Sixteen Pittsburgh Steelers Bars

Week 14, Steelers 6 Browns 13 @ Mulholland's

2009-12-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

Week 13, Steelers 24 Raiders 27 @ Croxley Ales

2009-12-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

Week 12, Steelers 17 Ravens 20 @ Angry Wade's

2009-12-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

Week 11, Steelers 24 Chiefs 27 @ Rhythm & Booze

2009-11-23T22:18:00.002-05:00

Week 10, Steelers 12 Bengals 18 @ Turtle Bay NYC

2009-11-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

Week 9, Steelers 28 Broncos 10 @ Dram Shop

2009-11-15T10:01:00.000-05:00

BYE WEEK

2009-11-09T13:29:00.002-05:00

Week 6, Steelers 27 Browns 14 @ Reservoir Bar

2009-10-22T13:36:00.184-04:00

So with the Steelers at 3-2 heading in, this division game against the Browns was looking really important. After last week's close call against the Lions, there was a definite sense of urgency in the air, as well. I figured that it was time to bring out the big guns and head out to a place where the Black and Gold faithful really get out to represent. The thing is, even though I believe that any bar where they're showing the Steelers game can become a Steelers bar, there's nothing quite like going someplace where all of the fans are there with a common purpose. So even though I don't go to a full on Steelers bar every week, and even though the objective of these articles is more about exploring a variety of sports bars than strictly going to dedicated Steelers bars every week, I do give special attention to places that put their focus on the Black and Gold. Unfortunately, that often means heading into Manhattan, but the Steelers make that sacrifice well worth it. I figured that a must win game against a division rival was a good time to find one, so I headed out to the Reservoir Bar in Greenwich Village, very close to NYU.
I walked in to the Reservoir bar a couple of minutes after kickoff, and right away you could tell that it was going to be a real Steelers bar experience. I can't say what the crowd is like there on an average day, but it is close to NYU, so I can only assume. Still, on Steeler Sundays, you can be sure that this is no college bar. First of all, the place was packed with black and gold, basically all the way right up to the door. Second, and most importantly, you could tell right away that everyone in there was giving all their attention to the game, where it should be, of course. I was standing just inside the door when I noticed that there were a couple of empty chairs at one of the tables nearby. I asked the people sitting there if they minded if I put my coat down, and they did me one better and asked me to join them. Of course I accepted their offer, but when I sat down they told me that there was one condition: I had to be a Steeler fan. Right away, I could tell that these were my kind of people.

I had heard that the wings at Reservoir Bar were really good, so I was looking forward to my order of ten hot wings. What I hadn't realized was that it only costs about two dollars more to make it an order of twenty, but my new friends at the table said that they weren't hungry for any wings, so it was probably all for the best. Next time, though, why not? I mean, for basically the same price, in what situation is twenty wings not better than ten? I'm sure that you see my point. Either way, considering how crowded the place was, I was happy with the service. It seemed like everyone had a refill whenever they needed one, and the wings came out fairly quickly, hot and fresh. Now, as is the way with these things, because I had heard about how great the Reservoir Bar wings were, my expectations were pretty high going in. Although I wouldn't make a special trip back to the Reservoir Bar just for the wings, if I was there to watch the game I would definitely order them again. The hot wings were hot enough, the wings were pretty crispy, and all in all it was a pretty solid basket of wings.

The Steelers were on just about every TV that I could say, which was impressive, and they even had the sound on. The only problem, and it's a problem that is often common to crowded sports bars, is that there seemed top be a lot of spots that had less than ideal views of the game, and the TV's themselves weren't really that sharp. All together, though, everyone seemed to be able to find a spot where they were comfortable enough to watch the game, which is impressive considering how many Steelers fans the Reservoir Bar manages to fit inside. Things looked even more impressive in the back, which I couldn't even see, let alone sit in, during the game because it was so crowded back there. It looked like some kind of Steelers VIP lounge back there, with lounge seating and a couple of really nice televisions. I'm not sure how early you have to get there, or who you have to know, to get a seat back there, but it definitely seems like it would be worth it. The other thing is that something like comfort, or picture quality of the television, doesn't really matter as much when you're surrounded by a crowd of people every bit as psyched up for the Steelers game as you are. People were genuinely fired up, and everyone in the place was completely into the game. Some sports bars are more like bars that happen to show sports, but the fans at the Reservoir Bar knew why they were there. The crowd alone, in both its size and in the excitement and football awareness of the people there, makes the Reservoir Bar a great place to watch a Steelers game.

None of this would matter without the game, and I was happy with what the Steelers put together. They didn't exactly storm out of the gate and just shut the Browns down, but they did manage to control the tempo of the game, and play the game that they wanted to play. Lately, that's involved a whole lot of passing, and Big Ben definitely delivered on Sunday. Any time that you go over 400 hundred yards passing , you're obviously having an absolutely monster day, and both Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes went over 100 yards receiving. Roethlisberger and Hines could have both had even better days, but I'm still not sure what the refs were thinking when they called that no-catch in the end zone. It's like my dad says, you have guys who basically throw the ball at the pylon while they're diving out of bounds (no offense, Matt Ryan) and that gets called a touchdown, but Hines was practically doing somersaults in the end zone before the ball came loose, and the refs called it no catch.

That call ended up looking important when the Browns came out of the half and quickly got to within a field goal. It was a really good thing that Ben moved them down the field on the very next drive, capped pff with a touchdown by the increasingly impressive (yes, despite the fumble) Rashard Mendenhall, because the game quickly devolved into something that only loosely resembled football from there on out. It was kind of like a game within a game, with the Steelers and Browns competing to see who could turn the ball over the most times, and in the most pathetic ways. Things were looking pretty bad, because it's situations like that that lead to teams suddenly getting back into games and pulling ahead. Luckily, Ryan Clark stepped up and made a huge play down near the end zone, coming up with an interception that brought the chaos to a close.

