What a weekend!

Cannot complain about the weekend for sure as everything fell right!
College teams that I dislike lost,the previously mentioned Kelly Pavlik title win,a Steeler loss and most importantly-wins by Ohio State and then wins by both the Browns and Seahawks!
And as an added bonus,the Pirates finished the season with more losses and gave themselves the 2nd overall pick in next years draft.
High picks are not a guarantee of a great player,but if the guy picking the players knows what he is doing,the comeback road begins.
Plus,we get to see quickly whether or not Bob Nutting has given the management money to pay the best player or not.

First-in a must win game for the Cleveland Browns,the Clevelanders dominated the hated Baltimore Ravens 27-13 and sent Brian Billick and his gang of thugs whining back to Crackmore with a loss hanging around them.
The Raven run defense was as good as advertised and held Jamal Lewis to 64 yards on the ground,although Lewis did rush for the first rushing touchdown against the Ravens this season.
However,the Browns beat the visitors in the textbook way,Big plays from the passing game,protect your passer and do not turn the ball over.
The Derek Anderson to Braylon Edwards over noted loudmouth corner Chris McAllister was a thing of beauty in the first quarter and resulted in short completed passes as the game went on,as Edwards had to be respected going deep from then on.
I do not always speak highly of Braylon Edwards,but for the 4 games this season,I have no complaints.
He is playing harder and with a more physical attitude.
Let's hope this continues!
Anderson had hit Joe Jurevicius earlier in the quarter on a 2 yard scoring strike and the fight seemed to slowly deflate from the Ravens after the Edwards play.
In the second period,Lewis rushed for his ground TD after a Phil Dawson field goal for a 24 point scoring half and the Browns led at the half 24-6,as two Baltimore field goals were sandwiched around the Browns scores.
The Browns basically just played things under wraps for the second half,avoided the big mistake and watched the time roll away.
The defense played as well as they had all year,although the Raven offense is one of the worst in the league.
The Raven numbers look good with Steve McNair passing for over 300 yards and Willis McGahee running for over 100,but none of them came in crucial situations.
Next weeks game is at the Patriots and is an unlikely win,but stranger things have happened....

Meanwhile as the Browns celebrated by Lake Erie,the Seahawks were kicking off by the bay in a first place game against the Forty Niners.
The Seahawks defense was destructive and basically harassed San Francisco passers into oblivion,as the Seahawks grabbed control of first place in the division with a 23-3 crushing.
Six sacks of Niner pivots drove Alex Smith from the game and resulted in an entirely ineffective Trent Dilfer in a game that if the Hawk offense brought a bit more to the game could have been a far larger victory margin.
Rocky Bernard separated Smith's shoulder on the third play of the game and the Niners could have went into the locker room with Smith and it would have made no difference.
Julian Peterson was literally unblockable and dumped Dilfer three times alone for the game.
When Dilfer was able to get the ball away,he could not miss Marcus Trufant,who picked off two of his errant tosses.
Matt Hasselbeck tossed TD passes to Marcus Pollard and Bobby Engram and had 281 yards through the air,but the big player on offense was Deion Branch.Branch wound up with 7 catches for 165 yards on the day,.
However on the running game- Shaun Alexander just cannot get untracked and is having major problems getting around end on sweeps.
He just looks tentative and looking for cut back runs and is really struggling short yardage situations.
I am really beginning to wonder if Alexander is on the downswing after many productive years.
In any event,a good win over the team that many predicted to take the division title away from Seattle.
The Seahawks travel to Pittsburgh next week for a battle against the Steelers.

The Pirates ended their season with another uninspired effort in losing again to the Cardinals 6-5.
Bryan Bullington got the start,allowed 2 runs over 5 innings and was the losing pitcher (0-3).
Bullington will likely get a spring training invite,but I don't think he makes the team.
Five different Pirates had 1 RBI on the day.
The Pirates finish the season 68-94,last in the NL Central and worst in the National League.
Later in the next week or so,we will do a season review.

Bullpen Notes

Tough break for Tampa runner Cadillac Williams,who suffered a career-threatening patella tendon tear in yesterday's Tampa win over Carolina.
Williams must be well liked and respected from the way the entire Buccaneer team crossed the field to check his injury.
Best wishes to Cadillac on his recovery.

On a sad note-4 time Olympic Discus Gold medalist Al Oerter passed away today at 71.
Oerter was the Gold winner in the 1956,1960,1964 and 1968 Summer Games.

Former Maryland hoop star Tony Massenburg signed a deal with the Washington Wizards today.
This has two thoughts for me.
Tony Massenburg still plays basketball? and he is 40??
I am getting old!

Jim Tracy and Ed Creech both appear to have a short shelf life in Pittsburgh.
Sooner the better!!

Now that Baseball coverage is over,it will be easier to catch up on promised features-hang in there!

And finally,Joe Plum sends us this link on today being the 50th anniversary of the Sputnik satellite launch.
Most that know me know what a mark that I am for NASA stuff.

Until next time!

Photo Credits
Browns fans-Joshua Gunter-Cleveland Plain Dealer
Edwards-Chuck Crow-Cleveland Plain Dealer
Bernard-Scott Eklund-Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bullington-Joseph Sargent-AP Photo
Sputnik-some guy in Soviet Union