedrill team, and the Chiefs are rebuilding.  I put them here because I don't think that Matt Cassel alone will lift up this team.  I'm thinking a 4-12 record is dead in their sights.  The same is true for Oakland - that's a team that as long as Al Davis has any say in football operations will be awful.  The Lions, coming off their 0-16 season, cannot possibly be worse.  But they've made some decent moves, and one has to think they'll earn 2, 3 maybe 4 wins this year.  The Rams may be the NFL's worst team - they seem to be in a state of complete disarray.

What about teams that are a step above awful?

AFC - Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills
NFC - San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Maybe this isn't fair to any of these five teams - especially perhaps Seattle since they were so devastated by injuries last year.  But the fact remains that either their moves won't pay off for another year, they've taken a step backwards, or I'm just doubting their abilities to win consistently.  The funny thing is that all 5 of these teams are capable of winning games.  They have some real talent on the team.  They have some good situations - coaches, owners, players - but there is always a group that simply can't get it done.  You're expecting 5-7 wins here.

Dead-range average

AFC - Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets
NFC - Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers

Even among these teams you can see windows of opportunity opening or closing.  In the AFC, the Texans, Bengals and Jets all have windows that appear to be opening.  They're not there yet, or their past performance doesn't allow me to put them higher.  With any of these teams, with the right mixture of injuries or overachievement you could see playoff potential.  But they are yet a step behind one, two or even three teams in their own division, and in that situation you can't project them much higher than this.

Above the line - but with a closing window of opportunity

AFC - Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars
NFC - Arizona Cardinals, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys

These teams all were in the playoffs last year, or competed to the end-stage of the season to get there.  My look is that their core talent isn't quite there (say in Miami) or their core talent is beginning to show age (Indy) or they've never quite lived up to expectations (New Orleans, Carolina, Dallas).  The Jags are an interesting team here - one that's probably good enough to compete for a playoff despite a tough division and conference - but one that has such a razor thin line between success and failure that you could easily see them bumped off and out.  The Cowboys are in the same position.  The Giants will be a very strong team again, and the Eagles improved.  The Cowboys jettisoned TO, but will that be enough?

Above the line - with an opening window of opportunity

AFC - Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins
NFC - Atlanta Falcons, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles

Now it gets interesting.  These are all teams that have many, many pieces in place.  They are teams that had a great year last year (or at least a pretty good one) and few if any expect them to take steps backwards.  Philly has the strangest situation with an aging QB, but with the additional weapons he got this year, and his maturation into a top QB, you can't hardly think the Eagles won't be there for a few more years yet.  The Titans will continue to be strong, and the Ravens are probably the fasting-coming AFC team out there.  The Falcons, Vikings and Bears all have extreme reasons for hope with their improvements (or possible ones).

At the top and determined to stay there

AFC - New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC - New York Giants

Call these three teams 1a, 1b and 1c.  The Steelers have the best defense.  The Patriots should have the best offense.  The Giants should have the combination of both.  All three teams have the best possible situations in ownership, football operations, coaching and talent.  All three teams have won or been in Super Bowls recently, and all three teams are ready to tackle the challenge of an upcoming season.  No other teams in either conference look ready to unseat these three simply because these three have elements none of the others have. 

What I really think is that the scales are tipping slightly towards the NFC.  For many years in the AFC, there were one or two truly top teams and then about eight that annually competed for playoff spots.  The competition was fierce among those teams.  Now I think that same situation is emerging in the NFC.  The AFC will likely be dominated by five teams - The Pats, Steelers, Ravens, Chargers and Titans.  The Colts and Jags are next in line probably - with the Dolphins an outside chance.  The others are facing long odds because of extremely strong divisions (AFC East, North, South) or because the rest of the division sucks or the teams are falling apart (AFC West).  In the NFC, the Giants have the best overall team, but Philly is chasing them down.  The NFC South could be fascinating - arguably perhaps the most talented division assuming both the Saints and Panthers play up to their expectations.  The West could be topsy-turvy if the Seahawks really rediscover their past form - they could easily challenge the Cardinals for the top slot.  So it's close, but I think that this year the NFC begins to slowly emerge as the better, more competitive of the two conferences.  The AFC is growing more top-heavy by the year, and that kills some of the interest - especially if both New England and San Diego run away with their divisions as I expect them to do.  The South and North will have the tightest battles which very well may last to the season's end.

