Behold the Genius That Is ... Me

It's so seldom that I'm right -- about anything -- that I have to take this opportunity to point out my prognosticatory powers. First, to set things up: Adam leaves this comment detailing how the local fans and media are panning the ROBO-PUNTER pick, like it was some big surprise Chris Gardocki had a bad year.

Eddie B. went so far as to write:

A punter?

The Steelers entered the second day of the NFL draft with needs in the offensive line and at running back, yet when they made their first selection yesterday, they made history for the second time in two days.

While the New England Patriots were using a fourth-round draft choice to trade for receiver Randy Moss, the Steelers used theirs on a punter.

First, it's worth noting that the Patriots drafted kicker Stephen Gostkowski with their 2006 fourth-round pick. Second, after addressing arguably the biggest need on the team (yes, the O-line is an issue, but it's certainly not dire ... at least compared to the punter), the Steelers still got an interior lineman. So, there's that.

Now, to the part about me being really smart. Here's what I wrote on January 31 of this year:

Secretly, I'm hoping the team offers Max Starks a third-round tender, some other team signs him, Levi Brown drops to 15, and Pittsburgh uses the extra third-round pick on this year's Devin Hester or Maurice Jones-Drew (I know, I know, these two were second-rounders, but I'm wishfully thinking here). And then, in the fourth-round, take Daniel Sepulveda. And I'm not even kidding. (Don't forget, Pittsburgh's got a crapload more comp picks coming their way. Anybody who doesn't think the punter is important, just take a look at Chris Gardocki, version 2006.)

And here's what I wrote in an SCI column on February 15:

...I will make this suggestion: the Steelers should think about drafting a tight end. And I don't mean a late second-day afterthought. I mean an athletic kid with good hands and who can block a little. I know, easier said than done, but I think we can all agree that Jerame Tuman is adequate, and that's all he'll ever be. Pittsburgh should expect more out of the position. Miller's shown that tight ends can be good pass catchers and good blockers. This doesn't mean the team needs to arrange their draft board around finding the next Antonio Gates, but at some point -- and I think that point is now -- the Steelers will need to add quality depth behind Miller. Plus, it will give Arians one more option and opposing defensive coordinators one more thing to worry about...

Man, I'm on fire. Come back in 75 years for the next installment of: Waterhead Wilson gets something -- anything -- right. Until then, let's take bets on if Gary Russell makes the team.

(By the way, I'm watching NFL Network as I write this. Steve Sabol's running down the all-time undrafted free agent team and not surprisingly, Fast Willie is the starting tailback [maybe that is surprising ... just not to Steelers' fans, I guess]. Anyway, Sabol just rattled off this fun fact: "Over the last two seasons, Parker has more rushing yards than any running back from either the 2004 or 2005 draft.")

Best. Minicamp. Ever.

Huh. I thought I was being original when I selected Marcus McNeill with my modified first-round pick. Uh, nope. Anyway, here were my selections:

1 - Marcus McNeill, LT
2 - Gerris Wilkinson, LB
3 - Michael Robinson, RB/KR
4 - Dawan Landry, S
5 - Mark Anderson, DE
6 - Bruce Gradkowski, QB
7 - Greg Eslinger, C
8 - Ethan Kilmer, ST
9 - Marques Colston, WR

Obviously, this draft trumps the Steelers' actual draft, but hindsight if funny like that. Of course, this means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things, but it makes me feel smart, so that counts for something.

*******
Alrighty, the Steelers made it through training camp and even though some people didn't show, the guys who were there didn't get hurt. In my mind, that makes for a successful camp. Seriously, is there too much else to get excited about? I know, I know, Alan Faneca wasn't around, apparently because of money, but here's the glass-is-half-full perspective: he didn't get hurt either.

I wrote about Faneca and Roethlisberger's Cowher comments for AOL, but I suppose it's worth repeating: Minicamp isn't mandatory so for me, it's not that big a deal. Plus, it's minicamp. Ultimately, if Faneca wants more money and the Steelers don't give it to him ... well, I wish him luck wherever he ends up. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge players for wanted to get paid -- especially when Leonard Davis just got a ridiculous deal -- but I won't lose any sleep over it. Now Ben or Troy ... that's a different story. Both guys still haven't hit their prime and it's a lot hard to replace a 30-year-old guard (even if he is an All Pro) than a franchise quarterback or a franchise safety (can you have a franchise safety?).