Although I'm still not happy with a lot of what I saw in the second half, right now it's looking to me like the important thing is that the Steelers got out of there with a win. There's a big stretch coming up, with the Vikings, the bye week, the Broncos, and the Bengals, so it's really important that the Steelers head into a crucial part of their schedule coming off of a win against a division rival. Let's get ready for some serious football in the coming weeks, and let's summarize:

Steelers win (4-2)

Monster passing offense, okay running game, "splash play" second half defense

Wings at Reservoir Bar

70 University Place (10th/11th Street)
Very good wings, okay TV's, okay TV placement, awesome Steelers crowd and game watching environment

Week 5 Steelers 28 Lions 20 @ O'Keefe's Bar & Grill

2009-10-22T13:35:00.183-04:00

So this is shaping up to be one of those "Don't take anything for granted" type of years. Even though the Lions have been the worst team in the NFL for the past 50 years, owing of course to The Curse of Bobby Layne, and even though the Steelers have moved in an exponentially different direction than the Lions in the 51 years since Bobby made his way from the Motor City to the Steel City, this isn't the kind of season where the wins come easy. We all know that anything can happen on any given Sunday, and the Black and Gold seem to have set about proving it this year, but a win against the Lions should be as close to a sure thing as you can find in today's NFL. I mean, the Detroit Lions shouldn't even be in the same league as the Pittsburgh Steelers.Sure enough, though, what could have easily been a pad the stats throw away game got way too interesting, but the Black and Gold managed to hang in there and keep the season heading back in the right direction. In the mean time, I had great game watching experience, courtesy of O'Keefe's Bar and Grill on Court St., right on the border of Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn.

Until this year, O'Keefe's was set up to be the perfect Brooklyn sports bar, but it just couldn't pull the trigger. The space is big enough that it can hold a really good crowd without really jamming people in. There's a big bar, a long row of oversized four person tables, plenty of standing area between the two, and a medium sized dining area in the back. On top of that, the wings are really good. To make it even better, the place is literally crowded with big, new, high definition tv's, everywhere you look. Seriously, it's the kind of place where there isn't a bad seat in the house, and you practically have a private TV no matter where you sit (or stand). The only problem was that, until this season, O'Keefe's couldn't get DirecTV reception. So basically, you would generally walk past, look inside, see the Jets doing there December slde toward irrelevance on 25 beautiful televisions, and keep walking to a place that had the Steelers on their tiny, inferior TV's. It was heartbreaking.

Finally, though, O'Keefe's was able to get an all clear on the Sunday Ticket, so now they've got every game going, and the place is starting to get a pretty good Sunday afternoon crowd, dressed in jerseys from every football city you can think of, cheering on their favorites. Even though the Jets weren't playing, which no doubt made for a little more space inside, I walked in a little late, and so for a second it looked like a couple of other late arriving Steeler fans and I might be standing for the game. Just then, somebody behind me said that we could grab a seat at his table, since he had plenty of room. The other fans passed, waiting for a seat to open up at the bar. I was skeptical at first, too, but I did a quick check of the guy's shirt and saw that it was a Super Bowl XV jersey, so I knew that I could sit down in good company and enjoy the game.

Of course, to get started I ordered some hot wings when the waitress came over, and I wasn't disappointed with what I got. The wings came quickly, hot and fresh out of the kitchen. I've eaten O'Keefe's wings before, so I knew what to expect, and I got eactly what I expected. The wings are nice and big, and they're cooked really well, good and crispy. When I'm given the choice, I always order a place's hot sauce, and that's really the only place that I run into a problem with O'Keefe's wings. They seem to come from the school of thought that says hot sauce equals more sauce, so you end up with that kind of thick, bright red paste on your wings. I'm starting to think that this is just what a Brooklyn (NYC?) style wing really is. One option is to order the wings extra crispy, with the hot sauce on the side. You won't get your wings as spicy this way, but you can be sure that you'll get a good wing to sauce ratio. Really, the wings at O'Keefe's are so big that, even if you get them without the sauce, you can just throw some salt on them and you're basically eating some awesome fried chicken. All told, you'll be happy with the wings at O'Keefe's, and an order of ten does me just fine.

So everything was good early on. The Steelers weren't exactly dominating right out of the gate, but I was confident that they would establish a rhythm. It seems like the the team is really settling into its identity, and we're starting to see the same guys make big contributions week after week. You've really got to be happy with what Rashard Mendenhall has been doing so far. It's funny that a lot of the same people who were calling him a first round bust a couple of weeks ago are now demanding that he gets more touches every game. Personally, I think that the coaching staff is just bringing him along at a pace that they believe will give him the best chance for success, and it seems to be working. Let's not forget that any time that your offense has Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Heath Miller, and Santonio Holmes, you're going to be a serious threat throwing the ball, and I'm very happy with what I've seen of the Steelers' passing offense this season. I'm still confidant that Holmes will be able to put together the kind of offensive production that everyone, including me, was expecting from him this year, but Hines and Heath are really coming up with some huge plays. Those two seem like all around great guys, great teammates, etc., so it's awesome to see them coming through in such a big way this year. You really have to like the fact that, even after what could have been a big pick six interception (which came, incidentally, a couple of playes after a drop that would have been a sure touchdown), Ben came right back out there and led a no-nuddle touchdown drive. We also can't forget everyone's favorite Rookie of the Year candidate, Mike Wallace, who is playing at a level that is higher than just about anyone could have predicted. Anyone, that is, except for Mike Wallace himself. He seems like he's cut right from the traditional Steeler mold: confidant without being arrogant, hardworking, eager for the opportunity to help the team succeed, and humble about the success that he has had so far.

