Pittsburgh Pirates/Penguins
*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 everyone would have been happy with .500, but Clint Hurdle does not want this group thinking .500 is good enough. He wants them to have more and that is how they are playing. This group has responded to his message and they are producing.
Plain and simple, this team is fun to watch because they expect so much from themselves. If you haven’t been watching, you owe it to yourself. It’s fun watching baseball again and the Pirates have been playing to near capacity and overflow crowds. For the first time in a long time, baseball is making us forget, albeit temporarily, that football is in a lockout and training camps are scheduled to start at the end of the month.
*Not to be outdone, hockey has also been staying in the news during the summer though training camps won’t open until September. The big news around these parts has been the decision by Jaromir Jagr to go to Philadelphia as a free agent and turning a chance to return to Pittsburgh and the Penguins. A lot has been said about who said what, the reaction of the Pens and the fans, and how Jagr will be received when Philadelphia makes it first trip to Pittsburgh on December 29.
Now, admittedly, it might have been fun to have had Jagr on a wing with perhaps Evgeni Malkin or Jordan Staal. Jagr’s excuse for going to the Flyers, or at least part of the excuse, is that he didn’t want to play with a left-handed centerman. Maybe so, and he has the right to that opinion and that choice. Most are upset with the fact of a perceived slight to co-owner Mario Lemieux. Some said he wanted to make amends with Mario and the franchise after the way he left in 2001. Well, now, all bets are off.
In the long run, this could have been the best thing that happened to the Pens since the ping pong ball came up in 2005 and the right to draft Sidney Crosby. The reason being is this. Jagr may be 39 going on 40, but the fact he was moody and a malcontent here and other stops hasn’t changed. The minute something may go wrong, he could pout and be a cancer on the bench and in the long run that would be a distraction on a team that harbors Stanley Cup hopes.
The Penguins offered a one year contract to Jagr worth $2 million. That was all they could afford under the salary cap. General Manager Ray Shero did not seem to be all that interested in signing Jagr and wasn’t exactly heartbroken when he pulled the offer off the table. Shero knows his priorities and exercised his right, just like Jagr did, for the betterment of his team. While he lost Max Talbot, also to Philadelphia, and Mike Rupp to the New York Rangers, he was able to wrap up Tyler Kennedy to a two year $2 million dollar deal and that was money well spent.
Here’s the other side of that equation. Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal are going into the fourth year of their five year deals, respectively. Crosby is the franchise player, face of the league, the rock and foundation upon which Consol Energy Center is built. If the Penguins allow Crosby to get away, and they won’t, then the new arena will be nothing more than the white elephant in the room.
There is no doubt that Shero is going to get a deal done when the time comes and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t already have some preliminary wheels in motion to make that happen. Taking it to the next level, Lemieux will make sure Crosby stays in the fold. Crosby knows the legacy that Lemieux has in Pittsburgh, playing here, staying here to raise his family, and continuing to own the Penguins of which he has done a masterful job of creating an atmosphere of where other players want to come here and play with Sidney. Crosby wants to create his own legacy.
When the time comes next summer, this should be the focus of this team and not worry about Jagr. Of course, Staal is going to merit attention as well. There will be a pile more of free agents in two years and the Penguins will not be able to keep all of them. This is the nature of the collective bargaining agreement and free agency. Everyone will not be able to stay, even if they do give hometown discounts to the organization.
So here we are talking baseball and hockey during the summer of 2011 while the NFL is in a lockout. Who would have thought that? Well, that is the reality of the situation. The Pirates are being competitive and relevant on the baseball landscape and hockey free agency is making the Penguins relevant before training camps open in a couple of months. If football is still silent at the end of the month and going into August, baseball will be around and will more than enough take our attention off that situation.
Hockey will then be around come September and if football is still in a stalemate, we’ll have a pennant race to enjoy and hockey to look forward to. For the first time in memory, football will have to get its act together to stay on the national scene, and especially here in Pittsburgh, if this doesn’t get resolved in time. Even for me, a self described football junkie, I am not going to worry about it. We’ll still have high school football on Friday nights and college football on Saturdays.
There was a time when the national pastime was baseball, and college football, boxing, and horse racing dominated the national scene. Pro football didn’t get established until the greatest game ever played, the 1958 NFL championship between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants took place in old Yankee Stadium. Only then did pro football make a dot on the national landscape.
Here we are in 2011 and there is a work stoppage in the NFL. There hasn’t been one since 1987, but the chances of no football in the near future are clearer than one would realize. Much has to get done between now and the end of the month if this is to get done on time. If it goes further than that, a couple of exhibition games may be taken away, which is something football has wanted to do. There is also an eight game contingency plan in place if need be. In other words, there are a lot of uncertainties and not much time to get anything done.
It’s the perfect storm for Pittsburgh fans. The Pirates are relevant again, the Penguins are making it to the front pages in the summer, and football has no end in sight for the lockout. Much could happen before press time, but that is how things stand at the beginning of July.
*David Ragan got his first career Sprint Cup win Saturday night in Daytona at the Coke Zero 400. The series moves for the first time to Kentucky for another night race this Saturday night.
