Beaver County Times, April 20, 2014

The Penguins' first-round playoff match-up with Columbus is probably as comfortable a series as they could have requested.
They're playing a just-happy-to-here low seed with very little playoff experience, one that also happens to be without one of its best players.
Still, Blue Jackets don't stir the postseason passion the way Capitals did and Flyers still might. Who hates a Blue Jacket? Despite the proximity of the two cities, there's never been anything approaching a hockey rivalry between Pittsburgh and Columbus.
But given the Penguins' wobbly finish to the regular season, the Blue Jackets might represent the ideal way to get back on track for tougher opponents.
Meanwhile, it seems curious that speedy but undersized Brian Gibbons wound up as one of Sidney Crosby's wingers in the first game of a playoff series.
Pascal Dupuis' season-ending knee injury had a big impact, but the injury occurred on Dec. 23. There's been time to formulate Plans B through Z.
It's a reminder of the days when Mario Lemieux would get stuck with whatever wingers had just been claimed off the waiver wire. The theory was that Lemieux was good enough to make any slug better, so he got an over-the-hill Wayne Babych or Charlie Simmer on his wing.
The playoffs really shouldn't be a time for experimentation -- not even against Columbus.
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--TAKE A NUMBER
The idea of honoring Jackie Robinson every year is fine. The execution is terrible, though.
MLB remembers Robinson on April 15, the anniversary of his debut. Every MLB jersey used that day carries Robinson's No. 42 and no name.
The purpose of numbers is player identification, and that becomes impossible on April 15 because everyone is No. 42. Who's warming up in the bullpen? It's a righthander and a lefthander, No. 42 and No. 42.
Who is the pinch hitter on deck? It's No. 42, who will hit for No. 42. That's unless the other team brings in No. 42. In that case, No. 42 will be called back and No. 42 will pinch hit instead.
In the middle of a three-city, nine-game trip, the Pirates had to lug along an extra set of uniforms with No. 42 on all of the jerseys.
How does total confusion honor Robinson's memory? Here's a better approach: Designate one player from each team to wear No. 42 on Robinson's day. Or have each manager wear the number. Or design a special (and marketable) cap that has No. 42 on it instead of the team logo. Do something that makes sense.
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--DISARMED
Good to see that the Pirates quietly buried the pantomime gun-and-holster gimmick they were using to celebrate hits.
It was intended to replace the two-year Zoltan "Z," but it struck a bad note from the start. The players were waving imaginary pistols, then miming stuffing them in imaginary holsters.
Apparently someone convinced them that wasn't the best image, so they've switched off to the "yes" salute that's borrowed from a WWE character.
There was a time when accomplishments were embellished with nothing more than a spontaneous hand clap or fist pump, but that ship sailed a while ago. That was back in the dark ages when players didn't even get to pick customized walk-up music for their plate appearances.