So even though thing were looking good, with the Steelers up pretty good in the second half, things started to get a bit close when the offense seemed to sort of lose direction, and the defense gave up a touchdown drive. The whole time, I was saying that I wasn't worried, and it was the truth. I definitely won't say that I was totally comfortable with what was going on, but I was confident that the Steelers would be able to hold it together. I just couldn't believe that the Lions were going to be able to put together the kind of offense that it would take to come back and take the lead. Sure enough, though, the Lions were actually moving the ball down the field again, but the defense really stepped up and made some huge plays. Just when it was really starting to look really bad, LaMarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, and William Gay (twice) all got to Culpepper, and Ike Tayor sealed the whole thing up with his interception. It was the kind of dominant defensive series that we've been waiting to see from this unit all year, and they really came through at a cruicial moment. When the game was on the line, the Steelers did what we all expect them to do: they stepped up and won the game.

So while it's true that, on any given Sunday, a team like the Lions can get right in there and play with the Steelers, this game made a simple, but important, point. Great teams make great plays at the most important times. In some way, the fact that the Steelers kept their focus and kept battling against a team that nobody expected to have half a chance, even when the game was getting dangerously close, is even more impressive than a huge blowout win. This week showed that, with the level of talent and experience that they have, the Steelers can win even when they aren't playing anywhere close to their best football. Now that we've established that, let's get out there next week and blow the Browns out of the water.

This week, in summary:

Steelers win (3-2)

Good passing offense, good rushing offense, extremely clutch fourth quarter defense

Wings from O'Keefe's Bar & Grill

62 Court St (Livingston/Joralemon), Brooklyn NY
Very good wings, decent Steelers crowd (plus one to the dude who shared his table), perfect TV's, perfect TV placement

Week 4, Steelers 38 Chargers 28 @ Mullanes Bar & Grill

2009-10-22T13:25:00.000-04:00

There are times when the last thing on your mind is a football game. It's true. Funny thing is, sometimes that's when it's best to have something like that to shift your mind to. Plus, I know that I need to stay current on my search for a great spot to catch the Steelers and get some wings, and to do that I need to get out there and report what I find. Also, it was a big game for the Steelers, no doubt, in the sense that they absolutely needed a win to keep the still very young season fom getting away from them. The thing is, Sunday night is often the last time that you want to head out into the night, especially since night seems to be getting here earlier and earlier, but I decided to save a night watching the game with some takeout wings for a little later in the season, when winter has set in and Brooklyn is enjoying its yearly four months of cold wind.

Apparently, though, everyone else decided to pack it in early, because when I got to Mullanes Bar and Grill in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, most of the crowd seemed to have cleared out. That's not to say that the place was empty, but most of the people at the bar seemed to be ending their night rather than beginning it. The weird thing was that, even though there weren't a lot of people in the place, it seemed that every seat at the bar was taken. That was fine by me, though, because I walked into the back dining room, where only a couple of the tables were occupied, grabbed a table directly in front of the big screen, ordered some Buffalo wings from their (limited, but fairly bar standard) menu, and settled in to watch the Steelers do their thing against the Chargers, in prime time no less.
First off, let me say that you have to give these guys credit just for opening up a sports bar/restaurant in Fort Greene. Over the years, more and more people have moved into the area, and more and more businesses have opened to serve them, but there was no place to hang out and catch the game until Mullanes opened. If you wanted a wine bar, or a late night lounge, or an eco-friendly Cuban street food restaurant serving food from a truck, you were covered. If what you wanted, however,was some wings and a place to watch a football game, you were basically out of luck. Unfortunately, although Mullanes has you covered if you want to watch the game, if what you're looking are qualtity wings at a good price, then you're still basically out of luck.

I didn't even look at the menu before I ordered, I just went straight ahead with my standard order of hotwings. To keep the results of my search for great wings and great football as pure as possible, I generally avoid making any special requests when I order my wings. Frankly, the way I see it is, a place with really great wings should just serve you really great wings without any further clarification. After I ordered my wings, I opened up a menu to take a look, basically just to kill some time during a commercial break. I was kind of surprised to see that an order of wings costs about nine dollars at Mullanes, but I assumed that I would get a dozen wings for the price. Maybe even a few more? Certainly no less than ten, though.

Needless to say, I was disappointed when the waitress brought my plate of eight tiny wings. I'm not the type of chicken wing fan who thinks that a big wing is always a better wing. It's more of a holistic thing. But really, these things were seriously small and there were so few of them. Doing the math, I paid more than a dollar for each of these sad little chicken wings. As for the sauce, even though I ordered Buffalo style wings, they cam covered in some vaguely spicey, but altogether bland, oily substance. And, putting aside all ideas about the ideal crispy texture of a great chicken wing, the skin on these guys had the consistency of gelatin.

My point of writing these articles isn't to find places that I can put down. I want to find places that I generally like, with great wings and good access to the Steelers game, so that I can enjoy myself while i'm there and then, hopefully, pass the information on to a fellow fan looking for a good spot to catch the Black and Gold. I've been to Mullanes a couple of times before, and both times were fine. once, we were in the neighborhood after a party and were just there to grab a beer and some snacks, which were all good. The other time, I had an honestly excellent chicken ceasar salad for lunch. So it's not that I'm prejudiced against Mullanes, or else I wouldn't have gone in the first place. To be fair, they had a whole section on their menu dedicated to specialty burgers, and of the few people in the dining room, I'd say that at least half were eating them. So maybe I just missed the boat. I don't know.

