Beaver County Times, October 19, 2014

Here's what's wrong with the Steelers: They don't have enough good players.
Here's how to fix the Steelers: Get better players.
Pin The Blame On The Coordinators might be the region's most popular indoor sport, and they're hardly blameless. But the biggest difference between this team and the teams that went 12-4 as recently as 2011 is the talent gap.
Good players got too old, or broke down, or no longer fit under the salary cap. The replacements, in almost every case, have been inferior.
When you replace players with others who aren't as good, suddenly consecutive 12-4 seasons turn into back-to-back 8-8 records.
It shouldn't come as any surprise because we've been here before.
It's ancient history now, but the Steelers once won four Super Bowls in six years because they had six years of exceptional drafting. They selected nine future Hall of Famers from 1969 through '74 and reaped the benefits of that incredible stockpile from '74 through '79.
Then those players got old or broke down, and the replacements weren't nearly as good. Cliff Stoudt replaced Terry Bradshaw. Franco Harris begat Walter Abercrombie. Mel Blount was followed by Sam Washington, then Harvey Clayton.
The front four that was featured on the cover of Time magazine -- Joe Greene, L.C. Greenwood, Ernie Holmes and Dwight White -- became a three-man line of John Goodman, Gary Dunn and Tom Beasley.
Even when the successor was pretty good, like Mike Merriweather, he was still short of the standard set by Jack Ham.
The scale hasn't been as dramatic as it was when the '70s took that cruel turn into the '80s, but the template is sadly the same. Aaron Smith turns into Travis Kirschke and Ziggy Hood. Casey Hampton is replaced by Steve McLendon.
The Troy Polamalu who once played a game as wild as his hair has been replaced by an older, slower version.
If Vince Lombardi came back to be the defensive coordinator, he probably couldn't get much of out of this group, which is also now missing three injured starters. Sentimentalists love having Brett Keisel and James Harrison back, but their emergency additions just demonstrate how bereft the roster is.
In two years, the receiving corps has lost Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders and Jerricho Cotchery. Who has replaced them?
Last week in Cleveland, Markus Wheaton was targeted for 11 passes. He caught four. Ben Roethlisberger had a lousy game, so he gets some of the blame, but how does a receiver catch only 36 percent of the passes thrown his way?
It doesn't have to be that way. New England constantly changes the personnel around Tom Brady and consistently wins. Bill Belichick has had one losing season in 14 years, and that came when he took over in 2000. The Patriots reversed that 5-11 record the next season and won the Super Bowl.
The Steelers are 3-3 and facing a pivotal point in their schedule with three straight home games.
Painful as it might be, the best outcome for this season would be a 5-11 or 6-10 record. That would get a better drafting position and jolt ownership into taking a hard look at the entire operation: player procurement, cap management and, yes, coaching.
That should have happened last year, but they got deluded by the 8-4 finish that followed an 0-4 start.
There are a lot of things that need to be fixed. If it were only as easy as hiring a new offensive coordinator.
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--TALENT RAID?
Pirates bench coach Jeff Banister has achieved his long-standing goal of becoming a major league manager.
As he settles in with Texas, will he raid the Pirates for staff help? He spent 29 years in the organization and undoubtedly knows people on and off the field he'd like to have helping him.
Teams can reject lateral moves, but rarely stand in the way when someone has a chance to take a better job.
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--SETTLING IN
Jason Grilli closed on a house in Gibsonia last week. After living in Orlando, he's decided to make his permanent home in the Pittsburgh area.
As his playing career nears an end, Grilli will undoubtedly be seeking radio and TV work and is a good bet to wind up on the local airwaves.

