For the sake of discussion (and in the interest in coloring a certain portion of white newsprint), let's say there is a super-secret rift between Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby.
How exactly would this explain Crosby's sub-standard start?
Is he so emotionally spent that he can't muster the energy for the games? Looks like he's skating and playing at his usual pace.
Is he so resentful that he doesn't want to help the Penguins succeed? There's no reason to think a fiercely competitive player would sabotage his own career.
Is he angling to be traded? Performing well below career levels wouldn't exactly make him a hot commodity on the trade market when he's carrying a $12 million contract that runs through 2024-25. With a full no-trade clause, by the way.
None of it makes any sense.
Lemieux, who speaks in public as often as the average mime, immediately issued a brief statement through the team, calling the report "silly."
Crosby said he felt "stupid" even talking about it.
"Silly" and "stupid" sum it all up pretty well.
The faux scoop came from Matthew Barnaby, a former NHL player who appears on a satellite radio show. Apparently the same sense of ethics that guided him as a player are in force in his new career as a commentator.
Barnaby cited no sources beyond "people," and hasn't been seen around the Penguins since he played for the team in 2001.
The whole Crosby-Lemieux dynamic has been unconventional since the moment that Lemieux offered space in his massive home for Crosby to live. If you've seen photos of Lemieux's mansion, you can understand this isn't an attic apartment. The place is so big, you might need an usher to find your way from one wing to another. It's possible Crosby and Lemieux rarely saw each other when they were living under the same roof.
The relationship was unusual because most players don't have that kind of personal connection with the franchise owner. Howard Baldwin tried to forge those bonds, one of the many horrendous mistakes he made during the time he was leading the Penguins to bankruptcy.
The Crosby-Lemieux combination was further complicated by the frequent presence of Crosby's father in the locker room. Most of the other dads don't have that kind of access.
But somehow the Penguins seemed to function. They've only won one championship in Crosby's time here, but nobody is blaming that on whether he and Lemieux get along.
The story was a huge success in one regard: Before this, when was the last time anyone thought about Matthew Barnaby?
---
--J.A. THE BLUE JAY
Neal Huntington's challenging offseason got a lot tougher when J.A. Happ signed with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Huntington now has two gaping holes in his starting rotation with Happ's defection and A.J. Burnett's retirement. Tyler Glasnow and/or Jameson Taillon might be along some time during the summer, but don't count on rookies to step in and replace veterans instantly.
Happ signed with Toronto for three years and $36 million, which is crazy money for a 33-year-old whose only recent success of note came during his 11 starts with the Pirates.
But the vacancy he leaves is real, and so is the need to find some experienced starters either through free agency or trades.
---
--TIPPING POINT?
If the Steelers can win in Seattle, it may tilt their entire season in a positive direction.
It's a long trip and a tough place to play. Get by this one, and the Dec. 13 game at Cincinnati looms as the only really difficult opponent remaining. And even though the Bengals lead the division and beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh, facing Andy Dalton isn't like going against Tom Brady.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Altoona Mirror, November 22, 2015
What genius had the bright idea to send the Pitt basketball team to Okinawa for a day or two?
In case you missed it, the Panthers crossed 13 time zones to Japan in order to play against Gonzaga for an audience of U.S. Marines. The only notable element about the game was two viable Division I programs were willing to compete in a November game.
Most teams are committed to starting the season by scheduling various barber schools and other pick-up teams they find assembling on street corners.
Alas, there was no outcome in Pitt-Gonzaga. Officials called the game after one dicey half. The conditions in the building were hot and humid, which led to a slippery floor that was judged to be too dangerous.
So the players shook hands, interacted with the crowd and went home. Literally. Pitt left the next day, which was Saturday/Sunday depending on the time zone (and they crossed 13 of them again). After flying for most of a day, they had a game on Tuesday. For once, it was a good idea to have a Division II opponent ready to serve as a designated pushover.
The student-athletes presumably had plenty of time to devote to their class work given they were held captive on an airplane for so long. Nobody's music playlist is that deep.
