Altoona Mirror, October 25, 2015

How much can the Steelers trust Martavis Bryant?
Bryant has proven his worth on the field. He changed the entire dynamic of the passing game last season when he finally broke into the lineup. He was the deep threat the team needed to complement Antonio Brown.
In his first game this season, he played a big role in last Sunday's home victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Overshadowed by the sudden outbreak of Landry Jones-mania, Bryant made two exceptional plays.
He made a difficult catch in coverage, then made sure he came down inside the end zone as he was being hit. The one that's been repeated all week is the catch and run (mostly the latter) that covered 88 yards, thanks to Bryant's ability to adapt and improvise on the fly.
Bryant is a gifted player, one who can do much more than just run fast and go deep the way Mike Wallace used to.
He's also very familiar to the people who enforce the NFL's drug policies.
Bryant missed the first four games this season because he was suspended for failing multiple marijuana tests.
This isn't the time or place for a debate about the decriminalization of marijuana, which is now legal in several states. The fact is it's a violation of the NFL drug policy, which has been collectively bargained by the Players Association.
Right or wrong, it's the law, at least as far as the NFL is concerned.
Bryant is only in his second NFL season, but he's a veteran of the process.
He was suspended for four games because he failed more than one test. Because of his past violations, he is tested more frequently than other players. If he fails another test, he could be suspended for 10 games.
If it got beyond that, he could be suspended for a minimum of one season.
The Steelers were vague about what treatment Bryant sought. There have been reports that his mother moved to Pittsburgh to help him manage his life.
Bryant has the opportunity to make millions of dollars. He's that good. He also the chance to become a cautionary tale that is cited often, a guy who had exceptional potential and blew it.
So what do the Steelers do? Can they count on Bryant going forward? Or are they better off planning for a future without him?
Supposedly they drafted receiver Sammie Coates this spring because they knew Bryant was facing a suspension.
The Steelers have been down this road before. They drafted Santonio Holmes in the first round because of his talent and despite some unfavorable reports about his life away from the field.
Holmes made some great plays in his time with the team, including the incredibly difficult game-winning catch in Super Bowl 43. But ultimately his off-field issues became too much of a burden and the Steelers gave him away.
Is that the fate ultimately awaiting Bryant?
---
--KEY LOSS
MLB free agency hasn't even started and the Pirates have lost a key player.
Jim Benedict, a special assistant to the general manager who coordinated pitching instruction, has moved to a bigger and better job with the Miami Marlins.
Benedict worked closely with pitching coach Ray Searage. Where Searage had day-to-day responsibility for all 12 pitchers on the roster, Benedict could focus more on individuals and also evaluate pitchers the Pirates were considering acquiring.
Benedict is good. Of course's he's not infallible -- Charlie Morton continues to be vexing while Jonathan Sanchez and Radhames Liz flopped. But Benedict was a major asset to the organization.
Do the Pirates have someone who can step up and fill the job he just vacated?
---
--SMILING DAN
The Penguins saluted Dan Potash the other night, noting his long tenure as an in-game reporter for Root Sports.
Potash has been covering the Penguins for 15 years.
Seems longer.

