Rich's Sports Beat

It's been a whirlwind year at the University of Pittsburgh. Former head coach Todd Graham up and left for the Arizona State football job, leaving Pitt hanging. After conducting their latest head coaching search, the Panthers selected University of Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst to be their latest head guy. I have no doubt that Pitt got it right THIS TIME. However, the proof is in the pudding. But this business at Pitt goes back a lot longer than what has tranpired over the last year. This goes back to the middle 1980s. I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. Pitt has an institutional problem when it comes to football. Pitt stunk in the early 1970s before the program hired Johnny Majors to be their head coach. Majors recruited Tony Dorsett and built around him before leading the program to the national championship in 1976 and Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy. Majors left for Tennessee and Jackie Sherrill took over the program, leading the team t...

So, James Harrison has been suspended one game for his hit on Browns quarterback Colt McCoy and will miss Monday Night's game with the San Franciso 49ers. An important game, I might add. This is for the whiners and cryers out there. First, yes, perhaps the punishment being meted out by commissioner Roger Goodell is not consistent. You will not get an argument from me there. But, let's look at the bigger picture. I have made this argument for years. I have watched a ton of football in my day and the product has gotten worse, not better. Offensively, records are being set that boggle the mind. Defensively, it seems everyone wants to get on ESPN and SportsCenter. Whatever happened to form tackling? Yes, you know what I'm talking about. Leading and hitting with the shoulder, wrapping your arms around the chest, midsection, or legs, and holding on tight. That type of tackling. I do not see this anynmore. Now, it's launching your body for the "big hit" ...

Much has been said about the latest setback regarding Penguins center and superstar Sidney Crosby. Some out there are saying he is soft and should be playing through his injury. These are the same people, I might add, who likely do not have a brain of their own, and I say that with conviction. We are talking about the brain. This is not a limb nor is it a ligament that can be repaired by doctors and then rehabbed. This is the brain, that which controls the rest of the body. Two examples that I like to cite are that of former Steelers center, and Hall of Famer, the late Mike Webster. Webster died at the age of 50 after many trials and tribulations after his football career. Much of what he dealt with came about due to all of the shots to the head he took while playing center during his career. The other example is that of former Chicago Bear, the late Dave Duerson. Duerson, also 50, shot himself in the chest, taking his own life, and asked that his brain be donated to science to...

Seems strange to be talking about baseball in December, what with the Steelers battling for first place in the AFC North and the Penguins trying to hold onto first place in the Eastern Conference. However, a colleague of mine and I were discussing the Pirates today at work and what they might doing at first base and who might be plugged into the spot vacated by Paul Maholm since the club decided not to pick up his option in 2012 for $9 million. Here is my bigger concern. While the fan base wants to see the Pirates make a splash in free agency, that is not likely to happen. The organization still has not shown the willingness to "write the check" as Michael Keaton said some years back. The face of the franchise is Andrew McCutcheon. His skill set is something this franchise has not seen in some time and he is still a young man and growing. As long as he stays healthy, the sky is the limit. His speed cannot be touched on the base paths, which makes him a lethal weapon (wi...

Finally, after 12 weeks of the regular season, the Steelers put together a complete game. It sure took along enough, but better late than never. If they play like this the rest of the season, then playoffs should bode well. But, they have to come to play every week. Play like they did against the Chiefs and it will be one and done in the playoffs. All three phases of the game have to be clicking to have a long playoff run. They also have to win out. The Ravens are keeping pace and own the tiebreaker with their two wins in the head to head meetings earlier in the year. They have to hope the Ravens lose at least once before the season concludes to have any shot at winning the AFC North and securing at least one home playoff game. No rest for the weary. The Steelers host Cleveland Thursday evening, which also happens to be the same evening the Penguins travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers in their first game in the City of Brotherly love since Sidney Crosby came back. Loo...

To all of my faithful readers from the The Weekly Recorder, Sports Beat is back after a summer hiatus. This column, now solely a blog, was shelved after our former owner/editor decided to sell the aforementioned publication. I left along with him because we were in it together and we left together. However, a writer never stops working and I needed some time to recollect my competitive juices. This is the last month of the calendar year. NFL playoff races are heating up, the college bowl season has just been announced, hockey is in full swing, and we all know what has been going on at Penn State and Syracuse. So, if you have been missing your weekly dose of sports news and thoughts, fret not. Sports Beat is back with regular and semi-regular posts throughout the remainder of the year and the beginning of 2012. To those of you who read Sports Beat in the previous publication, welcome back! To those of you new to my prose, welcome aboard!