The excitement will slowly build in Pittsburgh from now until the first day of training camp.  Some fans will no doubt be in a frenzy by the time that camp opens, eagerly awaiting the day that the season kicks off and they can begin their trash talking once again.  The NFL "silly season" is always the first four games - someone will jump out to a 3-1 record that will be a total surprise but then fall back to earth later.  One team will start 2-2 and all the locals will be going utterly insane, but that team will recover and make the playoffs.  That's what always happens, right?

Some things that I think will bear watching in Pittsburgh this year.

1.  Is the offensive line simply that bad (again)?  The OL was an oft-maligned unit last year despite the success of the team.  How many sacks are directly attributable to Ben himself is somewhat debatable, but there's no doubt he contributes to his own high sack total.  Yet the line played poorly overall, and the fact that the Steelers were so far down the list in terms of running game production speaks to those problems.  The Steelers drafted three lineman this year, including an interesting pick with Penn State's A. Q. Shipley.  Undersized for a center, but athletic and very smart, I think the Steelers believe he may be a high value player at some point.  The line - if totally healthy - isn't one that generates a lot of respect.  But they've shown that at times they can get the job done.  Whether they can over a long season will be the single biggest question about this team.

2.  Super Bowl hangover part 2?  The Pats were the last team to win back-to-back Super Bowls.  They seem to be able to cast off the effects of the prior year, concentrate and win in the succeeding year.  I believe that since the core of talent that has won their second Super Bowl returns, they'll be better able to avoid the Super Bowl hangover.  So far Ben's stayed away from his motorcycle this summer, preferring his Porchse instead.  He's older, wiser, better and entering what has to be the pure prime of his career.  Troy and Hines remain top team leaders, and they'll keep their respective units in line.  The Steelers recognize that every single team they will face this year will be up for the game, looking to knock them off.  But the Steelers character guys on the team will likely ensure that they remain very competitive.

3.  Can Mike Tomlin continue improving?  It was something to see, how Tomlin's maturation process from his first to second year went so quickly and dramatically.  He was really only outcoached once.  His message seems to resonate with his team, and even his post Super Bowl comments suggested that he had already put the win behind him and was now looking to the next year.  Going from "who the hell is he?" to attaining near "legend" status in Pittsburgh took all of two years.  Success does that.  But locals demand success, and Tomlin will have to devise a way to craft a new message this year that continues to resonate with his team.  I think he'll do that.

4.  Willie Parker is 28.  He had a bad year last year due primarily to injury but in part due to sub-par offensive line play.  The word is that Parker has returned to the training form that got him the free agent contract with the Steelers in the first place.  This will be an interesting year.  Conventional wisdom regarding backs is that by the age of 28 they have already started the decline.  By age 31 they are mere shells of their former selves in terms of production.  Parker is likely hoping to get another big contract, and will need a "career" year to assist his argument.  But entering the latter stages of his career will work against him, and the notoriously careful Rooneys will not overspend on Parker especially if Mendenhall works into the game a lot this coming season and is productive.  It will be an interesting year, and Parker deserves some extra attention this year.

5.  Ben Roethlisberger's last post-Super Bowl off-season consisted of trips to Switzerland with his family, a near-fatal motorcycle accident, and emergency appendectomy and a season that was his poorest in terms of production.  This post-season he's been a regular at Pens playoff games, shot an 81 at Bethpage Black on the "Sunday US Open" setup and has been keeping in shape.  A bad season and the taste it left, plus just the usual maturity, have all combined to ensure that he won't have a bad season this year because of poor off-season decisions.  He's entering the prime of his career, and he's such a different quarterback that he defies easy description.  He can run, but doesn't.  He's an adept scrambler, and often times makes his best and biggest plays outside of the pocket and on the run.  Yet he can still throw with accuracy from the pocket.  If his accuracy improves in pure pocket-passing, then he's entered yet another level of skill, and then he would right earn a place among the elite QB discussions.