Beaver County Times, April 13, 2014

The local pro teams do a lot of good deeds in the community. You know this because they usually alert the media to their philanthropy.
Rarely does a good deed go unpublicized. So when the Steelers help kids get winter coats or the Pirates fix up a youth field or the Penguins hand out pizza to students in the ticket line, camera crews are there.
There isn't anything fundamentally wrong with that. Image buffing is reality in corporate America. Back when Jerry Lewis was running a telethon, certain sponsors showed up every couple of hours with another check presentation. They could have written one check and dropped it off quietly, but things don't work that way.
Still, it reminds of Catfish Hunter's famous line about teammate Reggie Jackson: "He'll give you the shirt off his back. Of course, he'll call a press conference to announce it."
That climate makes it even more impressive that Penguins players Beau Bennett and Robert Bortuzzo took it upon themselves to visit victims of the knife attacks at Franklin Regional High School. Bennett and Bortuzzo showed up at the hospital on their own, delivering some autographed gear and good wishes after practice on Friday.
Nobody sent them, it was their own initiative. Friday was the only day that worked in the schedule because of the playoffs looming. So there they were, trying to cheer up some kids who had endured a horrific experience.
Spies at the Penguins report this generosity isn't uncommon. Bennett and Bortuzzo frequently make quiet hospital visits. Bennett is from California and Bortuzzo is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, but they feel a connection to the community.
Now they're getting publicity for this, which they didn't seek. They did it just because it felt like the right thing to do, and that makes their effort even more impressive.
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--HANGING ON
Joe Beimel is pitching in relief for Seattle, his first major league work since the Pirates released him on Aug. 30, 2011.
The Pirates dropped him, coincidentally, just a week after he said he wanted to be like former teammate Jesse Orosco, who pitched until he was 46.
Between Pittsburgh and Seattle, Beimel kicked around the Texas and Atlanta organizations without getting to the majors. Now he's back, pitching for his seventh team in 12 years at age 37 and making $850,000.
As long as a lefthanded pitcher still has a pulse, he has a chance to be in someone's bullpen.
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--READY FOR PRIME TIME?
The NFL schedule is supposed to be released this week, which is worth a tailgate party somewhere.
The NFL has always loved the Steelers in prime time because they've consistently been a contending team loaded with big recognizable personalities. Does the NFL still want to showcase the Steelers after consecutive 8-8 non-playoff seasons?
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--TOO EARLY TO TELL
If we believe these first two weeks have turned Pedro Alvarez into an efficient cleanup hitter who doesn't have a monstrous number of strikeouts, do we also have to believe that Andrew McCutchen has morphed into a clueless .194 hitter?
Small sample sizes can distort. It could be that Alvarez has turned a corner, or it could be that he's on one of those hot streaks we've seen before.
Give it time.

Beaver County Times, April 6, 2014

Dan Bylsma has won more games, regular season and playoffs, than any other Penguins coach. He is one of three Penguins coaches with his name on the Stanley Cup (the other two are in the Hall of Fame).
GM Ray Shero reaffirmed his belief in Bylsma with a two-year contract extension last summer. The Penguins have had a successful regular season, again topping 100 points and nailing down a division title with relative ease despite a relentless series of injuries to key players.
So why does it feel like his job will be on the line when the playoffs start in about 10 days?
This is about expectations. The Penguins are built to seriously compete for the Cup every year. They haven't been to the Final since they defeated Detroit in 2009, the season when Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien in February.
The current Penguins are an interesting mix of state-of-the-art skill and utter mediocrity. When you're paying superstar salaries to some of the best talents in the game, the rest of the roster suffers. The Penguins can load the top two lines with enviable talent, but they're in trouble if circumstances dictate rolling three (or heaven forbid) four lines.
The past playoff meltdowns have been well-documented. After winning two rounds last year, they fell hard to Boston in four games with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin getting shut out.
If something like that happens this year, look for the Penguins to make a coaching change. NHL coaches generally don't stay in one place too long. It's not always their fault, but it's the most efficient way to change an atmosphere gone stale.
Maybe that halting monotone Bylsma uses in interviews has faded into background noise for the Penguins. Maybe his systems are lacking. Perhaps this roster is just too unbalanced for playoff hockey.
If the Penguins exit in the first or second round, Bylsma is as good as gone. He might also be in trouble if there's another third-round collapse like the one last spring. Shero, the son of a legendary coach, is patient, but one of the Penguins owners has a long history of devaluing coaches.
Should the Penguins fall short of seriously competing for the Cup, it's not hard to imagine Mario Lemieux suggesting that a coaching change is in order. Disco Dan could be riding in a Stanley Cup parade, or could just as easily be doing the hustle out of town.
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--NOT A KID
It's hard to think of Crosby as old, but that's sort of a theory in ESPN Magazine.
Their article cites researcher Eric Tulsky's work suggesting Crosby is on the cusp of the time when NHL forwards start declining.
Per the magazine, "average scoring rates for centers and wingers start dropping off at age 25 and plummet once they hit 30." It further notes that Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky got the majority of their goals and all but one of their combined six Stanley Cups by age 26.
Crosby turns 27 in August.
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--KICKED OUT
Fox recently dropped Brian Billick as an NFL analyst. Fox doesn't do many Steelers games, but this should delight the lunatic fringe of Steeler Nation who believe that anyone who ever lost a game to them holds a lifetime grudge (Hello, Cris Collinsworth).