As you may, or may not have, noticed, I took a small holiday break from our beloved site this past week. It wasn't something I had planned, but it was just something that happened.. besides taking various work related trips this year, I was without a vacation lasting longer than 2 days. So when I found myself with an obscene amount of time off that I needed to use by the end of the year, I took all I could and just relaxed.

Not that posting on our site is taxing, but these past few weeks I honestly went full days without even checking the internet or my Blackberry.. which for those who know me, is INSANE.

But, since I return to work next week.. I figured I would ease myself into my daily responsibilities and get back to postin' and writin' on the Old Blog as much as possible.

More about Pittsburgh sports, less about me and what I woke up to.. after the jumparoo..

So this Ben thing.

What's funny about this whole situation is the ANGER and RAGE it brings out of the folks in Pittsburgh. From people calling for Tomlin's head for leaving Ben out there so long, to people begging for Byron Leftwich to actually REPLACE Ben as starting QB, I heard it all yesterday at the bar we watched the game at.

From what I can assume, the plan was for Ben to play the first half. Now, you may have noticed that Peyton Manning was pulled after 7 passing attempts. Guess what, Ben ain't Peyton. Ben, while an amazing, SUPERBOWL WINNING QB, hasn't had much of a rhythm this year. Whereas Peyton has won 8 games in a row and was in the groove.

So to me, this is a moot point.. but a point the drunks chugging half-yards of Miller Lite yesterday were SCREAMING about. Trust me, I was drinking the same beer, in the same half-yards, but I was also (along side Sonny) trying to explain how professional football works. Ben has a bye-week coming up.. keeping him fresh and not just letting him throw a series worth of passes in 20 day span (December 22 - January 11)would have been a mistake.

But according to drunk idiot A sitting to the left of us, Ben shouldn't be playing at all.. and BYRON LEFTWICH should be taking us into the playoffs. Apparently drunk idiot A completely disregards the DRIVE that BEAT THE RAVENS recently. I've heard of fair-weather fans, but Jesus Christ, Pittsburgh fans are the fairest.

Enough ranting.. onto a what's what this morning. And yes, Christmas did come late for me.. THE COWBOYS ARE NOT IN THE PLAYOFFS! HA.

ESPN: James Walker discussing the decision to play Ben.

ESPN: The final defensive stats for the NFL.. 237.2 yards a game allowed by the Black and Gold.. that's awesome.

PG: Ed Bouchette's fantastic recap of the game yesterday..

FanIQ: Touchdown! Time to smack my wife.. trust me on this one..

ESPN: Eric Mangini just got canned by the NY Jets.