Now, the bright side of all this was that I was sitting in the dining room, directly facing the big screen TV that they have back there. It was a perfect vantage point for the Steelers action, just like being at home, if I had a TV that nice and woden chairs instead of a sofa. The TV's in the bar area were all very high quality, too, and the back room isn't so big that anyone should really have a hard time seeing the one TV that they have back there, although people at some of the tables would definitely need to turn around to see it. Like I said, there weren't a ton of people in there, and most of them were clearly finishing off their evenings, but I definitely saw some Black and Gold jerseys when I walked in. Still, at least in prime time that night, the Steelers fans weren't really out in force at Mullanes.

There's something about being a Pittsburgh Steelers fan that changes the way that I look at football around the league. As it happens, the San Diego Chargers are probably one of my least favorite teams. There's nothing rivalry-specific to make me feel that way, but I just really don't like them as team. Philip Rivers reminds me of someone who forgot where he came from before he even left home, and Norv Turner sure isn't the one who's going to bring Prince Philip back down to Earth. I'd bet you that Rivers has some really demeaning nickname for old Norv, and the old guy just pretends to laugh whenever he hears it, trying to be buddies with his big psuedo-stud. We all know about the great draft class of 2004, with Ben, Eli Manning, and Phil. Really though, until he stops throwing up huge stats in the regular season and then disappearing in the playoffs, I'm tired having Phil in the conversation. It's like that old game, "One of these things doesn't belong." I know that every quarterback isn't going to be like a Roethlisberger, or an Eli, or even a Tom Brady (it tastes bad to say that), and have great playoff success early in his career. So much goes into it. It took Peyton a while to get there, it took Elway a long while to get there, and Marino never really did get there. But I still don't like Phil (you can't say "Philly" without "Phil," see, he's evil) Rivers, or the Chargers. I am, however, willing to give LaDainian Tomlinson the benefit of the doubt. He's no Rashard Mendenhall, though.

So I was psyched to see the Steelers up so big early in the game. One of the highlights, of course, was seeing that Rashard "The Professor" Mendenhall was definitely on his details this week. He was durable, dependable, and aggressive. Basically, he was everything that you hope to see in a first round running back, which happens to be everything that Steeler fans hadn't yet seen from him. For the first time, I feel that we all really got a look at the promise that this kid holds, and it is impressive. You also have to like the way that Big Ben Roethlisberger has been running the offense this year. He's spreading the ball around like the veteran that he is, and everyone has to be happy to see Heath Miller go out there and get a couple of scores (not to mention the one that got waya). For years, everyone has been wanting to see the coaches get him more involved in the passing attack, and he is making the most of every opportunity that comes his way this year. I'm also starting to get used to the idea that Hines Ward is having an absolutely monster year. Everyone knows that it couldn't happen to a better guy, so it's great to see him in top form.

The defense was really on fire, too, all the way into the second half. It seemed like the Chargers just didn't have any answers for what the Steelers were doing out there. I got a text from my friend Lawyer Abbie that said something like, "I think the Steelers are safe this week." Can't blame the girl, it was 21-0 at that point, soon to be 28-0. I wrote back, mostly kidding, saying that with the way that this season is going, all we could do was hope for the best. And then everything went wrong. Spectacularly wrong. Wrong in so many ways that it would be both tedious and abusive to recount it in detail here. Suffice it to say, that Antonio Gates seems to be the whole of the Chargers passing attack, and I have to admit that he was an absolute beast, as they say, out there. He absolutely punished the Steelers, and suddenly there was nothing that they could do to stop him.

On the plus side, Bruce Arians didn't take his foot off the gas, slam on the brakes, downshift, pull the emergency brake, and jump out of the car this week. I was thinking that Arians must have thought to himself, "Well, what do I have to lose? If we blow this lead, nobody's going to say that I was too conservative this time." And with Mewelde Moore continuing to prove his case as a ridiculously versatile offensive weapon and Mensenhall doing some good old fashioned hard running in the fourth quarter, it all turned out alright. That's not to say that the defensive and special teams collapses were excusable, because they weren't (although that fumble on the punt return was truly bizarre, what ever happend to the rule about forward momentum?). But with Detroit and Cleveland coming up, the Steelers should have a chance to regroup, get some of these question marks resolved and get on their details before the real tests start coming. So with that in mind, let's review:

Steelers win (2-2)

Very good passing offense, great rushing offense, one half plus of a great defensive football game mixed with a quarter and a half of a terrible defensive game

Wings from Mullanes Bar & Grill

Bad wings, not much of a crowd this night, very good tv's, very good tv placement and general viewing ability

Week 3, Steelers 20 Bengals 23 @ My Parents' House w/ Steaks From Paul's Specialty Meat Market

