2. WPXI’s Timyka Artist has some seriously kickass Facebook etiquette:

I bet her next status will be, “Interviewing the family of the man who was bludgeoned in Cambria County. THEN GETTIN’ MY HAIR DID!”

3. Iron City is a craft beer?

Who knew!

(h/t @observacious)

4. Lamarr Woodley is only 25 and he’s already a world class human being. What a great read.

Also,

tawdry Tweets, lavatorial lasciviousness and camera-phone preening

Calling out Santonio, Ben, and Skippy, without using their names. Brilliant.

(h/t Laura and Charles)

5.  If you care about how the city uses open spaces, trails and parks, you’ll want to fill this survey out to voice your opinion. There’s even a survey for kids to fill out. Love it.

(h/t Jenn)

5. Junior Achievement of Western PA is holding quite possibly the best raffle prize ever in the history of ever! One lucky person will win, are you ready?

A pair of tickets to EACH of the following:

•       All Pittsburgh Steelers home games, including one road game
•       20 Home-game package to the Pittsburgh Penguins
•       Full season of home games—Pitt Men’s Basketball
•       Full season of home games—Pitt Panthers Football

INCREDIBLE!

Here’s the details!

6. The Post-Gazette profiled Genre Baker and his Genre’s Kids With Cancer Fund and Make Room for Kids is given a shout out. WOOT!

And yes, it does reveal where I go to church, and that’s cool with me.

Also:

“The most common form of ALL is B-cell, which is 90 to 95 percent curable,” said Mrs. Baker. “Genre had T-cell, which is 80 to 85 percent curable.

“Those are still great odds if you’re betting on football, but if it’s your child’s life, you don’t even want them in a room where 15 to 20 percent of the people in it might not make it.”

Profound.

7.  Daniel Tosh loves Zima!

Click here to view the embedded video.

(h/t Molly)

8. Braddock gets some love from Levis and it kind of touched my heart a little bit.

(h/t Clayton)

9. Do you know these Burghers? They lost their camera in Georgia and the person that found it would like to get it back to them.

(h/t Lisa)

10. Finally, from The Daily What:

Here, Dennis! Here, Dennis! Come here, Denny. Here pidgee pidgee pidgee.

[PUNT]

(h/t Charles and Will)

(From steelers.com)

The sports-writers of the Internet are manufacturing some ridiculous drama after Hines Ward, while being interviewed on the NFL channel about his possible future as a sports broadcaster, was asked if Ben had addressed the team yet, and Hines said that he hadn’t. Hines was then asked if he felt Ben should address the whole team regarding what happened in Georgia and Hines said, “I think so. A lot of players really don’t know the situation, other than what we hear in the news or the media. I think when he addresses the whole team going into training camp, we can all put it behind us and move forward.”

USA Today said, “Pittsburgh Steelers WR Hines Ward said Wednesday that QB Ben Roethlisberger has more work to do in order to win back the faith of his teammates before training camp.”

Ron Cook said, “Then, later in the week, Roethlisberger was called out publicly by teammate Hines Ward, who said Ben needs to address the Steelers as a group about his off-field indiscretions.”

ProFootball Talk said, “In other words, Ward expects Ben to address the whole team going into training camp.”

Countless articles and blog posts about Hines Ward publicly calling out Ben Roethlisberger.

Ugh.

Hines was asked a question and he answered it. He didn’t call Ben out publicly so much as he was baited and he took the bait.

Drama, drama, drama.

How about we forget about the fake drama and focus on the REAL drama, the fact that Troy Polamalu’s young friend Heather Miller died from cancer at age 11, and he wasn’t her only Steeler friend:

Take the ones that rolled down Wendy’s face recently when she went through some of the text messages on Heather’s cell phone. She was standing in the kitchen of her Osterburg home when she came across the final text [Casey] Hampton sent to Heather.

Hampton had been in Miami, preparing to play in the Pro Bowl, and he had called Heather to check on her. Her physical condition prevented Heather from talking on the phone.

So Hampton sent her a text message: “If you’re feeling up to it, give me a call. If not, just know I love you.”

Forget Hines’ big mouth or Ben’s off-field shenanigans and the giant Cloud of Drama and Doom circling over their heads.

Remember Heather Miller and her super friends.

Wendy gets just as emotional when she recalls the call from Polamalu on Jan. 29. It came less than a half hour after Heather’s death.

“Wendy,” Polamalu said, “she’s the lucky one.”

Forbes.com has ranked the most hated people in professional sports.

Let’s take a look:

1. Michael Vick, dog-killer, scum.

2. Al Davis, shitty owner. Where’s Nutting?! I’d like to see him on the list next year.

3.  Benjamin Roethlisberger, alleged sexual-assaulter, confirmed asshole. They used the Mullethawkenberger picture. Hee. Ben could broker peace in the Middle East, personally suck up every drop of oil in the Gulf, pee a rainbow and shoot gold dust out of his ass and that hair style will STILL come back to haunt him.

