Still crazy after all these years

… Gene Collier thinks so  While the city of Johnstown was celebrating the 40th anniversary of the hockey movie "Slap Shot," which starred Paul Newman and was shot primarily in the city, last week, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier was having a conniption over the fact that it was robbed at the 1977 Academy Awards ceremony. "No one embedded with the Hollywood royalty at tonight’s Oscars or even in the global television audience is likely to spare a stray thought for the worst injustice in the history of the Academy Awards, probably because almost no one shares the following opinion: 'Slap Shot' got jobbed," Collier wrote on Sunday. Collier and I share a similarity: We both know more about sports than about dramatic fiction. Actually, I do know something about fiction, but not about the evaluation of movies. That requires more knowledge that I have of the cinema. Nevertheless, Coller makes an interesting argument, one that...

… but about ordering those Super Bowl tickets  The Steelers signed Antonio Brown to a 5-year contract on Monday, making him the highest paid receiver in the NFL for the time being. They also placed a franchise tag on running back Le'Veon Bell, raising his salary from $1 million to about $12 million in one fell swoop. While that guarantees that Bell will play for the Steelers next year, it does not guarantee that he will not explore free agency in the interim. General Manager Kevin Colbert said that signing Bell long-term would be a priority, but there has been no response yet from Bell. The Post-Gazette reported that Brown's contract would be for $72.7 million over five years, more that $14 mill per season. Brown is now 28 and has demonstrated that a sixth-round pick can excel in the league. He has caught 632 passes for 8,377 yards and 50 touchdowns in his seven years. He has 8,496 yards from scrimmage. Bell has carried the ball 908 times for 4,045 yards and...

… bill in state legislature would allow that  Bob and Lisa Gfeller still remember the dreadful day in August 2008 on which their son incurred a devastating head injury that caused his death two days later. Matthew Gfeller, just 15, was a sophomore linebacker at R.J Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was hit from the side in a helmet-to-helmet collision late in the fourth quarter of his first high school game. He never recovered consciousness and died in a hospital shortly after that. The parents did not sue over the play, but instead, started the Matthew Gfeller Foundation that attempts to help prevent and treat youth head injuries in sports. It resulted in the formation of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which has brought together elite doctors and researchers in the area of concussive studies. Gfeller-Waller concussion law In 2011, the state of Nort...

… both successful at IUP  Today, Joe Lombardi is prepping his Indiana University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team for the postseason: first the Pennsylvania State Athletic Association (PSAC) championship and then another run for a Div. II national title. Tom McConnell is moving in the same direction with the IUP women's basketball team. His team is the second seed in the PSAC-West playoffs and the third seed in the Div. II Atlantic region national seedings right now. Both have achieved success at IUP, but at one time, they battled one another for the same job, albeit one at the Div. I level -- but in a school much smaller than IUP. History Lombardi is a graduate of Youngstown State where he played for four years. He then coached there and at Ohio University before going to IUP as an assistant to Tom Beck (1984-87). In 1987, he was offered the job as Jim Baron's top assistant at St. Francis College (now university), which competed at the Div. I level,...

… the ice will be solid At 1 a.m. today, the temperature in Pittsburgh was 65 degrees, down about ten from the high on Friday. The June temps this week had the NFL and Penquin planners uncomfortable playing an outdoors game until they saw that they were being issued a reprieve. By the end of tonight's game at Heinz Field, the temperatures may be in the low 30s, not exactly what the NHL ordered, but close enough. And a 40-degree drop from the prior day. Challenges in an outdoors game A story in the Post-Gazette this week outlined the challenges that the NHL was facing with the heat. "The temperature of the ice, though, is where it needs to be: 22.5 degrees, with a quarter-inch already made and three-eighths more on the way Tuesday night. Ice, typically, is about three-quarters of an inch thick, meaning there should be only about one-eighth of an inch left to spray down between Wednesday and Friday, when teams are set to practice," Sean Gentile wrote. Dan Cra...

… do they deserve it?  With the 8th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels scheduled to face the Pitt Panthers at the Pete tomorrow with a noon tip, a question was raised online today for Post-Gazette beat reporter Craig Meyer. Here is is: @PGSportsNow so are you feeling good, or great, about Pitt's tourney chances? Translated, can the Pitt Panthers, who are tied for 12th in the ACC right now with a 4-17 record, 15-13 overall, earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament? A month ago, with the Panthers mired in the ACC cellar and Coach Larry Stallings battling his players in the media, that would have been a ludicrous question. Is it today? On an Oscar weekend, Meyer used a movie analogy to answer the question: "Pitt's been stuck in a position similar to Lloyd Christmas at the end of Dumb and Dumber. The likelihood of a happy ending is so obviously bleak, but he's still holding out hope Mary Samsonite will say yes to a date." Finally, he says, "Yes, I'm saying t...

