Cannon: Firing Line
Eating Our Own
By Ellis G. Cannon
Publisher, Pittsburgh Sports Report

Wow, we are pretty schitzo, huh?

No disrespect to folks with the real thing, but this place was all over the board leading up to and after the Steelers’ loss in the AFC Championship game. That’s nothing new because the same scenarios unfold every time the circus comes to town, but the insanity associated with some of this stuff is almost stunning. Not to mention funny.

Don’t get us wrong, we love the passion. We’ve done it all and still engage in it at some level, in a different way, on the radio. We love the folks parking outside the stadium the night before to get “in line” for a good spot in the parking lot on the following day. Me and the boys were known to visit the campers back in the day to look at them like animals in the zoo before asking if we could hang out.

We love the excitement and revenue the game generates and laugh at those professors in faraway academia who tell us these events do nothing for the local economy; that the dollars being spent are nothing but recycled paper.

True story. I talked to a suit type before the Pats’ game and went into my spiel about these nutty professors. Cat says he and a group of folks went to a local restaurant three and a half hours before the Jets’ game just to be assured they would have a table, then proceeded to ring up a $700.00 tab.

Now, I know when events of this magnitude come around, some of the dollars being spent represent people’s savings, which I suppose technically puts these dollars already in the marketplace. But aren’t those dormant dollars being activated by our enthusiasm and the game? Wouldn’t they otherwise sit in a bank somewhere and not flow through the local economy? And, seriously, aren’t you the type that makes a six-pack a case, shoves aside hamburger for steak and buys in increments of 10 rather than five of everything when the playoffs start?

One thing we do that is entertaining is how quickly we eat our own when things don’t work out. One week, it’s a travesty Bill Cowher is not voted Coach of the Year; the next we’re discussing if Snoop Dogg would have gone for the field goal to cut the Pats’ lead to 11 had he been coaching the Steelers, something he professes to be interested in.

One week, 15-1 is an accomplishment for the ages, the next the season is a failure. Overachievement quickly becomes underachievement. One day Ben is the league’s story of the year and folks are buying stickers and pins with his name on them; the next every chumly out there has advice on his gloves, predicting, then almost reveling in, the doom they see after he experiences failure.

One week Plex is indispensable, keeping eight defenders out of the box, a deep threat invaluable to Ben and a reformed person back in our favor after getting trashed last Mother’s Day. Following a couple weak playoff games, he’s not only replaceable, he’s a poison that must be cut out immediately.

One day it’s One for the Thumb, the next it’s rumors Ben’s dog tried to eat his thumb before the Jets’ game, thereby explaining everything that followed. Of course, if you think about it, he did almost throw that pig into the stands a couple times, something you wouldn’t expect from a 70% passer unless his dog done chewed up his hand.

The list goes on and on. We eat our own; that’s what we do.

You know what? At least we’re good at it. And it sure beats not having the playoffs around to get all crazy over.

“Ellis Cannon’s Sportsline Pittsburgh” airs weeknights, 6-8 p.m. on FM NewsTalk 104.7. Ellis is also a regular contributor on the “#1 Cochran Sports Showdown” aired Sundays at 11:35 on KDKA-TV.