End of Year Awards

Radio Broadcast of the Year - "Dachs and Elie Show" (WYUR.org)
Honorable Mention - Rush Limbaugh (WABC), Jim Rome (ESPN)

Album of the Year - "It Just Comes Natural" - George Strait
Honorable Mention - "Everything is Fine" - Josh Turner

Mom of the Year - Lynne Spears

Song of the Year - How 'Bout Them Cowgirls - George Strait

Music Video of the Year - Online - Brad Paisley

NFL - Player of the Year - Tom Brady (Patriots)*
Honorable Mention - Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers)

NHL - Player of the Year - Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
Honorable Mention - Vincent Lecavlier - (Lightning)

MLB Player of the Year - Alex Rodriguez (Yankees)
Honorable Mention - Balco

I'm tired, as I come up with more I'll post them.

Parker - Parked!

The Steelers have finally gotten on the right foot while the NFL's leading rusher got off the wrong one. Willie Parker will be sidelined for the remainder of the season with a fractured fibula that he sustained on his first rush of the game. In his absence, the Steelers had, what was in my opinion, their most dominating rushing attack of the season. The injury finally gives the Steelers the big break that they so desperately needed. NFL, watch out.! Were back. Smashmouth football, baby. Pittsburgh style!

Ben Roethlisberger threw the third perfect quaterback - rating game of his short career. That ties an NFL record (Peyton Manning). If not for Tom Brady's ridiculous season, Ben might have (should have) been the league's MVP. Take a look at his stats. They might suprise you.

With a win the Steelers moved to 10 - 5 and a clinched a playoff birth. Should they win next week against the Ravens they will move to 11 - 5 and take the division. In 1992 the Steelers had a rookie coach. His name was Bill Cowher and his team went 11 - 5 taking the division. Good job Tomlin.

Mario Lemieux - Magnificent One

Wayne Who?

New and Notable 2

Since the historic Curbing endorsement of Gov. Mike Huckabee, he has not only risen in the polls but has received a corresponding barrage of derision from the media and other politicians. The forces behind this deluge, however, are primarily Republican politicians and conservative media outlets. Many Democrats feel that Huckabee would be an easy kill in the event he were nominated. They would like to avoid the same mistake Republicans made with Howard Dean in putting the kibosh in for his nomination. Considering that Huckabee is not likely to implode on national television as Dean did, many Republicans are scared that with all his religous baggage and comments, Huckabee is not electable. Therefore, they want his run to end now and not in November. While I understand their concerns, I have little doubt that Mike is the best man for the job. Should he emerge as the Republican candidate, he will with greater exposure win over the American people with his ideas, charisma, and solid character.

The Mitchell Report along with its media coverage has been from its inception laughable.
1) For months now we have been hearing nothing but hype regarding the Mitchell Report - ''the names that we will hear are going to shake the game of baseball to its core!''. Not only have there not been many suprising names, there has not in fact been even one. Roger Clemens, who has become the poster boy for the report- is an old name. There has been much speculation about the Rocket for years, not to mention the Jason Grimsley bust along with good pal Andy Pettite. After these Roid heads and HGH heroes the most original name invoked in the Report was Barry Bonds.

2) After months of hype the media has been unwilling to admit that the report was a major letdown. Screaming headlines punctuate every newscast, newspaper, and website as if 97% of the league had been implicated in the scandal. Prepared headlines are ubiquitous even though they are inappropriate to the reality of what has occured. One headline in particular - "Guess Who's Smiling?" depicts Clemens scowling and Bonds laughing. The implication was that Bonds was happy that others are now under scrutiny. The article fails to mention that Bonds should be furious that while he's facing federal prosecution simply for being obnoxious, 92.6% of baseball players (most of whom are juiced) were not implicated in the steroid scandal which leads to my next point.

3) There is no way that this Report is comprehensive. Getting one New York Mets club house boy to squeal hardly constitutes a thorough and comprehensive investigation. Mitchell should have made no pretense that he even scratched the surface or that he was even moderately successfull in his probe. For goodness sakes, he did not even have any subpoeana power! No wonder no one spoke to him other than The Giambino.

4) Mitchell recommended that the Commissioner not take punitive measures against players named unless he deems the conduct so egregious that he must do so in order to preserve the integrity of the game. (As if there is any left.) What does this mean? That the player injected both cheeks?

Thursday's Top Five 1 - All time Albums That Have Not Gained Proper Recognition - Untill Now

In what will be a weekly feature, Curbing will announce the top five in whatever category we happen to choose. We may be open to requests.

1)All Things Must Pass - George Harrison (1970)

Although George has passed, this masterpeice lives on to the delight of all things that have not. The unique musical sound produced on this album has not come close to being duplicatd since. The sitar solo on "Isn't it a Pity?" is absolutely heart - stirring. "My Sweet Lord", "Wah Wah", ''Beware of Darkness" - these are just a few of the precious gems that are on this album. The truth is, every song on "All Things Must Pass" is a jewel.

