Still crazy after all these years

... Steelers still near the top to win the Super Bowl Earlier in the summer, the NFL oddsmakers in Vegas had  the Steelers near the top of the list to win the Super Bowl, along with the Packers and the Patriots. That was then and this is now. The Steelers are now sixth at 12 to 1 behind the Pats (15 to 2), Pack (10 to 1), Seahawks (10 to 1), Cardinals (11 to 1), and Panthers (11 to 1). Finally, some sanity in Vegas. Still in the running. Why the drop?  Offensively, two major producers have drug suspensions, one a RB named Le'Veon Bell and another a WR named Martavis Bryant. There are questions about the tight end spot, depth at wide receiver, and with some spots in the offensive line. The other reason for the drop is defense, but that will be later. This appraisal will be the offense. #7 Healthy?  For the offense, everything starts with the QB, #7. Ben Roethlisberger missed four games last year, yet still passed for 3,938 yards, completing 68 percent o...

... SB: Who is Penn State to complain? The fallout continues on James Franklin's "miscommunication" that resulted in a Big Ten Media Day frenzy that was not about the 2016 Penn State football team. As I noted earlier, Franklin attempted to complain about "negative recruiting" that some schools have allegedly used against Penn State after the release of damaging information about the Sandusky fiasco earlier this summer. Rudel analysis Long-time Penn State football guru Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror tweeted a blog post to say that Franklin has done some good things in his two years. He even said that some of the coaching issues from the past may be better analyzed with some better personnel this year. Rudel was critical, however, over Franklin's handling of the entire negative recruiting fiasco. He said that the actions of Franklin and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour did not work and may have hurt them in the long run. "… while they may ha...

... whether marijuana is addictive is questionable  [Updates at the end]. Correction Bell is in the final year of his rookie contract. Some athletes believe that they can rule the universe. Put Steeler running back Le'Veon Bell into that category. Bell is going to miss the first four games of the NFL regular season, after missing two games last year [instead of four because of his appeal]. ESPN's Ian Rapoport tweeted on July 22, "For the past several weeks, the #Steelers had known Le'Veon Bell likely wouldn't be on the field when the season began. He missed drug tests for not failing a drug test, but failing to show up for a drug test." Bell is talented but … Bell is one of the most talented players in the league, but he is coming off MCL surgery. So, he should be behaving himself and working hard to get himself ready for the 2015 season. Instead, as Post-Gazette writer Paul Zeise wrote last week, he is demonstrating how worthless a human be...

... Sanduky allegations open door for other schools When a college football coach met with the parents of a player he was recruiting a few decades ago, he may have said this: "Look Mrs. Smith, when your son comes here to play football, you are going to be in a great academic environment. Not only are we going to be one of the top football schools in the country, your son will earn his degree. Eighty two percent of our players will graduate in five years. "Eighty two percent. That is third in the country behind Notre Dame and Stanford. "Your son has some other choices. You go to that other school in the Western part of the state, sure, you will have a chance at having a good team. Do you know how many of their players actually graduate? Maybe 30 percent? High as 40 at times? "What I am saying is that you will be in a great atmosphere here, I call it the Grand Experiment where we allow players to be great on the field and off the field. We want him to beco...

... another drug suspension?   The Steelers have always had a good reputation off the field in many ways. This started with founder Art Rooney Sr. and was continued with Dan Rooney. The 2000s have created a number of problems for the team off the field. That includes their franchise quarterback being accused of rape on two occasions, though never convicted, but one led to a four-game suspension, and some drug suspensions. Steelers drug suspensions The problem today has been with drug problems. The Steelers used to be very careful with draft picks who have a history of drug use or abuse. However, they also realize that many of their players smoke "weed," marijuana in polite society. That makes pre-draft interviews and investigations that much more difficult to assess. Martavis Bryant's situation Martivas Bryant has been hit for multiple violations and is now facing a possible season-long suspension, technically called indefinite. He is a superbly-talented...

