Sports thoughts
*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 disastrous season, then we really would have been feeling the pain. But this has been the perfect storm, as mentioned previously. It has been my presumption that the NFL and the players have been dragging out negotiations just in time to get a deal done before camps open, which is just right around the corner, believe it or not. But, with the way the Pirates have been playing, training camps have been an after thought, and this is coming from a self-proclaimed football junkie!
As long as the Pirates keep doing what they have been doing, and mind you this is also being done with several key players battling injuries and call ups minding the store, and doing so in very impressive fashion, then August could make football an afterthought if there is a pennant race to watch. Now that would be something, wouldn’t it? Football is relegated to the back banner while the Pirates chase a division title. Don’t think that isn’t far fetched. Even hockey was taking some sports space with the prospects camp at Consol Energy Center and hockey is still two months away. Football has better wake up and get this deal done, or it will be irrelevant in these parts while the Pirates are doing their thing.
Allow me to transition to football at this point and make this statement. There is a lot of money involved in this situation. $9 billion is at stake in an industry that is thought to be the new national pastime. I have absolutely no problem at all with the owners making money and how much money the players make. This is the American Way and those who don’t like it and call it greed are also the same people who would sign a contract worth millions in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.
Owners have to make money to be able to operate and the players have average careers of only three or four years. Get the money if you can get the money. What I have a problem with is why this is taking so long when there has been labor peace since 1987, the last time there was a work stoppage in the NFL. I believe this has been a calculated process to get this deal done just in time for camps to start, leading to a free agent frenzy when a deal is passed.
I do not care about all of the technical stuff, I just want to see football being played because I love the sport and the game. Those of us who enjoy Saturday and Sunday afternoons probably feel the same way. We just want our football. Well, it says here that, if not done by press time, that a deal will get done soon because the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and the Hall of Fame game will be the weekend of August 6. That will be two weeks away. Let’s see how this pans out.
Okay, now onto your Steelers. First, Ben Roethlisberger last year, who will be getting married on Saturday, if you can believe that. Then it was Rashard Mendenhall, then Hines Ward, and now James Harrison. All of this talk about the Steeler Way and all of sudden we have players who are getting into the news for all the wrong reasons.
Well, you can thank the 24 hour news cycle, social media, and the ever present hunger for news stories. This is why I never made it in the media. Reporters are vultures and are always on the quest for the story because of the people’s right to know. Well, speaking only for myself, I do not want to know everything. Most of it is really none of my business. But the media doesn’t see it that way. They have to dig and dig to get that story and all morals and ethics be damned.
The other side of that is when a player too easily volunteers information that really isn’t necessary. Honestly, I don’t really care at all about what Harrison said and who he said it about. That’s his business and between he and his teammates, not to mention the organization. Let them take of their own business and air their dirty laundry behind closed doors. I couldn’t care less.
This makes me yearn for the days of yore when you only had news on at six in the evening, then 11:00 at night. You went to bed and got your news the next morning on the radio and they got it from wire services. Now, we have the Internet and instant news the second it happens. Player picks his nose, film at eleven! Better yet, catch it on YouTube! Have we gotten that pathetic that we need to know this stuff all the time?
When a Steeler makes any kind of news, it leads off the newscast even before anything of major importance. Why? I love the Steelers as much as the next fan, but save it for the sports report. That’s why you have sportscasters. Let them do their jobs. But not here in Pittsburgh. Anything a Steeler does is front page news. Now it’s all negative. Wonderful.
This goes back to the lockout for me. These guys are bored senseless and they need to get back into the swing of things and do their jobs. Time to quit drinking and driving and time to stop talking to a magazine and airing all of your grief and anger. It’s time to get back to work, and not a moment too soon. After Ben gets married, get him, Mendenhall, Ward, and Harrison in pads and helmets and get back to playing football.
*I forgot to make mention that Kyle Busch won the race in Kentucky a few weeks ago during the Sprint Cup stop there. The series moved to New Hampshire and Ryan Newman picked up his first win of the year last Sunday. The series will take a week off before heading to Indianapolis and the Brickyard 400, one of the crown jewels of the series and the year. That race will take place on Sunday July 31. Hard to believe this month is going by that fast. August is just around the corner.
*Seeing the video of the hockey camp and seeing players and coaches wearing long sleeve apparel made me laugh and yearn for the days of winter. That ice never looked more inviting than it did over the weekend while showing the highlights. I don’t recall having ever seen video of hockey this late into the summer than I did then. But I am ready for some hockey, even during these dog days of summer.
*Just remember this about the Pirates, and any team that is successful. Winning cures a lot of ills. Winning breeds winning. Put a good product on the field, even after all these years, and the people will support it.