2) White Trash With Money - Toby Keith (2006)

Altough this album won't necessaraly contribute a disproportionately large number of songs to Toby Keith's next greatest hits album, it
assumes a prominent position on this list because of the consistent quality of each song. Standout songs include "A Little Too Late", "Can't Buy You Money'', "Crash Here Tonight" and of course "Get Drunk and Be Somebody".

3)Magical Mystery Tour - The Beatles (1967)

Any legitimate greatest album ranking already grants this work a slot in the top twenty, but not until a good few Beatles albums have been listed. "Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Rubber Soul", and "Abbey Road" are always listed before this masterpiece. While those masterpieces have their rightful spots among the greatest of all time, MMT deserves even more recognition. Aside from the super smash hits "Hello Goodbye" "Strawberry Fields Forever""All You Need Is Love" and the magesterial "Penny Lane, " this album also contains underrated treasures such as "Fool on the Hill", "I am the Walrus ", and "Baby You're a Rich Man". This just might be the Fab Four's greatest masterpiece.

4) Haneshama Lach - Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1959)

As the seminal album of all modern jewish music, this abum deserves more recognition than it receives. Sure, Carlebach himself is a celebrated musician, composer, and vocalist, but this album particularly is deserving of more credit. If "Haneshama Lach'', "Mimkoimcha" and "Ki Lishuascha" do nothing for you then you just might not have a heart. Additionally, the vocal performance on this album is Carlebach's best.

5)Hillbilly Deluxe - Brooks and Dunn

The featured song alone would make this a great album. Toss in ''Believe'', ''Building Bridges'', and '' Play Something Country'' and this album's selection is a no - brainer

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Best performance of a song not by the original artist. Notice the young Dhani who is a ringer for his father George Harrison.

Blessing in Disguise?

SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE NFL SEASON

Steelers' second year safety Anthony Smith guaranteed a victory against the New England Patriots. The Steelers were humbled by the Patriots on Sunday evening in a lopsided 31-13 defeat. So, Anthony Smith was wrong, right? Wrong. He wasn't refering to the game played this past Sunday. He was talking about the contest that will be played on January 11th at Gillette Stadium. That's right, folks, the AFC championship game. Anthony was and is still guaranteeing a Steelers win en route to their 2nd Super Bowl in three years. In 2004, the Steelers faced the record-winning Patriots in the regular season before being cheat - I mean beat by the Pats in the AFC title game. The following year, the Steelers lost to the Colts and the Bengals (in their second meeting) during the regular season before manhandling them both in the playoffs. In all these situations the losing team figured out what it did right, what it did wrong, did a little soul searching, came back and beat the previous winners. It would have been nice to ruin Brady's and Bellicheat's perfect season, but even if they do go 16-0 it will make it all the sweeter when we eviscerate them in the AFC championship game in Foxboro. That is not only an Anthony Smith guarantee, but a curbingmyenthusiasm guarantee as well. Enjoy the remainder of the season and playoffs!
(we apologize for the recent scarcity of posts)

Happy Hannukah!

One of the great miracles that Hannukah commemorates is the great military victory that the Maccabees enjoyed over the Syrian-Greeks. We praise and thank God for this in the special prayer of ''viyal hanisim - bimei matisyahu''. It is important for us to look into our own lives and our own victorious battles and to formulate our own prayers of gratitude and praise. In the past 48 hours we have witnessed giboirim (Patriots) byad chalushim (Ravens), rabbim (Browns) byad miatim (officials) timmayim (Rangers) byad tihoirim (Hurricanes) rishoim (Cayotes) byad tzadikim (Penguins) and finally, zeidim (Bengals) byad oiskei soirasecha (STEELERS). True, the Ravens didn't finish the job, and it's not because they aren't chalashim, however, it is only fitting that the Steelers burst Bellicheat's perfect bubble as they did in the 2005 season when the Pats were on their record setting winning streak. There will be more on this matchup later in the week, but for now, Curbing would like to extend happy, healthy, and productive Hannukah wishes to all of our readers and their families.

HUCKABOOM!

As if we didn't see the effects of our endorsement coming! Take a look HUCKABOOM

Amarillo By Morning (live) - George Strait

Greatest country singer of all time. Enjoy!

