Games without frontiers, war without tears

A mixed bag from all of my teams over the last few days to report on.

Arsenal, of course, got thumped. We didn't take our chances, momentum shifted yada yada yada. It didn't help that Arsenal old boy Adebeyor stomped on Van Persie and anybody else he came close to in a red shirt. And in a disgusting display he scored and raced down to the Arsenal away supporters section at the opposite end of the ground to celebrate. What a jerk!! We'll move on...Rochdale had a good 2-1 win. Wahoo!!

The All Blacks, of course, got thumped. I had an idea we would. This is not a good year for us - the only saving grace is that we beat the Australians and retain the Bledisloe Cup. I would much rather we win this than the tri-nations. The Jarpies are definitely the best in the world at the moment. This is painful to write. We'll move on...

The Pittsburgh Steelers ground out a win to start their season as I wrote about last time. Amazingly the San Francisco 49ers also won and so did the Seattle Seahawks (I keep an eye on them for Clay). Wow!! The 49ers were playing this year's Superbowl finalists so it was a very encouraging win. Jesse, Michael and Fanfa will be excited no doubt.

Love and peace and hup hup - Wozza

Go the Steelers and Santonio Holmes

Wow! The superbowl has been and gone and I'm still buzzing with shock. The game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals went to script - for three quarters The Steelers were grinding out a win, up 20 points to 7. They had stiffled the one potent weapon the Cardinals possess - wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (remember I told you he can catch anything right?), and I was worried!! I watched all the play-off games and I knew a comeback was a-coming and that 13 points wasn't enough. And then the 4th quarter...and the Larry Fitzgerald show took over and the Cardinal defence stepped up...and the Steelers were in trouble with less than 2 minutes to go (down 23 to 20)...and I was on the floor in front of the TV begging for a momentum shift and a Steeler win. It was 35 seconds to go and I was saved by Santonio Holmes.



Santonio Holmes is heading my inspiration list - not for this spectacular, miraculous catch to win the game for the MIGHTY STEELERS but for the last two plays in the sequence including the catch. The quarter-back (Ben Roethlisberger) threw a perfect pass into the left corner. Santonio Holmes leapt high - but the ball sped through his hands. The Steeler fans and players watched as, maybe, the game was lost in that non-grab. The next play after this bitter disappointment was again to feature Holmes - this time on the right hand corner and surrounded by THREE Cardinal defenders. The throw had to be high (it was), fast (it was), and pin-point/centimetre perfect (it was), and the catch had to be held (it was), and the receiver had to stay inbounds - that is he had to touch the ground with BOTH feet AFTER the catch (he did).

Wow. The guts of the play-call, the throw, and the catch was amazing. I couldn't speak - the shock of the moment is still with me. Steelers win! Holmes is my hero!