Presumably someone at the university thought the trip itself would be a worthwhile educational experience. But how could it be? The team wasn't there long enough to see much or absorb a different culture.
What they saw was a hotel, a plane, a bus and a gym. How is that much different from their trip to Virginia Tech?
No doubt some yen changed hands somewhere along the way. Coin of the realm -- in whatever currency -- is usually behind dubious decisions in college athletics. Money has given us all-black uniforms, the GoDaddy Bowl and midnight tip-offs.
In the meantime, the players didn't even get a win or a loss. They did come away from the game with a profound appreciation for the effects of severe jet lag.
---
--THE HALL CALL
Baseball Hall of Fame ballots have been mailed to voters, and the postal load was lighter this year.
In the first step to what will surely evolve into a total revamp of the system, it was decided that those who haven't covered MLB in the last 10 years shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Actually, given that players have to be retired for five years before they're on the ballot, the 10-year limit for voters doesn't make a lot of sense. But the idea is to trim the electorate and eliminate some of the fossils who haven't been to a game since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn.
With newspapers facing an uncertain future, there will be a day when the Baseball Writers Association of America will lose its stranglehold on Hall voting. It's about time. Writers have no business making news, and it's ridiculous to exclude people as knowledgeable and honorable as Bob Costas and Vin Scully.
Ken Griffey Jr. is the sure bet on this year's ballot. Will he be the first unanimous choice in Hall voting?
Tom Seaver came the closest. He was left off just five ballots.
But there were 23 voters who didn't vote for Willie Mays, 20 who didn't think Ted Williams belonged, and 23 who declined to vote for Stan Musial. Nine didn't think Hank Aaron qualified.
No wonder they're taking a closer look at who gets to vote.
---
--NO GIFTS NECESSARY
David Ortiz has announced the upcoming season will be his last.
He'll make "just" $10 million this year (pending incentives), his lowest salary since 2006. But it's OK. He's been paid more than $143 million in his career.
So there's no need for every opposing club to come up with some sort of gift for him. Say goodbye with a scoreboard video and a nice ovation. He doesn't need anything else.
In case you missed it, the Panthers crossed 13 time zones to Japan in order to play against Gonzaga for an audience of U.S. Marines. The only notable element about the game was two viable Division I programs were willing to compete in a November game.
Most teams are committed to starting the season by scheduling various barber schools and other pick-up teams they find assembling on street corners.
Alas, there was no outcome in Pitt-Gonzaga. Officials called the game after one dicey half. The conditions in the building were hot and humid, which led to a slippery floor that was judged to be too dangerous.
So the players shook hands, interacted with the crowd and went home. Literally. Pitt left the next day, which was Saturday/Sunday depending on the time zone (and they crossed 13 of them again). After flying for most of a day, they had a game on Tuesday. For once, it was a good idea to have a Division II opponent ready to serve as a designated pushover.
The student-athletes presumably had plenty of time to devote to their class work given they were held captive on an airplane for so long. Nobody's music playlist is that deep.
Presumably someone at the university thought the trip itself would be a worthwhile educational experience. But how could it be? The team wasn't there long enough to see much or absorb a different culture.
What they saw was a hotel, a plane, a bus and a gym. How is that much different from their trip to Virginia Tech?
No doubt some yen changed hands somewhere along the way. Coin of the realm -- in whatever currency -- is usually behind dubious decisions in college athletics. Money has given us all-black uniforms, the GoDaddy Bowl and midnight tip-offs.
In the meantime, the players didn't even get a win or a loss. They did come away from the game with a profound appreciation for the effects of severe jet lag.
---
--THE HALL CALL
Baseball Hall of Fame ballots have been mailed to voters, and the postal load was lighter this year.
In the first step to what will surely evolve into a total revamp of the system, it was decided that those who haven't covered MLB in the last 10 years shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Actually, given that players have to be retired for five years before they're on the ballot, the 10-year limit for voters doesn't make a lot of sense. But the idea is to trim the electorate and eliminate some of the fossils who haven't been to a game since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn.