… playing in NBA despite doubts  Few doubted that T.J. McConnell, who played for Chartiers Valley High School in the Pittsburgh area, was a great scorer. He tallied 2,406 points in his high school career, averaging 34.2 points per game in his senior season. McConnell played for his father, Tim, in high school, and it was a very competitive basketball family. His aunt, Susie, was an all-American at Penn State who starred on the U.S. Olympic team that won the gold medal in 1988 and the bronze in 1992. She is now the head coach of the women's team at Pitt. His Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tom have also been Div. I head coaches, so it was in his blood. Doubts However, there have always been doubts about just how good he was. For instance, he did not have any top offers to colleges, so he settled on Duquesne. After a few okay seasons there, and though he was only a third-team all-Atlantic 10 player, McConnell thought that he could do better. He talked to former Pitt standout ...

… two great choices  Sometimes, if a team loses a football game, the coaches should be fired. That was the case in which we as coaches at Blacklick Valley found ourselves in 1983. Paul Shandor was the head coach and I was his assistant. This was our fourth year together, but we both realized that we had blown a great opportunity in 1982. We finished 9-1, losing a one-point game to Shade, which was undefeated and eventually won the Appalachian Conference championship. Both Coach Shandor and I realized that each of us had made a major mistake in that game that allowed Shade to score its last touchdown. We resolved to not allow that to happen again. It did not. This was a solid team, and the only thing that could beat us were injuries -- and we had no major injuries to our starters. Ww were good everywhere We had an outstanding offensive line with five seniors tackle-to-tackle, good receivers, a veteran backfield, a strong defense, and a solid kicking game. The ...

… women's program has fallen onto hard times  The stark line in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference women's basketball standings was emphatic: In last place in the PSAC-West were the Pitt-Johnstown (UPJ) Lady Cats at 3-17, 7-19 overall. What a fall from grace in the past ten years since Jodi Gault, now a hall-of-famer at UPJ, left as coach. Gault compiled a 540-156 record overall for a .776 winning percentage in her 25 years. She built the Lady Cats into a District II regional contender, averaging 21.6 wins per season. She recruited outstanding student-athletes to Pitt-Johnstown and was a tough taskmaster, a tough disciplinarian who taught her women the game and how to win the battles in life. Fall from dominance After winning almost 78 percent of the games during those 25 years, the Lady Cats are just 118-140 (46 percent) since she left. Even worse, they are 31-70 in the past four seasons, (30.6 percent). Granted, the Lady Cats are now competing i...

… miscarriage of "justice"  Pittsburgh Steeler assistant coach Joey Porter got off with a slap on the wrist instead of felony charges thanks to Allegheny County D.A. Stephen Zappala, but the police officer who arrested him make clear that he was unhappy with the verdict of the D.A. "I don't consent to it," Pittsburgh police officer Paul Abel, who alleges that he was assaulted by Porter, something that was verified by the videos of the event, said at the hearing before a district magistrate. The result was a $300 fine for Porter's actions, which took place outside a Pittsburgh bar after a Steelers win over the Dolphins in January. The original charges included aggravated arrest and resisting arrest, serious charges, but Zappala agreed to not prosecute those after allegedly watching a video of the incident. Ironically, a police oversight group leader did watch the videos, and it verified what the police allege Porter did in his drunken rage. Porter's ...

... Is No. 1 Gonzaga overrated? Undefeated but unappreciated  The Gongaza Zags are currently 28-0 in their quest to finish an undefeated regular season and earn a top seed in the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Zags, also known as the Bulldogs, are also listed at the number 4 seed overall, being placed as a number 1 seed in the west bracket. They retain their spots as number 1 in the AP and Coaches polls. However, the argument is always the same. As ESPN noted a few weeks ago, "No. 1 Gonzaga will enter its final stretch with a legitimate chance to win out and enter the NCAA tournament with an unblemished record. "And still, those who question Gonzaga’s record, conference, opposition and ability will persist with their slights. Anything short of a Final Four berth -- an unfair barometer for any program -- will only magnify their criticism." The Bulldogs have often been a sentimental favorite. They have been for me. Here is the s...