Beaver County Times, October 12, 2014

Forget about Halloween. This is potentially the scariest day of the month, and quite possibly the most frightening of the year.
The Steelers play in Cleveland this afternoon and will confront the possibility the Browns are better than they are.
Every year the teams play twice and advance stories focus on the rivalry, but it hasn't really existed for a long time. Sure, people sell t-shirts bearing rude messages outside both stadiums, but there hasn't been much to dispute on the field.
The Steelers have won regularly since the Browns came back into the NFL as an expansion team in 1999. The Browns have squeaked out a game here or there, but mostly because the Steelers somehow self-destructed. They've been little more than a brown-and-orange bump in the road on the way to important divisional games against Baltimore or Cincinnati. People have gotten used to seeing the Browns in the cellar, a fixture just like cheap paneling, the old kitchen chairs and an ancient Duquesne Pilsner clock.
But the Browns are coming off a major second half rally that let them win in Tennessee last week. It resembled what they did in the season opener at Heinz Field when they spotted the Steelers a big lead, then roared back in the second half.
The Steelers didn't have an answer for what they did and had to salvage the game on Shaun Suisham's last-second field goal.
Meanwhile, the Steelers have a 3-2 record and should probably be 4-1 at this point. But there are brush fires all over the place. The offense produced just 10 points against Jacksonville.
The defense can't generate heat on quarterbacks, which explains why someone like Mike Glennon could beat them at home and Blake Bortels, making just his second NFL start, gave them a scare in Jacksonville last weekend.
The betting line has established the Browns as the favorite today, by the slightest margin. Have the Steelers and Browns converged while heading in opposite directions on the elevator?
Today's outcome isn't as certain as it usually is when these teams meet. This should be a competitive game, which means the storyline will be even bigger than whether Antonio Brown extends that NFL record for catching at least five passes for 50 yards.
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--GREAT BALLS OF FIRE
The Penguins took a moment during the opener to acknowledge Mike Lange's 40th anniversary as the team's play-by-play voice.
His longevity is unprecedented. Myron Cope was part of the Steelers' radio team for 35 years. Bob Prince called Pirates games for 28 seasons, 21 of those as the No. 1 announcer. Lanny (Hi, Friends) Frattare worked baseball for 33 seasons, although it seemed longer.
Lange's career hit a crossroads in the summer of 2006 when the rights holder dumped him from the TV broadcasts. He shopped around, found nothing that fit, put aside his pride and took the Penguins' radio job.
And he actually got better. Even at 66, he provides the most descriptive radio call of any sport in town. He's older, the game is faster than it's ever been and most broadcast perches are inches from the ceiling, but Lange is still on top of the action.
His preparation is thorough. He attends all the game-day morning skates and gathers information by talking to players and coaches from both teams. He has extra study time during warm-ups, when he hones in the visiting team, noting personnel combinations and skating styles, so he can tell who's on the ice even if the jersey number is obscured.
There is an asterisk attached to his longevity. After his first season, the Penguins went bankrupt (the first time). Uncertain of the future, Lange went to Washington to do soccer games. Who remembers that he was replaced by Gary Morrell?
Lange was back after that season, though, and he's one of the few who's been around for the second bankruptcy, Rico Fata, and the crazy swings between a 38-point season and three Stanley Cup championships.
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--OCTOBER 13
Monday is the 54th anniversary of the greatest moment in Pittsburgh sports, Bill Mazeroski's World Series-winning home run.
That isn't the reason schools are closed and mail won't be delivered. It's just a happy coincidence.

