Steel Curtain drops ...

The Steel Curtain dropped on Jake Plummer - and turned him into Jake the Snake of old ... two interceptions, and two lost fumbles coupled with some clever playcalling (Ken Wisenhunt's stock is on the rise!), and some accurate passing by Big Ben - means that the Pittsburgh Steelers are Super Bowl bound ... and shall meet the Seattle Seahawks who had a stellar game as they beat the Carolina Panthers at home.

I almost got the score prediction right ... i had picked 31-18, while it ended up being 34-17, with Ben passing for two and running for another score. Now, you can go to Pittsburgh, stop by Primanti's on Forbes Ave., and ask for a double quarter pounder Roethlisburger (with a veggie soy patty please, we are desis!) without any shame whatsoever. They will serve it up for you with a biggie sized fries and deliver it in a Bus ... which will probably get decommisioned after Super Bowl Sunday in a couple of weeks ... yeah at least all indications point to Jerome Bettis retiring after the Super Bowl this year, and would be certainly a rather cool way to finish a career (esp. after almost turning the goat on the fumble against Indianapolis!)

Some interesting tidbits about Championship Sunday (though not all about the Championship games necessarily):
* Seattle was ranked #1, and Pittsburgh ranked #6
* Pittsburgh - first #6 team to reach the Super Bowl
* Pittsburgh beat #1 Indy, #2 Denver, and #3 Cincinnati - all on the road to reach the SuperBowl
* Both Seattle and Pittsburgh scored 34 points
* Microsoft's Paul Allen owns the Seahawks ... (and the Portland Trailblazers, why is this relevant - to be revealed in a few moments)
* Lost in the din of the Seahawks win - Seattle Supersonics beat the Phoenix Suns 152-149. If they had infact beaten the Trailblazers, then Paul Allen's Seattle team would have won and his basketball team would have lost to Seattle - both on the same day!
* The collision between Nick Goings and Lofa Tutupu - that left Goings rather woosy and shaken up ... certainly the type that can do some serious brain damage!!
* Another point lost - Kobe scored 81!! RIDICULOUS!
* All 3 unbeatens in college basketball (Pitt, Duke and Florida) lost on the same day (against St. Johns., Georgetown and Tennessee respectively)
* Rahul Dravid hits back to back centuries - if only the butthead Saurav had agreed to open, he might have been the one takking the laurels instead
* Last but not the least, the Orissa Steelers (yeah thats right, there are steel plants in Orissa too, you know!) won the Premier Hockey League (Div I), finishing ahead of the second place Chennai Veerans! Rediff says - "New entrants Orissa showed nerves of steel to come back from 2-1 arrears and brush aside the challenge of Imphal Rangers 3-2 in the last league match on Sunday." - how very true - nerves of steel indeed :)

And last, but not the least are the results of the ESPN SportsNation poll about the Super Bowl:

1) Which team will win Super Bowl XL?
40.4% Steelers will win a close game
28.5% Seahawks will win a close game
23.5% Steelers will win easily
7.5% Seahawks will win easily
Total Votes: 74,008

So, almost 69% think the Steelers will win - sorry Ben, cant play the "nobody thinks we can win" card again - most people think you are talking crap anyway. Yet, its been fun watching them take down the big guns ... I think its time I put some trust in them and take them as my pick ... anyways -Go Steelers-
p.s there have been too many sports dominated posts - maybe i should call it SportsCenter :)