... but he may land in one of them  Yes, in a version of true "Faux news," Dallas owner Jerry Jones was being lauded as a genius to trading Tony Romo to the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. That, my Donald, was true Fake News. What is really good news is that in this USA Today list of the possible eight places where Romo will land, Pittsburgh is not on the list. Here is the list: Houston Texans: "This is a potentially perfect marriage and, according to an ESPN report, Romo’s top choice. He would join a team that's won the maligned AFC South the past two years despite a 9-7 record and woeful quarterback contributions each time … " Denver Broncos: "They're only a year removed from winning a title with a defense that remains airtight and a severely limited veteran quarterback, which is what Peyton Manning was at the end of his run. If healthy, Romo's physical ability would surpass the 2015 version of Manning and instantly recharge an offense that ra...

… challenges allegations  New York Jets cornerback Derrelle Revis, a former player at Pitt and a native of Alliquippa, Pa., surrendered to authorities in Pittsburgh on Friday night. He had been charged with four felonies, which included aggravated assault, for an altercation that took place on the South Side last Sunday night. According to reports, police found two young men unconscious after they had allegedly had an altercation with Revis. The two did not know who punched them, but Revis allegedly had confiscated a cell phone from the two. He allegedly tried to delete a video that one of them had taken of him, which may have led to the altercation. Revis later threw the cell phone into the street, but police found it and confirmed that Revis was involved. The Jets' player presented a different version of the incident. According to KDKA-TV, a law firm representing Revis issued a statement that included the following: “Mr. Revis was physically assaulted while at that location ...

… fulfills promise, Colbert says  On Thursday, Steeler General Manager Kevin Colbert confirmed that he is negotiating with Antonio Brown. Brown has one year remaining on his contract, so he will be with the Steelers until the end of the 2017 season. Colbert told beat reporters and media, “We told Antonio last year his would be accelerated. He would be made the priority, and that's where he is.” The negative part of this is that his agent is Drew Rosenhaus, who has been called the "Jerry Maguire super-agent," an allusion to the Tom Cruise character of a nasty agent who does his best to screw his opponents. In short, Brown will be asking top dollars. Nothing wrong with that. His numbers indicate that he is one of the top receivers in the game. However, what Colbert said was that the team was negotiating with no one else. That would include Le'Veon Bell, the superb running back. The Steelers have until March 1 to announce whether or not they will tag Bell as their...

… this involved gymnastics The Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case at Penn State rocked the nation more than five years ago, and it continues to reverberate in Pa. However, some Penn Staters seem to be pleased that another Big Ten school is embroiled in its own sex abuse case. They even think that this is much worse than the Sandusky situation ever was. They blame the media for ignoring the Michigan State case. Without getting into which is worse, I started to investigate what was taking place in Lansing, Michigan. Indeed, there is a scandal there -- but it is much different from the one at PSU. Dr. Larry Nasser The Michigan State case involves a physician named Dr. Larry Nassar, a doctor of osteopathy who had been a team physician at MSU for the past 20 years. Nassar has been a towering figure in the gymnastics community, serving as team physician for four USA Olympic gymnastic teams. The scandal involves more than MSU. It also involves USA Gymnastics, which is l...

… also Chris Christie  Former Pirates' broadcaster Bob Prince was well-known for this quote, though I may take a few liberties with it: Philadelphia is the only city in the United State where they boo the national anthem. That has been repeated by many since his time. The Gunner had a few battles with the fans at Connic Mack Stadium. The story was that the opposing broadcasters were very close to the fans, so you could hear them harassing Prince on many occasions. I can remember hearing those fans going after The Gunner. In fact, The Gunner used to down a few beers over a doubleheader in 90-degree temps in Connie Mack. That was when he would make those statements. Are they overly critical? However, the Philly fans do have a reputation of being very critical -- about their own team and players, along with the other team's. They were very critical of Donovan McNabb, the Eagles' QB who took them to a Super Bowl, for not winning it. That is ac...

… hope they can agree  Steelers GM Kevin Colbert said that he would like to have inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons, the leading tackler on the team for years, to return next year. However, they will not pay him $15.1 million as they did in 2016, which is reasonable. Timmons will be in his 11th season, and he is still productive. However, that salary is too high for the salary cap. “Would you like to have him stay? Absolutely,” Colbert said, according to the PG. “Does it all fit? We can make it work, but at what cost? He’s never been a free agent. I’d like to see him finish his career here and he would too.” Hopefully, they can make it work. He still has a lot of accelerant left in that engine.