Beaver County Times, October 5, 2014

Clint Hurdle has the easy offseason. All he has to do is undergo surgery and endure the painful rehab that comes with a hip replacement.
GM Neal Huntington has to figure out how to keep the Pirates in the playoffs while still sticking to the budget restrictions he's given.
Between the free agency issues and arbitration cases, Huntington won't have many days off. The two commodities he needs most -- reliable starting pitching and a front-line catcher -- are difficult to get.
So many questions: Is Pedro Alvarez salvageable? If he is, can he play third base again? Has Josh Harrison turned a corner at 27, or did he have a dream season he won't duplicate? How do you fill a rotation that has a potential No. 1 in Gerrit Cole and a bunch of candidates for No. 5 with not much in between? Is Gregory Polanco a major league player? As arbitration likely pushes Mark Melancon toward $5 million, is he worth that? If not, who closes?
Russell Martin's anticipated free agent departure leaves a huge hole at catcher. A combination of Tony Sanchez and Chris Stewart won't come close to filling it. The Martin break-up is painful, but there's really no other viable choice. It's unlikely Martin has more than one solid season before age and the wear and tear of the position catch up with him. He could be the one who defies the odds, but the Pirates shouldn't take that gamble on the three-year contract he's certain to get.
Edinson Volquez had a better year than anyone could have anticipated, but it's not a good idea to bring him back. Francisco Liriano? Maybe.
Here's a suggestion if the Pirates decide to go bold: Consider trading Neil Walker. He's coming off his best season, so his value is high. The Pirates have never said so publicly, but they have no interest in doing a long-term deal with him. He'll hit free agency at age 31, which means he'll be allowed to leave. A balky back and limited defensive range are both factors. Contracts that start after a player is 31 usually buy only declining years.
Could Walker bring the kind of catcher the Pirates need? Could he be flipped for a quality starting pitcher? If the Pirates think Alvarez can move back to third, Harrison could go to second and the team could attack first base with an outside solution or its incumbent jumble of Ike Davis, Gaby Sanchez and Andrew Lambo.
Hurdle's hip will get better as the offseason progresses. Huntington's headaches will linger.
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--NO SURE THINGS
The Steelers play in Jacksonville today, and ordinarily a game against an 0-4 opponent would be a ho-hum, pass-the-Fritos, hey-what's the-4-o'clock-game? TV show.
But one of the effects of having a mediocre team is games that are supposed to be lopsided wind up being competitive. Who expected last week's outcome against Tampa Bay at Heinz Field? But it happened.
So keep the Rolaids handy and stick close to the TV. The Jaguars might make it a game.
By the way, those calling the Tampa Bay loss the worst in Mike Tomlin's tenure have short memories.
Back in 2009, a much more talented Steelers team blew a lead in the last two minutes at home against the 3-8 Oakland Raiders. Bruce Gradkowski did a Tom Brady imitation and led a winning touchdown drive right after the Steelers had taken the lead.
Even though it was the fifth time in six games that the Steelers had fallen apart in the fourth quarter, there was still plenty of shock value.
"Worst game under Tomlin" is a longer discussion than it should be.
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--CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS
The intrigue of the expanded baseball postseason is not only guessing which teams will win. It's also trying to find what second-rate cable channel might be carrying the games.
Two of Friday's games were on Fox Sports 1, which reaches fewer households than Animal Planet and Cartoon Network. Some of the games are exclusive to MLB TV, which lags behind Oprah's OWN and the Golf Channel in households.
Among Bud Selig's many accomplishments as commissioner: He's sent a lot of people back to their radios for postseason baseball.

