Rich's Sports Beat

It's been a while. Quite literally! My apologies to readers of my work, past and present. Now I'm back in the saddle. The year is 2012 and those followers of the Pittsburgh Pirates are in unchartered waters, so to speak. I'm speaking of the Pirates being in first place in the National League Central Division at the All-Star break. It hasn't been this exciting around the Pittsburgh region in a long time! For those who were around during the early 1990s, you understand what kind of excitement can be created by a winning baseball club. That team won three straight division titles, but could not get over the hump in the National League Championship Series. After 19 years, this franchise is back on top and the bandwagon is filling fast. For those of us who were alive for the last World Series title, 1979, we know how crazy this area can get when there is a winner in baseball. This is what those in our generation wish for the younger generations. The excitement is ...

It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who feel they are owed by the athletes who perform, those who have skill sets that only a few are blessed with. Again, Sidney Crosby has been sidelined by concussion like symptoms. There are those who feel he has been dogging it and doesn't want to play. Seriously??? Those who don't have brains, and there are many, believe me, think that Sidney is faking these problems and just doesn't feel like playing. These are the same people who can't get a job because they don't have what it takes to work for a living and they are the same people who can't live without alcohol. Okay, maybe just a stereotype, but you get the point. It doesn't take much more than common sense to understand that this young man has suffered a brain injury and this isn't something where you point ointment on it, put a bandage on it, and go back out and play. No, we are talking about the nerve center that makes the rest of the body g...