LEDGER COLUMNIST
All I want for Christmas is a Steelers playoff spot!
Tara Jennings

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas this year is two more victories for the Steelers this season. Please let us defeat the Baltimore Ratbirds (Ravens) in the same convincing manner they beat us earlier this season. Then let us clobber the Cincinnati Criminals, oops I mean Bengals.

I know many people don’t believe in the Steelers this year. But I believe in Christmas miracles, and the best miracle I could ask for this year is the defeat of the Ravens!

With a 9-7 record, there is an ever-so-small chance that we could make it into the playoffs with a 5th or 6th seed. So, add to my list the two defeats of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and at least one defeat for the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. And according to the football message board gurus out there, how about one more Cincinnati defeat to go along with the clobbering we will be happy to deliver in two weeks.

I believe a 9-7 record and a playoff spot is all our team needs to catapult us into the Super Bowl for possibly our sixth Super Bowl victory! (Our theme at the beginning of the season was Six in 2006!)

I know I have been a little quiet in this column about my Steelers. In years past I have been more vocal about our playoff hopes. But, I admit, I was a little concerned about their level of play earlier this season. I never gave up hope, though, and I never stopped watching, cheering and waving my Terrible Towel.

The Steelers have won five of their last six games and hopefully that shows a certain alleged curse has lost its substance. There’s an urban legend that unfortunate things happen to players who participate in a certain soup commercial, and often their backups.

I first heard about this phenomenon from my editor Klonie Jordan, who seemed all too happy to share the tale with me. I repeatedly told him that I wouldn’t talk about the so-called curse until after the season ended. I gladly stayed in a state of denial throughout the season.

But, both Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Hasselback have been injured. When searching the Internet (you can find everything on the ‘Net), a list of players haunted by this alleged hex also includes Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner, Donavan McNabb, Brian Urlacher, Michael Strahan, and even Jerome “The Bus” Bettis. According to armchairgm. com, the only player to escape the legend is John Lynch.

Some of you might remember Scott Powell’s recent column discussing that much-too-intelligent-for-my-owngood trivia calendar on Scott Baughman’s desk. Every few days “the Scotts” insist that we test my ignorance by catching up on trivia. Usually I miss every question. The other day was no different, even though the topic was NFLfootball.

The question asked which NFLteam’s mascot comes from a 19th Century poem.

The answer was the Baltimore Ravens, after Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Raven. Poe was a resident of Baltimore for a majority of his life.

The team has three Raven mascots named Edgar, Allan, and Poe.

Hopefully in the sense of the poem, the Ravens will be ever tapping on the touchdown door... but nevermore in the Steelers stadium!

So, how about it Santa? Will you spread a little Christmas spirit on Heinz Field a little early? Just in time for those Ravens, please!

And, of course, to everyone (no matter who you root for on Sunday) I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.