Beaver County Times, September 28, 2014

Hey, did you hear that Derek Jeter is retiring?
Because it's New York and the Yankees, it's been inescapable.
Jeter has had an excellent career that will land him in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. He's banked more than $265 million over his 20 years, so he probably won't be sweating post-baseball life. (He's had to get by on $12 million this season since topping out at $22.6 million in 2010. Those Yankees drive a hard bargain.)
Jeter has managed to avoid scandal, even with the competitive New York tabloids watching. He's been a serial dater of models and actresses, but unlike a lot of players, he hasn't been married while he's pursued that hobby.
If you're inclined to shed a tear, let it be motivated by unabashed envy for the wonderful life Jeter has enjoyed since he came to the Yankees in 1996.
Things have been so hopelessly over the top that there's a Gatorade commercial with Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as the soundtrack. By the way, Jeter will be paid for that, too.
Every stop on the road has brought a pre-game ceremony and some sort of gift, none of which Jeter needs. He could buy Wyoming.
ESPN's Keith Olbermann had an extended rant last week that poked some serious holes in the Jeter legend. Olbermann is based in New York and no doubt he's overdosed on Jeter-mania.
Adulation doesn't always last forever. In 1982, a lot of people were weepy when Willie Stargell ended his career with the Pirates. Not that many years later, they were booing Stargell when he came back to town working for the Atlanta Braves. A guy who then worked for the Pirates skillfully leaked the information that Stargell had demanded a $70,000 car as payment for participating in a gate-boosting night in his honor.
There are probably Yankees fans who view Jeter's last game today as the end of life as they've known it. If they're older than 12, shame on them. The Yankees moved on after Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. They'll field a team next year without Jeter.
In a perfect world, we'd get just as emotional about the retirement of a treasured teacher who influences kids into developing habits that lead to productive lives. Unfortunately, their sendoff usually begins and ends with a plaque and a tray of cupcakes whipped up by the hairnet ladies in the school cafeteria.
We save the spectacular farewells for millionaires who play games.
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--ONE MAN'S TRASH
Once you accept that people are nuts, you focus on a way to turn that truth into profit.
MLB has done that. Whenever a team has a champagne-spraying celebration, MLB has authenticators on hand to collect the empty bottles and corks to be offered for sale. The authenticators verify that the trash was part of the celebration. They thus become "collectibles," and people apparently buy them.
Some teams are selling the empty bottles for more than $100, and the corks are $25. Remember, it's not just an empty bottle -- it's a bottle that may have been emptied by Casey Sadler.
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--FILLING A NEED
Sentimentalists applauded the Steelers' re-signing of James Harrison last week, but it came about only because necessity and convenience converged.
The Steelers lost linebackers Jarvis Jones and Ryan Shazier to injuries in the Carolina game and had a sudden need for help at the position. There's obviously a premium on getting someone who can quickly learn the defense, and that made Harrison the best candidate.
Like Brett Keisel, he's back because there's a need, not because there's an expectation he's the player he once was.
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--IS THAT ALL?
KDKA-TV put together a promo bragging it was the only local news station in Atlanta for the Pirates' celebration after clinching a postseason spot.
The promo includes a clip of reporter Rich Walsh asking, "How's this feel, man?" and the player responding, "Pretty special."
That's going to make the other stations sorry they weren't there.

Beaver County Times, September 21, 2014

Even acknowledging the scourge of karaoke, nothing fuels performance fantasies like sports.
People purchase and proudly wear jerseys with someone else's name on the back, living vicariously through the borrowed identity. Sidney Crosby might think it peculiar that a tubby 50-year-old would sport his name and number, but he's far too diplomatic to say so.
An entire industry has grown around the desire to be a player. Middle-aged people pay thousands of dollars to attend fantasy camps that purport to simulate the experience of being a major league player, if only for a week. Campers get a regulation uniform, a baseball card of themselves and they presumably learn the fine art of scribbling a consistently illegible autograph. They're not really players, but they get to put sunglasses atop their caps and walk the walk for a few days.
Baseball fantasy camps routinely sell out the available spots, despite the big price tag. There are no dentist fantasy camps, where wanna-be's get to wear scrubs, lecture on the importance of flossing, and bark orders for a set of bitewing x-rays.
Sports grip us in a special way. Surgeons and Senators daydream about patrolling the outfield in Wrigley Field on a sunny afternoon or stepping to the plate with the World Series on the line, the way that Bill Mazeroski did.
But if you pay attention, it works the other way, too. You see things in sports and silently give thanks that you don't have that kind of problem. You wouldn't want to be in their shoes. Here are some people whose Florsheims you're grateful not to occupy these days:
--Roger Goodell: Sure, he has the big bank account and his signature is on the footballs, but he looks awfully stressed now. He completely botched the Ray Rice issue, and he's backpedaling faster than a cornerback trying to cover Calvin Johnson.
Reports of off-field misdeeds are springing up like dandelions, leaving Goodell scrambling like Fran Tarkenton, and causing some observers to overuse similes and reference old players irrelevant to anyone under 40.
--Billy Beane: The Oakland GM had the team with the best record in MLB, and decided to improve it. The master of Moneyball, who has skillfully built on a budget, uncharacteristically broke the bank to beef up his pitching. He boldly acquired starters Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel, shoring up the one potential weakness.
But while those pitchers have generally done well for the A's, the offense went south. They've gone from a four-game lead in the division to a double-digit deficit, and they're now in a final-week scramble to nail down a wild card spot. Beane blew a hole in the offense when he dealt cleanup hitter Yoenis Cespedes for a two-month rental of Lester He potentially bought years of future regret by surrendering prime prospects for the other two pitchers.
--Pedro Alvarez: There he sits on the Pirates bench, felled by a foot injury. It's the latest indignity in the scatter-armed summer that saw him removed for defensive purposes and lifted for pinch hitters. It's no fun to be a detached spectator as the team makes a late charge to a postseason berth. He's being paid nicely, but Alvarez has to be suffering in what's turned into a lost season for him.
--Mike Johnston: His first chance to coach in the NHL comes at 57, and he gets this soap opera. He has two superstars who seem to be less than happy, and ownership expects a Stanley Cup, even though the team is clearly at least a notch below the current Kings/Blackhawks standard of excellence. The GM who hired him has one foot on his retirement property, his goalie has a potentially-distracting contract issue, and he didn't even get to pick his top assistant. Welcome to the NHL!
Perhaps it was all best summed up by the philosopher Barry Bonds. He had a memorable reaction when told a mid-level Pirates executive with whom he had clashed had been dismissed in a budgetary move. Bonds grinned widely, then gleefully cackled, "See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!"