Concerning Roethlisberger's comments: after seeing the interview with my own two eyeballs, I'll just mark it up to "the media being the media." Somebody asked Ben a question and he answered it. He didn't seem angry about it; very matter of fact, actually. Whatever, it's not something I'm worried about.

And this segues nicely into something else I wanted to mention -- DJ's comment from this weekend:

The Steelers aren't going to trade Faneca, and he's going to get paid just fine. The FO's focus isn't going to be on re-signing guys until after training camp starts. That's always the case.

The real question we have is: Is AOL Sports Blogs becoming the new PFT in terms of BS rumors with no basis in reality?

What do you guys think?

I don't know if DJ wrote this tongue-in-cheek or if he was being serious. I'll take it as the latter because, well, I think it's an important question. In fact, it's something that concerns me personally. One of the not-so-good things about the internets -- at least as it relates to sports -- is that it's really easy to make stuff up, or report something that isn't confirmed.

Now, I don't have a problem with wondering if the team might trade Faneca -- like somebody mentioned in the comments, it's something we'd do here. But I do have a problem with baseless speculation, especially about a players' personal life. And I've made a concerted effort to get away from that type of stuff on AOL.

(And no, this doesn't count. Anyone who doesn't understand that (a) I like the guy, and (b) I was joking is an idiot; and I wasn't speculating about anything, just regurgitating something I read in a Florida paper. Still, I'll probably shy away from similar stuff in the future ... even though over 50,000 people read it in just a few hours this weekend.)

The problem, of course, is that the majority internets readers don't care about nuanced football discussions; they care about Tom Brady freeing willy (and honestly, I love reading about that stuff too ... in People, not a sports site -- but that's just me). And that's not a problem here, but it does become an issue when you're talking about guys writing for a living. Either way, I don't want to be that dude. The good news is that I'm sure somebody here would let me know ... very loudly. And I'm fine with that.

Oh, by the way, I just heard that Troy Polamalu is also holding out. If you want to believe he was on some "retreat," well, go right ahead. Just remember that you heard it here first. And if it proves to be untrue, just forget you ever read this.

One Down, A Bunch to Go

Obviously, Aaron Smith signing a new deal is a big deal, especially when the next newsworthy nugget is ... learning Mike Tomlin will live in Pittsburgh (more on that in a second).

According to the Tribune-Review by way of J.J. Cooper, it's a five-year, $25 million contract, though J.J. adds this:

[The signing] seems to point towards the Steelers sticking with the 3-4 longer than is often thought. Smith is one of the best 3-4 defensive ends in the league, but he's never played in the 4-3 as a pro, so it's hard to project how effective he would be as a 4-3 defensive tackle.

I don't know why this is still a question. I know Bouchette was contemplating it earlier in the week, but Wexell wrote a column on Sunday (and I posted it on AOL the next day) that pretty much laid it out in black and white:

A source with the Steelers made the admission that, yes, the Steelers are sticking with their 3-4 defense, even though their new coach, Tomlin, is an avowed Cover 2 devotee.

Obviously, this doesn't mean Pittsburgh will only play the 3-4 -- they've never done that -- but it should make it clear that Tomlin's in no hurry to transition to the 4-3. Wexell even writes about the 3-4 tweeners the team interviewed during the Combine.

I know PFT, oddly, still writes Steelers-related posts like a switch to the 4-3 is a possibility. Yeah, that's wrong. Just like when PFT also reported that a Tomlin hire would be the end of Dick LeBeau in Pittsburgh and Troy Polamalu would soon follow.

For some reason, the media are slow on the uptake on this; it's not brain surgery, people.