For many years, at least going back to the 1970s, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been known for tough, hard nosed football. Smash mouth football. Tough, physical play. Big backs in the backfield rushing the ball and taking it to the defense, wearing it down. Well, who would have thought that the 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates would be playing a similar brand of ball, only on the diamond, after 18 years of futility?! Yes, this year’s Pirates are getting it done by any means necessary, a brand of baseball that manager Clint Hurdle and his staff have implemented since his hiring and during spring training. Hard work, hustle, dig out ground balls, play stellar defense, and manufacture runs. This has been the story of this year’s Pirates. Of course, you need to have pitching and the Pirates have had that thus far this year. The work that the starting staff has done, not to mention the bullpen, has been getting it done. Then again, the starters need to go at least seven innings to save th...

*Your Pittsburgh Pirates were actually in first place for a spell last weekend and have been flirting with the top spot for much of the last week. At press time, they could have been in first place after finishing a weekend series in Houston against the Astros, then returning home to face Cincinnati and St. Louis that will a long way in determining how the Pirates could finish the year and whether they contend for the division or a wild card spot. Now, most of us in the populace were probably not ready for this to happen after the last 18 years; however, at some point, the law of averages said that the streak had to break sometime. As I have mentioned in the past, I had predicted fourth place as a realistic goal this year just to get out of the basement. Besides the obvious, the best thing about this year and this season has been that the Pirates have helped to take our minds off the NFL lockout and given us something else to focus on this summer. Had this been another disastrou...

*First, the good news. As of Sunday, your Pittsburgh Pirates were one game out of first place with a 47 – 43 record after taking two out of three games from the Cubs. That’s right, after 18 years of futility, we have a baseball team in Pittsburgh again! As a friend of mine whom I work with during the summer told me, Pittsburgh has always been a baseball town, they just had to put a product on the field that the city and the region could be proud of. Well, now we have a young, talented team that is exciting to watch. To make matters even better, Andrew McCutchen and Kevin Correia were added along with Joel Hanrahan to the All Star Game in Phoenix that was played on Tuesday. For the first time since 1990, three Pirates made the All Star team and, for the first time since 1992, the Buccos are over .500 at the All Star break. Now, who would have imagined that? I made the prediction that the Pirates would escape the cellar this year and finish fourth. Looks like they might make a ...

*Don’t look now, but your Pittsburgh Pirates are flirting with first place in the National League Central. That’s right, the same team that could not get out of its own way for the last 18 years is now playing with the big boys and is one game out of first as of July 4th. The bad news is that only closer Joel Hanrahan was invited to the All-Star game in Phoenix, leaving Andrew McCutchen out. Things could change by the time you receive this week’s edition. But, that is the price to be paid when your team has been plagued by futility for the last nearly two decades. However, if anyone has been paying attention, this team comes ready to play everyday, hustles, and wants to end this streak that has been affecting the franchise for so long. There is a long way to go. Another half season of baseball after the All-Star break. There are several call ups who have taken the place of injured starters; however, the standard remains the same. Expectations are high, as they should be. Most...

*In case you haven’t been paying attention, your Pittsburgh Pirates took two out of the three from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and kept their record above .500 at this point of the season. They have been flirting with third place in the National League Central, off and on, throughout the season and were only three games out of first as of the beginning of the week. After 18 years of futility, this team is finally giving the region something to talk about. All three games last weekend were sellouts and Sunday was the largest crowd in PNC Park history. First, you have to have the talent to compete and the Pirates finally have the core young talent in place to start making some noise. It starts with Neil Walker, Andrew McCutcheon, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez. Thus far, Alvarez has not done much of anything and is on rehab assignment in Bradenton. Tabata pulled up lame on Sunday while running out a base hit to first, a quadriceps injury. The real story, actually, has bee...

*Congratulations to the Boston Bruins for winning the 2011 Stanley Cup last week, their first Cup since 1972. Mark Recchi was on this team and went out in style. Recchi won his first Cup with the Penguins in 1991 but was traded in 1992 in the deal that brought Rick Tocchet, Kjell Sammuelson, and Ken Wregget to Pittsburgh. Recchi went on to win a Cup with Carolina in 2006, and now he finishes his career at 43 years of age with a Cup playing for Boston. *Much of the talk over the last week and a half is the renewal of the Pitt-Penn State football game in 2016 and 2017. It will only be a two game series, so the rivalry will likely not be the one that was back in the late 1970s and into the middle 1980s. Some light needs to be shed on this series and its relevance on the college football landscape. Joe Paterno became head coach of Penn State in 1966 after serving as an assistant to then coach Rip Engle. Of course, we all know Paterno is still coaching at the age of 84. What many m...