Beaver County Times, September 14, 2014

Roger Goodell has an opulent office on Park Avenue, and he's in a fight to keep it.
You know the details of the Ray Rice case and the NFL's horribly inadequate response. Now there's the Watergate-esque issue of what Goodell knew and when he knew it.
Somehow the NFL's far-flung security network couldn't come up with a tape that instead wound up in the clutches of gossip website TMZ. That's Goodell's version of the story. If it's true, he's admitting he's incompetent. If it's not true, he's a liar.
Either way, it doesn't bode well for his future in a job that's reported to have earned him $44 million last year. It's stunning that Goodell has been so tone-deaf in his handling of Rice's case.
The two-game suspension was a joke. Goodell admitted his mistake when he backtracked and toughened the NFL's policy on domestic abuse. Still, at that point Rice would have been cleared to rejoin the Ravens this week.
The security video changed all of that, and may have also altered the course of NFL history, where there have been just three commissioners in the last 54 years.
You don't get that big office on Park Avenue without being politically savvy. Goodell, according to his published history, wanted to work for the NFL from the time he was attending Washington & Jefferson. He regularly wrote to the league and most of the teams, looking for any entry-level job.
The league took him on as an intern, and he progressed from there. That doesn't happen unless you make a lot of right moves, schmooze the wealthy and headstrong men who own franchises and build a consensus of support. It's much like a political campaign, and Goodell's paid off in 2006 when he was selected to succeed Paul Tagliabue.
How can a guy who's that smart miss so badly when the Ray Rice incident landed on his desk? After all the finger wagging and scolding and fining on late hits and dope smoking and improper comments about officiating, he completely fumbled a clear-cut case of assault.
A lot of players are enjoying seeing Goodell squirm under the heat that's roasting him these days. The most effective way for the NFL to recover from the Rice disgrace would be to put someone else in charge of the league.
It may come to that after an investigation is concluded. The big question is how a league that employs elite former law enforcement personnel couldn't come up with a tape that was obviously available. Was Goodell inept, or was he dishonest?
Neither choice is very appealing. Ray Rice lost his job. Roger Goodell may lose his, too.
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--IT'S FUNDAMENTAL
You can debate schemes and wonder how quickly new players can grasp a complicated defense, but there's one horrible truth from the Steelers' first two games:
They don't tackle very well. If you've watched much football, you know that the ability to tackle the guy with the ball is kind of fundamental to any success on defense.
The other night in Baltimore, Troy Polamalu and Ike Taylor both whiffed on tackling a ball carrier and Ryan Shazier missed, too. Later, Cortez Allen awkwardly tried to bring down Steve Smith by the shoulder pads and wound up getting a 15-yard facemask penalty.
Whether it's a problem with technique or a lack of commitment, the Steelers are missing too many tackles.
When James Harrison retired, Polamalu praised him as someone who typified the toughness of the Steelers defense. Wonder if he said that with a certain wistfulness, because the current group seems to get pushed around quite a bit in a way that's very un-Steelers like.
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--PITCHING CHANGE
Who knew the Pirates would wind up missing Bryan Morris more than A.J. Burnett?
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--DIFFERENT WORLD
Lloyd McClendon's Mariners are in the postseason hunt, and he's a candidate for Manager of the Year in his first year with Seattle.
The Mariners were bolstered in the offseason by the free agent signing of Robinson Cano to a contract worth $240 million.
When McClendon managed the Pirates from 2001-05, his five teams had a combined payroll of just under $226 million.