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 disastrous season, then we really would have been feeling the pain. But this has been the perfect storm, as mentioned previously. It has been my presumption that the NFL and the players have been dragging out negotiations just in time to get a deal done before camps open, which is just right around the corner, believe it or not. But, with the way the Pirates have been playing, training camps have been an after thought, and this is coming from a self-proclaimed football junkie!
As long as the Pirates keep doing what they have been doing, and mind you this is also being done with several key players battling injuries and call ups minding the store, and doing so in very impressive fashion, then August could make football an afterthought if there is a pennant race to watch. Now that would be something, wouldn’t it? Football is relegated to the back banner while the Pirates chase a division title. Don’t think that isn’t far fetched. Even hockey was taking some sports space with the prospects camp at Consol Energy Center and hockey is still two months away. Football has better wake up and get this deal done, or it will be irrelevant in these parts while the Pirates are doing their thing.
Allow me to transition to football at this point and make this statement. There is a lot of money involved in this situation. $9 billion is at stake in an industry that is thought to be the new national pastime. I have absolutely no problem at all with the owners making money and how much money the players make. This is the American Way and those who don’t like it and call it greed are also the same people who would sign a contract worth millions in a heartbeat if given the opportunity.
Owners have to make money to be able to operate and the players have average careers of only three or four years. Get the money if you can get the money. What I have a problem with is why this is taking so long when there has been labor peace since 1987, the last time there was a work stoppage in the NFL. I believe this has been a calculated process to get this deal done just in time for camps to start, leading to a free agent frenzy when a deal is passed.
I do not care about all of the technical stuff, I just want to see football being played because I love the sport and the game. Those of us who enjoy Saturday and Sunday afternoons probably feel the same way. We just want our football. Well, it says here that, if not done by press time, that a deal will get done soon because the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and the Hall of Fame game will be the weekend of August 6. That will be two weeks away. Let’s see how this pans out.
Okay, now onto your Steelers. First, Ben Roethlisberger last year, who will be getting married on Saturday, if you can believe that. Then it was Rashard Mendenhall, then Hines Ward, and now James Harrison. All of this talk about the Steeler Way and all of sudden we have players who are getting into the news for all the wrong reasons.
Well, you can thank the 24 hour news cycle, social media, and the ever present hunger for news stories. This is why I never made it in the media. Reporters are vultures and are always on the quest for the story because of the people’s right to know. Well, speaking only for myself, I do not want to know everything. Most of it is really none of my business. But the media doesn’t see it that way. They have to dig and dig to get that story and all morals and ethics be damned.
The other side of that is when a player too easily volunteers information that really isn’t necessary. Honestly, I don’t really care at all about what Harrison said and who he said it about. That’s his business and between he and his teammates, not to mention the organization. Let them take of their own business and air their dirty laundry behind closed doors. I couldn’t care less.
This makes me yearn for the days of yore when you only had news on at six in the evening, then 11:00 at night. You went to bed and got your news the next morning on the radio and they got it from wire services. Now, we have the Internet and instant news the second it happens. Player picks his nose, film at eleven! Better yet, catch it on YouTube! Have we gotten that pathetic that we need to know this stuff all the time?
When a Steeler makes any kind of news, it leads off the newscast even before anything of major importance. Why? I love the Steelers as much as the next fan, but save it for the sports report. That’s why you have sportscasters. Let them do their jobs. But not here in Pittsburgh. Anything a Steeler does is front page news. Now it’s all negative. Wonderful.
This goes back to the lockout for me. These guys are bored senseless and they need to get back into the swing of things and do their jobs. Time to quit drinking and driving and time to stop talking to a magazine and airing all of your grief and anger. It’s time to get back to work, and not a moment too soon. After Ben gets married, get him, Mendenhall, Ward, and Harrison in pads and helmets and get back to playing football.
*I forgot to make mention that Kyle Busch won the race in Kentucky a few weeks ago during the Sprint Cup stop there. The series moved to New Hampshire and Ryan Newman picked up his first win of the year last Sunday. The series will take a week off before heading to Indianapolis and the Brickyard 400, one of the crown jewels of the series and the year. That race will take place on Sunday July 31. Hard to believe this month is going by that fast. August is just around the corner.
*Seeing the video of the hockey camp and seeing players and coaches wearing long sleeve apparel made me laugh and yearn for the days of winter. That ice never looked more inviting than it did over the weekend while showing the highlights. I don’t recall having ever seen video of hockey this late into the summer than I did then. But I am ready for some hockey, even during these dog days of summer.
*Just remember this about the Pirates, and any team that is successful. Winning cures a lot of ills. Winning breeds winning. Put a good product on the field, even after all these years, and the people will support it.
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