… Narduzzi reiterates desire to play every year  The Pitt-Penn State rivalry was once one of the great inter-state football battles in the U.S. It was right up there with Alabama-Auburn, Florida State-Florida, Oregon-Oregon State, Ole Miss-Mississippi State, Arizona-Arizona State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. There are also some other great intra-state rivalries like Ohio State-Michigan and Notre Dame- Southern Cal. Penn State devoid of a rival Here is the situation in which Penn State finds itself with a stadium that holds 107,000 fans. It has no rival at a time when the school cannot fill the stadium unless they have OSU, MSU, or the Wolverines on tap. Today, and well into the future, Penn State is still seeking a rival. Pitt is also struggling in that area since WVU went west to join the Big 12. Once Pitt went to the ACC, great move overall, that "Backyard Brawl" became moot. So, Pitt, PSU, and WVU are all wandering through the desert like a pauper, trying to ...

... and hope that he succeeds in the NFL I played QB as a youngster, but was not that great. I coached QBs, and had more success in that realm. None of that is why I like former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg. If a person needs to go through purgatory in order to reach heaven, Hackenberg is on his way. I like him because he is a quality human being, not necessarily because of his physical accomplishments, though they are related. Assessing the QB First, why do the media put the word polarizing in front of his name? The people who polarized him were the PSU football fans and the national fans who believed that he was overrated from the start. Johnny Manziel was a polarizing QB. Christian Hackenberg himself was not. I hope that they are wrong about him in the NFL. If he was that polarizing, would Jets coach Todd Bowles, GM Mike Maccagnan, OC Chan Gailey, QB coach Kevin Patullo and two scouts personally drive to State College in secrecy before the NFL draft...

. .. Deflategate about to claim a victim Since the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Tom Brady's last efforts, the New England QB now has to complete a Hail Mary pass or succumb to the whims of Roger Goodell and serve his four-game suspension. The New England QB last year claimed that his win in the first level of his court proceeding "exonerated" him of complicity in the Deflategate scandal. Today, he must appeal or acknowledge that he indeed tried to help his team win a playoff game by deflating footballs in a 2014 battle against the Colts. Hoping for manna from heaven Right now, he is hiding behind the judge's robe and thinking that his union will bail him out like it did last year, but the die is cast: The Supreme Court is in summer recess and will not be happy being called back into session for some athlete to get his kicks. There are enough serious legal concerns in the country right now that a suspension by a commissioner does not rise...

… I would love to have a ticket for this epic battle  Toward the end of June, Steelers linebacker James Harrison issued a challenge to a man who could be considered a nemesis of his: At my place, dude! That dude is Roger Goodell, and I would love to have a ticket for that matchup: Mano against a skinny guy who would be in who couldn't sell popcorn for the Steelers. Al Jazeera story debunked The person who was the source of this alleged story on al Jazeera is Charlie Sly, who has recanted every bit of it. Sly said that he was just bragging when he mentioned that players like Harrison and Clay Mathews and Peyton Manning were using PEDs. Sly called it "name-dropping." NFL power struggle The NFL has sent messages to some of the players who were mentioned in the al Jazeera special in Dec. in which Peyton Manning and some others were alleged to have taken a PED (Performance Enhancing Drug). I wrote about this in late Dec. in this post [URL below]. My belief is...

… "Franklin has been a big disappointment"  Okay, it is just Ron Cook, but many at Penn State agree with him about James Franklin's first two seasons. What made matters worse last year was a 27-10 loss to Temple, the first time that the Nittany Lions lost to the Owls since the days of Jim Thorpe with the Carlisle Indians -- well, not quite that long ago. Cook is playing the antagonist in the lead-in to the Penn State-Pitt brouhaha on Sept. 10 by pointing out how well Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi did his first year at Pitt, and how poorly Franklin's Nittany Lions have done in his first two seasons. In fact, Cook is saying that Narduzzi reminds him of a young Johnny Majors. Talk about putting the whammy on a second-year head coach -- almost as harmful as Bob Prince's Green Weenie in the Danny Murtaugh days. Sporting News poll While this column compares and contrasts Pitt, West Virginia and Penn State, Cook reserves his most scathing comments for Franklin. A S...