… still not revered by Bucs' fans  Bob Nutting points with pride to the accomplishments that have taken place since he took over as controlling partner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2007. From a 57-105 record in 2010 to a 98-64 in 2015 was tremendous. The Post-Gazette noted yesterday, “The last five years, we’ve had the fifth-best record in baseball. That’s great,” Nutting said. Fans do not revere Bob However, the fans are not exactly thrilled with his direction of the wagon train. As the PG piece notes, the Pirates "went to the playoffs three times … but never got further than the NLDS and lost two consecutive wild-card games. They have acquired and developed great players … but lost them in free agency or traded them before they got there." Nutting has definitely made more money in those years, and Bill Brink, the PG beat writer, noted that the Pirate payroll "rose from $44.1 million [in 2010] to $99.9 million [today] … but only rose from 29th in MLB ...

... while I cringe, yes The process of election to professional sports hall of fames is shaky on many levels, and this year's NFL class reflects that problem. First, let me say that I disliked Terrell Owens (TO) as a player. He was obnoxious, selfish, crude, and rude. However, when I try to see if a person belongs in a Hall of Fame, I look at the numbers. The numbers Here is what I discovered with Owens. He recorded 15,934 receiving yards in his career, which makes him second to the legendary Jerry Rice, an NFL Hall of Famer. In all, he had nine seasons in which he had more than 1,000 yards in receptions. Owens had 1,078 receptions in his 15-year career, which is eighth in NFL history. Those resulted in 153 touchdowns, third in the NFL among wide receivers. Owens made the Pro Bowl six times and was first-team All-Pro five times. In a Super Bowl game with the Philadelphia Eagles, Owens, still recovering from a broken leg, caught nine passes for 122 yards. In s...

… may win its 100th consecutive victory  His team is on the verge of its 100th consecutive victory that could come tonight. He has won 11 national titles. He has transformed a program that had only one winning season before he arrived into the dominant one in the game. He has had only one losing season in 31 years. He is one season away from winning 1,000 games. His teams have lost only one game in the past four seasons. His teams have won four consecutive national championships and six of the past eight. He has won 979 games while losing just 134, a winning percentage of almost 88 percent. Those are incredible stats. Yet, at times, Geno Auriemma must feel like Rodney Dangerfield, the woeful character who also bemoaned the fact that he was born a loser and "gets no respect." In fact, followers of men's basketball tend to demean the University of Connecticut women's basketball coach's accomplishments. When others try to compare him to the greatest college men...

… could follow in the footsteps of Alan Page  Playing football in the NFL by day and attending law school by night is a challenging task in the best of times. However, that is what Dwayne Woodruff chose to do back in the 1980s. A defensive back for the Steelers for 12 seasons, Woodruff earned his law degree before he finished his 12-year career with the Steelers. He then practiced law before running for and being elected to a seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. He was reelected in 2015, but has set his sights a little higher. Despite being ignored by the Democratic Party for an endorsement for a seat on the Pa. Supreme Court two years ago, Woodruff was unanimously selected as their choice to run this fall for the prestigious seat that was vacated by the resignation of Justice J. Michael Eakin, a Republican who was the victim of the scandal known as "Porngate." According to the Post-Gazette, Woodruff left Harrisburg yesterday with a very “different feeling ...

… none from Big Ten  Now is the time for college basketball fans to become excited. For the first time, the NCAA has released its top 16 teams, four seeds from each region, in advance of the tournament. Villanova, the defending champs from the Big East, are the top pick. Kansas, Baylor, and Gonzaga are the other number ones. The twos are North Carolina, Florida State, Louisvillle and Oregon, while the threes are Arizona, Virginia, Florida and Kentucky. The last four are Butler, West Virginia, UCLA and Duke. The Big Ten is shut out of this picture. This can obviously change significantly over the next four weeks, but it is interesting grist for the discussion mill right now. That conference breakdown is like this: ACC (5): North Carolina, Florida State, Louisville, Virginia, and Duke Big East (2): Villanova, Butler SEC (2): Kentucky, Florida PAC 12 (3): Oregon, Arizona, UCLA Big 12: (3) West Virginia, Kansas, Baylor West Coast (1): Gonzaga

… dumbest rule in football  The purpose of writing this is not to assert that Super Bowl LI was rigged. The intent is to show how stupid and unfair the NFL overtime process is. If you attend a high school game in Pa. or a college game in the U.S., they have a very equitable way of settling ties that the NFL does not. For instance, in college, each team will have a chance to score from the 25-yard line. After a flip of the coin, the winner will choose offense or defense, and the other will then have a chance to have its opportunity after the first one is finished. In short, both teams have an equitable chance to touch the ball and win the game. The same occurs in high school ball in Pa. except that it is from closer to the end zone. NFL rule is stupid According to the NFL overtime rule, if a team wins the toss, receives the ball, and scores a touchdown on the opening drive, the game is over -- without the opposing team having a chance to touch the ball. That i...