Several team officials found a recently posted Web rumor — center Jordan Staal to Atlanta for winger Marian Hossa — equally hilarious and absurd.

Those Penguin officials may or may not have been laughing at the site you are looking at right now.

This rumor may or may not have originated on this site. Christmas day, we did a post detailing the rumors around the Penguins. At that point in time, one of the rumors was that Ray Shero had called Atlanta about Hossa. Upon reading that rumor, I wrote:

Hossa is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, meaning that the Penguins would likely need to resign him before any large-scale trade would occur and that the return would have to be someone who the Penguins expect to cost a pretty high sum (Jordan Staal, maybe?).

Perhaps I am giving myself too much credit, as a rumor involving the same two players originated at Hockey Buzz over the weekend, but if Penguin officials are laughing at us (and even if they are not), I feel as if a defense is necessary.

Blogging is not really respected yet. We are the free media. The people who throw our thoughts out there for the public’s consumption even as we remain a part of that public.

One of the major disadvantages to that is that we do not have the access that some people do to sources. We must, therefore, handle trade rumors and such a little bit differently than major papers. A Dave Molinari or a Don Cherry can break a trade rumor and have that be his story. By the time you come to this site, you more than likely know about the trade rumor and do not want to simply hear what it is again.

It is, therefore, our responsibility to look at how a trade would affect the team in the long and short runs and whether or not it should be made. If we can do this in a compelling manner, we hope that you return to the site on a regular basis. But for a piece of “established media” to publish a semi-attack on the web media is irresponsible journalism.

There are rumors every day, some of which are actually going to come true, many of which are not. The public wants to know about these rumors and wants to be able to discuss them. To state that Penguin officials are laughing at them suggests that websites such as Hockey Buzz are a waste of bandwidth. And in that the Trib would be dead wrong, particularly considering that their rumors commonly come from sites such as Hockey Buzz.

It is a shame that newspapers seem all too wiling to throw the baby out with the bathwater in their assault on blogs. Maybe they could learn something from us. After all, we are not the dying medium. They are.

The six moments are:

• Bill Mazeroski’s walkoff home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. This moment definitely deserves a spot on the list and should be a high contender to win it. It is inevitably the most famous World Series moment ever and one of the most recognizable. The pictures of Yogi Berra watching the ball head over the fence and Maz running down the 3rd-base line are absolutely classic. If you can not find it in your heart to vote for more than one Pittsburgh moment, go with this one.
• The home run, however, is closely followed by the Immaculate Reception, Franco Harris’ career-defining moment. When Frenchy Fuqua was taken out by Jack Tatum, the whole stadium thought that the game was over. Then, however, Franco Harris came out of nowhere to make a running shoe-top catch and to save the Steelers’ season, creating one of the greatest sports moments in history. Both the Immaculate Reception and Maz’s home run should be in any sports fan’s (even a non-Yinzer’s) top 10 list.
• Lynn Swann’s catch in the Super Bowl is the next Pittsburgh sports moment on the list. The catch is, undeniably, a huge moment in a Hall of Fame career, but it probably stands no chance of winning simply because there are a ton of great catches that have been made in the past and will be made in the future. If you are a huge Steeler fan, vote for this moment. If not, it’s okay if you vote for something else.
• Jerome Lane shattering the backboard against Providence is next.  This moment is undoubtedly one of the coolest college highlights ever.  How often does the backboard shatter during game play? Answer: Not too often, particularly in game play.  It takes immense power and focus to pull off this feat, meaning that this moment should probably be on your list if you live anywhere near the Pittsburgh area or have ever rooted for Pitt basketball in any way, shape, or form.
• Kordell Stewart’s hail mary pass against Michigan is also on the list.  This is not really a Pittsburgh moment, but is a Pittsburgh-related moment.  The moment is thrilling and exciting, but unless you are a Slash apologist or Bill Cowher, there are better highlights on this list.
• Mario Lemieux’s end-to-end goal from the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals is also on the list.  This play is, simply enough, one of the best hockey plays ever, displaying all of Lemieux’s numerous skills.  This goal was the Evgeni Malkin goal before the Evgeni Malkin goal occurred, except Lemieux’s occurred in the Stanley Cup Finals while Malkin’s occurred in an early season game. If you are a hockey fan or even care about the Penguins, you have to vote for this play.

So, if you look at the list and see more than four other plays you need to vote for, your list of Pittsburgh allegiances should go: Mazeroski home run, Immaculate Reception, Lemieux goal, Jerome Lane dunk, Swann catch, Stewart TD pass.

Go vote!

Lyrics:

And now with an ode to our Pirates:
Hey Pittsburgh Pirates,
Why are you always so #$%&.
You’re a thousand games from first,
But PNC Park makes the city look so great.
But when you get up to the plate,
You defecate.

Hey Pittsburgh Pirates,
At least you’re not inconsistent.
You’re never in contention
Once the Steelers head to St. Vincent
In Latrobe.
The guys who make too much get sold,
Once it gets cold.

Oh, when will you compete?
Oh, when will you compete?
When will you compete?

Hey Pittsburgh Pirates,
I know times are getting hard.
Fireworks and heads that bobble
Bring enough out to the yard
To profit from.
This team of has-beens, busts, and bums,
Has made us numb.

Hey Pittsburgh Pirates,
Why did you trade for Matt Morris?
Why not sign Weiters instead?
Do you just not like Scott Boras?
To your chagrin,
It costs money if you want to win,
This just in.

Oh, when will you compete?
Oh, when will you compete?
Fifteen years seems a long time,
Since last finished not behind.
But still we all believe
There come a day
When others won’t make fun of us,
The fans won’t feel the need to cuss
At the very mention of the Nutting’s name.
We suffered through the cocaine years.
To Leyland we all toasted beers.
The only ass we seem to kick these days
Is 2003 in a sausage race.