2009-09-30T14:39:00.228-04:00

I was at home in Pennsylvania visiting my family last weekend. One of the best things about being in Pittsburgh during football season is that you can just turn on your tv and watch the hometown Pittsburgh Steelers on gameday. That means you don't have to worry about the buying the DIRECTV NFL Sunday Ticket , which isn't cheap, and you don't have to look around to find a bar that's showing the game, which, even though it can be fun, isn't always convenient. Let's face it, sometimes there's nothing better on gameday than being able to sit on the couch and watch the Steelers do their thing. It's easy to take it for granted if you live in Western Pennsylvania and can do it whenever you want, but hanging out with the family and watching the Steelers is about as good as it gets. Since I was at home, and had just eaten at Wings, Suds, and Spuds a couple of days earlier, I decided that it would be okay to substitute some steaks from Paul's Specialty Meat Market for my usual gameday chicken wings. The steaks were awesome, but little did I know how far wrong the rest of the day could go.
Paul's is a grocery store out on the Ellwood-New Brighton Road (as that section of Route 65 is known), between the batting cages and the old dri ve in. As a word to the wise, if you're headed North on 65, you'll see the sign for the Paul's up ahead on your right as you come up the hill, but you should be looking to turn in well before you get to it, since Paul's driveway sits about twenty-five yards on this side of the sign. When you walk in to Paul's, the traditional grocery section is on your left. I didn't spend to much time over there, though, since the real action is on your right. That's where you'll find Paul's butcher counter. The counter is almost larger than life, taking up the length of two whole walls. If you're looking for any kind of pork, veal, chicken, fish, or seafood, then Paul's has got you covered. They have everything from chicken breasts to pork ribs and roasts to lobsters and perch fillets in there. If you're looking for frog legs or goat steaks, then I've got to say that Paul's has you covered there, too. And if you've had your fill of frog and goat for the day and just want some lunch meat to make a sandwich, then they'll freshly slice some Boar's Head cold cuts for you.

Although I'd be happy to give just about everything that they sell a try, the star of the show at Paul's seemed to be the good old fashioned cow meat. Paul's Specialty Meats carries just about every cut of steak that you want, in a variety of grades (from highest to lowest, they are Premium, Prime, and Select). Although the higher the grade, the higher the price, Paul's steaks really are a value, beating just about any prices that I've seen. No matter which grade you choose, you can be sure of two things. One, your steak will be fresh and delicious. Two, you'll get great value for your money. Now, I'm no expert at grading steaks, but I have to say that some of these cuts look like works of art. You can tell that the guys at Paul's are professional craftsmen, that they take their work seriously, and that they'll only serve you the highest quality meats, no matter what you end up choosing.

We went for some Porterhouse steaks and a couple Delmonico steaks. That sounds like a lot of meat for two people to eat, and it is, but I should mention that we were expecting my buddy Homeboy to stop over and eat with us. Unfortunately, the weekend had taken its toll on the good man, and it seems that he was just too worn out to make the trip out to my parents' house. As it was, we saved the Delmonicos until the next day and went right to work on the Porterhouse steaks. It was great getting to compare those great steaks on back to back days, and you really can't go wrong with either one.

We kept it really simple when we cooked the steaks. I just sprinkled on some salt and pepper, got the grill good and hot, and put the two pieces of the puzle together. Halfway through, I turned them, and that was all it took. The Porterhouse, of course, is basically a T-Bone steak with a big filet to go alongside the strip steak, and the Delmonico is usually a boneless ribeye. Either way, you're looking at cuts that are tender enough to cook over the dry heat of a hot grill, and you don't need to worry about using a steak sauce to add extra flavor. Both of those cuts do the job on their own. My dad likes the Delmonico, while I'm a big fan of the Porterhouse, going back to the days when I was a little kid and my grandmother would broil a T-Bone for lunch, and her whole house would smell great. I think that part of the appeal of the Porterhouse has to be psychological, because even the guy behind the counter got kind of excited when we ordered it. It's basically the definition of what a steak is.

So everything was off to a good start, my mom had made some home made French Fries to go with the steaks and we were eating when the game got started. Right off the bat, you could tell that the offense was looking to get it going. On their first drive they started deep in Cincinnati's end and worked their way up field with some good play calling. Ben Roethlisberger is looking right at home running this offense this year, and I think that the Steelers are getting more comfortable with the playcalling mix. They're doing a much better job of using the run and pass to complement each other. I know that there's ben so criticsm so far, but what I'm saying is that the proportion of run yards to pass yards isn't what's important. Let's be honest here: it doesn't matter if the Steelers use the run to set up the pass, or if they use the pass to set up the run. It doesn't matter if the Steelers pass the ball on third and short or if they run the ball on third and short. It doesn't matter what Bruce Arians' favorite color is. What matters is that the Steelers have a balanced offense that allows the different weapons to complement each other and keep the other team guessing. It matters that the Steelers are effective in short yardage situations (and that their offense puts them in short yardage situations, especially on third down). And all that we need to know about Bruce Arians and his various offensive tendencies and preferences is that he's using the Black and Gold's best tools, at the best times and in the best ways, to put them in a position to win.

I didn't even really mind that the first drive ended with a field goal. Of course, I remember back in the days of Jerome Bettis, some people used to joke that The Bus had the easiest job in football, since he only had to run the ball one yard at a time. Well, we all know that those two yards at a time weren't any laughing matter, but on that first drive I was more concerned that the Steelers came out aggressive, looking to prove that there was no letdown following last week's disappointing loss. That's exactly what happened, and the touchdown came on the second drive, which was soon enough for me. And how about Mike Wallace? He showed really good focus on that 50 yard play down the sideline, and with a little bit of work there's no doubt that he'll improve his footwork enough to turn that into a touchdown. I'm also impressed with the way that Hines Ward is playing this year. He's been consistent and dependable throughout his whole career, both as player and as a person in the community, but I was wondering if he could physically withstand the kind of game that he's played for his whole career. Somehow, he's looking better than ever, and I couldn't be happier to see it. Willie Parker also did a much better job of getting in there this week and getting some yards, which was important because we've all heard by now that Rashard Mendenhall "wasn't on his details" this week. That's my new favorite go-to phrase, by the way, and Mike Tomlin just keeps on proving that he's the man.