4. Tiger Woods, man-whore. Wow. People hate Ben more than they hate Tiger. I’m actually surprised by that.

Also, yesterday while watching golf, what was it? The US Open? My brother-in-law, who was cheering for Tiger Woods, was aghast, AGHAST I TELL YOU, that Phil Mickelson gave attitude to the marshal at one of the holes. Because, you see, being a good and decent family-man who gets occasionally testy during important tournaments is WORSE than being a wife-cheating raging man-whore. Who knew?!

5. Jerry Jones, annoying son of a bitch.

6. Mark McGwire, juiced-up asterisk-wearer.

7. Terrell Owens. Can I use this again, please? I strongly dislike that motherbleeper.

8. Alex Rodriguez. Ptooie. Ptooie. Hiss. [evil eye]

9. Allen Iverson. I don’t follow NBA basketball, so I don’t know him from Michael Jordan.

10. Gilbert Arenas, gun-loving Wizard. Like Harry Potter with a 9mm Glock. [pew pew]

Final thought: I’d also like to see Steely McBeam on this list next year.

And at least three of the Flyers.

And Bill Belichick.

And Pierre What’shisjerkface.

And Versus.

And no, I haven’t given him any points for granting the interviews to the local media rather than the national media because if I was Benny’s PR strategist, I’d have told him to do the exact same thing because 1. it give the appearance that he cares more about what his city thinks about him versus the rest of the world (maybe he does) and 2. it’s easier to massage how an interview with a local outlet is conducted versus a national outlet. Two birds, one stone. Hope they were pigeons.

So, no, haven’t watched them, but I probably will eventually when I can do it without rolling my eyes at him. This P-G poll, while unscientific, seems to show that there is still a highly unfavorable opinion of Ben even after his interviews.

Having not watched them, I can’t comment on what was said, but I want to say this:

Of course he’s contrite. Did they think he was going be all, “SALLY WIGGIN!!! [ass slap] Bitch, TAKE MY SHOTS!!!!!”

Well, that’s just an SNL skit waiting to be written.

Today, in light of Georgia’s Sunshine Laws, over 50 DVDs were released of footage and evidence in Ben Roethlisberger’s alleged rape case and I have to tell you guys, I’m not going to do it.

No way on God’s blue and green earth am I going to spend my time watching videos of the accuser and her friends and Ben’s friends and other random people talk about something that may or may not have been consensual.  If it wasn’t consensual, yeah, let’s hash it out some more and put the girl through more suffering and let’s all talk about her and what she might look like and “Would Benny really hit on her?!” and let’s have her read some more about how she’s probably just a money-hungry whore because what raped woman doesn’t want to read that about herself and let’s pick this case apart bit by bit and let’s discount that and discredit that and let’s hedge our bets that those girls are good actresses and blah blah blah blah BLAH!

I’m not doing it. Not going to take screengrabs of the accusers blurred-out face. I’m not going to listen to her talk about Ben whipping Little Ben out. I don’t want to hear about what the bartender said or the waitress said or the bystander said. I’m not going to listen to any of it unless somewhere in there someone goes on some awesome random tirade against pigeons or for the resurrection of Zima production in America.

I get why Sunshine Laws exist, but what fun is it when the laws are just shining the sun on a giant stinky load of poop that will only smell worse now that it’s being blasted with some heat?

What will change as a result of these tapes being released? Benny will never be tried for this alleged crime. Only Benny and his accuser know what really happened and we can at least rest comfortably that eventually, the Karma Boomerang will deliver final justice to whomever is lying. Hell, look at OJ Simpson. These tapes will only succeed in bringing back to the surface what so many are trying to push under and swim away from.

I’m so tired of it all. It’s the main reason I wanted Benny traded. So I don’t have to care or write about him. So I don’t have to see the interviews he’s giving to WTAE and KDKA in which he’s going to say what he’s been saying — “I’m sorry for my behavior, but I committed no crime and I look forward to bettering myself in the future so that I can make my family, my team, and my fans proud of me again.”

Would you like to buy my ticket to this showing of the Great Public Rehabilitation of the Image of Benjamin Roethlisberger because I don’t really want to see the show. I just want it all, and him, to make like the fleeting Roethlishawkletberger and go away.

That said, you guys HAVE GOT to go watch Benny turning on the charm on the dance floor at the Capital City bar.

Take away his bajillion dollars and his NFL contract and you really do end up with Bubba Joe Doofus the Third. But I’m just saying that because of that one time he turned me down at Diesel when I was all, “How’s about I take this sexy hearing aid out and you go to town on my cute earlobe?”