Altoona Mirror, October 18, 2015

Go Cubs.
Everyone should be rooting for the Chicago Cubs in the MLB postseason, and here's why:
Success will shut up their insufferable fans.
The Cubs haven't been in a World Series since 1945, and haven't won one since 1908. The one positive outcome from that is a semi-clever t-shirt that says, "Anyone Can Have A Bad Century."
Beyond that, though, it's the kind of non-stop woe-is-us whining that Boston Red Sox fans used to unleash until they started winning World Series.
Cubs fans embrace their misery. They're the ones who relish following the lovable losers, the team that never wins. Twenty straight losing seasons only made Pirates fans angry. Cubs fans celebrate the non-stop heartbreak.
There's the curse of the billy goat, the black cat that crossed Ron Santo's path in 1969, and Steve Bartman. Lots of Bartman. He was the oddly-dressed, headphone-wearing fan who reached for a foul ball that Moises Alou appeared to be poised to catch in the National League Championship Series game against Florida on Oct. 14, 2003.
Alou threw a fit, which made Bartman an instant villain. Things got worse as the Marlins rallied to win the game after they'd been four outs from being eliminated in the series. Bartman had to be escorted out of Wrigley Field. He's been in hiding ever since.
If the Cubs win the World Series, Bartman can rejoin society, or at least go to the supermarket without a disguise.
The Cubs were free to get hitters out after the Bartman foul ball, but somehow managed not to do that. They were also allowed to win the deciding game of the series, too, but that got away from them as well.
But in Cub fan mythology, it was all Bartman's fault, no doubt aided and abetted by the billy goat and the black cat.
Folk singer Steve Goodman wrote, "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" that summed up the experience of rooting for the team that never wins. When Goodman sang "Take Me Out To The Ball game," he would revise the lyrics to, "Root, root, root for the home team/If they don't win, what else is new?" Goodman died of leukemia at age 36. Some of his ashes were scattered at Wrigley Field.
Cubs fans wallow in their misery. Now they're in danger of having the kind of success that's eluded them for 107 years.
This year's Cubs aren't an especially lovable bunch. Manager Joe Maddon may be too cool for his own good. But they're good. Not only can they win it all this year, they project as contenders for years to come.
Root for them. Let's see how their fans celebrate success instead of throwing the usual pity party.
---
--CALLING A PENALTY
The Steelers' Cam Heyward got a hefty fine from the NFL for putting his late father's nickname, "Ironhead" on the eye black strips he wore in last Monday's game.
That seems harsh, but the NFL really has no choice. If the league lets players freelance on messages attached to themselves or uniforms, it then gets into the slippery business of evaluating (and potentially censoring) each message.
Heyward's tribute to his father, a bone cancer victim at 39, is certainly not objectionable. But what if someone else decides to pay tribute to O.J. Simpson? Or Aaron Hernandez?
Players are paid well, and part of the deal is the NFL dictates what messages they can display on the field.
It's a tough but necessary policy.
---
--HOMECOMING
Arizona coach Bruce Arians has said all week that today's game at Heinz Field is just another stop on the schedule.
But if his Cardinals leave with a win and at least 40 points on the scoreboard, you have the feeling Arians will have an extra bounce in his step.
Being fired by the Steelers turned out to be a positive thing for Arians, but it had to sting in the moment.
Without his friend Ben Roethlisberger in the game, Arians will have no remorse about making the Steelers suffer if the opportunity presents itself.

Altoona Mirror, October 11, 2015

One and done turned out to be the story of the Pirates in the postseason for a second consecutive season.
Jake Arietta proved that his insane second half numbers were no fluke. The Pirates couldn't do anything with him and lost the wild card game to the Cubs.
Of course, that's sparked a lot of complaints that the one-game wild card play-in is unfair. There didn't seem a lot of sentiment in that direction two years ago when the Pirates dispatched the Reds in the wild card round.
Nobody much cared that the Reds were suddenly heading home after a successful season. People were probably too busy chanting Johnny Cueto's name and fighting with Mat Latos' wife to think much about the Reds.
Of course, the Reds only won 90 games that season and were a true wild card. Their record wouldn't have won any of the six divisions.
The Pirates won 98 games this season, and their record would have led any division other than the National League Central.
The obvious answer is the one the Pirates emphasized all season: Avoid the wild card round. That was too big a task in a season that saw the Cardinals win 100 games. The other solution is to win the wild card game. That didn't happen because Arietta continued the incredible pitching that characterized the second half of his season.
It's all spilled milk now, but take a look at his numbers from the middle of June through the rest of the season: 16-1 with a 0.86 earned run average. Opponents batted .150 against him, had an on-base percentage of .200 and slugged .210. Arietta walked 17 batters and struck out 147. In his 147 innings, he allowed two home runs.
Even in a best-of-three wild card series, the Cubs would have been halfway toward winning with one Arietta start.
The best of three isn't really workable anyway. The season ends on Sunday. MLB keeps Monday open in case any division ends up in a tie and needs a one-game playoff.
They'd have to block out four days to play a potential three-game series. That means the division series wouldn't open until Sunday, which would keep the division winners idle for a full week after the end of the regular season.
So one and done is going to continue. Cubs fans have no problem with it, just as Pirates fans didn't in 2013.
---
--NEW WAVE
The Seattle Mariners fired Lloyd McClendon as manager after two seasons, one pretty good and one hugely disappointing.
McClendon was doomed as soon as the man who hired him, Jack Zduriencik, was fired in September. New GM Jerry DiPoto wants his own man, and that manager will appreciate analytics more than McClendon did.
One of the overlooked stories with the Pirates is how smoothly Clint Hurdle has embraced the implementation of modern metrics. Hurdle is 58 and profiles as old school, but he's on board with the latest ways of doing things.
A lot of managers from his generation might roll their eyes at the spreadsheets and ridicule the non-athletes who produce them. .
A previous administration in Cleveland referred to the new age analysts as "propeller heads" as they scurried around the Indians offices with their latest revelations. Hurdle hasn't done that.
---
--ALVAREZ AGONY
Bob Sproule is a devoted but discerning fan of Pittsburgh sports who writes a blog called The Grandstander.
He raises the question of whether any local athlete has inspired as much consistent commentary as Pedro Alvarez. He sort of answers his own question by noting that technology makes it much easier for more people to have their say.
Sometimes a ground ball will skip past Alvarez and someone will Tweet a woe-is-us message before the official scorer can even crack the microphone to say, "Error, first base."
There are many more opportunities for fans to vent, even if they don't want to stay on hold to call 24-hour sports talk stations. Alvarez gives them plenty of material.
The Internet may have fried if it had been around in the days when Terry (Bradshaw) vs. Terry (Hanratty) for Steelers quarterback was the hot debate.