So things were off to a good start, but we all know what happened from there. Santonio Holmes, who I thought was going to get off to a great start and play a consistently significant role this season, was busy doing his best Limas Sweed imitation out there, while Limas size, speed, and great route running don't count for much if you don't actually, you know, catch the ball. I've heard some of the more cynical (optimistic? heartbroken?) among us say that even this dark cloud might have a silver lining, since Limas is, at least, always getting wide open when he's dropping those balls. Talk about laughing through the pain. As for the performance in the fourth quarter, I'm not quite sure what to say. Of course the Steelers are a better team when they've got Troy Polamalu out there, but that can't be the whole explanation. It just doesn't add up that the Steelers are able to dominate on defense for three quarters (two weeks in a row, at that) without Troy, and then suddenly collapse because of his absence.

And that gets right to the heart of the situation. I'm not sure which Steelers team I'm writing about right now. Is it the team that dominated the Bengals for three and a half quarters on Sunday, or the team that collapsed so unbelievably in the fourth quarter. I know that they hadn't played perfectly up to that point, but let's not forget that they had a 20-9 lead in the fourth quarter. Against the Cincinnati Bengals. That should say it all, but this season is already starting to look like it's being played in a funhouse. So really, the Steelers have won six of the eight quarters these past two weeks, and they've come away with two in the loss column. To make matters worse, they've they've come against the Jay Cutler one week and against the Bengals the next, which only adds insult to the defeats. Let's hope that this thing gets turned around going up against Philip Rivers and the Chargers in prime time.

In summary:

Steelers lose (1-2)

Good passing offense, good rushing offense, total defensive collapse in the fourth quarter

Steaks from Paul's Specialty Meat Market (880 Mercer Road, Beaver Falls, PA)

Great steaks, great crowd (but I might be biased because they're my parents), great tv and general viewing ability

The Steelers got started

Week 2, Steelers 14 Bears 17 @ Cody's Ale House

2009-09-24T15:43:00.004-04:00

Well, no one said they had to go undefeated. But still, I could have guessed that something strange was going on. There was just a weird vibe in the streets of Brooklyn. Sure, the Steelers were playing Jay "You Hurt My Feelings" Cutler and the Bears, so it seemed like everything should be smooth sailing. Plus, I was going to watch the game at Cody's American Bar and Grill, the neighborhood staple at Court St. and Dean in Carroll Gardens, which is pretty much the local spot for Steelers fans to get together and watch some football with a friendly crowd. I know that Mike Tomlin wouldn't want me talking about last season, and I'd never want to cross The Coach, but Cody's even hosted a Brooklyn Super Bowl party last year. But still, despite all of these good things, I knew that something was wrong. It was just in the air.
I've been to Cody's before, and when I got there on Sunday I could tell right away that something was off. First, there just weren't as many Steeler fans as I've seen in the past. Sure, the Jets had just played, and won, a nice game ahainst the Patriots, but Cody's still normally does a good job of bringing out the Black and Gold. This time, though, there were some empty tables, and the Steelers fans seemed to be kind of spread out through the place, so it didn't have the feeling of Black and Gold community that you can get at a place like that.

One good thing about Cody's is that you can see the Steeler's game from almost anywhere that you sit. Actually, you can basically see every game from anywhere you sit, because Cody's must have about 50 tv's throughout the place. That's not to say, though, that all of the tv's are high quality. A lot of the sets are old, with only fair picture quality, and some of them are placed in some pretty odd spots. Still, if you're looking to catch a game, or every game, then Cody's is the place for you, because they will be showing them all. The people who work there are very friendly, too, and they'll always try to help you out by putting the game that you want on a tv that you can see, or else trying to help you find a tv that's showing the game that you're looking for. It does get pretty crowded in there on gameday, so that's a big help when you need to catch your team in action.

The wings at Cody's are nice and big, but they're on the expensive side. A dozen wings costs about 12 dollars, so you're basically paying about a dollar per wing. I ordered the hot wings, and they came out right on time, fresh from the kitchen. One thing about them is that the suce isn't what you'd think of as a traditional Buffalo-style hot sauce. Instead, it's almost more like a thick paste that coats the wings. It's a lot less buttery than a standard buffalo wing sauce, but it can get good and spicy. As long as you've got plenty of napkins and you're not trying to impress your fellow fans with what a neat and clean eater you are, you'll be fine. Because the wings are as big as they are, an order of twelve left me pretty full, so I didn't need to go back to the menu for more.

Cody's does have a full menu, though, with bar standars like nachos, burgers, and mozzarella sticks right along side restaurant style entrees like pasta, fish, and their semi-famous fried chicken and french fry basket. They always have a selection of daily specials, as well, sp there's plenty of variety if you'd like to make Cody's your regular gametime destination. They have a good selection of beer in both bottles and drafts, but I usually stick with the special, which is Amber Bock for $3.75. All in all, Cody's menu has a really good variety of bar-style appetizers, restaurant-style entress, and regularly updated specials, alongside a reasonably priced beer selection. It's a good, Steeler-friendly neighborhood spot that works just as well in the offseason, since Cody's takes full advantage of all of the tv's that they've got, showing just about every game that's played throughout the year. Come May, you'll even find some Penguins fans hanging around in there, and the big guys behind the bar have even put the Pirates up there for me.

On Sunday, though, the Steelers got everybody fired up with that first drive, where they looked like found the secret to managing an almost perfectly efficient passing game. For all of the talk about Big Ben moving around inside of the pocket and making plays, if Ben Roethlisberger is going to take short drops and get the ball out to Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes on screens and short crosses and quick out routes, they'll be tough to defend. Obviously, any time you can force a defense into covering the short ball, you're giving Big Ben a chance to work that arm out and move the ball downfield on a big play. For a second there, it almost looked like that was what we had on the interception, because Holmes had made a nice move toward the end zone, but Ben couldn't quite musle through the hit that he took just as he was releasing the ball.