With newspapers facing an uncertain future, there will be a day when the Baseball Writers Association of America will lose its stranglehold on Hall voting. It's about time. Writers have no business making news, and it's ridiculous to exclude people as knowledgeable and honorable as Bob Costas and Vin Scully.
Ken Griffey Jr. is the sure bet on this year's ballot. Will he be the first unanimous choice in Hall voting?
Tom Seaver came the closest. He was left off just five ballots.
But there were 23 voters who didn't vote for Willie Mays, 20 who didn't think Ted Williams belonged, and 23 who declined to vote for Stan Musial. Nine didn't think Hank Aaron qualified.
No wonder they're taking a closer look at who gets to vote.
---
--NO GIFTS NECESSARY
David Ortiz has announced the upcoming season will be his last.
He'll make "just" $10 million this year (pending incentives), his lowest salary since 2006. But it's OK. He's been paid more than $143 million in his career.
So there's no need for every opposing club to come up with some sort of gift for him. Say goodbye with a scoreboard video and a nice ovation. He doesn't need anything else.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Altoona Mirror, November 15, 2015
You'll hear a lot of baseball trade rumors over the next month, and most of them won't come close to completion.
General managers talk all the time, and a lot of names are exchanged. That doesn't necessarily mean that someone is on the mythical "trading block." It just means that a conscientious GM is willing to listen to any and all offers. That's what GMs do.
There are occasions where a team is actively trying to move a player.
Such is the case with Pedro Alvarez. The Pirates don't want him on their team in 2016. He is a formidable power threat who contributes little else. He can't play defensively at either first or third, he strikes out too much, he's allergic to the cleanup spot, and he winds up hitting somewhere around .240.
Alvarez hit 27 home runs last season in 491 plate appearances, 437 at bats. Because 22 of those home runs were with the bases empty, his 27 home runs generated 33 runs.
Those are all valid reasons to trade him, and valid reasons why no team will likely offer much for him. Alvarez is just a year away from free agency. Is there an American League team desperate for a short-term DH? Call the Pirates, ASAP.
There are other players the Pirates are willing to trade, including closer Mark Melancon.
That would be a painful separation, based on Melancon's near-automatic work as a closer last season. But Neal Huntington has to make things fit under the budget he's given, and Melancon is creeping close to $10 million. Huntington has long had the belief that closers have a short shelf life, that they're not that difficult to replace, and that a team shouldn't spend a disproportionate part of its total payroll on that position.
This could be the test of those theories.
The difference here is Melancon should draw some significant interest if he's made available. Maybe the Pirates' first base solution could come from dealing Melancon when his value is at its highest. Maybe the new closer could come in a deal.
The Pirates wisely identified Melancon as a possible closer and traded Joel Hanrahan for him. Hanrahan blew his elbow out (he had his second Tommy John surgery in the spring), and Melancon has done an outstanding job for the Pirates.
No doubt some groundwork was set for trades at last week's general manager meetings in Florida. Things will pick up again when the Winter Meetings open in early December. Things could happen before then, too.
More than ever, being a general manager in MLB is a 24-hour job with very few days off.
---
--REPAIRS NEEDED
If Mike Johnston and his staff can't fix the power play, it's doubtful they'll finish the season with the Penguins.
Special teams are a big part of the game and a power play that can load Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang should be potent.
The Penguins have a winning record, but that speaks mostly to the quality of the goaltending they've gotten so far.
Getting the power play to kick into high gear would go a long way to securing Johnston's job, at least through the end of the season.
---
--NAME GAME
The Detroit Lions recently promoted their quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator.
The man's name is Jim Bob Cooter.
Even though it sounds like a character out of Dan Jenkins' classic 1970s football novel "Semi Tough," that's really his name.
---
--REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Not sure what the record is for the most weeks being listed on an NFL team's injury report, but Ryan Shazier might be closing in on it.
