The 1970s Steelers: The Virgo-Pisces Alliance

So now we come to the famous Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. This is the most successful Super Bowl unit in the history of the league. The same basic unit won four Super Bowls in just 6 years. So great were they that they have their own wing in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

I find it very interesting that this unit was basically a bunch of Pisces and Virgo guys. It's a bit broader than that, owever, this is a good rule of thumb.

It would seem that Cardinal Capricorn Coach Chuck Noll selected a bunch of highly mutable Virgo and Pisces guys who he felt comfortable shaping and molding. It is a fact that Chuck Noll did control the Steeler draft. He picked his people, and he did a hell of job for the first 10 years.

His choices are remarkably consistent with the principles general synastry. Astrologically speaking, he was attracted to the types of players we would expect him to be attracted too. He didn't break the liturgy much at all.

Another way to view it might be this: The Steelers selected a skiddish gun-slinger Virgo named Terry Bradshaw and then surrounded him with a bunch of Pisces guys to try to stabilize him. It worked. It worked like crazy. It worked for four Lombardi trophies. Speaking as a fellow September 2 Virgo, I can testify that this one way to do it. Most of my business partners in life have been Pisces.

I am sure you are all a little bit tired of hearing me drone on about the Virgo-Pisces axis of opposition. You know all about oppositional attraction and synastry. I've mentioned it about a thousand times. Well folks, the Steelers of 1970s are a very good reason to revisit this subject. Just read that chart and weep.

I've also mentioned the tremendous dynamism between Capricorn and Virgo. We just saw Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in the Packer Dynasty. Now have a look at Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw. Their relationship wasn't always perfect. Terry went through some rough spots. Nevertheless, you cannot deny the results these guys obtained together. It's one of the most successful partnerships in history.

Of course, there is more than just Virgo and Pisces this starting lineup. John Stallworth, Sam Davis, and Ray Pinny are all Cancers. That's just dandy because Virgo and Pisces are just fine with Cancer. Incidentally, Terry Bradshaw's best buddy in life just happens to be Cancer named Jimmy Johnson. Incidentally, my best buddy just happens to be a Cancer. Also, there is tremendous oppositional attraction between these three Cancers and Capricorn Chuck Noll.

Only right guard Jerry Mullins breaks the liturgy. There is usually one statistical outlier in these dynasty lineups. It's usually fine if the guy is on the offensive line. Jerry Mullins is a Leo, but he is still pretty compatible with this unit. Leo is sandwiched between Cancer and Virgo in the summer season. Ergo, Leo is side-by-side with the both of us in the Zodiac. As such, there are similarities and great friendliness.

I have been learning about the Leo-Virgo thing lately... at the office. I also made an amazing discovery the other day. There have been 5 guys I have strongly advocated as draft prospects for the Rams over the past 2 years. Those guys are Tim Tebow, Ndamukong Suh, A.J. Green, Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Pouncey. Guess what? Every last one of them is Leo. I didn't quite realize that at the time.

You notice that Pisces Billy Devaney couldn't care less about any of those guys. He just didn't want them. He'll draft the hell out of Scorpio or a Taurus, but never a Leo.

So what about Tight End Benny Cunningham? He is a Capricorn. What about running back Sidney Thunder Thorton? He is a September 2 Virgo just like Terry Bradshaw and me.

It's amazing just how self-consistent Chuck Noll was in drafting this crew. To thine own self be true.

The most popular NFL rebuilding strategy in 2011 is...

I have heard it said that several NFL teams, most specifically the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers are going to attempt to acquire Stanford's Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck as a package deal. This seems to be the most popular theory today vis-a-vis producing a quick turn around in your team's fortunes.

It seems like the entire NFL establishment is enthralled and mesmerized by the tremendous offensive chemistry of Harbaugh and Luck. They speak of these two as a dynamic duo like Batman and Robin. They all seem to think there is enough horse power in this duo to right just about any founding ship in the league.

