…to a special member of Steeler Nation!

“I wanted to do something special for a personal friend of mine – we live in Wisconsin, and my friend, Mike Arntz is a lifelong Steeler fan – pretty tough to do in the land of Cheeseheads (see his pontoon boat). Below is the story describing what he did, donating 70% of his liver for his ailing nephew. In my eyes, Mike is a hero.” — Dr. Kent Vandehaar, Chippewa Falls, WI

From Eric Lindquist, at the Leader-Telegram:

You might say Tyler Grant has a little of his uncle Mike Arntz in him.

And in the case of these two Chippewa Falls men, such an observation goes deeper than just their easygoing personalities or a general family resemblance. It is the literal truth.

Arntz, 48, recently donated about 70 percent of his liver to 22-year-old Tyler, who has struggled with a rare liver disease for much of his life.

“I was amazed that he was willing to do this for me,” Tyler said this week.

Arntz said he thought about getting tested to see if he was a match — the right blood type and liver size are the key requirements — but didn’t act right away.

“Then one day around Christmas, it was weird, I was driving along and it was like somebody smacked me in the forehead and said, ‘You need to call Mayo Clinic today,’ ” Arntz said.

He pulled over to the side of the road, looked up the number on his cellphone and made the call that led to a thorough physical, a battery of tests and, ultimately, to the determination that he was a good candidate for donation.

From that moment on — despite warnings about potential surgical risks, required lifestyle changes and extended time off work — Arntz said he had no second thoughts about moving forward.

When Mayo doctors asked Arntz if he’d be able to lose 25 pounds and abstain from alcohol for the 3½ months before surgery, he replied simply, “Yeah.”

“I really never had any hesitation about the whole thing,” Arntz said, recalling that he knew it was the right thing to do and imagined the regret he would have felt if he found out later he was a match and anything happened […]

…with a message on Mother’s Day (with a little help from daddy)!

Happy Mother’s Day to our mommy. She’s the best ever! Also happy Mother’s Day to our grandmas and great grandmas!!

Hope all the mothers have a great day! — Benjamin, Jr. (aka Cool Lil’ Dude) and Baylee (“Brothers are so silly!”).

“They were one of the teams that were really interested. That was one of the places that I really wanted to go, to be honest with you. I love Big Ben. He knows how to get the ball down field.” — Martavis Bryant, from his post-draft interview.

From David Hood, TigerNet.com, Clemson Sports Source:

The Pittsburgh Steelers got the receiver they wanted, and Martavis Bryant got the team he wanted to play for.

The Steelers, in search of a downfield threat that they hope will take pressure off the running game and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, selected Bryant in the fourth round of Saturday’s NFL Draft with the 118th pick.

Bryant, 6-4, 200 pounds, caught 42 passes for 828 yards and seven touchdowns in 2013, averaging 19.7 yards per reception. Two of his three catches in the Orange Bowl victory over Ohio State went for touchdowns.

The Steelers love what they see in Bryant.

“We are delighted to get him,” said Pittsburgh wide receivers coach Richard Mann. We think he has great length. He will be a great weapon in the red zone for us…I’m surprised he lasted that long. He is what we have been hunting for. He and I just talked, and he is delighted to come.”

Bryant said he was out driving when he received the news.

“They called me. I was actually driving in my car when they called,” he said. “I talked to everyone in the organization. My family just started screaming. My mom is very happy and very proud of me. I just want her to be proud of me. It’s a great accomplishment, but we’re not done yet. I’ve still got a lot of work that needs to be done.”

A short time later, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took the time to call his newest receiver.

“It feels good knowing that I have somebody that can get the ball down field to me still,” Bryant said. “He (Roethlisberger) called me earlier and talked to me. He just told me that he was happy to have me out there. He wanted to know when I was coming out there and I told him Monday. He said that he can’t wait to get to work with me. I can’t wait to get to work.”


You can read the full interview here.


Congratulations to […]

“Browns flirted with Big Ben, ultimately passed on QB”


From Zac Johnson today at Fox Sports Ohio:

Ten years ago, hardly anyone knew that the Browns almost drafted Ben Roethlisberger – and that the team’s flirtation included a private workout on the Miami (Ohio) campus with Roethlisberger in the days leading up to the 2004 NFL Draft.

In the days leading up to that draft — no one seems to remember if it was five or 10 days before, but it was in that range — the Browns loaded up then-owner Randy Lerner’s private plane for a late look at quarterbacks. This was in April, 2004, eight months before Butch Davis would step down as Browns head coach and a month after the team had signed veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia.

By 2004, Pete Garcia’s title with the Browns was vice president, player personnel and football development.

The Browns didn’t have a general manager by title — Davis held the last call on football decisions, which in that draft ended up being a trade up of one spot to select tight end Kellen Winslow, who’d been recruited by Davis and Garcia at the University of Miami.

“We loved Ben,” Garcia said. “I had been to see him play a couple times during the (prior) season. We thought long and hard about picking him.

“He was right up there with (Winslow and) anyone else we considered. We graded him as a difference maker. In the end, we went with a difference maker at a different position that we knew a little bit better than we knew Ben.”

Also on the flight were offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie and quarterbacks coach Steve Hagen, both of whom had been on Davis’s staff but moved to new roles for 2004, and then-Browns receivers Andre King and Frisman Jackson, who’d been called by Garcia the previous day to participate in the Roethlisberger workout.

Said King: “…We were at the airport at 8 a.m., up in the air probably 45 minutes and then we were on the field.

(Roethlisberger) was a big, strong guy. We met him, we stretched, and we just started running routes.”

By all accounts, Roethlisberger impressed.

“Five minutes in,” Jackson said, “it was obvious Ben could throw the hell out of the football.”

It’s impossible to say what would have been different had […]

“I could get five, six or seven more years out of these arms and legs. This is home for me and where I want to finish. I bleed Black and Gold.” — Ben, from his radio interview.

Ben was a call-in guest today on The Cook and Poni Show:

On the NFL Draft this week –

“You know what, I can’t wait for this to be finally over with! I mean, this has been dragged out! I’ve seen ‘Mock Draft 13.5’…it’s just going on and on and on! I’ll be excited so we can finally get this thing over with and to finally figure out who our new teammates are going to be and move on!

“Whatever the high powers decide can help this team is what I am going for. Anything to help the team, 8-8 is not good enough. We have to get back to winning Super Bowls.”


On Central Florida’s Blake Bortles –

“I talked to Blake, and I know Blake has that fiery chip. I think he’s going to be the best one of the group because I see something in him, his competiveness, his leadership. And I think he’s got a lot of upside.

“If you’re a guy that comes out of a smaller school I think you should have a chip on your shoulder. It helps motivate you.”


On Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel –

“We’ve seen some of the scrambling, jumping, throwing, flipping type things he can do and it makes your jaw drop because it’s special stuff. Does that translate to the NFL? I don’t know?

“He has so much upside, but we will have to see. He’ll come into this league and he’ll probably be a star early because he’ll use his athleticism, but it’s not about the first year. It’s about the second, third and fourth years.

“I was in the weight room the other day with Joey Porter asking me what I thought about Manziel. I looked at Joey and said, `Joey, do you think if you got a good hit on him, that he would be OK? And he said, `No, not at all.’ And that’s my question?

“You have guys like Joey Porter, who’s a big guy, guys that are fast like Troy, Ike Taylor coming off the edge, Lawrence Timmons – you’d better be real athletic, […]