Shazier is a good player, but he has to figure out a way to stay in the lineup.
General managers talk all the time, and a lot of names are exchanged. That doesn't necessarily mean that someone is on the mythical "trading block." It just means that a conscientious GM is willing to listen to any and all offers. That's what GMs do.
There are occasions where a team is actively trying to move a player.
Such is the case with Pedro Alvarez. The Pirates don't want him on their team in 2016. He is a formidable power threat who contributes little else. He can't play defensively at either first or third, he strikes out too much, he's allergic to the cleanup spot, and he winds up hitting somewhere around .240.
Alvarez hit 27 home runs last season in 491 plate appearances, 437 at bats. Because 22 of those home runs were with the bases empty, his 27 home runs generated 33 runs.
Those are all valid reasons to trade him, and valid reasons why no team will likely offer much for him. Alvarez is just a year away from free agency. Is there an American League team desperate for a short-term DH? Call the Pirates, ASAP.
There are other players the Pirates are willing to trade, including closer Mark Melancon.
That would be a painful separation, based on Melancon's near-automatic work as a closer last season. But Neal Huntington has to make things fit under the budget he's given, and Melancon is creeping close to $10 million. Huntington has long had the belief that closers have a short shelf life, that they're not that difficult to replace, and that a team shouldn't spend a disproportionate part of its total payroll on that position.
This could be the test of those theories.
The difference here is Melancon should draw some significant interest if he's made available. Maybe the Pirates' first base solution could come from dealing Melancon when his value is at its highest. Maybe the new closer could come in a deal.
The Pirates wisely identified Melancon as a possible closer and traded Joel Hanrahan for him. Hanrahan blew his elbow out (he had his second Tommy John surgery in the spring), and Melancon has done an outstanding job for the Pirates.
No doubt some groundwork was set for trades at last week's general manager meetings in Florida. Things will pick up again when the Winter Meetings open in early December. Things could happen before then, too.
More than ever, being a general manager in MLB is a 24-hour job with very few days off.
---
--REPAIRS NEEDED
If Mike Johnston and his staff can't fix the power play, it's doubtful they'll finish the season with the Penguins.
Special teams are a big part of the game and a power play that can load Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang should be potent.
The Penguins have a winning record, but that speaks mostly to the quality of the goaltending they've gotten so far.
Getting the power play to kick into high gear would go a long way to securing Johnston's job, at least through the end of the season.
---
--NAME GAME
The Detroit Lions recently promoted their quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator.
The man's name is Jim Bob Cooter.
Even though it sounds like a character out of Dan Jenkins' classic 1970s football novel "Semi Tough," that's really his name.
---
--REPEAT PERFORMANCE
Not sure what the record is for the most weeks being listed on an NFL team's injury report, but Ryan Shazier might be closing in on it.
Shazier is a good player, but he has to figure out a way to stay in the lineup.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Altoona Mirror, November 8, 2015
You can argue whether sports are better than they used to be, but there's no question they're more complicated.
The Steelers didn't even have an offensive coordinator in 1974 when they won their first Super Bowl. Play calling was a collaborative effort between Chuck Noll and the quarterbacks.
Today the Steelers have 15 assistant coaches. There are separate coaches for inside and outside linebackers.
Baseball teams used to have four coaches. The Pirates had eight last season, which doesn't include the full-time bullpen catcher or the minor league staffers who joined the team in September.
There are two hitting coaches, and even old-timers insist that's necessary. One can keep an eye on the field, while the assistant can go down the runway to review an at-bat on video with a hitter. Funny, but Pedro Alvarez still winds up hitting .243
NHL teams used to be coached by one person. It was groundbreaking when teams started hiring one assistant, even if his main purpose was to serve as a drinking buddy for the head coach. Today, everybody has at least three assistants, including one who handles goaltending.
Baseball added a bench coach a couple of decades ago. The bench coach keeps an eye on details that might escape the manager during a game.