For all of the criticism that the play calling has received since Sunday, I have to say that some of it impressed me. I liked going to the air on 4th and goal from the one on the first drive, and it was nice to see Matt Spaeth step up and make a play when he had the chance. For all of the people talking about the need to establish a credible running attack, it seems like the Steelers are using their ball-control, quick attack passing offense to help establish their run game. If you have linebackers looking for the quick toss, then you have half a step for your running backs to make an initial move that gets them to the hole.

Also, let's remember that Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall and running like Tony Dorsett right now, either. Sure, there was a big improvement in the running game from Week 1 to Week 2, and that step in the right direction is the kind of things that great, well-coached teams do in the face of adversity. But let's look at the numbers. Going into Week 3, the top two backs on the depth chart have combined for 111 yard rushing on 34 carries. Two years ago, that would've been a disappointing game for Fast Willie, but now it's taken two guys two games to get there. To be fair, Mendenhall hasn't gotten more than a handful of touches each game, and he did break one for 39 yards on Sunday, but we still need to look for more in the coming weeks. A lot of people have been saying that a more accurate test of the rushing attack will come against Cincinnatt and its less than dominating defense, so I'm giving the Steelers the benefit of the doubt and looking for some good productivity in Week 3.

Just like after Week 1, there's definitely some serious room for improvement going forward, and a lot of it has been repeated in all of the discussion of last week's game. Santonio definitely needs to make the play when the ball is in his hands, since he has to be counted on as a go to guy if the Steelers offense is going to be as good as it can be. For example, a receiver like Randy Moss isn't great because he makes all of the catches that he's supposed to. He does that, of course, as well as anyone. But what makes him great is that he catches all of the balls that no other receiver could have a chance on. The great receivers makes their quarterbacks better by making the plays that no one else can. If you need an example, Holmes made a certain catch at the end of last season that might illustrate my point. As for the defense, I'm just not ready to criticize Dick LeBeau, because he's a certified football genius and we're beyond lucky to have him. And yes, the defense is statistically off to a slow start, but the sacks and interceptions will come, right as rain. So let's get those eleven guys out on the field, and for now that's probably going to include Tyrone Carter, to clamp down a little in the fourth quarter, and we should be all set.

Week 2 was humbling, and the guys didn't come together down the stretch the way they needed to, but we're ready to travel to Cincinnati and get the division games started. So let's summarize:

Steelers lose (1-1)

Good passing offense, fair rushing offense, okay defense, poor special teams

Cody's American Bar & Grill (154 Court St, between Pacific St. and Dean St.)

Good wings, good crowd, fair tv's, good tv placement and general viewing ability

Week 1, Steelers 13 Titans 10 @ The Wing Bar

2009-09-20T15:26:00.003-04:00

The way I see it, nationally televised games give you a choice if you're out of town and looking to catch the Steelers game. They can be a great chance to hang out a full-on Steelers bar, where you know that you'll be surrounded by fellow Black and Gold faithful. You can hang out at home and enjoy the rare chance to watch a game on your own couch. Or you can go to a spot that, for whatever reason, doesn't have the NFL Sunday Package and wouldn't normally show the game, whether it's your local hangout or the place down the street that has some great wings. For opening night I went the third route. I decided to save my trip to one of the heavy hitters for a bit later in the season and check out The Wing Bar on Smith Street, right up the road from me in Brooklyn.
I was surprised when I walked in the door. The Wing Bar is small and crowded, which is what you get in a lot of New York City, but Brooklyn normally gives you a bit more space to work with. They have a backyard, which I didn't check out, and two big high definition flatscreens. I was able to get a seat at the bar, close to one of the televisions, which is pretty lucky, since it seems like there are some seats in the place that would give you a pretty tough viewing angle for trying to catch the game. I have to say that, even though The Wing Bar has to lose a point for only having two tv's, they should probably get that point back for the ridiculously high quality of their sets. The picture on those things looked great.
When I first walked in, one of the tv's wasn't even showing the NFL; a bunch of first year Wall Street hopeful types had crowded around the second flat screen to catch some Division II college football. That's fine for Saturday afternoon, of course, and I'm definitely a fan of the college game and showing your school pride and everything, but on a Steelers' gameday I think we need to keep the focus on what's important, where it belongs. Everything worked out well, though, since their game ended early in the first quarter so both sets could show the Steelers. The Wing Bar was definitely more bar/restaurant than straight up sports bar, which is alright for a nationally televised game since it's pretty much the only sports action going on and there's not a lot of competition. Even though it seemed like most of the people in there were watching the game, management kept the music going on the bartender's iPod, and the volume way up high, so we couldn't hear any commentary or anything. That also meant that I missed hearing the NFL Kickoff Black Eyed Peas/Tim McGraw concert, although the music at those things is always second to the visual spectacle anyway. They're more like a live music video than a concert. I've got to say, though, that Tim McGraw was throwing a pretty nice spiral when he was getting those balls out into the audience at the end of his set. That last one would have sliced up a Cover 2, right up the middle between the safeties, no doubt. If he gets tired of the whole music thing, maybe the Eagles or the Vikings will be looking for some QB help down the stretch this year. Just a thought.

