U mad, bro?: Steelers fans antsy about offense, Pirates fans ready for season's end

Despite a 2-0 start to the 2024 season, all is not right in Steelers Nation.

And after being officially eliminated from the playoff race for the 29th time in 32 years, nothing feels right in Pirates Nation.

Actually, is there really such a thing as “Pirates Nation?” If so, how big is that nation? Like, the size of, I dunno, Luxembourg or something? Liechtenstein maybe?

Anyway, that’s the vibe I’m getting from this week’s “U Mad, bro?”

Calvin sent this message after the Steelers won 13-6 in Denver on Sunday.

@MarkMaddenX @TimBenzPGH that was the most unsatisfying win in a while.. ugh.

— Calvin Isaac (@CalvinIsaac4) September 15, 2024

By “a while,” did you mean since the 18-10 win via six field goals in Atlanta last week?

On Friday, I sent a social media post railing against the virtue signalers who were feigning righteous indignation over Al Michaels’ comments about the “irony” of Damar Hamlin tackling Tua Tagovailoa on a play when Tagovailoa ended up suffering a scary looking injury.

Right. Because absolutely no one else in America had a similar thought or at least made that connection. Jesus. faux outrage, posing, preening and posturing…. It’s currency in this country these days. https://t.co/sQkS14Nybp

— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) September 13, 2024

This chucklehead thought he was being funny with his response.

Lil Timmy. MOJO senses a little envy towards BIG AL!
You MAD BRO?

— MOJO (@mjro1105) September 14, 2024

This reply suggests to me you have no idea what the word “envy” means. Log off of “X.” Log on to Dictionary.com. Then get back to me.

Jack and I had a good exchange about my belief that the Steelers need to spread the ball to other receivers so that George Pickens doesn’t draw constant double coverage all the time.

Ain’t nobody worried about the other receivers we have on the roster lmao they are all below average nfl receivers

— Jack Handle (@jackhandle08) September 13, 2024

No kiddin’??? But if you ignore all of them, you just make life harder on Pickens.

Life is already hard on Pickens buddy, and it’s only going to get worse.

This is on upper management not finding a solid #2 receiver in the off season. The only hope is for Roman Wilson to step up immediately and ball out this season. Which is honestly not very likely.

— Jack Handle (@jackhandle08) September 13, 2024

Again, we don’t disagree. You just can’t go into games assuming you have only one receiver and one half-decent tight end.

That’s how to beat Atlanta, 18-10, and Denver, 13-6. But you also may lose to the Chargers, 16-13, by approaching things that way.

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Here is a Pirates email from Bill.

“Cherington Should Be Dismissed For Thinking Shelton Should Return Next Year, No Progress In FIVE (Or Is It Six) Years, The Pirates Win In Spite Of Him To There Credit, How About Donnie Kelly For Manager, A Change Is Very Very BADLY NEEDED And Everybody Knows It.”

First off, Bill, this is Shelton’s fifth year. It only feels like six … or is it seven?

Regarding Kelly, I like him. He’d love this job. But, for his sake, I hope he starts his managerial career elsewhere. As Shelton has shown all of us, taking on the Pirates job as your first managerial gig can be a death sentence.

Most importantly, though, we need to straighten out the differences between a comma and a period for you moving forward. You know they aren’t exactly interchangeable punctuation marks, right?

Rick sent this email about the Steelers’ quarterback situation. It doesn’t appear that he is sold on either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields.

“Can Skenes throw a football? If so, perhaps he could switch!”

Actually, Rick, Skenes warms up by throwing a football in the outfield all the time.

Imagine Paul Skenes as a QB….

6’6, 235

Effortlessly tosses the rock pic.twitter.com/sAFKWik8Hq

— PickensBurgh???? (Tino) (@PickensBurgh) June 8, 2024

PAUL SKENES THROW A DIME TO GEORGE PICKENS FOR 6

???? pic.twitter.com/zagk9z79hd

— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) June 24, 2024

Keep in mind, though, Skenes pitches from 60 feet, 6 inches away from home plate. That’s roughly 20 yards.

Fields’ average pass travels about 4.3 yards in the air. Skenes might get bored in the Steelers’ offense.

I know he wouldn’t have been happy throwing short of the sticks on third and 2 in Atlanta.

Finally, this guy puts Pirates fandom into a proper perspective.

Beyond mad. Into the maternal disappointed in them. Tsk, tsk.

— Beaver Falls Hosiery (@subBurgher) September 5, 2024

Indeed. Nothing hurts more than Mom saying, “I’m not mad at you. I’m just disappointed in you.”

This is the same thing. “Shelty, I’m not mad at you because the bullpen stinks. I’m just disappointed in you for continuing to put Rowdy into the game as a pitcher.”

Then again, if our mothers raised us right, maybe we never would’ve let ourselves become Pirates fans in the first place.