Capping a Run to Daylight

 Baseball, Basketball, Football, Pro-Basketball, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Mar 262009
 

I want a salary cap and comprehensive revenue sharing in baseball. It’s the only way to ensure a proper competitive balance in the sport. It’s the only hope a small market team, such as my Pirates, have for contending on a regular basis. Every game that the NY Yankees or the Boston Red Sox play make this point even more painfully clear to me.

But the naysayers will point out that other small market teams have contended and even won the World Series. True though that may be, it hides the ugly reality that a well-run small market team (such as the Minnesota Twins or Oakland Athletics, NOT the Pirates) can only compete for a couple years in a given cycle. They will build a team, contend for a time, maybe even reach/win a World Series and then watch as their best and brightest leave for the big money spenders, such as New York, Chicago or Boston. Does anyone remember that Manny Ramirez began his career with the Cleveland Indians? Talk about the model small market franchise. The Indians drafted well, managed their payroll, tried to sign their stars to manageable contracts before their hit arbitration or free agency. They made the World Series and then went kerplunk!

World Series Trophy

A salary cap does NOT guarantee that every team will contend. But it does provide cost certainty such that any team, big market or small, will have a shot to retain its hard-earned, home-grown talent when the big money comes calling (without having to revert to the Reserve Clause).

In the NFL’s infancy, New York Giants owner Wellington Mara decided to give up what could have become a Yankees’ sized advantage in monies in favor of comprehensive revenue sharing. Later, the NFL adopted a salary cap that gives cost certainty to all teams. Today, Ben Roethlisberger is in the midst of a $102 million contract, Troy Polamalu is one of the highest paid players at his position and a team like the Washington Redskins is spending itself into oblivion. Well-run teams like the big market New York Giants or the medium market Pittsburgh Steelers continue to thrive by building rather than poaching.

If MLB did institute a salary cap, perhaps the Pirates would continue to lose; that wouldn’t surprise me one bit. But I think Wellington Mara would be pleased with the idea that well-run, well-built baseball teams would be afforded the opportunity to prosper for many, many years, not just 2-3 years.

Passions of “Worth”

 Football, Pro-Football  3 Responses »
Sep 122008
 

[Originally written Sept 12, 2002]

Football season begins anew. Maher’s pulse quickens, his blood begins to boil and the cynics renew their yearly pretensions. Let me relay a story.

I attended a gathering not too long ago. Some old friends, some new. It was a nice event. In the course of the evening’s conversations, football came up. I expressed dismay that my Steelers had failed to reach the Superbowl during the previous season.

“Depressed” was the word I used; an obvious exaggeration of my emotions but nonetheless, I thought, an understood exaggeration. On hearing of my state of mind, one acquaintance turned to another and remarked that she could not fathom how one could become depressed over something so trivial as a football game. No doubt.

I thought for a long time on this subject. The central issue here is “worth”. We often define ourselves by our passions. Think about a pursuit that captures your passion, your emotion, your energy… then realize that not everyone will see it the way you do. Chances are it is a “trivial pursuit”, one that does not necessarily affect your right to life or liberty. Nonetheless it still serves a purpose. 

If you can honestly tell me that you have absolutely no trivial pursuits then I am trully sorry for you. Even the poorest child living in a slum village in South Asia gets caught up in a cricket match or a swimming contest in a nearby pond. Our passions, our trivial pursuits help us to bear the whips and scorns of time.

So do yourself a favor. If you find yourself scoffing the next time someone is “depressed” over the outcome of a sporting event, “giddy” over his/her performance in a dance or “pissed off” about the club closing early – look at yourself first. Spare me and everyone else your pretensions.

Twice as Good: Race Achievement in America

 Football, Pro-Football, The Bigger Picture  No Responses »
Oct 142007
 

Donovan McNabb’s recent comments about the extra scrutiny and pressures of being a black quarterback in the NFL touched a chord with me.  I’m glad he had the courage to speak his truths to power.  Too often, black athletes don’t use the podium to speak truth to power.  Michael Jordan’s famous comment that “even Republicans buy basketball shoes” comes to mind.