6.  Lawrence Timmons and Limas Sweed enter their third and second years, respectively.  Timmons has been elevated to starter, and Sweed figures to become the "third" receiver in the 3-wide sets, replacing Nate Washington (departed via free agency).  While both players have high expectations upon them, Timmons has so far been the only one to show really what he's capable of doing.  I think his transition to starter will be almost seamless, and by putting him in there it will take the Steelers linebacking corps to the single best unit in the entire NFL.  For Sweed, his rookie season was generally forgettable.  He didn't dress for the first eight games, and only did so later due to some injuries.  When he was in the game, he made more drops than catches, including the memorable sure-TD drop in the AFCCG.  However, in the eyes of at least this fan, he partially redeemed himself when he ear-holed a Ravens player on a special teams play.  If you can't catch the damn ball, then at least act like Hines Ward and hit the snot out of somebody.  But he'll be expected to contribute this year, and he'd better be prepared for it.

7.  Improvements in the AFC North.  The Ravens, Bengals and Browns have all gotten better in some fashion.  The Bengals had a talented (if character-spare) draft, and their big name stars are working harder than ever this year.  They had an underappreciated defense that slowly got better all year long - a result of some recent good drafts.  If their defense solidifies to within 4 slots of the 16th ranking, the Bengals will be in position to win some games.  Their offense should be dangerous, and putting Coles opposite Ochocinco (I hate writing that, by the way) creates a formidable one-two receiving punch, and a totally healthy Carson Palmer is a dangerous quarterback.  The Ravens lost some key players, and their biggest stars are a year older.  But they again had a highly-regarded draft including picking a cornerstone offensive lineman that very well might start this year.  Ngata is getting better, and anchoring a strong defensive line that protects a great group of LBs.  Ed Reed is still a dominant force in the secondary.  And with a running back by committee approach (all good backs, by the way) plus expectations that Joe Flacco will only improve his play in his second year, the Ravens have the look of a "coming" team.  The Browns defense was simply awful last year and the fact that Romeo Crennell couldn't get his team to play for him probably cost him his job.  They haven't made many splashy moves, but if Brady Quinn begins to show production, then the Browns have a prolific offense that can move the ball against any defense.  Eric Mangini will probably shore up the defense along with Bob Ryan, and like Cincinnati, if that unit improves from cellar-dwellar to mid-range team, the Browns too will be in a position to win.

8.  The Patriots/Tom Brady factor.  Even with improvements in the AFC North, and facing a supposedly "weaker" division in the NFC North and AFC West (okay...that one is the weakest) the Steelers will likely have to keep pace with the offensive juggernaut that will again be the Patriots.  This is a team that most people expect to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, and the reason for that expectation comes down to Tom Brady.  Without him the Pats were a good 11-5 but missed the playoffs.  With him, they'll be more like 13-3 or 14-2, and in the mix for the AFC's #1 seed.  Getting to the playoffs through Foxboro is not an easy task.  So anyone that thinks the Steelers will walk through the season, the playoffs and into the Super Bowl has to rethink that position.

9.  The Steelers schedule - the 2008 "most difficult" - is now among the easier based upon W/L records of 2008 teams.  Yet I see some trouble.  The Steelers have the first-place record, which pits them against Miami, Tennessee and San Diego.  The NFC North could feature three playoff-competing teams (Minnesota, Chicago and Green Bay).  The AFC West could be a one-horse race now since Denver seems to be disintegrating completely from within.  The Chiefs and Raiders are rebuilding, and while they should be improved (at least KC should be) neither of them are expecting great things this year.  That all being said, it's not an "easy" schedule.  The NFC North teams are getting better, and the first-place teams are all going to be pretty tough.  Don't think it's a cake-walk, and then not playing Baltimore until late in the season will likely create two HUGE games.

10.  Overall, I'd say the outlook for the Steelers is very positive.  Their coaching staff is among the best in the NFL.  Dick LeBeau is the NFL's best defensive coordinator - and if Jim Johnson doesn't recover from cancer (which by the way I hope and pray that he does) - then there isn't a D-coordinator that comes close to LeBeau.  Tomlin's highly regarded - not like Belichick - but has the look of a coach that will taste nothing but success for a long, long time.  The Steelers players are still extremely talented, and having a QB like Roethlisberger pretty much means that the Steelers are almost never out of a game despite the score and time left.  Barring injury (of course and as usual), they should be in the mix for the AFC title this year once again, and easily have the talent to win another Super Bowl.