... Anyway, anybody got thoughts on if Pittsburgh should try to sign Cato June? I'm kidding, but some guy at the Tribune-Star thinks June -- a 4-3, Cover-2 linebacker if there ever was one -- Dominic Rhodes and Nick Harper could all be potential Steelers targets. One more time, for the slow folks: June - No; Rhodes - No; Harper - Probably not. June is 6'0", 227 pounds; he'd struggle a lot as an outside linebacker in the 3-4. Rhodes peed on himself and, as I wrote on AOL, is a smaller, less dynamic version of Willie Parker; you can never have enough good defensive backs, and maybe the Steelers owe Harper -- and his wife -- for helping with the Super Bowl run, but he'll want A) to start, and B) too much money.

I'll pass.

... I was all set to rip Ron Cook for his latest diatribe against humanity, but you know what? I don't really disagree. Ben does need to work harder and I've said as much before. So, as much as it pains me, Cook isn't wrong. Bob Smizik, on the other hand, still sucks.

... Finally, I think it's kinda funny some Pittsburghers are high-fiving each other over Tomlin deciding to live in the city. This is a bad idea. Sure, on the surface, it's swell, having the head coach of the local ball club living two doors down from Joe Lifetime Season Ticket Holder, but here's the thing: if the Steelers go in the tank early, Tomlin will have to move. It's hard to hide from the pitchfork-wielding crowd when you live right in the thick of things. Tommy Maddox's yard got trashed and he lived in the suburbs (of course, Maddox and his agent made up the whole story, but if it were true, you'd see my point, right?).

Hopefully, it'll be fine; and Shadyside is as yuppie as it gets for the city, so that's a good thing, I guess. But I wouldn't be surprised if Tomlin's become the first black family in Fox Chapel in a year or two (or they could do like Kordell ... and Christina Aguilera, and move to Wexford).

Richard Simmons & George Carlin

(In case you're wondering, this is what I imagine Bob Smizik looked like 180 years ago, before he turned into a grumpy old douchebag.)

... Though I'm slow to learn everybody's name (I told you, that's coming this weekend because ... it's NFL COMBINE WEEKEND!), I love the draft. Fans get a chance to feel good about their team no matter how the previous season ended. Seriously, look at how excited some of these nerds were about the Steelers trading up to get Santonio Holmes. And that's a few months after winning the Super Bowl, for cripes sake.

Anyway, I agree with DJ and Eric about "naming names." Yeah, it's fun, and there's certainly nothing wrong with it -- and you look really smart if you're the first kid on your block to identify this year's Marques Colston -- but more times than not we're all just making shit up. Like I said, that's cool, but I think it's important to identify team needs more than identify the handful of college kids that may or may not fit those needs. And in case you're wondering, yes, I'm only writing this because right now, I don't know the difference between Leon Hall and Leon Searcy.

... Foge provides today's "I sometimes forget how funny George Carlin is" line:

George Carlin said the glass isn’t half empty or half full. It’s twice as big as it needs to be.

Which reminded me of one of my favorite Carlin bits -- and this has absolutely nothing to do with anything:



... In other, less ridiculous news, here are a couple of things to think about:
1. JJ Cooper writes that Tomlin didn't exactly get behind Joey Porter and his future with the team. Porter's due a lot of money and probably wants a new deal, but I think the Steelers should keep him through 2007 and then go from there. Which leads me to...

2. Here's something I wrote a few days ago, and went into much more detail for SCI, but it's worth mentioning here. Basically, assuming nothing changes between now and next off-season (sure, it's an unrealistic assumption, but just assume you're reading an econ journal or something) who stays and who goes.

... Two comments from yesterday's thread I wanted to mention:

Cheers again to this site, as a die-hard steeler fan I find this spot instantly informative and constantly updated, thanks. - mattb

I absolutely agree. I already can't remember life without Ryan's articles and this comment section. - J_bd

Now, given that I've been, ahem, a little sporadic in the posting, I figured these were just a couple of sarcastic remarks. And justified, by the way. But then I realized both were sincere which leads me to this: it's the commenters that make this site worth reading, even when the author takes extended vacations to drink beer, watch Battlestar Galactica marathons and sleep.