The reactions of young quarterbacks Vince Young and Jason Campbell were typical of what most sports fans would probably want to hear – that all quarterbacks are under the pressure cooker, that there is no such prejudice anymore, that you deal with it or get out.  However, these reactions belie a certain naiveté about the institutional racism still prevalent in sports and in society in general.  It also speaks to an ignorance of the sacrifices made by pioneers such as “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam and Doug Williams.

Why is it that in a game in which 75% of the athletes are black, there are only 3 or 4 black starting quarterbacks?  For years, we’ve known that NFL owners and coaches questioned the ability to blacks to lead, to be coaches or quarterbacks or point guards in major football and basketball.  How will we know that we do not have such prejudice anymore?  Maybe when leaders such as Donovan McNabb no longer espouse such beliefs, we’ll have gotten there.

The greater issue here is the opportunity to achieve success commensurate with one’s abilities and work ethic.  This is what makes institutional and societal racism so difficult to see and to distinguish.  Just because there aren’t public lynching’s anymore does not mean that we have rid ourselves of racism in this country.  Instead, in many walks of life, there now exists a glass ceiling.

When I was little, my father, in his many exhortations to me to do better in scholastics, told me that I would have to be twice as good as any white person in order to do well.  I never even questioned why that had to be the case.  Only twice as good.  I wonder how much better Donovan McNabb has had to be in order to reach the level of success he’s enjoyed.

On Bill Cowher’s Resignation

 Football, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Jan 052007
 

I remember very little of the pre-Bill Cowher days.  I didn’t start following football in earnest till Chuck Noll’s last year in 1991; seeing the malaise of the team in his final games, thinking on what it must’ve been like in the glory years of the 1970’s before I was born.

I’m one of the lucky ones.  I’ve been to at least one Steelers game every year since Cowher took over.  I can’t imagine anyone else roaming the Steelers’ sidelines.  I can’t imagine not seeing that Jaw jutting out, the fire in Coach’s eyes.  As much as Dan Rooney’s silent, steady leadership, Bill Cowher’s tenure taught me the “Steelers Way”, our city’s way – hard work, team work, leadership, intensity, fundamentals with just a little bit of strut thrown in to keep people off balance (after all, it was a WR to WR pass that defined Superbowl XL).

I remember the coaching search after Coach Noll resigned and thinking who was this assistant from Kansas City who could possibly replace the Legend.  I thought the trendy candidate, Mike Holmgren of SF at the time, would’ve been a better hire.  Fifteen years later, I still marvel at the wisdom of the Rooney’s.  Holmgren also won a Superbowl and sooner than Cowher but he could never have shown a 12yr old football neophyte “how we do”.

I hope and pray and trust that the Rooney’s will once again find another Man who embodies “our way”.  It surely won’t be easy to hit the jackpot three times in a row (and this guy would like to see Russ Grimm as the next head coach).

You’re probably thinking that I’m over-eulogizing.  But you can’t know how it is until you’re one of us, one of the Steelers Nation.  I won’t like it one bit if/when Cowher comes back to coaching with a different team.  I’ll hate it when he coaches against his hometown team for the first time.  But Bill Cowher won’t ever be anything but a Pittsburgh Steeler to me.

Here We Go (Again)!

 Football, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Jul 082006
 

“HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!”  It’s a mantra that Pittsburghers chant throughout the year, even during Pirates and Penguins games, Pitt or high school football games. Few things define Western PA better than our love of the Steelers. I can’t begin to describe how it felt for us to win the Superbowl; you’d have to be one of the Steelers Nation to understand it.

But now the draft has come and gone and the players are talking about next season and staying hungry and getting after it again. I would expect nothing less from our organisation. But whereas some of my fellow Steelers fans are getting all up in arms over the lack of respect being afforded the Steelers since the Superbowl, I don’t think I care. For instance, Peter King recently gave New England & Indianapolis better Superbowl odds than the Steelers even though NE suffered some big free agent losses and Indy lost Edgerrin James and didn’t significantly improve their secondary.