... today, I would have reservations My first coaching job was with the Lilly Raiders, a gig that was supposed to last two weeks and ended four years later when I finished college. These guys were from fifth through eighth grades, and we even went down to fourth because so many kids wanted to be part of the program. Success The Raiders went undefeated for three years, winning three championships of the Cambria County Grade School Football League. It was a great time. I later coached the Raiders for four more years, with two more championships but no undefeated seasons. Later, I also coached at the high school and collegiate levels. I enjoyed both the down years and the championship ones (6). Playing in the 21st Century If I had a choice today, i would not coach young boys in those years. I would, however, encourage them to play touch football. I did that in my 20s and in college on IM teams. It was great fun. The concussions fear is what bothers me today. I know of...

… should Steelers and three others earn retroactive wins?  Prior to the 2015 football season, Tom Brady said that he was "exonerated." Patriots put up signs that read "vindicated." That was because a judge ruled that his four-game suspension in 2015 for Deflategate was an over-reach by NFL Commisioner, Roger Goodell. Definitions First, what do those words mean? According to Merriman-Webster.com, here are the definitions: Simple Definition of exonerate to prove that someone is not guilty of a crime or responsible for a problem, bad situation, etc.  Simple Definition of vindicate to show that (someone) should not be blamed for a crime, mistake, etc. : to show that (someone) is not guilty  Note two similarities: A person is "not guilty." 2015 decision Brady said that he was exonerated because the federal court that overturned the NFL's decision to suspend him for four games for "Deflategate" proved that he was innoc...

... and it is the milquetoast dude Okay, it's that time of year. The Steelers will report to St. Vincent's College later this month to start their quest for Super Bowl number 7.  While I am not really optimistic that this team can win the Super Bowl -- at least until they improve defensively, primarily the DBs -- I certainly hope that they can make a run in the playoffs for the first time since they lost to the Packers in Super Bowl XLV. So, when I saw this headline in USA Today, "The NFL's 100 most important people," I thought that it was worth a read. Wonder how many Steelers made this list? After reading the name of the number one "most important person" on this list, I should have known that it was bogus. They list Jerry Jones as their #1 and Roger Goodell #2. What? How can anyone list an owner who has not done anything with his team since the Jimmy Johnson days in the 1990s be listed ahead of the commissioner? Now, anyone who has rea...

… a rite of passage for athletic guys  On a Sunday night in beautiful downtown Lilly, Pa. in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, a huge night of hoops was taking place. For those guys who were perhaps just freshmen in high school, it was a chance to be picked for one of those teams that would show that you were truly one of the major players in the local basketball world. "The Court" was located on Washington Street across from the old Lilly High School, near Albarano's store. There were swings and merry-go-rounds there, too, on the playground, along with a sliding board and a see-saw and a sandbox. None of that remains in the 21st Century, which is somewhat sad. Sunday night  Those elements of the playground, however, were for little kids. The big game was the one played on "The Court," not just on Sunday, but almost any other night of the week. Sunday night was king, the time when everyone would gravitate to the court for a special spectacle. The quality o...

… with prayers for some   When we undertake challenging endeavors, we often do not know how they will end. That was the case of the 50th Anniversary of the Lilly-Washington High School Class of 1966. We started this quest in mid-January without a list of classmates, with just our yearbooks in hand and a hope to celebrate this special occasion with our friends. On Saturday night, that came to fruition as our class joined one another at the Lilly Sokol Club. We could not have asked for a more joyful event … though some are struggling. More of that below. Game Plan With an e-mail and then a phone call from Mary (Cassidy) Kertes, who remembers more about our class than I ever knew, we started our quest. Mary put forth an herculean task, and coupled with Tim and Marge Panek and Darnell (Yarnish) Steberger, our event came off with joy. "A little known fact"  We played a game called "A little known fact" that was named after Cliff Klaven from Cheers fame....