Rich's Sports Beat

*Week two of the preseason took the Steelers to New York to face the Giants in their new stadium in the Meadowlands. Ben Roethlisberger saw his first playing time, and his first start, of the preseason and he was very Ben-like. While he played much longer than anticipated, he did not throw a touchdown pass. It was probably more getting the rust off and allowing him to get his timing back in game action. The balance continues as Coach Mike Tomlin much prepare his quarterbacks for the regular season and allow Ben to get his reps so he at least has some line of cohesiveness with his receivers. Byron Leftwich threw a near perfect touchdown strike to receiver Mike Wallace. The first touchdown of the game for the Steelers showed that Leftwich still has his arm and that Wallace is likely to take his place as the number two receiver behind Hines Ward, and will be the deep threat the Steelers will need to stretch the field. Dennis Dixon led two scoring drives, albeit against second and ...

Well, football fans, you’re withdrawal is now officially over. Despite the fact football began two weekends ago with the Hall of Fame game, it actually began around here for most folks with the Steelers playing the Detroit Lions last Saturday evening. It was an eventful game, to be sure, what with the weather delay, the question surrounding whether Ben Roethlisberger would play, how the other quarterbacks would look, and how the 2010 Steelers would begin their preseason. There is going to be an argument about whether Dennis Dixon should get the start the first four to six games of the season over Byron Leftwich. The theory seems to be that Dixon has not shown the coaching staff he is capable of working the entire offense and they have to downsize the playbook in order to get him on the field. There is no question he delivered against the Lions, yet it was against the second and third teams. This will be an ongoing situation - Leftwich or Dixon? Having said that, Leftwich had a m...

*There are those who I will call casual football fans and only watch the Steelers, which is fine. When the Steelers play, and the game is over, football is done for that day. If they play on Sunday or Monday nights, then these casual fans believe that is the only game on and insist on doing something else until that game comes on. Again, that’s fine. To each their own. Then, there are those of us who are football junkies or, as I like to say, students of the game. We follow players and teams from all over the league and remember players from those teams from days gone by. That is the category I fall into and I don’t apologize for it. Everyone is different, but football has been in my blood every since I was a kid. I bring this up because I have watched every Hall of Fame induction ceremony ever since I can remember. This year, the Pittsburgh connections continued, with Rickey Jackson and Russ Grimm both from the University of Pittsburgh, and Dick LeBeau, defensive coordinator...

*Retirement. Most of us look forward to this aspect of our lives. Many will put in 40 years, or more, in a career and look ahead to when they can enjoy the fruits of their labors. Then, there are those fortunate enough to be able to retire early and can still enjoy the good life. Those of us who are considered regulars (regular, common people) think that everyone feels the way we do. Well, guess again. The world is a lot different today than it was 20, 30, even 40 years ago. No one spends 40 years at one job anymore. The world has changed. Today, an individual can hold, on average, 10 different jobs during the course of their career. Yet, we still have to put our time in before we are able to retire comfortably and with no money worries. And that is becoming even tougher to do. Why do I bring this up in a sports column? Most of our leisure time is spent watching some kind of sporting event. Either as a casual fan, or as a sports junkie (like me). The average career lifes...