Best. Minicamp. Ever.

You guys are stealing my thunder. Who the hell knew you actually read anything other than the junk posted here. (Yeah, I know, you come here for the comments ... don't blame you). Anyhow, as ELSM writes, this DenverBroncos.com piece about the draft is some of the most insightful stuff I've read ... anywhere (here are Part II and Part III, also worth reading).

The bottom line, from the Steelers' perspective anyway, is that the team never had any intentions of trading Timmons. The Broncos called about moving up from 21 because they had three guys on their first-round draft board: Timmons, Justin Harrell and Jarvis Moss. If anything, it just goes to show that maybe NFL teams know more about these guys than we do. For all of us panning Timmons, Packers fans were even worse when Green Bay drafted Harrell.

... In other Pittsburgh-related news, here's a little thought experiment, brought to you by the Behind the Steel Curtain blog. The premise is this: did the Steelers get the draft backwards? Would they have been better off taking a linebacker in 2006 and a wideout last month?

... In a follow up to Saturday's post, Just Sayin' takes the pro-players perspective on the Alan Faneca-front office soap opera. His point, in a sentence, is this: If you hate hearing football players bitch about money, stop giving your money to football.

And that's a fair point, and probably why a lot of people prefer college sports to their professional counterparts. I can understand both sides here, and you all know my mantra by now: I won't begrudge a player for wanting more money, but... "

If you're on the fence on the issue, maybe this'll help you make up your mind. Or make you want to kill yourself. One or the other.

I Don't Think This Is How Tomlin Envisioned It

This is the "busy time" of the off-season for me because we're trying to wrap up PFP 07. So that's my excuse for light posting this week. But let me just say: Good Lord. Richard Seigler is now my favorite former Steelers player to get released for being a pimp. Alan Faneca ... well, I guess this isn't really a surprise given all the speculation about how unhappy he was in the days and weeks leading up to the draft.

I'm torn about this -- the way NFL contracts are structured, I think players should get everything they can, while they can. It's not like baseball, where Carl Pavano can make $40-something million with almost as many surgeries as victories. (I'm not sure on the surgeries, but I know he's only won five games the last three seasons.) I usually start off such conversations with, "I don't begrudge players for wanting more money... " and even though I don't like it, it applies to Faneca too.

His comments were certainly surprising ... but then again, Faneca's never been accused of not speaking his mind. Honestly, I don't expect him to be here after this season, and in fact, I don't expect him to be here in August. If, as Faneca said in yesterday's interview, he told the team in February that he wanted out, I hope like hell they tried to move him. If not, and they end up letting him walk next year -- or worse -- releasing him this year, well, I won't be very happy.

But I'm still infinitely happier than Adam Gretz, who left an impassioned, thoughtful comment on the whole situation. I don't agree with all of it, but here at HSS we're all about inclusion. And Mark Madden fat jokes. We like those too. Anyway, here's Adam's take:

I have little to no sympathy for guys like Alan Faneca right now.

None. Zero. Zilch.

I'm not famous and I'm certainly not rich, but I invest a healthy portion of what money I do have into the sports teams I support and follow. Tickets. Jersey's. Stuff like that. Perhaps that's not a wise and frugal thing to do, but It makes me happy. Very happy. When guys like Faneca pull this crap, it tends to take some of the fun out of it. It shouldn't. But it does. I watch sports to avoid drama, stupidity and bullshit like that. The last thing I want to see out of a Steelers season is drama like this. But that's where we are headed, at least that's how it appears right now, and that sucks. That sucks hard.

Somebody from my immediate family has been at every single Steelers game - Pre-season, regular season, playoffs - since Heinz Field opened. It's an honor. Really, it is. Around the time that Hines Ward held out - and I lost a lot of respect for him over that, as well - my dad made mention that it took him some 30 years of work to total a million dollars.

Alan Faneca has made more than 30 million dollars before the age of 30.

I don't feel bad for him that he's only(!) going to make 4.5 million dollars this year instead of 7 million dollars.

The only thing missing from his whiny ass, woe is me, tantrum today was the "I have a family to think about it here!" cliche. Give him time I suppose.

Hey Alan, you get to do what you love for a living, whether you want to admit it or not you are MORE than fairly compensated for it, and once you retire at the age of 35 you'll never have to work another day for the rest of life.

Shut up already.

Alan Faneca did a lot of great things for the Steelers and Pittsburgh. It's just amazing that in a matter of one year he's gone from one of my absolute favorite Steelers to a guy I don't even want to see around the team anymore.

Go join Russ Grimm and win 5 games a year for Arizona. And then after that, you can join Latrell Sprewell and Roger Clemens in spoiled-brat athlete hell.

*******On a lighter note, Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley got hurt at Friday's practice. This season's gotten off to a great start.

There is good news, though: We're getting the word out. Here's a recent headline at SteelCityInsider.com:


Props to John for that one.

Finally, if anybody's looking for a new whip...