Beaver County Times, September 7, 2014

Here's how the NFL works: There are a few teams that are really good and could go 12-4.
There are a few teams that are really bad and could go 4-12.
Everybody else is in that giant middle cluster, somewhere between 9-7 and 7-9, depending on variables like who gets hurt (or arrested), how the ball bounces and whether it snows in Philadelphia.
They call that parity, and it's been the league's goal forever. The draft and the salary cap help deter dynasties, and that's the way the NFL wants it. It's much better for business when everyone has some semblance of hope and the final weeks have enough wild card possibilities to keep the faithful hyperventilating.
Your 2014 Steelers are in that middle crowd, a team that could reach the playoffs, but probably won't. They're not good enough to be 12-4, and they're too good to be 4-12, so it will probably be like the last couple of seasons.
The issues now are mostly on defense. A lot of the old and slow has been flushed out over the past couple of seasons. They're younger and faster, but who knows if they understand where they're supposed to go.
In all the customarily tedious dispatches from training camp, there was one priceless nugget of information that emerged. Linebackers coach Keith Butler revealed there were times last year when No. 1 draft pick Jarvis Jones was yelling, "What do I do, what do I do?" before the ball was snapped.
He wasn't asking that in the existential sense, but rather trying to figure out exactly what his assignment was. If we know anything about the Steelers, it's that they run a complicated defense and players usually need a couple of seasons to understand it. Is it a coincidence that players like Cam Heyward and Jason Worilds didn't become contributors until they had years in the system?
Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau said there was no effort to simplify the playbook, so it's going to be sink or swim for new players. History says there will be some rescues from the deep end.
The Steelers re-signed veteran Brett Keisel late in the preseason, a move that was widely hailed by sentimentalists and fans of prodigious facial hair. But from a more practical standpoint, it should probably be viewed as a red flag, an acknowledgment that help is needed on the defensive line. The team went into the offseason planning for life without Keisel, but now needs him as a failsafe.
Ike Taylor came back at a flea market price following a rocky season. LeBeau said Taylor was fighting injuries last season. We'll see. He will undoubtedly be targeted again by the divisional teams that burned him last season.
There's a lot of inexperience. First-rounder Ryan Shazier is being counted on to start and take on the challenge that baffled Jones last season.
Makes you wonder if "What do I do, what do I do?" might be a multi-voiced refrain this season, one that defines this defense more than "Renegade" does.
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--NO DEBATE
It seems like every Pirates game features at least one plate appearance where Ike Davis is called out on a third strike he doesn't like.
He disputes the call and walks away shaking his head. But he's out. Given that ball-strike calls are one of the few umpire decisions that can't be reviewed by replay, he'd probably be better served by swinging the bat.
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--MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
At last check, Gregory Polanco was hitting around .208 since he started his major league career with an 11-game hitting streak.
Wonder if he has any regrets about passing on that reported $75 million offer?
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--NO NEWS, BAD NEWS
If you've listened to 93.7 The Fan (KDKA-FM), you know the most useful part of the programming is the sports news updates that run three times an hour. This is especially the case when they're handled by Jeff Hathhorn and Eric Hagman.
The station has changed the format for the updates, needlessly sabotaging the station's most redeeming feature.
If they want to make the station better, encourage hosts to stay away from those discussions about what kind of potato chips they like best.
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--FACE THE NATION
It's been so long since Steelers fans have had to work up a real froth over the Browns. For that reason alone, you have to hope that Johnny Manziel gets in today's game.