Hits and Misses

Here at PSR, we're not shy about telling you what we think. Sometimes we're dead on - other times we're dead wrong. Here's a peak back at some of the things we said over the past year:

o     Tim Benz authored a full-page feature in January opining that defense would win the '03 championship. John Gruden's Bucs proved him right.

o     Jerry DiPaola hit the trifecta with a few off-season thoughts on the Steelers. Jerry D. said not to expect much shake-up on the Steelers' roster over the past off-season, and he was right. Jerry also said not to be surprised if the Steelers traded up or down before April's draft. They then moved up 16 slots to draft Troy Polamalu. Finally, he added that it would make sense if the Chiefs were to come from nowhere and become a Super Bowl favorite.

o     Columnist John Mehno said the Bengals finally did something right by hiring Marvin Lewis. After knocking off the previously undefeated Chiefs in the third week of November, Cincy was sitting in a first-place tie with Baltimore in the AFC North.

o     In February, Kevin Gorman told us Pitt freshman HB Blades would contribute immediately. Although he's not starting, Blades has played in every game, and is eighth on the team with 51 tackles.

o     Steve Sampsell and I pointed out two running backs for Penn State and West Virginia who were likely to make big impacts in their first seasons. The Lions' Austin Scott finished the regular season as the team's leading rusher, with 436 yards and a team high five rushing touchdowns. West Virginia's Kay Jay Harris has backed up Quincy Wilson and is second on the team with 397 rushing yards.

o     We also identified Maurice Clarett as one of the most exciting players to face Pitt, PSU or WVU this season. Last we saw Mo he was courtside watching his buddy LeBron play hoops.

o     In March, we told readers that Marquette would be a good match-up in the NCAA Tournament for Pitt. Maybe we should have listened to Billy Packer, who told PSR's Scott Robertson, 'the problem a team faces in the tournament - is that you can run into a guy on a given night who is just lighting it up. How will they handle that?' Packer's question was answered when Marquette's Dwayne Wade scored 22 points, hitting nine of 14 shots in the second half, leading Marquette to a 77-74 win.

o     Something else we told you in March: The Florida Marlins would be the 21st best team in baseball. Hey, we were only off by 20. We knew the Devil Rays would stink, though. We had them rated dead last.

o     Perhaps our best prediction was John Sacco and Jim Lachima hitting the nail on the head by announcing in black and white that the Cubbies would win the N.L. Central.

o     In April, we ran a PSR In Depth on athletes with Diabetes, well before Steelers lineman Kendall Simmons was diagnosed with the disease. If we jinxed you Kendall, we're sorry, but the timing was amazing.

o     Finally, we said that 2003 was the year the Steelers would be good enough to win it all - DOH!