Discovery special.

[Starlifter]

thoroughly enjoyed it. was nice to see that kind of access to the steelers. makes me crave their participation in hard knocks even more. if they agreed to this, who knows?

now about the steelers specifically.

Tomlin craves normalcy. so he practices the team on thursday, puts them on an airline to fly all night and land in london at 8 am (4am eastern), jump on a train, get to the practice field and immediately begin another practice.

yeah, that's normal.

I fly for a living. it's a myth you can sleep on an airplane. it's a bigger myth you conquer jet lag faster by staying up as long as possible. If we wanted to keep normal, simply never try to adjust. stay on east coast time the entire trip. hell, the game was at 1pm eastern.

leave thursday at noon. get to london at 7pm eastern. go to the hotel for a pre arranged dinner. go to bed normal eastern time. who cares if it's 5pm in the UK? put up some room darkening shades. wake up at a normal hour. practice under the lights in the am. don't try to shift.

tomlin can say his travel plans weren't a factor. they were. now, would we have won otherwise? doubt it. it was just one of many many factors that contributed to the overall suckage observed this year.


still, the show was good.

[skyhawk]

nice post... their travel plans sucked.

[Slapstick]

They sucked. Travel plans are an excuse.

[Moonie]

Travel plans had absolutely nothing to do with game against Vikings.

[feltdizz]

Travel plans aren't an excuse.... but lets stop acting like their travel arrangements weren't a factor.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

How about this. Arrive three days earlier and spend three days on a promotional tour like the Vikings were. That is not normalcy either except on Super Bowl week. Either way is an issue, no excuses and they didn't make any.

[Moonie]

Steelers didn't get enough nappy nappy, and it was a factor in game. Please. Jet-lag isn't a disease. Nothing to do with jets either. It's a 6 hour time zone change, for a group of 20-30s aged healthy adults who have very little to do other than be alert during a 3 hour game two days later. Unless you are 90 year old spastic, its really not that taxing on any system in the body, if at all, and many people (including myself), seldom even feel "it." It was no more a factor in the game than the Gatorade at the game was made with European water, which takes some getting used to.

[feltdizz]

Steelers didn't get enough nappy nappy, and it was a factor in game. Please. Jet-lag isn't a disease. Nothing to do with jets either. It's a 6 hour time zone change, for a group of 20-30s aged healthy adults who have very little to do other than be alert during a 3 hour game two days later. Unless you are 90 year old spastic, its really not that taxing on any system in the body, if at all, and many people (including myself), seldom even feel "it." It was no more a factor in the game than the Gatorade at the game was made with European water, which takes some getting used to.

LOL... unless you play professional sports I don't see where your experience comes into play.

I'm pretty sure it has an effect... not saying its an excuse for the loss but flying 6 hours and the practicing. One day of rest and then playing against other prefessionals who arrived 4 or 5 days earlier has an effect, especially when this team has beeb playing below average in the states.

LOL at nothing to do other than being alert for 3 hours 2 days later.... uhh, being alert is something they fail to do at home... add a 6 hour flight and minimal rest and you get 40 points slapped on you by the Vikes....

Tons of missed tackles, missed assignments, etc...

[skyhawk]

LOL... unless you play professional sports I don't see where your experience comes into play.

I'm pretty sure it has an effect... not saying its an excuse for the loss but flying 6 hours and the practicing. One day of rest and then playing against other prefessionals who arrived 4 or 5 days earlier has an effect, especially when this team has beeb playing below average in the states.

LOL at nothing to do other than being alert for 3 hours 2 days later.... uhh, being alert is something they fail to do at home... add a 6 hour flight and minimal rest and you get 40 points slapped on you by the Vikes....

Tons of missed tackles, missed assignments, etc...

Thank you. It had to play a factor. Why do you think the Vikings came so much earlier?

Even in the US the experts talk about how hard it is (for example) for the 9ers to play in New York due to the travel and time change.

I have traveled to London, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, Dusseldorf. And the time change wipes me out the next day, everytime. You can't tell me out of 55 players that it didn't have some effect.

[Starlifter]

watch the special. when you see our team laying on the floor before practice in london with their heads on their duffel bags trying to grab a 30 minute cat nap - hard to say it wasn't a factor. as a said above, was it THE reason? no, it wasn't. but in a game full of reasons why they lost - I still believe that was significant. ryan clark was practically giddy when he discovered that with the bus ride he could get almost a FULL HOUR of sleep.

so much for normalcy.

[feltdizz]

Thank you. It had to play a factor. Why do you think the Vikings came so much earlier?

Even in the US the experts talk about how hard it is (for example) for the 9ers to play in New York due to the travel and time change.

I have traveled to London, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, Dusseldorf. And the time change wipes me out the next day, everytime. You can't tell me out of 55 players that it didn't have some effect.

Its crazy to say it had no impact...

[flippy]

watch the special. when you see our team laying on the floor before practice in london with their heads on their duffel bags trying to grab a 30 minute cat nap - hard to say it wasn't a factor. as a said above, was it THE reason? no, it wasn't. but in a game full of reasons why they lost - I still believe that was significant. ryan clark was practically giddy when he discovered that with the bus ride he could get almost a FULL HOUR of sleep.

so much for normalcy.

They probably shoulda just flown on Saturday night and save on hotel rooms. It wouldn't have made any difference.

[NJ-STEELER]

I've only flown as far as Vegas. It's not the time change that gets me.

It the 14 hours of traveling (packing/ to and from the airport, unpacking) that has me drained the next day. In a day or two I adjust.

Not sure why they would want to leave so close to game time
It was foolish to do that. Now who's fault it was is another question. But the vikes owner is t why about spending money.