Actually, I've also been busy with other stuff, and so busy, in fact, that I recently realized that this blog was three years old on February 6. In a way, that's sad, because, well, when I go back and read what I was writing three years ago, it's pretty embarrassing. But it's also cool to think that (a) you won't actually go back and read that stuff, and (b) a group of people can have intelligent discussions about the Steelers (or whatever) on the Internets. Honestly, it's a lot harder than it sounds (try reading 99.9% of the AOL comments). So, to echo mattb and J_bd, thanks for keeping this thing rolling.

... Finally, here's my second college basketball-related note in as many posts. Henigin, enjoy.

Bob Smizik Is a Grumpy Old Man

Okay, the two-week vacation is over. And by "vacation" I mean my other writing obligations that pay for my beer habit. Let's see if I can get caught up on all I missed (although you guys seem to be doing fine without me … which says a lot):

* I don't care about Faneca's who-should've-landed- the-head-coaching-gig comments. I didn't care when he seemed less than thrilled about the idea of a rookie quarterback getting the job in 2004. I like Faneca because he's honest and does his job. I don't know the context, but he was probably just answering the question. Frankly, I don't think many people were put off by it, and Tomlin wasn't worried. No biggie.

* SteelerBill points out something that I noticed when reading this article: namely, Tomlin likes calling his players "men." On the surface, I have no problem with that -- they are men after all -- but it reminds me of Herm Edwards. Not in a good way, either. In the scheme of things this ranks at the bottom of the "Things that might tank the 2007 Steelers' season," but I'm just putting it out there.

* Glenn adds this:

Tomlin: "The elite players defy scheme." I like it. I'm tired of the draftniks over-analyzing position and scheme, looking for the perfect fit. The Steelers should be looking for an elite player at 1.15 and I'm happy that this is seemingly Tomlin's philosophy (although he's certainly not making these decisions unilaterally).

Yes, yes and yes. In today's Post-Gazette Eddie B. gives some insight into Tomlin's long-term plans (which may not take that long to implement).

The Steelers have played a 3-4 defense since Chuck Noll switched to it in the early 1980s. They will stick with it next season, but Tomlin has coached 4-3 defenses throughout his NFL career and wants everyone to keep an open mind toward possibly moving to that defense in the future.

That means Steelers scouts will look at those tackles who aren't built to play the nose but are more suited to play inside than at end. They can look at undersized ends and not necessarily see them as outside linebackers two years from now. They can look at smaller outside linebackers who play more like Jack Ham than Kevin Greene.

Seriously, this is great. Initially I was concerned about switching away from the 3-4 but after thinking about it I couldn’t care less. First, it's not rocket science, it's football. Second, defensive schemes don't have to be a black and white proposition. Just because you run the 4-3, Cover-2 doesn't mean you can't mix in some 3-4 looks. Dick LeBeau said as much earlier this off-season -- and he even made it clear the Steelers run a lot of Cover-2 anyway.

And as Kevin Colbert mentions above, it gives the team a lot more flexibility in evaluating talent. How is this a bad thing?

(By the way, is it just me, or has Eddie B. been pumping out some pretty good stuff recently. I know I like to point fingers at people who aren't very good at their jobs, but it's worth noting Bouchette's work this off-season. I guess nobody wants to get Prisutaed. Fair enough.)

* Tomlin also says he's not afraid to put starters on special teams. My first reaction is: thank God. But I'm also the guy who questioned Bill Belichick for doing this, especially when Patriots starters were going down with injuries (Illian has similar concerns). That said, the Steelers special teams sucked last season, the new special teams coach's track record suggests not much will change, so it's probably the right move. Actually, I'm almost certain it is, although everybody knows Chidi Iwouma magically solves a lot of special-teams problems.

*Cols714 asks about Bengals free-agent guard Eric Steinbach and if he'd be a viable option for the Steelers.

(You know what's funny, this off-season we've hardly talked about free agency and last year we were throwing ideas around in the week between the AFCC and the Super Bowl. Almost all of that had to do with Pittsburgh having a crapload of free agents last spring, and no unrestricted free agents now. I understand that, but it's still peculiar.)