Tonight, the 2008-2009 season will officially and finally close.  It's been a long run, since the opening days of training camp in September, to the trip to Sweden to start the season, to the first-half morass in which the Pens were ensnared, to the hiring of Bylsma and the trades of Kunitz and Guerin.  It's been a long, challenging road.  Three tough series, the second-rounder being the hardest and most exciting - and nerve-wracking.  Another Finals series against the powerful Detroit Red Wings, and this time they've pushed the Wings to a seventh and deciding game.

In many ways, this rematch feels correct.  Both teams are laden with the best, or among the best, at their positions.  Both teams have goalies that are ho-hum during the year (leading to constant questioning), who then turn it on in the late season and playoffs.  The Pens have Crosby and Malkin, probably the 1-2 centers in the NHL.  Detroit counters with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, and if they're not 3-4 then I don't know who is.  The Wings play better defense, the Pens the better offense.  The Wings have perennial Norris Trophy winner Nik Lidstrom, and there's no better defenseman in the league.  It's not bone-crushing hits that makes him so good - it's his intelligence and sense for the game, the way that he denies ice and passing lanes with his big body and active stick.  It's guys like Darren Helm who (oh, by the way) scare the HELL out of me every time he touches the puck.  He's easily the fastest guy on the ice.  It's Cleary and Holstrom and yes, even Hossa.  The Wings are loaded, and they've had a dominant run for the past few years.  This rematch was necessary, and should Pittsburgh find a way to win it, you'll have to look at this as a passing of the torch. 

For Detroit, their season has been quiet but steady - another 50-win, 100+ point season.  Ho-hum.  Mike Babcock barely needs to coach this team - with such an experienced and deep group, they self-police better than he can.  Yes, he's doing the matchups and exploiting the weaknesses, but actually coaching the team, working with the team?  He doesn't need to do much because they all do it.  All of them, from the newest, youngest winger who sits back and watches and learns to Lidstrom and Datsyuk and Zetterberg who lead by example.  Maybe they don't have players on their team that are stuck in front of cameras every night, but they are super stars nevertheless.

Detroit will hold all of the advantages tonight.  They've earned it with their better regular season.  History works against Pittsburgh - they've never fared well at the Joe in this or last year.  They're trying to be the first team in over 30 years to not only come back to win the Cup after starting the series in an 0-2 hole, but also attempting to win a seventh and deciding game on the road.  If Bob Smizek of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is correct, then the last away team to win a seventh and final game of any kind in any sport is the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.  Yes, it can be done.  Can, and will, are vastly different words. 

Pens and Wings fans will be nervous this evening.  But tomorrow, both fans can reflect on a great season.  One group of fans will see their season tinged with a negative ending, and that will linger for some time while the other will celebrate.  The Stanley Cup is the most difficult trophy to win in all of sports.  It's the most cherished trophy, and winning it requires more than just dedication and skill.  Because it's so difficult to win it, the Cup represents all the other things that go into winning a championship.  The time, dedication, pain and other things.  Tonight one team's captain will joyously lift the Cup over his head and experience those feelings.  His heart will pound and his arms will be tired, yet that Cup will be lifted aloft as if it weighed a feather.  It will be his for a period of time, and he's earned that right.  He'll turn and hand it to teammates, and then they'll skate around the ice, celebrating.  Role players get a chance to hold that Cup, and the joy they'll feel won't be any more or less than that of the Captain. 

Will it be Marian Hossa?  He, who opted to sign with Detroit believing that the Wings gave him the best opportunity to win a Cup?  He will find redemption and joy, but perhaps more relief than anything else. 

Will it be the NHL's wonderkids Sid and Geno?  The NHL would dearly love that, because then they get to market the two kids even more heavily, and showing pictures of Crosby with that Cup will be great for them.

Will it be Bill Guerin, who won the Cup with the Devils in 1995, and hasn't been back since.  His mid-season trade from the hell that is the New York Islanders to the Cup-winning Penguins would be a stunning turn of events.

Will Nik Lidstrom lift the Cup again, and in so doing cement his legacy as one of the all-time greatest defenseman to ever play the game?

Or will it be one of the two goalies, guys who have played bad games and given up soft goals, and then the next night played out of this world hockey? 

Tonight at 8:15, the puck will drop.  The 60 minutes of hockey will commence.  I can hardly wait.  I get the feeling that it will be a close game.  I don't think the Pens will be in awe of the JLA any more.  I don't think Fleury will have a bad game.  So that means these two teams will simply have to outwork the other.  Win or lose, in my opinion, that's how it's supposed to be. 