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 everyone would have been happy with .500, but Clint Hurdle does not want this group thinking .500 is good enough. He wants them to have more and that is how they are playing. This group has responded to his message and they are producing.
Plain and simple, this team is fun to watch because they expect so much from themselves. If you haven’t been watching, you owe it to yourself. It’s fun watching baseball again and the Pirates have been playing to near capacity and overflow crowds. For the first time in a long time, baseball is making us forget, albeit temporarily, that football is in a lockout and training camps are scheduled to start at the end of the month.
*Not to be outdone, hockey has also been staying in the news during the summer though training camps won’t open until September. The big news around these parts has been the decision by Jaromir Jagr to go to Philadelphia as a free agent and turning a chance to return to Pittsburgh and the Penguins. A lot has been said about who said what, the reaction of the Pens and the fans, and how Jagr will be received when Philadelphia makes it first trip to Pittsburgh on December 29.
Now, admittedly, it might have been fun to have had Jagr on a wing with perhaps Evgeni Malkin or Jordan Staal. Jagr’s excuse for going to the Flyers, or at least part of the excuse, is that he didn’t want to play with a left-handed centerman. Maybe so, and he has the right to that opinion and that choice. Most are upset with the fact of a perceived slight to co-owner Mario Lemieux. Some said he wanted to make amends with Mario and the franchise after the way he left in 2001. Well, now, all bets are off.
In the long run, this could have been the best thing that happened to the Pens since the ping pong ball came up in 2005 and the right to draft Sidney Crosby. The reason being is this. Jagr may be 39 going on 40, but the fact he was moody and a malcontent here and other stops hasn’t changed. The minute something may go wrong, he could pout and be a cancer on the bench and in the long run that would be a distraction on a team that harbors Stanley Cup hopes.
The Penguins offered a one year contract to Jagr worth $2 million. That was all they could afford under the salary cap. General Manager Ray Shero did not seem to be all that interested in signing Jagr and wasn’t exactly heartbroken when he pulled the offer off the table. Shero knows his priorities and exercised his right, just like Jagr did, for the betterment of his team. While he lost Max Talbot, also to Philadelphia, and Mike Rupp to the New York Rangers, he was able to wrap up Tyler Kennedy to a two year $2 million dollar deal and that was money well spent.
Here’s the other side of that equation. Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal are going into the fourth year of their five year deals, respectively. Crosby is the franchise player, face of the league, the rock and foundation upon which Consol Energy Center is built. If the Penguins allow Crosby to get away, and they won’t, then the new arena will be nothing more than the white elephant in the room.
There is no doubt that Shero is going to get a deal done when the time comes and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t already have some preliminary wheels in motion to make that happen. Taking it to the next level, Lemieux will make sure Crosby stays in the fold. Crosby knows the legacy that Lemieux has in Pittsburgh, playing here, staying here to raise his family, and continuing to own the Penguins of which he has done a masterful job of creating an atmosphere of where other players want to come here and play with Sidney. Crosby wants to create his own legacy.
When the time comes next summer, this should be the focus of this team and not worry about Jagr. Of course, Staal is going to merit attention as well. There will be a pile more of free agents in two years and the Penguins will not be able to keep all of them. This is the nature of the collective bargaining agreement and free agency. Everyone will not be able to stay, even if they do give hometown discounts to the organization.
So here we are talking baseball and hockey during the summer of 2011 while the NFL is in a lockout. Who would have thought that? Well, that is the reality of the situation. The Pirates are being competitive and relevant on the baseball landscape and hockey free agency is making the Penguins relevant before training camps open in a couple of months. If football is still silent at the end of the month and going into August, baseball will be around and will more than enough take our attention off that situation.
Hockey will then be around come September and if football is still in a stalemate, we’ll have a pennant race to enjoy and hockey to look forward to. For the first time in memory, football will have to get its act together to stay on the national scene, and especially here in Pittsburgh, if this doesn’t get resolved in time. Even for me, a self described football junkie, I am not going to worry about it. We’ll still have high school football on Friday nights and college football on Saturdays.
There was a time when the national pastime was baseball, and college football, boxing, and horse racing dominated the national scene. Pro football didn’t get established until the greatest game ever played, the 1958 NFL championship between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants took place in old Yankee Stadium. Only then did pro football make a dot on the national landscape.
Here we are in 2011 and there is a work stoppage in the NFL. There hasn’t been one since 1987, but the chances of no football in the near future are clearer than one would realize. Much has to get done between now and the end of the month if this is to get done on time. If it goes further than that, a couple of exhibition games may be taken away, which is something football has wanted to do. There is also an eight game contingency plan in place if need be. In other words, there are a lot of uncertainties and not much time to get anything done.
It’s the perfect storm for Pittsburgh fans. The Pirates are relevant again, the Penguins are making it to the front pages in the summer, and football has no end in sight for the lockout. Much could happen before press time, but that is how things stand at the beginning of July.
*David Ragan got his first career Sprint Cup win Saturday night in Daytona at the Coke Zero 400. The series moves for the first time to Kentucky for another night race this Saturday night.
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