MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Everyone has their drawers in a bunch because it is being reported that Bill Belichick isn’t going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As though there aren’t enough things in the world these days to be outraged about. This is what happens when it’s so cold and there’s too…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The Pittsburgh Steelers, team president Art Rooney II and general manager Omar Khan went George Costanza-opposite on themselves in hiring Mike McCarthy last week to be the team’s new head coach. For those who are not familiar with George Costanza (is that even possible?), his famous “opposite” realization from the…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Snowed in? Too cold for you outside? Or do you just want to stay inside and consume all of the food and snacks you bought at the market over the weekend to prepare for being snowed in for four weeks? Help is on the way, as pitchers and catchers report…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was announced on Tuesday that Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and will join slugging infielder Jeff Kent for enshrinement this summer. Given they were likely the top center fielders of their era,…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The biggest farce (scam?) in sports is how, when and why Big Brother in NFL Central Officiating Command decides to get involved or refuses to get involved, who Big Brother actually is and how far up – or down – the food chain he or she actually is. The entire…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The NFL coaching cycle geared up to full berserk this week with the firing of John Harbaugh in Baltimore and the resignation of Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, the league’s two longest-tenured coaches. With the word that Harbaugh is a done deal to take over the New York Giants, that leaves…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Okay, so much for hunches. Clearly, I was wrong – the Pittsburgh Steelers lost at home Monday night to the Houston Texans, 30-6, to extend their playoff losing streak to seven. But I was also right. The Texans’ defense makes them so much better than any of us outside of…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports On the day he was announced as the unanimous National League Cy Young Award winner, Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes used the moment to shoot down any talk that he was interested in leaving Pittsburgh. Skenes, who is under team control for the rest of the decade, said a report…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports If it’s true John Harbaugh planted his flag or chose to die on his shield for his offensive and defensive coordinators Todd Monken and Zach Orr, then somewhere in his heart he was willing to leave the Baltimore Ravens, because he ended up falling on his sword if he was…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The Pittsburgh Steelers opened as a three-point underdog to the Houston Texans for Monday night’s NFL wild-card playoff game in Pittsburgh. While the Steelers have been rather underwhelming and have benefitted this season (December 7 in Baltimore to be precise) from help from above, if I were a betting man,…