Altoona Mirror, October 4, 2015

So long, Josh Scobee.
It was a kick having you here for a few weeks. Of course, the kick sailed wide left (the cheap, gratuitous missed field goal reference is mandatory because Steelers Nation is feeling the bitterness this week).
Scobee's fate was sealed Thursday night when he missed a 41-yard field goal after missing a 49-yard try. That scared Mike Tomlin so badly that he wouldn't try another field goal, instead opting for a couple of plays that failed on fourth down.
When the coach is hinky about a kicker's ability to make high-percentage field goals, it's time for the kicker to pack his bags. That lack of confidence spills over to the offensive play calling and has a bigger effect than the three points that got away.
At the quarter mark of the season, the most regrettable moment of the Steelers season to date is Shaun Suisham's decision to get involved on a tackle in the opening preseason game. He injured his knee and was lost for the season.
The Steelers were so confident in Suisham that they didn't even bother to invite another kicker to camp to offer token competition.
How things have changed on that one play. Now they're scouring Craigslist to find somebody who can make field goals -- and extra points, too. Let's not forget that Scobee's here today-gone tomorrow Steelers career also included a missed extra point against San Francisco.
So now Chris Boswell is the latest to sign his name on the Steelers' 2015 kicker registry. Four games is the benchmark to beat.
Wonder if the Vegas sports books have established an over/under line on how many kickers the Steelers will use this season?
---
--MORTON MYSTERY
Charlie Morton is a fine guy and a talented pitcher.
Unfortunately, he's also an enigma who can never find a way to harness his significant ability and become a consistent winner.
In the last few weeks, Morton has basically pitched his way out of a postseason rotation. Most teams go with four starters in the postseason, and the Pirates will use Gerrit Cole, Francisco Liriano, J.A. Happ and A.J. Burnett. Morton isn't even a lock to make the postseason roster at this point.
Some pitchers are sunk because they don't think. Morton's problem is he thinks too much. The Pirates have tried to break of him of this and get him to trust his stuff, but he's still too inconsistent.
He recently said that he's working out some issues in his delivery. That might fly in June, but this is October. Time is short, and patience is thin.
It's doubtful the Pirates want to continue this drama
The Pirates are on the hook for $8 million next season on Morton's contract. They're also facing an offseason when they'll be shopping for a pitcher to replace the retiring A.J. Burnett.
Prospects Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow might be along at some time next season, but that's not automatic. Teams also have to allow time for inexperienced pitchers to get acclimated to major league competition.
It's unlikely the Pirates will simply move Morton. But is it also unlikely they'll ever figure him out?
---
--DEE-FENSE
Pat Narduzzi came to Pitt with a mission to upgrade a porous defense.
Saturday at Virginia Tech, the Panthers allowed just nine rushing yards, sacked the quarterback seven times and intercepted three passes.
If that's not a complete repair, it's at least a very impressive start.