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Thursday, July 27, 2000 By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
The Steelers might find themselves in trouble at center Sunday night, when they play the Dallas Cowboys in Texas Stadium.
Injuries have depleted the roster behind starter Dermontti Dawson to the point that two guards have been forced into duty there.
Ryan Thomassie, the center the Steelers signed Monday night, sustained a leg injury on the first play of his first practice Tuesday and has not practiced since. The Steelers might have to sign another center to have enough bodies to play that position against the Cowboys.
Dawson did participate in the Steelers' two practices yesterday because he felt some tightness in a hamstring. Dawson, 35, missed nine games last season because of hamstring injures. He likely will play only one series Sunday.
Backups Roger Duffy, out with a severely sprained ankle, and Tom Myslinski, out with a groin pull, will not play. That has forced Rich Tylski, projected to be the starting right guard, to become the No. 2 center.
Yesterday, the Steelers put rookie guard Hank Fraley at center.
Brown's nightmare
Kris Brown had a rookie season kicking for the Steelers of Gary Anderson proportions back in 1982.
But he will never forget that July day in Frostburg, Md., that seemed all out of proportion.
Brown, trying to replace popular veteran Norm Johnson, put on a horrible exhibition before and during a scrimmage with the Washington Redskins. He missed field goals, hit line drives and looked anything but someone who could kick in the NFL.
Then, in the first exhibition game against the Chicago Bears, he missed his first field goal try from 39 yards, and the fans in Three Rivers Stadium chanted, "Norm! Norm! Norm!"
But, in a driving rain, he kicked his next three that day, from 48, 49 and 19 yards, and went on to set an NFL record for rookies by making his first 13 field goals. He converted 25 of 29 attempts, including one from 51 yards.
He never looked back, but he does not want to forget that awful day in Frostburg.
"That's something you have to keep close to you," Brown said. "You have to remember what that felt like and just make sure you never get to that point again. I think more about the bad kicks and bad times than I do the good times. You just have to figure out how to get out of those bad times."
A weighty issue
Offensive tackle Shar Pourdanesh, a native Iranian, might not know much about American or English nursery rhymes.
So, while he's as big as a cow, he did not jump over a moon yesterday. But he did sit on a spoon. A big spoon. And it paid off big, too.
Campbell's Chunky Soup, in a promotion with every NFL team, contributed 4,000 cans of its soup based on Pourdanesh's weight.
He sat on one end of the spoon while a Campbell's representative piled cases of soup on the other until they balanced out.
Pourdanesh, listed at 6 feet 6, 312 pounds, weighed in at 40 cases, so Campbell's will donate more than 5,000 cans to a local food bank because of that and some members of the news media who also weighed in.
Pourdanesh said he not only eats soup but also bathes in it.
"It's good for my skin. Why do you guys think I have such beautiful skin?"
Maybe that's why the Campbell's representative introduced him as "Cher."
Injury update
Three of the Steelers' top wide receivers watched practices from the sideline yesterday: Troy Edwards (hamstring), Will Blackwell (knee surgery) and Hines Ward (back).
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