Beaver County Times, May 4, 2014

It's not like the Penguins should have other things on their minds at this point.
"What's that? There's a game tonight? Damn, I can't keep track of this schedule."
They're pretty much living it, or they should be. If you're cultivating a playoff beard, you might as well invest fully in the experience and show up for all the games, too.
Incredibly, the Penguins got a late start on that when their series against the New York Rangers opened at Consol Energy Center on Friday night.
Well-rested and facing an opponent that should have been tired from a seven-game series against Philadelphia, the Penguins somehow allowed the Rangers to take a 2-0 lead in a game they'd wind up losing 3-2 in overtime.
"It wasn't the start we wanted," winger James Neal said.
Why not? Who doesn't understand what's at stake? Best-of-seven offers some room for error, but why were the Penguins cashing that chip in the first period of the first game?
What possible excuse can there be for coming out of the chute treating this like it was a mid-November match-up with one of those faceless generic opponents that might the Phoenix Coyotes but could just as easily be the Florida Panthers?
Fans who have watched a lot of corny sports movies tend to make too much of locker room oratory. Chuck Noll was always fond of saying that his job wasn't to motivate, it was to direct motivated people.
So maybe the pathologically circumspect Dan Bylsma didn't channel some combination of Knute Rockne and Herb Brooks. He shouldn't have to. It's the playoffs, the reason the Penguins endured the drudgery of that six-month play-in round.
The issue is the professionalism of the players, who have to grasp the circumstances and find the right gear from the start. Spotting the Rangers that 2-0 lead essentially gave them a 1-0 lead in the series.
Four games from now, maybe that's something they'll be able to shrug off on the way to the conference final. Better hope it doesn't define the moment the 2014 postseason went off the rails.
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--ANCIENT HISTORY
One of the stats that immediately got trotted out was the Penguins' 4-0 record in playoff series against the Rangers.
What does it mean? Nothing, really, unless players like Ron Francis and Adam Graves, who helped forge that history, are going to suit up and play again.
Sidney Crosby was the star of his kindergarten playground the first time the Penguins and Rangers met in the playoffs.
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--EXTENDED STAY
The Pirates wound up spending about 100 hours in Baltimore to lose two games in a span of nine hours. Interleague series mean teams only make one trip to some cities, so there's a priority on getting the games played, no matter the circumstances.
Next weekend, the Pirates will confront another reality of the Bud Selig era. They host a Sunday night game against the Cardinals. Can't beat Mothers Day fun at the ballpark, but it might be compromised a little when the kids are getting home after midnight on a school night.
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--WHO IS IT?
Stand up and be recognized: What idiot schedules the Pittsburgh Marathon and a Pirates home game on the same day?

Beaver County Times, April 27, 2014

The Pirates are desperate for offense, and prospect Gregory Polanco is tearing things up in Class AAA.
So why isn't he here? There are about 15 million reasons.
You've been through this before, of course. By keeping Polanco in the minor leagues until June, the Pirates will gain an extra year of control. They may delay his eligibility for arbitration. They certainly will forestall his potential free agency by a year.
It's one of the few elements in the labor agreement that doesn't favor the players, and you can bet the union is searching for ways to close the loophole. It works. The Pirates won a division title in 1992 because they were able to keep Barry Bonds for a seventh season.
Bonds didn't make his major league debut until May 30 in 1986. He could have been on the opening day roster, starting in center field instead of Steve Kemp. But those extra two months in the minor leagues gave the Pirates an extra year of Bonds when he had blossomed into a regular MVP candidate.
These circumstances are obviously different. The 2014 Pirates expect to contend after a 94-win season that included a postseason appearance. Still, with the prices of players constantly escalating, there's ample reason to keep Polanco in Indianapolis for another month or so.
GM Neal Huntington is really taking one for the club in this case. Given the volatile nature of sports, it's unlikely Huntington will be the Pirates general manager in seven years, when Polanco's service time becomes an issue. The easiest thing would be to bring him up today and let someone else worry when the bill comes due in 2020, probably for $15 to $20 million.
Except for Ike Davis replacing Garrett Jones, this is basically the lineup that won 94 games last year. It's not unreasonable to expect more from players being paid major league wages until Polanco gets here in June.
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--Heading west
Congratulations to Jory Rand, who will be leaving KDKA-TV in June to become a weekend news anchor and reporter at KABC-TV in Los Angeles.
Pittsburgh used to be the No. 9 broadcast market. Now it's TV market No. 23, which means it has become a stepping stone for a lot of people. Rand is taking an impressive step. In LA, celebrity sightings might involve Elizabeth Hurley or Jennifer Aniston; here, it's more like Katie O'Malley or a WDVE DJ.
Even though Nightly Sports Call co-host Ron Cook never quite mastered the pronunciation of "Jory," Rand made his mark. He will be missed by the legion of prank callers who practice their craft on the no-budget nightly 10:35 pm. show. Rand has been a regular target ever since he came to town more than six years ago after John Steigerwald had finally grumped his way off the air.
Rand also made himself a lightning rod at the otherwise-sleepy weekly Mike Tomlin press conferences. Rand's questions always got a rise out of the Steelers coach, who is otherwise committed to showing as little candor and emotion as possible. Of course, the questions haven't always gotten answers, but that's OK.
While he'll probably be best remembered for that, Rand did some entertaining offbeat features for KDKA, one of the few stations in town that still makes time for that sort of thing.
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--Tense situation
When the Penguins are faced with adversity, there's always one burning question:
How is Dan Potash handling the stress?