Sports thoughts for the week: *By the time this week’s edition hits your mailbox and the newsstand, we will new NBA champions (the Dallas Mavericks were crowned champions after defeating the Miami Heat Sunday night) and new Stanley Cup champions (this past Wednesday night – Bruins and Canucks for all the marbles). What that also means is that two seasons will draw to a close (pro basketball and hockey) for the summer until September and October roll around and those respective sports’ training camps open. For the summer, we will be left with baseball, golf, and auto racing, primarily NASCAR. For the sports fan, this should suffice. However, a great many people, if they haven’t already, will be enjoying the great outdoors. *This was mentioned in light of the fact that the NFL lockout is looking larger as training camps are scheduled to open in a month and a half. When the lockout began, it really wasn’t a big deal. Now, to the football fans, it is becoming a bigger issue. As of...

The NFL Network has some great programming during the offseason, from their live access shows to analysis and such. One of the shows they is The Top 10…..fill in the blank. Last Christmas Eve, the Top 10 Pittsburgh Steelers aired, and it was on again over this past weekend. Anyone who has seen this program had to be intrigued by whom they placed on this list and, even more bizarre, who was left off. Believe it or not, three current or former Steelers from the 2000s made this list. One from the 1990s, and the others from the 1970s. One could make a very good argument that this list could be chock full of Steelers solely from the Super Bowl era of the 1970s without batting an eyelash, and they would be spot on. I am not ready to name any current Steelers as Top 10 until long after they have retired and perhaps secured their spots in the NFL Hall of Fame. Let’s preface this by taking a look at the Steelers from the first Super Bowl era that are in the Hall. Offensively, Terry Bra...

*Last Friday morning, I decided to pull in the Stan Savran show on 970 ESPN streaming online. I consider Stan to be far and away the best and most professional sportscaster in Pittsburgh. He knows his stuff and he’s great to listen to. Just as I pulled in the online stream, he was commenting on the exact same subject I am writing about this week. It had to with James Harrison’s recent tweets about the NFL rules and how it is making it more difficult for defenses to do their jobs. Well, Stan hit the nail on the head with me, as he said the exact same thing I have been thinking with regards to these rules and Harrison’s tweets. I have watched a ton of football in my day and I am still a relatively young man. This is not your father’s NFL, sad to say. Far from it. Tackling is poor, at best, and the talent level is about mediocre and a little above average. Then again, when you have 32 teams in which to stock, not every team is going to get the best talent, the cream of the crop....

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and, for many, it will mean a weekend of travel to celebrate what is traditionally the first holiday of the summer season. For those of us who are car junkies, and racing junkies, it is a doubleheader on Sunday. The Indianapolis 500 will celebrate the 100th running of, arguably, the greatest race in the world. Fitting that an event so prestigious takes place in Indiana, and that is not a knock on this great Midwestern state. On the contrary, it doesn’t get any better than staging such a great race in our nation’s heartland, where it belongs. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is hallowed ground for those of us who celebrate the marriage between man (and now woman) and machine. The place just wreaks of history, with the fabled Gasoline Alley leading to the pits and, ultimately, the track. The track consists of two long straightaways and two short turns, called short chutes, making a rectangular oval. It is mainly a flat track with little banking...

*The Pirates were swept last weekend in Milwaukee by the Brewers, which has been a place that has been nothing but agonizing for the Pirates for many years. Now before everyone starts to think same old Pirates, let’s remember one thing. These 18 years of futility did not happen overnight and this thing is not going to get turned around overnight, either. There are places that the Pirates go where the opposition owns them and Milwaukee is one of them. Just like back in the day when the Cleveland Browns, no matter what they did, could not win in Pittsburgh. Well, the Pirates just can’t win in Milwaukee. It is going to take time for this to turn the corner. I have not given up nor have I given in on this team. The core is in place. They just need to begin producing and start getting to opposing pitchers. The Pirates are back home this weekend to take on the Detroit Tigers in interleague play. *The rumors are swirling that the Penguins may try and bring back Jaromir Jagr for a y...

The Pittsburgh sports scene may seem a little lackluster since the Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are now playing for the Eastern Conference title. There is no NFL since the lockout was reinstated and the draft concluded. As of now, there is a schedule in the league, but it is tentative in terms of how long the lockout lasts and if/when the season does begin. So, in essence, there are a lot of unknowns. That leaves the Pirates and the national sports scene. As of Sunday, the Pirates got back to the .500 mark this early in the season since 2002. The cynical among us may say that it’s only a matter of time before the Pirates go back to the cellar. I not only beg to differ, I will also say that this is a different Pirates team from the past and they also have a manager that knows how to get the most out of his players and is committed for the long haul. The core of this team, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata, Pedro Alvarez, and Andre...