Anyway, I think Rob's right: Steinbach's going to get paid this off-season, and some teams might move him to tackles (the Browns are talking about it, apparently).

Also, Arians likes the idea of Kendall Simmons at center, which could create some vacancies on the depth chart at guard, but maybe Kemoeatu, Essex, Colon could solve that problem. Or, Simmons could stay put. A lot of "ifs."

For the sake of argument, let's say Simmons does move. Is anybody in favor of drafting Justin Blalock in the first round (or whoever ends up being the top guard in the draft)? Just like last year, put me down for "NO" on that one. It's a waste unless there is a glaring need at the position. And even though Simmons had an uneven 2006, and Kemoeatu is still unproven, there's no reason to think that a mid-first-round pick would be any better in 2007.

* Foge points us to this bit in the Tribune-Review:

[Colbert] said wide receiver is the strongest position in the draft, followed by safety. The Steelers, who have the 15th overall pick, won't rule out taking a wide receiver early, even though they used a first-round pick on Santonio Holmes last year. "It's hard to see us locking out any position high, except for quarterback," Colbert said.

Foge is okay with taking a wideout at 1.15 and there is an argument for stocking the position if Arians is serious about going to more four-wide sets on first and second downs, but I'm still not crazy about the idea.

I'd rather see more of Heath Miller in the four-wide looks, especially if Cedrick Wilson and Nate Washington struggle with consistency I'd like to think Colbert was just throwing up the ol' pre-draft smokescreen, but a lot can happen between now and the end of April.

Concerning the four-wide stuff, I know Arians said it would be hard for most fans to discern much of a difference in the offense, but assuming we do, in fact, see more of the spread offense, I think the biggest issue won't be if Pittsburgh has the wideouts to pull it off, but if Big Ben can get rid of the ball quickly. I mean, I know he can, but will he? Some of the sacks he takes are on him (although the Bart Scott cremation is all on Willie Parker) and with only five or six blockers, timing will be even more important. I'm sure Arians understands this, but it's something to think about nonetheless.

* Last year, when it wasn't clear Jam Jam would be back with the Ravens, there was some discussion of him coming to Pittsburgh. I'll channel Eric on this:

no to duckett.
no to jam-jam.
no to travis henry
no to chris brown
yes to najeh.

Eric also likes Tony Hunt, and I'm not averse to Pittsburgh taking him (though I haven't settled on the round), but I'm still not in FULL DRAFT MODE. That'll happen this week with the Combine. In the meantime, like Adam, I wonder if Brian Leonard would be a good fit in Pittsburgh. I know Mike Mayock likes him as a "West Coast Offense fullback" or a halfback, but I didn't watch enough Rutgers football to really have an opinion (although I seem to remember he wasn't the feature back).

Also, like Israel, I'm not sure why people are down on Najeh. Or, why those same people, are so high on Duckett. The only difference, as best I can tell, is that one will cost a hell of a lot more than the other.

* FTID has possibly the best rumor … well, ever:

Some yahoo over at Yahoo posted that the Steelers are secretly pursuing a trade of Big Ben to the Raiders for lots of picks. The guy didn't give a source except to say "a friend who works for the NFL" (My guess is the friend sells beers at Heinz Field). Has anyone else read anything to lead them to believe that this guy is anything but completely full of... well, you know...

Maybe the Raiders were impressed with Big Ben's ability to throw touchdowns to Oakland players. You know, something Andrew Walter and Aaron Brooks struggled to do. I like this trade. And I want the Steelers to draft Brady Quinn with the top pick too.

* SteelerBill shares some sad news: Michael Irvin is out at ESPN. I wrote about this ad nauseum on AOL, and if anybody's interested in losing anywhere between 50 and all of your IQ points, I'd encourage you to read every comments (especially this one, and this one ... and this one). All one million of them. Honestly, I was shocked Irvin had to many supporters, but it turns out they are all Cowboys fans. I can understand that on some level, I guess, but jeebus the guy was awful at his job.