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).

Beaver County Times, March 30, 2014

The season hasn't even started and the Pirates have already made an error.
What is the point of bringing in Barry Bonds to present Andrew McCutchen's MVP award? Dick Groat, the 1960 MVP,  will also be on hand, and the idea is clearly to connect the Pirates' present to the past. But why?
The Pirates finally had a season to celebrate, and they're going to dilute that by linking to the past? It's finally a chance for the franchise to focus on the here and now instead of relying on nostalgia.
By inviting Bonds, the Pirates have bumped McCutchen out of the spotlight. The coverage will focus on how fans react to Bonds and what he says. Bonds left the Pirates after the 1992 season, which means someone has to be nearly 30 to remember his years here.
This isn't a healing, because no one is aching for a reconciliation. Bonds played the first seven years of his career with the Pirates, and posted exceptional numbers in the final three seasons. Then he left as a free agent and played 15 seasons with the Giants. The Pirates didn't even make an offer when he hit free agency. He belongs to the Giants, and they're welcome to all the baggage he carries from his expanded physique years.
Opening day 2014 should be a celebration of the Pirates' long-overdue success in 2013. Instead, it's needlessly been turned into a referendum on Barry Bonds.
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--DRAGGING ON
We're still more than two weeks away from the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is another reminder that the NHL season is too long.
Last year's 48-game season, shortened by the lockout, came with an urgency. A team going through the kind of tough stretch the Penguins are now experiencing might be in trouble. Instead, the Penguins are still coasting because of the cushion they built in October and November.
A 60-game regular season would be about right, but it won't ever happen.
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--GETTING TESTY
Remember when Clint Hurdle was first hired by the Pirates and he was this rollicking loud guy with a big John Wayne personality who wanted to make sure everybody was "all in?"
Has anyone seen that Clint lately? Seems like there are a lot of days when he comes across as excessively irritable. He was snapping off non-answers to questions the other day like he was being interrogated by the secret police.
Maybe it was just a bad day, but it seems like clipped Clint shows up often. Some of the people who cover the team daily are young and inexperienced, but that isn't their fault, nor does it preclude their right to ask questions. Hurdle sometimes even snaps at the announcers who host his pre-game radio show, even though they work for the team and aren't trying to trip him up.
At least Mike Tomlin reserves his blatant contempt almost exclusively for questions asked by Jory Rand.
Hurdle has enough finesse that he doesn't need to steamroll people over minor matters.
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--UNIQUE COMBINATION
When Root does one of those cheapo combined spring training broadcasts with the Red Sox crew, there's one positive takeaway:
The mash-up of Jerry Remy's chowderful New England accent and John Wehner's Pittsburghese is oddly compelling.

Beaver County Times, March 23, 2014

This is when spring training turns tedious for most veteran players. That wasn't the case for Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman, though.
He wound up in the hospital after taking a line drive off his face while pitching in an exhibition game.
Chapman needed surgery to repair a broken bone above his left eye and doctors say he will need to have a metal plate inserted in his skull. He's expected to miss six to eight weeks.
The hard-throwing Chapman has been the Reds' closer for several seasons. Pirates fans probably remember him best for the Aug. 3, 2012 game in Cincinnati when he drilled Andrew McCutchen with a 101-mile per hour fastball in the ninth inning.
McCutchen took the pitch off his arm, but that was only because he was able to twist and get his chin out of the way.  In the aftermath, the Reds claimed Chapman was just pitching inside and had no intent to harm McCutchen.
Not everyone believed that. The Reds and Pirates were battling for position in the standings, McCutchen was clearly the Pirates best player, and the Reds were leading in the game, which meant they wouldn't bat again and face possible retaliation.
There was no immediate revenge extracted, but the Pirates and Reds have been hitting each other with pitches regularly since then. Reds' second baseman Brandon Phillips went into a steep decline last season after he was hit on the wrist by the Pirates' Tony Watson on June 1.
Intimidation has been a convenient one-way street for Chapman. Because he's a one-inning specialist, he hardly ever has to bat. He made his first career plate appearance last season, the only time he's stepped into the batters box in 205 games.
Baseball is full of codes and unwritten rules. One of them is that pitchers are entitled to brush back hitters, or even hit them, but only below the shoulders. Even though batters wear helmets, there's still the potential for serious injury.
The Pirates' Gary Redus was hit in the face by a Tim Crews fastball in 1989. Two days later, the imprint made by the stitches of the baseball was still visible on his swollen cheek.
Karma, being an ethereal force, may have shown itself in the line drive that crushed  Chapman's face. While the physical damage was being repaired, Chapman didn't seem to have any psychological hangover.
He used social media to post a graphic photo of the surgical staples in his head. He'll be back, and he'll probably throw as hard as ever has.
But having experienced the damage that a baseball can cause, maybe he'll be more careful about throwing 101-mile per hour fastballs near anyone's head.
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--CHEAP TRICKS
Disclaimer: This is not a political commentary.
No matter who the leader of the free world is, you'd hope he wouldn't have time to work up a full bracket for the NCAA Tournament.
Yet that's what President Barack Obama did again on ESPN, taking Sharpie in hand to predict every game. Why? Image buffing to cast him as everyman? How about saying, "I hope it's a great tournament, but we have our hands full here with some serious issues right now. I'm pretty busy."
Wouldn't that mean more than his pick in the UCLA-Tulsa game?