The state of sports in Pittsburgh - Part 1

My purpose for this post is to give everyone my own personal view on the state of sports in Pittsburgh. It's a slow time right now until the fall so I hope you enjoy this and comments or rebuttals are more than welcome.

Steelers

Points to ponder going into the season:

Coach Tomlin - Lots of uncertainty on how he is going to handle the job, the fanatical press following, and establishing his tone of play and getting his system in place.

O-line - Make or break part of the team. Could be the difference between 7-9 and 10-6 because of how they hold up and how they mesh together with a new center (should have been Ryan Khalil (or even Nick Mangold from the 06 draft) but I digress...)

Bruce Arians and Ken Anderson - lumping them together because I think how they make the most of what they are working with will be a tough task. Rothlis-cyborg (made of more steel than Robo-Cop at this point) liked Whipple so we'll see how he bonds with the former Bungle. Arians nation (I would like credit for this term if anyone ever uses to describe his offense) looks to be moving towards a single-back 3 receiver set. I weep for Dan Kreider, my unsung hero of the offense.

Obviously the Steelers will always be the biggest draw and unfortunately the biggest news story in town. They could go 2-14 the next ten years and it would take 2 or 3 Cups or 10 straight World Series wins for the Pens or Bucs to even consider themselves on par with the Steelers, as far as overall fan priority is concerned. This however is my biggest gripe with the city of Pittsburgh. Moreso than Luke the Boy-Mayor and Dan "I don't think the State Constitution exists" Onorato. Well, actually that's not true, I can't stand those two jokers. So my second biggest problem is that anything anyone does that even remotely ties to the Steelers is a headline story.

Breaking News: Troy Polamalu can be traced to Kevin Bacon in 4 degrees.. Story at 5!

As far as the team is concerned, I think we're in a period of transition where the team is not quite strong enough to contend next year and perhaps with the loss of Faneca and moving to a 4-3 it could be a few years until things are back to where they should be. The truly great thing about the NFL is that due to the financial system that is in place, every team (except the Browns and Cardinals) has a chance to excite their fanbase every year with the possibility of being successful.

Penguins

I could be 10x the mayor that sissy-boy Ravenstahl is..

First a point about Ray Shero. I don't think Shero could do anything wrong right now. I mean he could knock your grandma over at the grocery store when she yells at him for taking twenty items in the '8 items or less' line and come away clean. When he took the GM job prior to last season he could not have walked into a better situation. Even so, he has made what appear to be prudent moves and smart decisions thus far so he is earning his stripes. Plus, without him who knows if Pittsburgh would have been blessed with getting to see Gary Roberts in person. That alone makes Shero the man. Just an interesting dichotomy when you compare it to all of the ill-will generated by the Pirates and the uncertainty around how the Steelers will be this season.


Ok now that we have our small bout of man-love out of the way..

Points to ponder.

1. Rising to the top - It will be interesting to see how the Pens perform this year. After last season's amazing run, it's entirely possible that the team will regress some. It's also possible that they will do better. I know, earth shattering analysis there. Point is, it's hard to believe that they can duplicate last season now that they will become a targeted team to beat. At the same time you cannot take anything to the bank with a team that has Sidney Crosby on it.

Somewhere, Stan Savran's head just exploded after that Mark Madden-like statement above.

1. Therrien - Now that he has two more years to build on, it will be interesting to see how he progresses as a coach. Up to this point he has been teaching young teams how to work in a system and work together, both in Wilkes-Barre and with the Pens. I feel that how he progresses from a teacher of boys to a leader of men will be crucial for the Pens to perform as well as they did a season ago. You may counter that this team is still full of young players, and I agree, but I feel going forward that now that almost all of the roster is set and the system is in place, how he best maximizes the talent in that system is the key to further success.

1. Le-tang, french for "the tang" - Much has been written and said about the young right-handed defenseman. Interesting to see how having a right handed defenseman will increase the number of options on both ends of the ice. I don't expect him to be a major force for another year or two at the earliest, judging by the general rule for defenseman. But just the ability to try to clear the zone with a right handed stick as opposed to trying to back-hand it out for our lefties will make a difference this season.

As for the general state of fan-dom in Pittsburgh, things could not be better for the Pens. They sold out a record 13,500 season tickets and had to cap the number to keep seats open for walk-up sales and student rush. They keep appearing to, at least on paper, make all of the right moves. Bringing in Sydor and Sykora at reasonable rates, resigning Crobsy and Lord Therrien, and just everything that Ray Shero touches turns to gold. Seriously it does, I saw it happen to a stray dog who tried to hump his leg. Ray has the new gold statue on his mantle at home.

And you thought I made that up....

To recap, I feel the Pens are riding high right now. They are slowly capturing more and more of the market in terms of both fans and media coverage. Pittsburgh will always be a football city however, so there is little chance they will ever take over the Steelers position as priority #1. This could change down the road though seeing as how Pens fan base is younger than any in the city. Provided those fans stay in town, things are looking up for Pens.

The Steelers probably have the talent to make the playoffs, but I think there are too many question marks and not enough stability on the O-line to make a run.

Playoffs?! Not without fullback Dan Kreider blockin the way!

Regardless of what happens, practically everyone in the city will drool over every 10 seconds of news regarding the team 24/7/365. Look, I'm as huge a fan of the Steelers as any, so please do not misunderstand frustration towards coverage as a lack of passion. I just wish that it wasn't a news story for something like the one year anniversary of Rothlis-cyborg's crash. Although, I wouldn't HAVE that nickname for him if it wasn't for the crash, but I digress.. Big deal, it's been one year... what's the point? I mean, if he had been injured to the point that maybe he missed all of last year or he PERSONALLY called a press conference or something to warn about the dangers of riding helmetless.. ok I could see that. But no, it was a story because he wears the black and gold.



The Pirates.... well they get their own post, tomorrow.