Dunlap: I Can't Stop Thinking About Steelers-Bengals
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - It finally got hot out.
School is letting out.
The pools are opening up.
People have begun to navigate their boats around the three rivers stocked with that kind of beer that has lemon or grapefruit or lime or whatever in it.
Crowds are flocking to country music concerts wearing those straw cowboy hats you get at the beer distributor.
The Pirates look like they might be poised to have what it takes to stay in a pennant chase all summer.
The Penguins play in what might be their biggest game in the history of Mario's Uptown Cathedral tomorrow night with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in the balance.
Indeed, it feels like summer is upon us, Pittsburgh.
Know what I can't stop thinking about for some reason today?
The Steelers.
And how the Steelers hate the Bengals.
And how the Bengals hate the Steelers.
And how the Steelers fans dislike the Bengals and how the Bengals fans dislike the Steelers.
And just how glorious of an autumn and winter we could all have watching this violent, NFL passion play happen right before us.
You see, May hasn't even flipped into June yet (Memorial Day still hasn't happened for God's sake) and these teams are already yapping at one another.
Oh man, do I love this. I live for this kind of stuff in the field I'm in.
The latest installment was yesterday when Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell took the field in a practice for the first time since he had his knee ripped up in a November game against the Bengals.
The injury came on a hit by Vontaze Burfict --- a man despised in these parts even more than Francisco Cabrera if that's believable --- and many Steelers in the aftermath were put off by the way they felt Burfict celebrated the hit.
For the first time yesterday, Bell joined in on that talk.
"Obviously it looked like they were happy about it,'" Bell said. "I'll take liberty of just thinking everybody plays football just to love the game. But people aren't out here playing like that. People are playing to take people out. Obviously I know that now."
Wham.
I love it.
The stuff rivalries are made of.
Now, don't get me wrong --- I can't stand Burfict or his shenanigans on the football field. He's the kind of person the NFL needs to eradicate from the game before he seriously hurts more people. He's a bad, bad guy with really tough to find endearing qualities.
That said, every great rivalry needs a villain.
The Pittsburgh Steelers --- and the City of Pittsburgh as a whole --- have theirs in Vontaze Burfict.
That's why, even as you can smell freshly cut grass, the baseball highlights have their place on the nightly sports report and kids just can't wait to get to the pool and play Marco Polo, I am positively fixated on this coming Sept. 18 and Dec. 18.
Those are the two dates the Steelers and Bengals get together --- on the field -- this season.
Even with all that's going on in in the Pittsburgh sports landscape right now in late-May, I just can't get my mind off that rivalry.
A rivalry that might be turning into the nastiest ---- and, by extension best ---- in professional sports.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