Hey Pittsburgh Pirates,
We’re all sick of hearing that
We’re caught up in a small market
And can’t afford arms or a bat.
Its just not true.
This team could spend what the Yankees do,
And they’d still find a way to lose.
We’ve got one Asian,
He’s 82.
I think he fought in World War II.
We’ve all grown too tired to boo,
Too tired to boo.

Oh, sell the goddamn team.
Oh, sell the goddamn team.
Oh, sell the goddamn team,
Cause we’re no longer family,
No longer family.

The Song

Their kindness almost makes up for Dave Littlefield’s mention in The Onion yesterday, which is definitely worth a read.

There is no way that David Glass (who hired Dayton Moore), Peter Angelos (at least he spends money), Carl Pohlad (he hired Terry Ryan and allowed the payroll to move up around $60 million while inking young stars like Justin Morneau to extensions), and Charlie Montfort (who has one of the most exciting young teams in baseball) are worse than the inept ownership of one Bob Nutting.

The mistake that Heyman made was assuming that the Bob Nutting ownership and the Kevin McClatchy ownership are two different entities. Anyone in Pittsburgh knows that McClatchy was simply a tool for the Nuttings’ wishes for a much longer time than the Nuttings have officially owned the team.

There is no way that the Nuttings do not deserve #1 on this list.

The fact of the matter is that ESPN is trying to compare apples and oranges in an effort to boost their ratings. Prior to the network, there was a mystique around sports that athletes were simply athletes, competing in the most primal manners possible in modern day coliseums. Now, these men all appear to be flawed in some way or another (be it tax issues, a steroid problem, drug use, rape, an inability to chase a fastball away, etc.). The overexposure of characters flaws results in very few athletes achieving the folk hero status of players such as Bill Mazeroski, Mickey Mantle, and Bob Gibson.

Just look at the qualifications for “Who’s Now.” The competition is just as much about what clothing lines athletes have, what products they are endorsing, what stars they are dating, and what carpets they pop up on as it is about their accomplishments on the field. ESPN has officially taken this too far, morphing what was once a sports network into a purely entertainment channel. At this point, ESPN overemphasizes the E.

For instance, Matt Leinart is in the competition simply because of his ability to pop up in tabloids and leave heiress’ houses at opportune times. That is ridiculous. If ESPN were a legitimate sports network, Philip Rivers would have been on the list instead of Leinart. The Chargers’ QB has certainly accomplished more than the Cardinals.’ Also, there are only two soccer players on the list and one of them (David Beckham) was essentially deadweight until he somehow regained form all of a sudden in the last six months. In a recent conversation with a German (I must be NOW, I apparently have culture. YES!), the German promptly ripped Beckham, saying, “Yes, he makes a lot of money, but he is NOT a very good player. In Europe, people do not like him.” Oh?

And just because Shaun White appeared on the cover of ESPN: The Magazine does not mean that the rest of the country enjoys extreme sports. They are an interesting occasional diversion, but something can only be “XTreme” for so long before it becomes the norm. Shaun White is fantastic at what he does, but that is still not why he’s on the list. He’s there because ESPN felt a need to hype the XGames and because he has his own clothing line (in their blurb, half is about his skill and half is about the clothes).

Even Terrell Owens is on the list. This is the same T.O. that has not been the same football player since leaving Philadelphia, becoming a good but not great receiver in a solid offense. Owens is there just as much because of his agent as for his skill.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=41rdU-3fiMA[/youtube]

Owens has been a consistent player, but he has in no way been one of the players that a non-sport fan is aware of.

Even Ronaldinho is there not for his ridiculous soccer ability, but for his $56 million marketing value. And if Ronaldinho is on the list, where is his teammate, the ridiculous Lionel Messi, who recently matched move-for-move the best goal in soccer history.

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=2uTpJEHc2fg[/youtube]

When ESPN is claiming that someone like Danica Patrick is representative of the sports world, there is an obvious problem. Patrick is a decent racer who receives more attention because of her ability to weave in and out of traffic on the red carpet than on the racetrack.

Perhaps the issues that ESPN has created are best illustrated by the fact that Maria Sharapova defeated Vince Young in the competition. Young has been one of the brightest stars in football since he led Texas to a stunning win over USC two seasons ago. The young quarterback simply continued that success last year, leading a young Tennessee team to a decent season when it should have been contending for a top five draft pick. Sharapova, on the other hand, has experienced success in the past, but has spent most of 2007 either hurt or losing to lower-seeded opponents. ESPN, however, felt that it was fair to label her “Best Female Tennis Player” at their ESPYs. Okay, whatever you say.

ESPN does not appear to realize that sports are not about mini-series or who a player is dating off of the field of play, but instead about the results on the field of play. The network, therefore, indicates a larger problem with society as a whole. The constant stream of information means that we know more about players now than we ever have before, both their warts and what they are good at. If a day goes by where some new piece of seemingly legitimate information does not pop out, fans feel lost and can’t seem to decide what to do. This leads directly to ESPN’s sensationalist reporting, as they feel a need to take stories that really don’t mean anything at all and make a big deal about them (see Manny Ramirez trade rumors) so that their ratings can stay up. When they feel that this isn’t good enough, they simply make up another series like Who’s Now, or hire a new talking head to appear on Around the Horn or write a new Insider column.

The constant stream of information means that we can not differentiate between what is important (the sports) and what is more than likely just clutter (the business). This, for instance, is important:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbmI6-YSnQ[/youtube]

This is not:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=byE2CWxCjR8[/youtube]

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