Last week: 8-2 (80%) <\/p>\n
Season: 58-17 (77.3%) <\/p>\n
The Birdie walked into the sports department Tuesday afternoon with a purpose. The chances of him keeping whatever was on his mind to himself were, as always, zero.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m cheesed off at the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame people,\u201d he said, as if anyone asked. \u201cThey inducted the Class of \u201926 today, and, honestly, they did a good job. Mario, Franco, Myron. Icons. Like \u201cBirdie,\u201d they are recognized all over town by just one name.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not who got in that\u2019s got me mad. It\u2019s who they left out.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week, Donnie (another one-name legend, but I\u2019m talking about Iris for the uninformed) announced his retirement from live performances. The Birdie\u2019s not complaining about that. Donnie\u2019s a Pittsburgh hero. He\u2019s had some health problems. Of all people, he\u2019s earned the rest and relaxation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut these Walk of Fame people, the moment they read Donnie\u2019s announcement, they should have been out there on Smallman Street with a hammer and chisel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWaive the waiting period. Induct Donnie now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing like a Donnie Iris show. \u2018Agnes\u2019 with its epic storytelling and head-bobbing bounce. The futuristic charm of \u2018Do You Compute?\u2019 The unforgettable riff of \u2018Love is Like a Rock.\u2019 The Summer of Love vibes of \u2018The Rapper.\u2019 The way he gives us an ethereal alternate version of \u2018Ah! Leah!\u2019 before ripping into the all-time classic we\u2019ve heard on \u2018DVE forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cRock stars are a dime a dozen, but he is our rock star, a legend we appreciate more than anyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Birdie makes jokes and exaggerates points for the purposes of writing a, hopefully, entertaining column, but about this he\u2019s as serious as can be: Thanks, Donnie, for a lifetime of tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that off his chest, The Birdie made his Week 8 picks in the A-K Valley.<\/p>\n
Plum (5-2) at North Hills (5-1): The big-picture storyline is Plum trying to get its momentum back after a pair of tough-to-swallow losses, but here\u2019s why The Birdie loves this one: Plum\u2019s offense, led by WPIAL leading passer John Nonnenberg, against an Eric Kasperowicz-coached North Hills defense that has allowed double-digit points just once this season. North Hills, 17-14<\/p>\n
Deer Lakes (2-5) at Freeport (6-1): The records make the Yellowjackets look like clear favorites, but this is no layup. The Lancers can score some points. Freeport, 34-30<\/p>\n
Shaler (2-5) at Kiski Area (2-5): The Cavaliers have a great chance to prove those early nonconference losses didn\u2019t mean a thing. Kiski Area, 21-20<\/p>\n
Highlands (6-1) at Burrell (5-2): Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg is the WPIAL\u2019s leading rusher. Antonio Perkins is also in the top five. Hey stat guys. Bring your calculators. Highlands, 38-27<\/p>\n
Valley (2-5) at Knoch (3-4): Both teams had morale-building early-season wins. One of them will get that winning feeling back. Knoch, 23-17<\/p>\n
Steel Valley (5-2) at Apollo-Ridge (6-1): With due respect to Ligonier Valley, is this the de facto conference championship game? Apollo-Ridge, 27-20<\/p>\n
Greensburg Central Catholic (5-2) at Riverview (1-6): The Centurions are on upset watch this week. The Raiders looked pretty good well into the second half against Serra Catholic. Greensburg Central Catholic, 24-20<\/p>\n
Serra Catholic (3-4) at Springdale (1-5): I\u2019m sure it was no fun for the Dynamos to forfeit against Clairton last week, but they\u2019ll have a deeper roster for this one because of it. Serra Catholic, 19-7<\/p>\n
Indiana (2-5) at Fox Chapel (1-6): The Foxes have a chance to get their offense going, but Indiana\u2019s ground game is more advanced. Indiana, 27-20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week: 8-2 (80%) Season: 58-17 (77.3%) The Birdie walked into the sports department Tuesday afternoon with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":882819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-882818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}