This baseball season, I've listened to Phillies fans whine about the team, the manager, the history, the city and a few assorted other things as the team looked like they would, then they wouldn't, then they did get to the World Series.  I understand that it's been a long time since Philadelphia celebrated a championship of any kind, but the baseball team has at least been in the mix for the last couple of years.

And this team just happened to run into the hot team in last year's playoffs.  This year, the hot team was the Phillies.  The truly jinxed Chicago Cubs met the fate all Phillie fans feared would be there own and Philadelphia became the best team in the league by default.  I'm not trying to minimize their accomplishments, maybe they'd have beaten the Cubs heads up, but it didn't hurt having the team with the best record out of the way.  Now, I'm hearing all this teeth gnashing from Phillie fans.  How will they lose?  Silly talk.  They're in the World Series.  Get used to it.  Only one other team is still playing.

This whining prompted me to think about my own difficulty to please in sports.  The Steelers have five rings.  I should be satisfied with their history.  Still, I think of those home AFC Championship games that got away.  I even go back to Dan Marino and wonder how many rings the Steelers would have if they'd drafted him.

Things are going well this season, even though there aren't many left standing after a string of injuries over the first seven weeks of the NFL season.  Still, the gloom of a difficult stretch in the schedule looms ahead.  If one thinks negatively, they attract negativity.  Give it a try, you'll see.  Many times, I've fought off the urge to be negative during a Steeler game and fortunes have turned toward the black & gold.  I like the way this Steeler team fights.  Whether they win enough to win a championship this season is insignificant.  These next ten games will be entertaining and if the team comes through with a great record and another ring, it will be one of the greatest accomplishments any NFL team has ever had. 

I am most judgmental with the Pitt Panthers.  I know, most of you are Penn State fans and I actually am pulling for them this season.  Why would I want Ohio State to win?  Penn State fans are the opposite of Phillie fans.  They are usually unrealistic when assessing their team's chances.  But when the need for speed was properly addressed, Penn State improved their chances to compete with the best.  The road is clear for the Nits this season.  They've only got to win the rest of their games to win a seat in the title game.  Admittedly, winning in Columbus is a challenge, but should they do that, there's no further roadblocks.  Texas and Alabama must negotiate a more competitive field of teams and then have a playoff for their conference.  It's unlikely that both will run their tables. 

For Pitt, I am starting to gain some respect.  I am always critical of the Panthers and head coach Dave Wannstedt, since they have a history of making the same mistakes over and over.  But, when they beat South Florida, they blitzed on defense and stopped making stupid errors on offense.  Bill Stull made one glaring error on Saturday at Navy, but for the most part, Pitt was strong in Annapolis.  And Shady McCoy has started to run north-south and the yards and scores are mounting.

Rutgers is another test for Pitt, just because they've always beaten the Panthers when I figured they wouldn't.  I've still got to train myself to be positive about the Panthers' chances.  I'm still in a prove it to me mode.

The Penguins are starting to get used to each other.  There were so many off season moves that they've not looked together early on.  Last night, they eked out a shootout win over Boston.  In the first period, it was all Boston.  Still, Miro Satan scored the first goal on a rebound and Evgeni Malkin scored in the shootout to lock down two points.  After the lopsided first period, the Pens were equal to or better than the Bruins.  And as Pittsburgh's players get used to each other, the offense should start to put more pucks in the net. 

All in all, local sports fans have a lot to be positive about.  Run this experiment.  If your team is faltering, drop the criticism and just pull hard for them.  See what happens.