When Jim Leyland and Lloyd McClendon started their major league managing careers, they were given Bill Virdon as a bench coach. The feeling was that Virdon, a veteran of managing 1,918 games, would be the ideal aide for a first-year manager. He could keep things calm in case the manager got overwhelmed or Leyland was out for a smoke.
The idea of bench coach could work in the NFL, too. Mike Tomlin is proof of that.
An NFL sideline is chaotic. People are constantly yelling, swearing, sweating, bleeding. Some coaches are on the bench, some are upstairs in a booth, communicating via headsets that sometimes work properly.
There's a lot to handle. We don't know exactly how the Steelers sideline operates, but it appears that Tomlin maintains a policy of speak-only-when-you're-spoken-to with his staff. You don't see people approaching him to initiate conversations and make suggestions.
Maybe that's where some of the details get away, like clock management.
Let everyone else handle the x's and o's. Tomlin needs a guy who can notice the Steelers are getting cheated out of time as the clock incorrectly runs. They need someone who can remind the coach it's in his best interests to spend a time out rather than let 38 valuable seconds tick away until the two-minute warning.
Tomlin has shown no particular aptitude for managing the clock, and his cavalier answers when questioned about those matters about suggest he doesn't think it's all that important.
But it is. Knowing how to use the clock is part of coaching.
If he doesn't want to tackle the job, give him someone who can handle that responsibility.
When you already have 15 assistants, what's one more?
---
--SLIPPING THROUGH
If you've been to a game at Heinz Field, you're familiar with the NFL's stringent security policies.
There are metal detectors, visual searches and a requirement that bags are see-through. You can wind up in a five-minute debate over whether a lipstick represents dangerous contraband.
So how did protestors in Carolina get through the gates with professional rappelling equipment and a giant banner that they used to interrupt the Monday night game?
Maybe they arrived late, when the priority seems to be getting people inside the stadium quickly rather than really paying much attention to what they're doing.
It's another reminder that the procedures are more about the appearance of security than actual scrutiny.
---
--BUDDING STAR
Pitt's season has taken a sour turn over the last two weeks with visits from North Carolina and Notre Dame.
One positive development in Saturday's game was Jordan Whitehead's two touchdowns. The gifted freshman has been helping on defense. He reminded that he can be a significant weapon on offense, too.
---
--EARLY MVP
For all the money the Penguins are paying Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury has been the team's best player through the first month. By far.
The Steelers didn't even have an offensive coordinator in 1974 when they won their first Super Bowl. Play calling was a collaborative effort between Chuck Noll and the quarterbacks.
Today the Steelers have 15 assistant coaches. There are separate coaches for inside and outside linebackers.
Baseball teams used to have four coaches. The Pirates had eight last season, which doesn't include the full-time bullpen catcher or the minor league staffers who joined the team in September.
There are two hitting coaches, and even old-timers insist that's necessary. One can keep an eye on the field, while the assistant can go down the runway to review an at-bat on video with a hitter. Funny, but Pedro Alvarez still winds up hitting .243
NHL teams used to be coached by one person. It was groundbreaking when teams started hiring one assistant, even if his main purpose was to serve as a drinking buddy for the head coach. Today, everybody has at least three assistants, including one who handles goaltending.
Baseball added a bench coach a couple of decades ago. The bench coach keeps an eye on details that might escape the manager during a game.
When Jim Leyland and Lloyd McClendon started their major league managing careers, they were given Bill Virdon as a bench coach. The feeling was that Virdon, a veteran of managing 1,918 games, would be the ideal aide for a first-year manager. He could keep things calm in case the manager got overwhelmed or Leyland was out for a smoke.
The idea of bench coach could work in the NFL, too. Mike Tomlin is proof of that.
An NFL sideline is chaotic. People are constantly yelling, swearing, sweating, bleeding. Some coaches are on the bench, some are upstairs in a booth, communicating via headsets that sometimes work properly.
There's a lot to handle. We don't know exactly how the Steelers sideline operates, but it appears that Tomlin maintains a policy of speak-only-when-you're-spoken-to with his staff. You don't see people approaching him to initiate conversations and make suggestions.
