The title “My Worthless 2 Cents” that I came up with isn’t one I feel I can take full credit for, but is a story in itself, so here it is. I was in the 8th grade at the time, and found myself tagging along with my older sister (a senior in high school), as she was a part of the high school theatre group who would work as ushers for local community theatre productions. Working as an usher at a production of “Harvey”, the dad for one of my baseball friends came up to me at intermission and handed me two pennies and asked me to go back to the dressing area and find the lead actor in the play. I was to give him the pennies and tell him “this is from the guy with the big nostrils, giving you his two cents worth”. I thought this was funny so I agreed to do it, especially since I knew the two were friends. I go to the dressing room and deliver the message and the “gift”. The response I was given was even better. The actor told me to return the pennies and I was to “tell the guy with the big nostrils to take his worthless 2 cents and shove them right up his big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. This is quite the opposite of my Knee Jerk Reaction article, so I get to bring everything full circle. You might tell me to take my worthless two cents and shove them up my nostrils, and that’s okay, because we are friends and I don’t look at it as personal.

I am going to break things down into three categories: One, something I feel stronger about. Two, something I have softened on a bit. Three, something that didn’t really change.

SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

The Steelers are contenders. Just a couple of weeks ago there were a lot of people who were still questioning the Steelers as contenders. They were saying they hadn’t really played anybody. I can go beyond the fact that they just beat a good Ravens team this past week and a good Commanders team the week before. If you go and look at some of the other teams the Steelers have beat this year such as the Falcons, the Broncos, and the Chargers, they are all having very good seasons and are in the playoff hunt. The Steelers are legit. The defense is really good and the offense is good enough. If the Steelers can stay away from the injury bug and the offense can continue to gel, this team could be a team to reckoned with in the postseason.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

Feeling like T.J. Watt needs to do everything for the defense. Trent Jordan is an amazing player and because of that he draws a lot of attention. I have become okay with the fact that he does not have to make every play. The Steelers have other guys on their defense who are really good. When teams decide to try to neutralize T.J. it is important that other guys step up and make plays. To this point of the season, that has been happening regularly. As long as the defense continues to make the plays and work as a unit I will be a happy Steelers fan.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

Haters gonna hate. There are still Steelers fans out there that are going to find things to complain about no matter what. That was no more evident to me than watching the Steel Curtain Network post game show after the win against the Ravens. Was that Russell Wilson’s best game? I think we could all agree that it was not, but there were still people in the live chat saying that Russ was trash and should not be the starter. That’s just stupid. To me that is a person that made up their mind last March that they hated Russell Wilson and didn’t want him to be the starting quarterback for the Steelers. If that’s the case I am okay with that opinion, but don’t mask it by saying the guys play is trash. Russ’s stats from that game we’re basically equal to Lamar Jackson’s. Lamar Jackson did not have a great game and neither did Russ but the Steelers did enough to win the game. So you can continue to hate but don’t be surprised when not everyone out there agrees with you.

There you have it. My worthless 2 cents. Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you want to tell me to shove my worthless two cents up my big nostrils. Maybe you have your own worthless 2 cents you would like to share. If so please feel free to share it in the comments below, I might look at it and tell you to shove it up your big nostrils…but that’s okay, because we are still friends.