Steelers vs. Titans haiku contest
After each game of the 2008 season, Steelers Today ran a haiku contest. The idea was to see who could best capture the events of the game in the form of a haiku.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with haiku, it is a form of Japanese poetry. A proper haiku is a 3 line poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line. Remember, that’s “syllables”, not “words”.
I hadn’t planned to bring back the weekly haiku contests this season. The reason is that one of our readers named Patrick absolutely owned the competition. He won every single week except for one. And the only reason that he didn’t win that week was because I awarded a victory to someone else in order to keep Patrick from getting a clean sweep for the season.
Despite my desire to keep my readers from being bludgeoned by Patrick this season, the haiku black belt has other ideas. Patrick has thrown down the gauntlet by submitting 4 very good haiku entries, and challenging anyone to do better. Here are Patrick’s entries.
Haiku #1
Defense ruled the day
But when they need a clutch drive
Nobody beats Ben.
Haiku #2
Santonio Holmes
Exactly matching his stats
From the Super Bowl.
Haiku #3
Ward’s shocking fumble
Brought back the Bettis miscue
Both games victories.
Haiku #4
Run game down, Troy out
Who will come to the rescue?
Ben Roethlisberger.
Wow, that’s some mighty fine haiku. All 4 are world class efforts. But since I’m the judge, I think that #4 is the strongest of his 4 entries, so that is the one to beat. (For the record, I love the reference to the Bettis fumble in #3. Good work, Patrick).
Can anyone defeat this haiku samurai? Give it a shot. Capture the Steelers’ win against the Titans in a haiku and knock Patrick off of his throne.
The winner will be announced later in the week. Good luck.
Other Steelers news:
The Steelers announced today that tight end Dezmond Sherrod has been cut from the Steelers’ practice squad and replaced by tight end Kevin Brock. Brock is 6’5″, 255 lbs. He was originally signed by the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers. The Panthers released Brock in August, and he was signed by the New York Jets. However, the Jets released Brock as they attempted reduce their roster to 53 players.
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The offensive line
1Confused, stumbling, missing blocks
Won’t keep Ben healthy.
Santonio Holmes
2Lights it up in the season
smokes pot after it
If Willie can’t stick it between the tackles for good, positive yards, call Issac Redman up from the practice squad, and give him the reps. This man has some serious skills…IMHO
3Black and Gold Unite
4Creating fan heart attacks
Guessing ’til the end
Steelers are in the windy city Sunday afternoon, and will teach Lovie Smith and company the “Bear” facts. Steelers by 10.
5Thirty-six rush yards
6These ain’t your daddy’s Steelers
Throw to win, Big Ben!
@Jude - That’s strong. Very strong!!
@Kim - Heeheeeheee. Santonio is never going to live that down.
@Jag - Very nice work. And the team did almost give me a heart attack on Thursday.
@ken - Wow!!! That was a powerful attack. You are clearly a haiku ninja. Excellent work!!
I get the feeling that Patrick is going down this week.
7I soiled myself
8In section five thirty one
Holy crap! We won!
Troy out of the game
9Steelers prevail in the end
Awesome job Big Ben
I didn’t know I was competing. Ha.
I like Ken’s. Give that man a cigar.
10Okay, I have lots of entries from my Facebook page that I need to move over here. There were lots of them that had syllable errors, so I’m not going to transfer those over here. But here are some of the others.
Fall means Steelers play
Troy is down and out for now
Titans lose by three
-By Cheri
Black and Gold are back
Hey, beware towel stompers
Steel fans - don’t forget
-By Alejandro
Offensive line stayed
The entire games on the line
Lifts Ben’s resolve ,WIN
-By John Carter
run blocking still sucks
11ben still takes to many sacks
black and gold still win
-By William
Here are a few more from Facebook:
Even with Troy out
Nobody beats the Steelers
Stomped the Towel stompers
-By Amanda
Steeler Bear wants Troy
to get better very soon;
Steelers win Sunday.
-By Steeler Bear
The Steelers verses
Terrible towel stompers
They deserve to lose
-By Jennifer
Troy out of the game
Steelers prevail in the end
Awesome job Big Ben
-By Toby
No Polamalu
And no 1st start for Timmons
The titans still lose
-By Alejandro
Polamalu Hurt
12Two Tennesee Missed Field Goals
Big Ben Found a Way
-By Royalle
Damn Titans Week One
13Nobody steps on the Towel
You can’t take it back
Was opening day
14Hopes of a repeat season
Reed kick game winner
Ben at the finish
15Said get my hat and spinach
I am what I am
OMG, Leonard!!!!! That is good!!!!!! I love it!!!
You came at it from a totally different direction than everyone else, but it works.
I plan to announce the winner on Friday or Saturday. You are DEFINITELY in the running.
16Well if that’s the case, let me make it presentable.
Ben, at the finish,
said, “Get my hat and spinach;
I am what I am.”
Super Bowl, season opener with the toughest opponent from last year’s schedule, what’s the difference? For Ben, different stage, but same result. I just hope he finds Olive Oil before some other flake in Vegas tries to drag his name through the mud.
17