Maybe that's where some of the details get away, like clock management.
Let everyone else handle the x's and o's. Tomlin needs a guy who can notice the Steelers are getting cheated out of time as the clock incorrectly runs. They need someone who can remind the coach it's in his best interests to spend a time out rather than let 38 valuable seconds tick away until the two-minute warning.
Tomlin has shown no particular aptitude for managing the clock, and his cavalier answers when questioned about those matters about suggest he doesn't think it's all that important.
But it is. Knowing how to use the clock is part of coaching.
If he doesn't want to tackle the job, give him someone who can handle that responsibility.
When you already have 15 assistants, what's one more?
---
--SLIPPING THROUGH
If you've been to a game at Heinz Field, you're familiar with the NFL's stringent security policies.
There are metal detectors, visual searches and a requirement that bags are see-through. You can wind up in a five-minute debate over whether a lipstick represents dangerous contraband.
So how did protestors in Carolina get through the gates with professional rappelling equipment and a giant banner that they used to interrupt the Monday night game?
Maybe they arrived late, when the priority seems to be getting people inside the stadium quickly rather than really paying much attention to what they're doing.
It's another reminder that the procedures are more about the appearance of security than actual scrutiny.
---
--BUDDING STAR
Pitt's season has taken a sour turn over the last two weeks with visits from North Carolina and Notre Dame.
One positive development in Saturday's game was Jordan Whitehead's two touchdowns. The gifted freshman has been helping on defense. He reminded that he can be a significant weapon on offense, too.
---
--EARLY MVP
For all the money the Penguins are paying Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury has been the team's best player through the first month. By far.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Altoona Mirror, November 1, 2015
There were reports last week that Ben Roethlisberger plans to open a restaurant on the North Side, not far from Heinz Field.
The name of the proposed place will be something like "The 7 Grill," to play on Roethlisberger's well-known uniform number.
They could just as easily call the place "Redemption."
A well-known athlete lending his name to a restaurant venture is nothing new. It happens all the time, something obvious in the presence of Jerome Bettis' Grille 36 in the same area.
It's usually a pretty safe investment. The player may put up some money, but often there's just an agreement to hand over a percentage of profits in exchange for using a popular name to draw customers to the place.
The news here is that Roethlisberger has sufficiently repaired his image to the point that a business with his name on it is a viable concept. People will willingly go to a place they associate with Roethlisberger.
It wasn't that long ago that Roethlisberger had two consecutive offseasons in which women claimed he had forced himself upon them. The second incident, which involved buying drinks for a college student who was not old enough to legally drink, drew the wrath of the NFL.
Roethlisberger was never charged with a crime. However, the league suspended him for the first six games of the 2010 season, a penalty that was later reduced to four games.
Roethlisberger was a virtual poster boy for the kind of creepy behavior and sense of entitlement that afflicts a lot of athletes who get too famous too fast.
Bill Cowher was enraged when Roethlisberger accepted an invitation to be a guest on David Letterman's show. Cowher believed that Roethlisberger's sudden celebrity had exceeded his level of accomplishment. Roethlisberger was free to make the trip to New York on an off day, but Cowher made it clear he didn't like it.
Roethlisberger wasn't widely liked within the Steelers locker room. By the nature of their job, quarterbacks are supposed to be consensus builders, leaders who find ways to help teammates bond and buy into a common goal.
Roethlisberger didn't care much about that. He was close with some of his linemen and tight end Heath Miller. His relationship with Hines Ward was notoriously frosty, and Bettis wasn't a big Big Ben fan, either.
Defensive players? Roethlisberger may have needed to consult a roster to match names to faces.
Things changed radically -- and for the better -- after the second offseason incident, the one in Georgia.
Whether it was inspired by outside influences or his own soul-searching, Roethlisberger became a new man. He repaired rifts in the locker room. He settled down and got married. He and his wife now have two children. Once deliberately distant and perfunctory with the media, he signed on for a weekly radio show and tries to be as candid as football paranoia allows.
