http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columnists/ Sports columnist Gene Collier en-us Copyright 2009, post-gazette.com. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:14:22 -0500 15 http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/2007design/images/150x30pg_now_logo.gif http://www.post-gazette.com/ 144 39 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09327/1015677-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Remember when it was fashionable to trash Rashard Mendenhall, to snark on his fumbling, riff on his evident indecision, bewail his questionable status as a force for good on an offense laced with All-Pros and Super Bowl MVPs? Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09326/1015453-150.stm?cmpid=collier.xml So with his college career at its infancy, you look at Dante Taylor, potentially the most impactful athletic presence to descend on Pitt basketball in nearly a quarter century, and you don't see quite what you expect. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09323/1014656-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Bumping into a Rooney at a film festival probably should never be considered surprising, and now that Hollywood producer Thomas Tull owns a chunk of the Steelers, the incidence of Rooney sightings Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09320/1013872-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Early in the fourth quarter of a game that had long since forfeited any chance of turning up on ESPN Classic, it actually began to appear as though the Steelers were going to lose to the Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09319/1013714-150.stm?cmpid=collier.xml When their collegiate head-coaching careers began on this same lawn on the same night in 2005, Dave Wannstedt and Charlie Weis, both carrying NFL PhD's, could barely have picked up two more different sets of cards. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:25:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012852-142.stm?cmpid=collier.xml So, did you hear the one about the Pitt Golden Girl, the Notre Dame sax man, and the Chicago vice squad? Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09314/1012230-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml You know what the problem is when your nose is running and your feet are smelling, right? Exactly; you're upside down. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:05:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09312/1011480-150.stm?cmpid=collier.xml For a couple of teams who've won all but three of their 14 combined games, the Steelers and Broncos are lugging around plenty of issues, richly evident weaknesses that could send a promising football season careening into a u-turn tomorrow night in the Rockies. Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09309/1010973-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Nothing will match for compelling NFL video the 15 stunning seconds of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez eating a hot dog on the sideline the week before last. Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:34:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09308/1010618-63.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Rank the following three things, three things that are very plainly just not right, in order of their general creepiness, starting with the worst. Wed, 4 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09305/1009630-150.stm?cmpid=collier.xml There is something profound about the flipping of that calendar from October to November, an inescapable melancholia linked suspiciously, I think, to a passage from Thoreau: Sun, 1 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09302/1009181-150.stm?cmpid=collier.xml Were all of the still-to-be-determined ingredients of still another highly ridiculous college football season mashed into a colossal metaphorical meatball, and were that colossal metaphorical Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09298/1008191-66.stm?cmpid=collier.xml When Mike Tomlin vaulted from the freshly ascended platform of Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator to head coach of the Steelers ... sports commentary by Gene Collier Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0400