If true, this is another feather in the cap of the Capricorn-Virgo synastry camp. Jim Harbaugh is a 12/23/1963 Capricorn. Capricorn is the cardinal leadership sign of the Earth clan. Andrew Luck is a 9/12/1989 Virgo. Virgo is Braniac sign of the Earth clan. Christ I feel old! I am less than 3 years younger than Harbaugh and I was already 23 and stationed in Germany in the U.S. Army on the day Andrew Luck was born!

Readers of my blog will know that Capricorn and Virgo go together like corn flakes and milk, like bread and butter, like peanut butter and jelly, like cream and coffee, like pork and beans, like the Internet and porn. We just can't help it. We were specifically engineered to work together. It just works. Even when the relationship is less than perfect, it still pays big dividends. This is one of the top match-ups on the Synastry board.

There have been other dynamic Capricorn and Virgo Coach-QB combos in NFL history. Chuck Noll is a Capricorn and Terry Bradshaw is a Virgo. Don Shula is a Capricorn and Dan Marino is a Virgo. Marty Schottenheimer and Drew Brees reversed the relationship a bit, as Marty is a Virgo and Drew is a Capricorn.

Once upon a time, I was teamed with a certain Argentinian Capricorn female at work. She was the project manager and I was the software developer. Dems was the best days that ever was... Of course, I could refuse her nothing, and she appreciated that greatly. I thought she was the greatest. She thought I was the greatest. I was inspired every day to go above and beyond, and not because she nagged me. There was a great dynamism there, and everybody noticed. Certain political enemies came to fear that dynamism, and they split us up. Break up the Yankees!

Years later, I'm still pissed off about this. If you want to know what really gets my blood boiling...

My take on Harbaugh-Luck is pretty simple. Interested parties inside the league are pretty well on track. Your hunch looks like it's on the money. Whenever Capricorn and Virgo get together, good things are sure to follow. If a dynamic Virgo Capricorn pair form a partnership, that's best partnership your going to find. You should keep them together. You will be ill-advised to split them up. Splitting them up could mess up both parties.

Capricorn Season starts now

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Terry Bradshaw say "Break up the Rams!"

So my birthday buddy, Terry Bradshaw turned to Howie Long, whose grin was only exceed by mine, and said "Break up the Rams! They've won two in a row." Not only that, we are going be in a tie for first place in the Western Division of the NFC by sunset. The Chargers are doing us a favor and humiliating the Cardinals 28-7 in the first half of their 'battle'.

Of course, Terry made this statement during the post game show between the morning and afternoon games as Terry was recapping the action of the day for our benefits.

It's been a tough two years for Howie. It's probably been tougher for Chris Long. I have seen a look of bitter sorrow on Howie's face more than a few times. This look was only exceeded by the look or sorrow on my own face I remember the look of pride and joy on their faces when the Rams took Chris #2 overall in the 2008 draft. It's been rough. Chris has had no help, two different defensive schemes, and people all-to-eager to scream bust. The Rams are way, way, way too quick to give up on defensive linemen as I have often screamed.

. Now things are starting to roll. Hard to believe the Rams are 2-2, playing 500 football. Both losses were intensely competitive games we could have won. Now we have won two dominant victories over the Redskins and Seahawks, who are not exactly regarded as pansies this year.

Wow... imagine that. This game wasn't close. The Rams jumped on the Seahawks quickly getting the first TD bright and early. The defense strangled Seattle. They couldn't do much of anything all game long. The Seahawks never led at any point in the game. We left 14 unscored points on the field. It is the Rams first victory over the Seahawks since... 2004? Brutal.

Not only that but the Fan Rating was 73, making it the 3rd ranked game of the morning. We might just see the Rams on the NFL Replay this week. Don't ask me how that game got a 73. It very lopsided, and lopsided games usually don't.