GO PENS!!!

On a night like last night, not too many people would be out and about.  Driving up to Slippery Rock Creek was done through a steady rain.  The air temperatures were cool - only in the 50s.  I had to stop at home to pick up warmer gear because I'd only brought my lightweight, short sleeved summer gear.  When I got to the bridge, there were only a small group of people milling around, and two fisherman down on the water's edge.  The usual chaos of running shuttle wasn't necessary, so we were swiftly and easily packed up and on the road to the put in.

The Slip was low - about 1".  The rain fell gently but steadily, and the air temperatures didn't feel too bad all of a sudden.  We floated, paddling lightly if at all, discussing trips, rivers, drops, stupid moves and smart moves.  Local rivers like the Upper Yough, Cheat and Gauley were discussed, along with questions like which was more difficult, the Lower Yough or the Slip.  It was a very laid-back trip, without any whooping or hollering.  Just five boats, slowly meandering down the river.  The drops went quickly and without any problems.  We surfed at Ranger Station for a while, and then surfed the main wave at the Rapid Below Ranger Station (descriptive name, huh?).  I ran the right lines, tighter lines that required a creek-type move to exit the big eddy.  Basically it was to do an ultra-quick ferry into a tight channel of fast-flowing water between two rocks.  But it emptied into the main flow, and it's fun and quick.  Only at high water does that line become far more...challenging.  The top part of Airport rapid was it's usual low level run - very tight and constricted.  I ran the left line, which requires a double-move into the eddy and then across a dynamic channel of fast-flowing water into a larger eddy behind the river-center rock.  I tried the attainment move in my playboat, but didn't make it.  I didn't paddle aggressively enough, and then floated through the run-out of Pre-Flight backwards.  Not my preferred method of running that rapid, but not one that gave me too much pause, either.  The Hole at Airport was small and easy.  Martin went in there and threw some ends down, but then Martin can thrown down ends in pretty much any hole on that river, and along any rock on that river.  He's just a far better boater.  Plain and simple. 

Through the Mile I decided to work the lines hard.  The Slip Clinic is this coming weekend, and I wanted to work on my technique.  In the top drop of Triple Drop, I did about seven eddy moves, working laterally across the channel from the left and right-side eddies.  This was done without too much trouble, and zero fanfare.  I just did it; I needed the work.  At the second drop, I got into Martin's Eddy, and zipped out easily as well.  The second drop was it's usual low-water style - bigger waves, deeper drops but still basically nothing but splashing water.  The Third Drop was small - I tried to surf but it didn't hold me at all. 

At Fish Ladder I did the same thing, working left to right, and then into the tight, small river-center channel that's behind a large but sloping rock.  Making that kind of move - basically sliding down a steep, quick slide backwards into a boiling eddy - used to scare the hell out of me.  Now it's simply a move - nothing more or less.  Granted, low water makes that move several degrees of difficulty easier, but even at higher water the move is there and it's relatively simple to do.  It's on bigger water like the Lower Yough's Cucumber or Dartmouth where making that same move is far more difficult.  Anyway, I ran that, and then the tight creek-line on the right in the bottom drop of Fish Ladder.  And then, that was basically that.  The Last Rapid run was done on the extreme left at the top to go over the pourover and through the hole at the bottom just for fun.

What was most remarkable about that trip though had nothing to do with being on the water.  As we were changing into our dry clothes, the sky was darkening with the coming of sunset.  The low, gray clouds were still spitting very light rain consistently.  It created a sense of quiet lushness in the steep gorge, and there, looking downstream, you could gaze upon the quietly running water, the deep green of the trees and in some of the small valleys that are carved into the side of the gorge walls, the mist hanging just at the tops of the trees.  It was a serene sight, and was a perfect match for the mood of the day.  It was the best kind of natural beauty nature can offer, and making it better was the lack of crowds and the quietness of the night.  Who else but whitewater boaters would be out on such a night? 

I can't help but admire nature at times like that.  There was nothing all that special about it.  Slippery Rock Gorge is not so different from the New River Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania or the Youghiogheny Gorge except in dimension.  The green trees, the river, the wet rocks - all of those things are found in any steep whitewater run.  It's just that the moment was perfect.  It was a moment of solitude, of profound quiet, and the feelings I have when I'm immersed in that surrounding.  Pictures don't do it justice; you simply have to be there to understand.