Chasing The Cup
Pens Putting Pieces in Place

The Stanley Cup playoffs can be a funny business. Some teams come from the back of the pack to win the Cup, as the Penguins did in 1991 after failing even to qualify for the playoffs one year earlier. Others establish themselves as perennial favorites but never quite match expectations, certainly the case with a Detroit franchise that has reached the Finals once in the last seven seasons despite finishing first or second overall six times. ...Full Story...

Up Close With Pittsburgh Sports Report
WDVE's Jim Krenn

Famous to nearly every Pittsburgher with a working car radio, Jimmy Krenn is the star and co-host of the "DVE Morning Show" on 102.5 WDVE-FM. Krenn has been king of the morning drive for two decades now, first teaming with Scott Paulsen and now Randy Baumann. Krenn's many original on-air bits, song parodies and characters have made him much more than a disc jockey to legions of loyal listeners, as well as local athletes and media personalities. Krenn has become such a Pittsburgh icon that he was roasted in February at PNC Park by Pittsburgh's top personalities. Last month, Pittsburgh's number one radio personality sat on his back porch, enjoyed a cigar and chatted with PSR Editor Tony DeFazio. ...Full Story...

Old School Goes New
Sports Training Methods Change Rapidly

In 1985, many mainstream sports fans and the general public watched "Rocky IV," which made more than $300 million worldwide and became one of the most popular sports movies ever. While people who envisioned "The Jetsons" as the future might have been disappointed as they grew older because flying cars never materialized, "Rocky IV" was almost a preview documentary for athletes.

In the film, Russian fighter Ivan Drago completed his workouts while running on a treadmill and wired to computers. He punched mechanical punching bags while Rocky Balboa dragged his overweight brother-in-law through the snow in a sled, hefted wooden beams, pulled rocks on a pulley system to replicate weights and ran up the rocky mountainside.

Sure, it was only a movie, but the "new school" approach has become commonplace on the campus of any major college sports program or pro team. ...Full Story...

Cannon Firing Line
Finding Value - Unexpectedly

The post-mortems continue to roll in after another NFL Draft and there's no place like home when it comes to that. Indeed, the only thing that rivals the pre-draft chatter in Pittsburgh is that which follows, and this time with better reason than in other years.

The Steelers selected Rashard Mendenhall and Limas Sweed because they would have been nuts to have passed on them. ...Full Story...