New and Notable 1

Celebrity endorsements are not new to politics. Hollywood's elite have long been aligning themselves with Presidential hopefuls.It is no different this year. Barbara Streisand has endorsed Hillary, having been narrowly deemed as beneficial by the Clinton Pollsters. Barack Hussein Obama has persuaded Oprah to campaign and fund raise for him. These have been a mere leadup to the biggest celebrity endorsement yet. That's right - Curbing is officially endorsing former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for President of The United States and leader of the free world. While this is bound to change the face of the Presidential race particularly for the Republican nomination, it does not as you might think render the contest a mere formality. Voters will not soon forget the AP photo showing a Curbing family member greeting the erstwhile NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Country music superstar Toby Keith will be performing at the Izod Center (formerly Continental Airlines Arena) on 2/15/08 at seven thirty PM as part of his Big Dog Daddy tour. Unfortunately, that is a Friday night and Sabbath observers will have difficulty attending. Interestingly enough, this is being advertised on the sports talk radio station WFAN.
Mike and the Mad Dog have not been the conventional forum for promoting country music concerts in the past, however, convention has never been a guideline for Keith before. Having announced that he will not attend this year's CMA's it is hardly a shock that his newest smash-hit album ''Big Dog Daddy'' was not even nominated for one award.

Tommorow night's battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3) and the Cincinnatti Bengals (4-7) is a big one for the Steelers ,and won't be an easy one. ''Big'' for reasons not just symbolic, but practical. Should the Steelers, heaven forbid, lose to the Bengals they could be tied in the standings with the Browns with four difficult games left to lose their tie-breaking lead. There would be no reason to believe that they would go better than 2-2 in the remaining games with New England and Jacksonville left on the schedule - not to mention the Ravens on the road the last game of the season. If they want any chance of a first round bye, losing tomorrow night is not an option. It hardly seems necessary to explain why the game should be difficult for a team that won and lost to the Dolphins and Jets respectively by a field goal. I will anyway. 1) To the best of my knowledge the Steelers have not implemented the suggestions in the post ''Ride Bus -Park Parker?''. 2) Let's just say Carson Palmer is motivated to play against the team that tore his ACL in the playoffs two years ago and knocked his team out of the playoffs just a year ago (in all fairness, this motivation hasn't really helped him against the Steelers in the past). 3) Injuries. Santonio Holmes (knee) will be sitting out the contest effectively removing the Steelers' deep threat. Marvel Smith (back) will also be on the sideline - I don't need to explain the significance of that. On the bright side, Polamalu won't be playing as he is nursing an injury to his hair.

RIDE BUS--PARK PARKER?

Throughout the Pittsburgh Steeler dominance of the Jerome Bettis era a popular battle cry amongst both fans and players alike was RIDE THE BUS. Not only was Jerome an emotional team leader and media darling, he was actually an effective and in some ways unstoppable running back. Yes, he is the NFL's fifth all time leading rusher. Sure, he publicly announced that Takeo Spikes is a better linebacker than Ray Killewis and YES, he ran over Brian Urlacher in the snow during their Super Bowl year - but that's not where his greatness specifically lies. On first down - when the defense knew that he was running it - he was running for four yards and there was nothing that they could do about it. On third and short - let's say 3, and the defense knew that Kordell Stewart still didn't learn to throw the ball since first down - the bus was still getting to the marker. Back to 2007, an equally audible outcry- all right just mine - but what should be an equally audible outcry is PARK PARKER!

Hand off to Parker - its a second and 9 lock. Third down, long or short, and it's usually long, Ben must go shotgun because should they give it to Willie the next play the Steelers very ''special'' teams will grace the field allegedly covering the return. Granted, Ben's third down QB rating is through the roof, but can we realistically expect him to convert third and long consistently? Too often the opponents know he's throwing and Ben either gets sacked or someone gets called for holding, Ben occasionally creating a miracle. Why am I the only one to acknowledge Willie's ineffectiveness and ineptitude? That was rhetorical, however, the devil's advocate in the next paragraph will answer that question.

Wait a minute. Didn't Willie lead the Steelers to a super bowl in 2005 with a record breaking 75 yard rushing TD in the actual game? Didn't he rush for nearly 1500 yards in '06? Hasn't he already cemented a third consecutive 1000 yard season while posting the second most rushing yards in the league?

Yes, Satan, all of that is true. And what is also true is that Willie Parker can be an effective running back in the NFL - just not as the exclusive feature back that runs on every single first down. Sure, he'll sporadically run for more than a yard and has big play potential, but he leaves the Steelers with no consistently effective offensive attack. Even when he does dash for a ten yard gain earning a first-down, chances are he's not helping them get the next one. Sprinkle in a few big to tremendous gains at random times against usually bad teams and his stats look impressive-all while he is paralyzing his team. If the Steelers didn't predictably rush Willie on every single first down straight down the middle or if they had another legitimate feature back, then Willie would actually be able to contribute positively to the Pitsburgh Steelers. Until then, I must put Willie in the same overrated category as Troy Polamalu, who does a fantastic impersonation of a headless running chicken,and in whose absence the Steelers have gone 2-0 posting two shutouts.