There's no mystery about what Le'Veon Bell's end game is. He wants to be paid a lot of money.
He's not wrong about that, either. If he's not the best running back in the NFL, it wouldn't take long to list the ones who are ahead of him.
He's cornered in a situation where the Steelers have designated him the franchise player. His options are to sign a contract for $12.1 million or stay home and make nothing while forfeiting a year of a career that skews toward younger players. He'll sign.
According to his brief response to a social media post, Bell will report on Sept. 1, which is a little more than a week before the Steelers open the season in Cleveland.
Waiting this long apparently sends a message he's anxious to deliver, but it ultimately does him no good.
If Bell wanted to skip training camp, fine. What adult would want to stay in a dormitory room? As talented as Bell is, though, he still needs practice.
It would be nice if he could join his teammates earlier, practice and maybe get up to speed on whatever new wrinkles have been added to the playbook. Nobody expects him to play in the last preseason game.
Just show up, practice, and regain some sense of timing. He could demonstrate that his solo workouts have him in position to be game-ready. Maybe get acquainted with new teammates. That counts, too.
Will he be ready when the season opens on Sept. 10? After this, he'd better be.
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--ARE THEY SERIOUS?
ESPN's decision to remove play-by-play announcer Robert Lee from a Virginia football assignment was so outrageously stupid and pointless that it had to be a publicity stunt.
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--ON THE PIRATES
Three thoughts on the Pirates:
--John Jaso seems to be the embodiment of the southern California beach guy, a laid-back sort who doesn't get too worked up about much.
That's nice, but he needs to exert more energy while he's playing baseball for $4 million. Those lazy jogs down the line can be infuriating. Is it too much to ask for three short sprints per game?
--The Pirates have been reluctant to sink a lot of money into relief pitching. The belief is a bullpen can be cobbled together on a budget. They've mostly been correct about that, staying flexible and efficiently moving modestly-priced parts in and out.
They strayed from that this year, and the results haven't been good. Antonio Bastardo ($6.5 million) is long gone, while Tony Watson ($5.6 million before trade) and Daniel Hudson ($5.5 million) qualify as 2017 disappointments.
--If you listen between the lines, you may have picked up on Clint Hurdle's comments about Elias Diaz's shortcomings in calling a game. That explains why Chris Stewart plays more than Diaz does when they're both on the roster.
A smart baseball man once advised, "Never pick your catcher or shortstop on the basis on batting average." Catching is complicated. Some guys never get it. Remember Ryan Doumit?
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--SERIES OR BUST
The Los Angeles Dodgers are having a ridiculous season that will turn into a flop if they don't win their first World Series since 1988.
Here's how things are going for the Dodgers: They came to PNC Park and won three of four games from the Pirates. In the only game they lost, their starting pitcher took a no-hitter into the 10th inning.
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--NOT SO SWEET
Why is the fluff so often the story with Pitt football?
Now it's the debate over "Sweet Caroline." Before it was the script logo and what shade of gold the Panthers wear.
New athletic director Heather Lyke has to get people to care as much as the actual program as they do about the trivial things.
(John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com)
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