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There's alot going on in Pittsburgh Sports. The Pens didn't wait until the the trade deadline to make a move. They traded defensivemen Ryan Whitney for Anaheim Winger Chris Kunitz and junior prospect Eric Tangradi. I think that's a good move, the sooner they get some offensive help the better. One thing I don't understand is everyone bashing Ryan Whitney. Here are some facebook statuses I've seen today bashing Whitney.

"finally whitney is gone... breathe easy pens"

"Ryan Whitney likes men anyway good thing hes finaly gone!"

"bye bye whitney!!! Thank God!"

What has Ryan Whitney done to the fans of the Penguins to deserve this? Since he's been playing for the Pens, all he has done is be a consistent offensive defensivemen putting up about 40+ points a year. That's excluding this year, of course, because of his prolonged injury that kept him out of the first half of the year. I hope he does well for Anaheim.

However, I am happy with the trade. Kunitz is a young, talented winger that, I think, will mesh well with Crosby; assuming that is the line that interim coach Dan Bylsma puts him on. I'm also happy that he has 3 years remaining on his contract unlike the Hossa deal last year, ultimately dismantling the team. I'm also intrigued by junior prospect Eric Tangradi. Tangradi is a big left winger that currently has 38 goals and 87 points for his junior team, the Belleville Bulls. They should've thrown Hal "No Skill" Gill and Miro "Most Wicked Unibrow in Sports" Satan into the trade somehow and got a little more; like a bag of pucks. Hal Gill, now there's a defensivemen Pens fans should be upset with. Shero described the 20 year old as a raw talent that has a lot of room to grow. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep maturing and eventually step up and be a consistent player for the Pens, much like the way Whitney did.

Currently, the Pens are 2 points out of eighth place. The goal is that Kunitz will give them some extra fire power to break into the top 8 and get into the playoffs. Buffalo is in 8th place in the East and with the injury to goal tender Ryan Miller, they may drop a few spots.

Now for some Steelers talk...

For any one reading this that knows me, I love the NFL Draft. I love the NFL Combine, I love mock drafts, and pretty much anything that has to deal with the April event. (The draft is under a month by the way.) Right now, I see the Steelers taking an offensive lineman with the first pick; perhaps center Alex Mack out of California. But its still really early to start making those kind of calls.

Free Agency is about to start and I'm pumped to see what happens and if the Steelers do anything noteable, although if it's like any other Steelers off-season, they probably won't. Jeff Saturday, the all-pro center from the colts, said that if he went anywhere this off-season, it would be to the Steelers where he'd be willing to switch positions to help out. I like that a lot. Although, he's 34 and I wouldn't want to see the Steelers over paying him. Ya know, like how they gave back up tackle Max Starks the franchise tag worth 8.5 million for one year. You'd think they would've learned last year after giving Starks the transition tag worth 7.5 that no one wanted him. Starks is living the life though, over 15 million dollars in two years to play less then half the season's games. However, if by some chance, he blossoms and dominates this year, I won't be mad.

Another interesting rumor, The Tennessee Titans want to offer Nate Washington a big deal and lure him away from the Steelers. I'm all for it (and I know Vida is too.) People will say, "he makes big plays." Yeah, that's true, but for every big play he had two bigger drops. A lot of people are dissing Limas Sweed. I can see why, I was probably madder then anyone with his two HUGE drops in the AFC championship game and in the divisional game against the chargers. Then fakes an injury so the Steelers have to burn a timeout. Luckily, the Steelers are God's gift to football and they didn't suffer from that. Rookie mistakes. Plaxico Burress dropped a bunch of balls and made a bunch of stupid mistakes his rookie year (spiking the ball in an attempt to stop the clock after making a reception) and he's not too bad; minus the whole shooting himself in the leg thing. Do you people forget, or even know, what Sweed did with his three years at Texas? He's still young and I still have faith in him, give it another year or two.

Pittsburgh Pirates

I say every year that I'm going to make an effort to follow the Buccos and support them 100%. I think this will be the year, maybe. They're like that red headed step child that isn't very good at anything that everyone forgets about. Did anyone hear Ian Snell say how he could be a top ten pitcher in the league? I think he should work on being the Pirates best pitcher before he starts making claims like that.

That's all I have to say about them right now.

Agree or Disagree with anything I said? Or if I forgot anything, let me know.