You may have noticed our collective giving-up a couple months ago. I’d be lying if I said the Steelers didn’t have anything to do with my lack of ambition, and I can only assume that bad showings by the Yankees, Red Sox, and all teams Seattle did the same for the rest of the crew. Still, something in me snapped the other day, and I decided to pick the banner up and run with it again, all be it likely for a very, very short distance. To wit, I’d like to take a look at three of my brave prognostications from SoC, and see how I did on the whole soothsayer thing:

1. If you’d be so kind as to give me half credit for this one, I’d appreciate it- I predicted that the impending arrival of Evgeni Malkin would result in an unbeatable shootout squad for the Penguins. The Penguins’ 2-5 record in shootouts would say I was wrong, but a closer look at the prediction said they’d be unbeatable from 2007-2011. Counting last night’s loss, the Penguins are 0-1 in shootouts in 2007, so I’m kinda still on the clock. Plus, Jordan Staal, Malkin and Sid the Kid have indeed blossomed into the best young centers in the league. So what do you say? Half credit? Quarter credit?

2. I thought it was a safe bet that Steve McNair would get hurt and the Ravens would go 8-8 under the “leadership” of Kyle “Orton” Boller. Um, whoops?

3. Finally, there was the week I decided to predict again that McNair would get hurt and Baltimore would go 8-8. So I was twice as wrong as I thought. Oh, well.

You know who I feel worst for, with the Steelers pitiful title defense thusfar? Me. I thank Cory for putting on a polite face, and not gloating too much, but frankly, this is what Steelers fan deserve. We travel the country and ruin other people’s home games. We get a bunch of favorable calls in Super Bowls and deny a great city and their great fans the same joy we got to experience four times in the 70’s.

So from here on out, I’m a Penguins and Panthers guy. I mean, hot damn! Have you seen the Malkin-Crosby-Armstrong line lately? They’re world beaters! And Pitt starts the season ranked 5th with a game scheduled against top 10 Wisconsin and several other not-boring non-conference games as well.

As for the NFL, I’m still going to care, but not about the Steelers. You know how they say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference? It’s true. And I don’t care what the Steelers do the rest of the way.

Note for readers who aren’t on the Steelers: This is just an attempt to write some bulletin board material to get my boys pumped up. If they feel disrespected they play better, and surely me disrespecting them will be the final straw. I fully expect them to read this post, cut it out, pin it up in their locker room, and win their next 14 games, including SBXL1.

This is why October is the greatest month:  all four major sports are going on at once.

Sure the NBA is preseason and sure baseball has a game every other day and sure hockey sucks.  But that’s pretty cool, don’t ya think?

No?  You don’t?  Oh well.  Tough for you.

• The Tampa Bay quarterback who led the Bucs to a thrilling 14-13 victory over the Bengals on Sunday was Bruce Gradkowski, not Brad as originally reported.

• The phrase “thank you, thank you, thank you brad gradkowski” should have read “Thank you, thank you, thank you Mike Carey!” for his inexcusable roughing the passer call that gave the Bucs a late first down they clearly didn’t deserve and contributed directly to their win.

• A more general correction than the others, I’d like to retract all statements that made it seem like I respect or fear the Bengals. They are not deserving of fear or respect. They are, and remain, the Bengals.

• In my Penguins On Way To Ontario Via Portable Information Superhighway, I mentioned that I was the only SoC’er who liked hockey. That sentence should have read “I’m the only person who likes hockey”.

• Less a correction than premature gloating, I called in my Week One Review On Computer post that Steve McNair would get hurt, Kyle Boller would go in, and the Ravens would end up 8-8.

• Turns out people do care about baseball in the autumn. It’s just such a foreign notion to a Pirates fan that it took on a mythical quality, and I was more inclined to believe in Poseidon (the god of the sea, not the movie) than think I’d be interested in baseball in October. Enter Jim Leyland’s Detroit Tigers. How about that AL central?

I’m (almost) now officially torn between two loyalties. The dude who owns RiM (BlackBerry) is about to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now I know I’m the only SoC’er who actually cares about hockey, and I think I’m the only SoC’er who has a BlackBerry, so my situation may not draw much empathy, but the fact that RiM is based in Waterloo, Ontario (near Hamilton, a town that has been actively courting an NHL franchise for years) sounds dangerously similar to death knells for hockey in Pittsburgh. I don’t want to hate BlackBerry for moving my team, especially since that hate would come with a $200 early termination fee, and I don’t want to hate the Waterloo Formerly Known As Penguins, because they have a nucleus of young talent that would make any modestly insane hockey fan orgasm. I want to keep my team, and I want to keep my 8700g. So, Mr. BlackBerry, please don’t move the Penguins to Ontario. Please. I’ll buy another BlackBerry, if that helps. And I’ll give it to the first SoC’er who joins me in my crusade.

“He was our gold diamond…This is pure sports terrorism” - Gennady Velichkin, General Director of Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Evgeni Malkin’s Russian Super League team.

Velichkin promised to sue for just compensation, and aims to hold up Malkin’s “defection” as long as possible.

He also said*, “Remember, we still have nuclear missiles aimed at Pittsburgh.”

*No he didn’t

The Penguins will be unbeatable at Ice Penalty Shot Sport from 2007 through 2011. How do I know this? Evgeni Malkin plans to play in Pittsburgh next season. That gives the pens three of the best offensive prospects in the league (see also: Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal) and the best young goalie to boot. I predict a 7-0 record in shoot outs next season. To compliment their 20-48 overall record.

Related: I really miss the nine-category standings structure of the NHL circa-2003 where you got 2 points for a win, 2 for an overtime win, 1 for a tie, 1 for an overtime loss, none for a regulation loss, 1 for style, 1 for good measure and 1 for “shits and giggles”. Any sport who’s games have twelve possible outcomes is alright in my book.