Morning Report: All-time best NFL helmets

Some people at Yahoo Sports with too much time on their hands spent last week rating the all-time greatest pro football helmet logos.

The folks who did so probably were a tad on the mature side (like the writer of this column) because the top five all were highly traditional, and one has passed out of use.

The top football helmet logo of all time, Yahoo opined - correctly - is the classic Pittsburgh Steelers helmet still in use. The jet black helmet has a white logo, featuring the three diamonds in yellow, red and blue. It is widely said to be the logo of U.S. Steel, but actually was created by the American Iron and Steel Institute.

It's also the only NFL helmet to have the logo on just one side. Super cool!

No. 2 is the original Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet with a winking Pirate more decked out in feathery finery than Johnny Depp on a date with Keira Knightley. It was elegant, sharp, dressy - and about as far from football as it was possible to be. Think Zorro in pink.

No. 3 is a tie between the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Colts, two classically simple and elegant logos that have never changed.

No. 4 is the original Houston Oilers look, a derrick floating on a white background. It might be OK for Oil City High School, but not an NFL team.

No. 5 (You just knew there was gonna be bad news in here somewhere, didn't you?) is the blue star of Big D.

The old, pre-1995 Eagles helmet, with the swept-back wings of a diving bird of prey, finished 11th, a huge injustice to a great helmet design.

Not bad. The United States soccer team lost by 2-0 at England on May 28 and by 1-0 at Spain on Wednesday, then tied Argentina, 0-0, last night at Giants Stadium.

Before you start thinking it would be nice to score a goal somewhere along the line, keep in mind that Argentina is FIFA's No.1-ranked team.

The United States opens World Cup qualifying on Sunday against Barbados in Carson, Calif.

I foresee a flurry of goals.

Nowhere to go. Arizona got off to a hot start this spring - the Diamondbacks' 34-29 record still leads the National League West - but has lost nine of its last 13 games.

The team got a strangely mixed vote of confidence yesterday from manager Bob Melvin.

"We've showed that we've been really good, we showed that we haven't been good at times," Melvin told the Associated Press. "But you've got to stay with our guys - our guys are our guys, and there's not a whole lot you can do about it."

That'll fire up the troops.

Finally. In the wake of Saturday's strange events in the Belmont Stakes - where Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown was pulled up before the back stretch by jockey Kent Desormeaux and finished last - Newsday's Ed McNamara recalled a stunning prediction by Eddie Arcaro.

Arcaro, who died in 1997, is the only jockey who ever rode two Triple Crown winners, Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948.

In 1986, he predicted there would never be another one.

After Saturday, who can say he was wrong?