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Suddenly, a little child cried out, "But he's not wearing any clothes!" Soon, everyone was laughing and saying loudly, "The emperor isn't wearing any clothes!"
"Get me my hat."
A brutally physical NFL season opener between the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans was deadlocked and headed for overtime late Thursday night, and the quarterback’s statement carried an unspoken but obvious tagline: Get me my hat, because I’m about to take us down the field for the winning points, and I want to cover up my sweaty hair when I do that postgame interview with Andrea Kremer.
And what did the ballboy do?
“He got me my hat,” Roethlisberger said about half an hour later as he undressed at his locker, grinning like a schoolboy who’d just drained a game-winning jumper at the recess bell.
Awesome.
> Joel Hanrahan pitched very well in a tough situation and, truth be told, the first of several versions of my story focused just on his work in the seventh. He has given up three runs in his past 19 appearances now, and I am guilty of not stressing more how well he has done.
> Brian Bixler did not do as the Pirates' baserunners are taught in rounding third passively -- go hard until you are told to stop -- but he still had the aggressiveness after his pause to make it home with a good slide.
> Easily forgotten, but Ross Ohlendorf also pitched quite well against a very good lineup. Jimmy Rollins is going to hit home runs. He never let it get to him.
> John Russell, for all the criticism he has taken here for his handling of the bullpen, made all the right moves leading up to Matt Capps. Took out Ohlendorf at just the right time. Read correctly that Hanrahan's stuff was right to get his two batters. Boldly went with Phil Dumatrait in just his second appearance since missing a year, specifically to go after all of the Phillies' lefties. Went to Jesse Chavez at just the right time, too. In fact, if Capps does what he is supposed to, it looks like a tremendous night for the manager.
> My personal favorite: One player told me afterward that there was no sense of deflation in the dugout after the top of the ninth. Capps was understandably down, but that was about it. "We really thought we were going to go out there and win," the player said. "We didn't think it would come that fast, but we'll take it. It's a great feeling. Good things are starting to happen here."
AP Top 25 |
1. Florida (58) 0-0 1,498 |
2. Texas (2) 0-0 1,424 |
3. Oklahoma 0-0 1,370 |
4. USC 0-0 1,313 |
5. Alabama 0-0 1,156 |
6. Ohio State 0-0 1,113 |
7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,054 |
8. Mississippi 0-0 1,047 |
9. Oklahoma State 0-0 989 |
9. Penn State 0-0 989 |
11. LSU 0-0 914 |
12. California 0-0 746 |
13. Georgia 0-0 714 |
14. Boise State 0-0 659 |
15. Georgia Tech 0-0 593 |
16. Oregon 0-0 587 |
17. TCU 0-0 521 |
18. Florida State 0-0 307 |
19. Utah 0-0 289 |
20. Brigham Young 0-0 267 |
21. North Carolina 0-0 261 |
22. Iowa 0-0 229 |
23. Notre Dame 0-0 225 |
24. Nebraska 0-0 207 |
25. Kansas 0-0 134 |
USA Today Poll |
1. Florida (53) 0-0 1,466 |
2. Texas (4) 0-0 1,386 |
3. Oklahoma (1) 0-0 1,358 |
4. USC (1) 0-0 1,321 |
5. Alabama 0-0 1,134 |
6. Ohio State 0-0 1,126 |
7. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,020 |
8. Penn State 0-0 988 |
9. LSU 0-0 917 |
10. Mississippi 0-0 889 |
11. Oklahoma State 0-0 861 |
12. California 0-0 711 |
13. Georgia 0-0 707 |
14. Oregon 0-0 694 |
15. Georgia Tech 0-0 559 |
16. Boise State 0-0 542 |
17. TCU 0-0 461 |
18. Utah 0-0 404 |
19. Florida State 0-0 371 |
20. North Carolina 0-0 293 |
21. Iowa 0-0 257 |
22. Nebraska 0-0 236 |
23. Notre Dame 0-0 194 |
24. Brigham Young 0-0 178 |
25. Oregon State 0-0 165 |