As for the wings, The Wing Bar gets it right, with good quality at a good price. You can order 10, 20, 50 or 100 wings. I went with ten, which worked out pretty well, since my bowl actually came with 13 in it. That was perfect since my friend Abbie the Lawyer showed up and wanted to try a couple. She's a great gauge for the quality of the wings, since she's a really picky eater, and she was definitely happy with them. They wings were right on; they were a good size, and they were nice and crispy, which is really important since there is probably nothing worse than some soggy chicken wings. The Wing Bar doesn't offer any crazy sauces or anything, just the basics, so I ordered the hot wings, and thought that it was a pretty good sauce, although I personally could have had a little more heat. I saw some other guy adding tabasco sauce to his basket, so I guess that I'm not the only one who feels that way. Not to get all philosophical about it, but if your "hot" sauce needs tabasco added to it, then you should probably consider adding an "extra hot" option to your menu. One cool thing is that the kitchen is off to the side of the samll space, but it's open into the bar, so you can basically see your wings getting made. That might not make for must see TV, but it's a good way to know that the place isn't just pre-making a bunch of wings and then letting them sit around before reheating them. Believe it or not, that kind of thing does happen, although I don't know what kind of place would do that to an honest, hard-working, wing-eating, Pittsburgh-loving, Steelers-watching man.

Prices were solid for the neighborhood, seven or eight bucks for the wings, which was good considering the extra pieces that ended up in our basket, and they sell beers for between three and four dollars each. That's really good, since, believe it or not, I've found that the four dollar beer has become an endangered species on non-happy hour bar menus. The night I was there The Wing Bar had Bud Lite, and something else that I've never heard of, on tap, but I went for Yuengling in a bottle. They also sell pitchers for their tap beers, which you can get for seven or eight bucks. All in all, the food was good enough that I would go back here just to get some wings and grab a beer, especially if I wanted to catch a random game where I didn't need to pay as much attention to the football, maybe the Giants on Monday night or something. Honestly, I could have easily eaten a second order of the wings, and if it wasn't so late I would have, so if you're hungry you might want to order some onion rings or something. They've got a limited bar menu, with burgers and hot dogs, veggie dogs, fries, etc. Prices are good all the way around. It seems like a good after work spot, and I hear that they'll be serving food late if you're in the area and looking for a midnight snack.

Like I say, the place was pretty crowded, and a lot of the people there seemed to be at least paying attention to the game. It didn't seem like there were necessarily a lot of hardcore Steeler fans there, but a couple of tables were definitely clapping and cheering when appropriate. One thing that everyone knows is that you can't hate Pittsburgh, and you definitely can't hate the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even the one dude who was cheering for the Titans must have known, deep down inside, that he was in the wrong. You could just see it in his eyes. Either that, or he could just see that his girlfriend was embarrassed that she wasn't there with a Steelers fan.

I was sitting next to a Jets fan, who was admitting, very honestly, that the Steelers should look pretty good this year. He and his homeboy were pretty good on the Budweiser, so he kept talking to me, with varying levels of coherence, about how Troy Polamalu is the best player on our defense. Well, that guy looked like Nostradamus during the first half. Troy was absolutely playing out of his head, obviously, and you could tell that he was fired up to be back on the field. With the sound off, it was hard to tell what was going on with his injury, so I didn't know how serious it was until I read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette online the next morning. Still, they're calling it the "best case scenario" for his type of injury, so we can just hope that he gets his rest and comes back strong when he's ready. You know that James Harrison is looking to jump in there, do his thing and help everyone pick up the slack. The defense might not have looked explosive, but holding a team to ten points is no laughing matter.

Ben Roethlisberger didn't necessarily get off to his best start, but I was happy to see that stayed in command of things and stayed confidant, especially as it became clear that the team was going to be leaning on him for the majority of their offense. The first of the two picks that he threw looked pretty bad, and I've got to be honest and say that it had me a little concerned for a minute there. The second one has me convinced that I don't approve of the Hail Mary play, unless you're actually trying to win a game in the closing seconds, and/or Doug Flutie is your quarterback. As for the ball that he missed Mike Wallace with early on, he definitely underthrew it, and it could have been a home run ball, but it was definitely catchable, so I wasn't too worried about that. It seemed like it was just kind of an early season quarterback/receiver timing and comfort issue, and I'm sure they'll work it out with no problem. I liked that they hooked up on that big play late, and I think that Wallace is really in there fighting for his spot. In fact, that first miss looked a lot like the big ball that Ben hit Hines Ward with a little later. I think that the main difference between the two plays was Hines' ability to make a veteran play on the ball while it was in the air. Hines made a really nice read on that ball and adjusted his route, Ben hit him with great timing, and you can tell that Hines has his energy level up going into this year. Santonio Holmes came into the game ready to show that he's not taking anything for granted, and I don't think that there's any doubt that he's maturing into a consistent big game receiver. He's just going to keep getting better, too. All in all, Ben and the rest of the guys played so solid after they got warmed up that I'm feeling really good about the passing game going into week two.

Because of some technical issues that I've now gotten all resolved, this post was obviously quite a bit late getting up, so some time has passed since the Tennessee game. In that spirit, and because I want to start this series of posts on a positive note, I'm taking the opportunity of hindsight to focuson the positive here, since the good guys came out of Week One with a nice home win, so that basically means that I'm not going to focus at all on the running game. What running game, you ask? Exactly. But I'm not going to pile on to our back or our offensive line, since Week Two is here, the adjustments have hopefully been made, and it's officially time to move on. So they're getting a mulligan on that one.

Look for another, more appropriately timed, full write up after the Bears game, as well as some mid-week posts, and we'll keep it fresh moving forward. We're looking good so far. Here's the Week One summary:

Steelers win (1-0)

Great passing offense, non-existent rushing offense, good defense

The Wing Bar (275 Smith Street, between Sackett and Degraw)

Great wings, okay crowd, great tv's, fair tv placement and general viewing ability