It's always amusing when you're flippin' through your expansive collection of STEELERS' trading cards which required 35 or 36 yrs. to reach this awesome level of awesomeness (okay ... so what if it isn't as massive and comprehensive as the two monster boxes of Strictly PHILLIES, although it is bigger than the collection of "Red Wings: From Abdelkader to Zombo") and you shake yer head and smirk when you're reminded that during your first year of rootin' for the Black N' Gold, the top two WRs were Ron Shanklin (#25) and Frank Lewis (#43).
#25 and #43 ... numbers which WRs are banned from wearing nowadays, thanks to some powerful anti-legislation from the NFL years ago.
#25 and #43 ... the numbers currently worn by Steeler safeties Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu.
A lethal combo? Well, sure ... although they'd probably be just as effective if they were wearing #6 and #96 (jot this down, though: college football continues to reign supreme fpr one basic reason -- single-digit-wearin' safeties. What's cooler than a SS or FS wearin' #4 or #9? Answer: "Nuthin'.").
We've spent the week sifting through a week's worth of Super Bowl data and determined that among the useful and fascinating in a tidal wave of repetition, redundancy and unnecessary is the 51 FACTOR.
Well, at least it is here in the Tater Tot Quadrant of the La-Z-Boy Lounge. ///// It's "a must" ...
The Sooner Schooner never plugged the 51 Factor into their equation, so they won't be the fourth jewel here in the Quadruple Crown.
The Sooners simply weren't 51 Friendly (which we discussed in Oct., so no big surprise, really). /////// Just as Hockeytown rode the unsung heroism of 51 VALTTERI FILPPULA to the Stanley Cup and the Fightin' Phillies benefitted from a big bucket of intangibles from 51 CARLOS RUIZ, Steeler Nation is tuned into 51 on its radio dial.
While James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley have jacked up everybody in their path for the past two seasons ... and while Polamalu has done his thing as the backbone of the secondary, diehards haven't forgotten that leading tackler, 51 JAMES FARRIOR, is the skull-crushin', rib-crackin' Alpha dog of the D.
This is numerology which mustn't be trifled with -- given that, in the past three days, some of us STEELER fans have seen a brilliantly-feathered cardinal on a branch less than 100 ft. from the front door.
Before we were waiting for the stoplight to turn green and noticed that the vehicle in front of us had a Colts trailer-hitch cover ...
Before we arrived at the next stoplight and were flanked by a red truck with two big Raider decals and a blue SUV with a large Cowboys sticker ...
Before standing in line at the post office, two people behind those two guys wearing Redskins jackets ...
Before we saw that black guy w/ the janitorial crew (who cleans Suite 201 upstairs) wearing a white 54 URLACHER jersey (if only he'd had a 51 BUTKUS jersey, tsk tsk) ...
All of these were ominous signs until we saw that monster truck heading in the opposite direction ... emerging from the I-95 underpass on Route 103 ... surging forward with two Steeler flags (driver's-side window, passenger-side window) flapping in the breeze.
Our concern has abated.
Thanks to those fabulous, fightin' 51s to neutralize omens ...
b
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