Maybe I’ve lost some of my hunger for the game now that my team has reached the pinnacle. I don’t read the papers as diligently or watch Sportscenter several times per day. I know all the arguments against the Steelers – Ben didn’t cross the line, the pass interference call was ticky tack, that wasn’t a holding call – but it’s not those in Steelers Nation making those arguments. If you’re not one of us, I really don’t give a d*mn about your naysaying. I’m just not debating with you if you’re gonna hate on us so bugger off and let us enjoy our turn.

Hall of Fame Worthiness

 Football, Pro-Football  No Responses »
Oct 292005
 

The preliminary list of candidates for induction into the Pro-Football Hall of Fame was announced yesterday. There are a number of great Steelers or Pittsburgh-related players listed including L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell, Dermontti Dawson and Jimbo Covert & Russ Grimm (who both played at Pitt and then on the famed Redskins “Hogs” lines). Dawson is in his first year of candidacy and so might not get in this year but he will eventually. I sincerely hope that Grimm & Covert get into the Hall at some point. 

It’s long been my position that Greenwood and Shell are most worthy candidates for election into the Hall of Fame. How can a member of the famed Steel Curtain defensive line not be elected?!  In addition, Shell was a great player on those teams, responsible for a lot of coverage and read assignments. 

There are those who will counter that there are already too many players from the 1970’s Steelers teams in the Hall of Fame. I fail to see how a great player can be less deserving because he played with other great players. Having said that, I must admit that I have my doubts as to whether Lynn Swann & John Stallworth deserved induction – not over L.C. Greenwood, not over Donnie Shell or even Andy Russell. 

It’s not fair to Greenwood that his greatness is often overlooked because he wasn’t as flashy as Mean Joe Greene or Jack Lambert or Lynn Swann or Franco Harris. Not having that signature moment that elevated Swann or some of the others shouldn’t diminish his candidacy nor should having played with other greats of the game.

Tony Dorsett – Greatest Football Player of All-Time

 College Football, Football, Pro-Football  1 Response »
Oct 042005
 

I have come to the conclusion that the greatest football player of all-time is Tony Dorsett.  Experts say that Jim Brown was the greatest NFL player of all-time and that Walter Payton was probably one of the most talented.  Few players won more than Otto Graham’s 8 NFL titles in 10 years.  Archie Griffin won two Heisman trophies at Ohio State.  Doug Flutie rewrote the collegiate passing record books and put Boston College on the map.  But no one in the history of the game accomplished more in both the collegiate and professional ranks.  Let us review…

When Tony Dorsett came out of Hopewell high school in Pittsburgh, he was one of the most heavily recruited players in the country.  He could have gone anywhere – USC, Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame, Pennstate.  He chose to stay home at Pitt and with his commitment to the Panthers came tremendous expectations.  He became the first true freshman ever to start at tailback for the Panthers.  By the time his four years at Pitt were done, Tony Dorsett ranked 1st on Division 1-A’s all-time rushing yards list.  He won a Heisman trophy.  He led Pitt to the 1976 National Title, smashing powerful foes like Notre Dame and Pennstate along the way.  He was eventually elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dorsett was drafted #2 overall in the NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys.  Once again, his selection came with tremendous expectations.  He didn’t disappoint.  By the time he retired from the NFL, Dorsett ranked 2nd on the NFL’s all-time rushing yards list.  He played in two Superbowls and won one.  He garnered a reputation as being one of the fastest players in the NFL.  He was also eventually elected to the Professional Football Hall of Fame.

Now it’s true that a player’s legacy shouldn’t necessarily be diminished if he had the misfortune of playing on teams that stunk.  Plenty of Hall of Fame players never sniffed the Superbowl or the National Title let alone winning one of each.  But at the same time, a player’s legacy should be enhanced if he was the catalyst for turning good teams into championship teams and that was certainly the case with Dorsett.  Every year, one maybe two college teams win the National Title.  Every year, one team wins the Superbowl.  There are always great players, great participants on each of these teams.  How is it that of all the great players to have played in college and the pro’s, no one can match Dorsett’s record of both statistical and championship excellence.  NO ONE.  Look it up if you want; prove me wrong.  I know I’m right.

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