I will have a more to say about this when the NFL updates it's statistics section to reflect the entire weekend of games. I want to have a close look at the pass protection stats for the Rams. I suspect our young twin bookend tackles are getting it done. Sam had nice stats today 23-41 289 yards 2 TD and 1 Int.

Right now, Scorpio is validating Devaney's decision to take him #1 overall. Maybe Devaney is a psychic Pisces after all?

Happy Birthday to us

So, here are a few of my favorite people also born on my Birthday, September 2.

• Eric Dickerson
• Salma Mayek
• Keanu Reeves
• Kat Williams
• Terry Bradshaw
• Sidney "Thunder" Thorton
• Brian Westbook
• Tommy Maddox
• Mark Harmon
• Jimmy Connors.
• Robert Shapiro

So here is a bit of comedy to brighten our day presented by the best comedian sharing out birthday. A special happy birthday to Salma Hayek who was born precisely on my birthday, 9/2/1966. I can't believe we are now 44. Where has the time gone?

Steve Sabol of NFL films had a conversion experiance about three years ago

I am a huge fan of NFL Films.  I grew up on them.  They taught me the structure and strategy of the game.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Steve Sabol for this.  However, Mr. Sabol has pissed me off many times.  It is kind of a love-hate thing.

Why?

The early portion of the man's career (late 1970s to the late 1990s) basically focused on mythologizing NFL history (both players and teams).  His myths are full of men of destiny who rarely or never failed.  Invincible juggernauts who could not be defeated.  Men who could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat despite major orthopedic injury, etc.  These are all miracle stories of a sort.  They are close cousins to tales of feeding thousands with 7 loaves and 5 fishes, or walking on water.  We love a good Paul Bunyon, Perseus, Samson, Hercules, Beowulf story, and so we sit transfixed and listen.

The interesting thing is Steve has been experiencing a change of religion in the past 3 to 5 years.  It would be hard for me to put my finger on the exact moment when his conversion happened.  Two different series of programs have manifested a fundamental shift in his goals and purposes.  The first is the "America's Game" documentary series.  The second is "The NFL's Top 10" series.

Both of these are hard documentary series.  Both of these try to do the most objective job possible of ranking important events and teams and players and facts about NFL history.  The focus is about who, what, where, when, why and how.  Myth makers are sitting on the bench.  Smart players who lived through it all are asked to be brutally honest about tough subjects.  Ugly flies in the mythological ointment are exposed.  Controversial subjects are argued well by many sides.  Some youngsters are shocked by what they see.  

This is especially true with the "America's Game" documentary series.  There are many youngsters who cannot remember the Steelers or the 49ers first hand.  They never saw them play during their classic eras.  I remember it first hand.  What these youngsters see of the Steelers and 49ers often shocks their minds.  They can't believe the real Terry Bradshaw was on the bubble for several years.  They can't believe the 49ers wanted to replace Joe Montana in 1988.  Their eyes bug out of the skulls when they see this.  I know.  I have dis-infected several true believers by showing them these documentaries on DVR.  Their reactions have been funny to watch.

This series plays like a Mea Culpa from Steve Sabol.  It is as if he feels he must correct the distortions of NFL history he created in his earlier life.

I love both of these new series.  The older I get, the more NFL history I know.  It is hard for me to believe that I have seen and understood every Super Bowl since XIV.  I saw a portion of XIII, but I didn't really understand what I was looking at.  I was just 12 years old.  I have watched (closely) every season since 1980.  I know this history first hand.  I lived through much of it.  I remember it well.  For this reason, the myth making thing has become very tired and very transparently false in many cases.  Lately, many myths, particularly those surrounding the Raiders and 49ers, have irked me a great deal.  For those who do not know, I grew up in Fresno California during the 1980s.  Believe me, I saw the Raiders and 49ers every week.  There was no NFL Prime Ticket or Super Fan in those days.  You watched what NBC and CBS showed you.  NBC showed the Raiders.  CBS showed the 49ers.  I know them well.  You can fool some of the people most of the time, but you can't fool me.