If there have any missteps off the field, they haven't come to light. In an era of cell phone cameras and scandal-loving websites, it's hard to believe any significant misbehavior has gone under the radar.
He's a kinder and gentler Big Ben. The transformation has been complete, and it's admirable.
He's gone from a guy who gathered a posse and went crudely marauding through a college town to someone whose name is likely to be in neon lights atop a restaurant.
And people won't have any qualms about taking the family there for dinner.
---
--JUST ASKING
What does it say about the state of college football when Notre Dame vs. Temple is suddenly a marquee match-up?
---
--DOWN THE FLOW CHART
Ruben Amaro Jr. was fired after six years as the Philadelphia Phillies' general manager.
He has signed on to be the first base coach for the Boston Red Sox.
This is like going from being the ringmaster of the circus to being the guy who follows the elephants with a shovel.
The name of the proposed place will be something like "The 7 Grill," to play on Roethlisberger's well-known uniform number.
They could just as easily call the place "Redemption."
A well-known athlete lending his name to a restaurant venture is nothing new. It happens all the time, something obvious in the presence of Jerome Bettis' Grille 36 in the same area.
It's usually a pretty safe investment. The player may put up some money, but often there's just an agreement to hand over a percentage of profits in exchange for using a popular name to draw customers to the place.
The news here is that Roethlisberger has sufficiently repaired his image to the point that a business with his name on it is a viable concept. People will willingly go to a place they associate with Roethlisberger.
It wasn't that long ago that Roethlisberger had two consecutive offseasons in which women claimed he had forced himself upon them. The second incident, which involved buying drinks for a college student who was not old enough to legally drink, drew the wrath of the NFL.
Roethlisberger was never charged with a crime. However, the league suspended him for the first six games of the 2010 season, a penalty that was later reduced to four games.
Roethlisberger was a virtual poster boy for the kind of creepy behavior and sense of entitlement that afflicts a lot of athletes who get too famous too fast.
Bill Cowher was enraged when Roethlisberger accepted an invitation to be a guest on David Letterman's show. Cowher believed that Roethlisberger's sudden celebrity had exceeded his level of accomplishment. Roethlisberger was free to make the trip to New York on an off day, but Cowher made it clear he didn't like it.
Roethlisberger wasn't widely liked within the Steelers locker room. By the nature of their job, quarterbacks are supposed to be consensus builders, leaders who find ways to help teammates bond and buy into a common goal.
Roethlisberger didn't care much about that. He was close with some of his linemen and tight end Heath Miller. His relationship with Hines Ward was notoriously frosty, and Bettis wasn't a big Big Ben fan, either.
Defensive players? Roethlisberger may have needed to consult a roster to match names to faces.
Things changed radically -- and for the better -- after the second offseason incident, the one in Georgia.
Whether it was inspired by outside influences or his own soul-searching, Roethlisberger became a new man. He repaired rifts in the locker room. He settled down and got married. He and his wife now have two children. Once deliberately distant and perfunctory with the media, he signed on for a weekly radio show and tries to be as candid as football paranoia allows.
If there have any missteps off the field, they haven't come to light. In an era of cell phone cameras and scandal-loving websites, it's hard to believe any significant misbehavior has gone under the radar.
He's a kinder and gentler Big Ben. The transformation has been complete, and it's admirable.
He's gone from a guy who gathered a posse and went crudely marauding through a college town to someone whose name is likely to be in neon lights atop a restaurant.
And people won't have any qualms about taking the family there for dinner.
---
--JUST ASKING
What does it say about the state of college football when Notre Dame vs. Temple is suddenly a marquee match-up?
---
--DOWN THE FLOW CHART
Ruben Amaro Jr. was fired after six years as the Philadelphia Phillies' general manager.
He has signed on to be the first base coach for the Boston Red Sox.
This is like going from being the ringmaster of the circus to being the guy who follows the elephants with a shovel.
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