* In other on-air-personality news, Bob Smizik, who still gets his hair done by Richard Simmons' stylist, rips Bill Cowher a new one for, as best I can tell, being a dullard. Look, I'm all for making fun of people, but does anybody else think Smizik's just being a dick? Well, a bigger dick than usual? Whatever, Larry.

* Finally, it looks like Big Ben ain't the only NFL quarterback who's life changed because he forgot to wear a helmet. Too easy, I know.

*******
I got an e-mail the other day asking if I'd talk about UNC basketball since I really haven't, well, in about two years. Sure, why not (I'm easy that way).

* I think Henigin is the Virginia Tech guy, so congrats on that beatdown last week. Obviously, it was frustrating for me to watch that game, but here's my question: How the hell has Tech lost seven games. And more importantly, how the hell are they near the bottom of the conference in rebounding?

The e-mailer had some not-so-nice thoughts on the Heels' performance:

The loss to VT on Tuesday was the worst coaching performance I have ever seen by ole’ Roy ! In the closing seconds of regulation, Roy calls a timeout, to design a play that had Lawson dribbling at the top of the key and shooting a 3 as time expires. No drive to the basket? No dump in to the post (Wright or Hansborough)? No shot for Ellington coming off a screen? WTF?

Yeah, I was talking to my buddy Andy about this and he wondered why the hell Lawton was taking so many shots down the stretch.

My feelings -- and that's all the are -- is that the play wasn't designed for Lawton to shoot a 20-footer. I think Tech did a good job of denying Lawton room to penetrate and he got caught having to take a tough shot.

That said, I have no real sense of what makes a college basketball coach "bad" other than wins and losses. Teams get, what, 80 timeouts each? As long as there are five players on the court and nobody kicks the basketball in the stands or something, all most coaches seem to do is yell at the refs, yell at their players, call out the defense, and yell at the ref some more.

Obviously, there's more to it than that -- and I think Williams does a good job subbing players (having 12 All Americans makes that a lot easier, I imagine) -- but in terms of Xs and Os, I really have no sense for what makes one coach better than another.

Finally, I hate Josh McRoberts Norbert McNerdbert. That is all.

Not Dead Yet

The plan is coming together nicely. After becoming the first team to start 7-5, win out in the regular season, win three straight road playoff games as the wild card and then win the Super Bowl, the Steelers look better that record this season. After a 2-6 start, Pittsburgh has won two games in a row since … well, the 2005 postseason.

At 4-6 all we have to do is sit back and watch everything fall into place. Okay, it probably won't play out exactly like that, but at least we have a reason to watch next week other than the sole purpose of hoping for a Ravens collapse. That'll still be on the agenda, but now it's secondary to Pittsburgh Keeping Hope Alive for one more week.

Alright, enough with the day dreaming. Here's something I meant to write about last week but I never found the time. After some discussions in the comments – I think Adam Gretz was complaining about how absolutely dreadful Joe Bendel and Tim Benz were as a radio team – I got to thinking about how these here internets have changed things. But before I get to that, a few words on B & B from Adam:

I've talked about this before, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why Stan Savran lost his post game radio show for Tim Benz and Joe Bendel. Sweet jumping Jesus are these guys awful. Maybe Stan wasn't "hip" enough...perhaps he's not edgy...maybe he isn't in touch with the MTV generation...but holy shit he's better than Joe freakin' Bendel and Tim Benz.

Since I don't live in Pittsburgh, I guess the good news is that I'm not subjected to Bendel's radio idiocy. And to be fair, I've only heard him once, when I was driving home from training camp. He and Benz were giving each other reach arounds while not talking about anything remotely interesting.

The fact that Bendel no longer writes for the Tribune-Review is also good news. He's the primary reason I started the Captain Pantload Watch. I can't stress enough how utterly useless he was as a beat reporter. I suspect he's not much better on-air, and while I know radio stations are driven by ratings – with things like moral decency and common sense coming in a distant second – I have no idea how a Bendel-Benz show makes sense on any level.

I guess this is how the competition combats Mark Madden's stranglehold on the local media ratings. By the way, does anything scream "Man, how dumb are sports fans in this town if this guy has the highest-rated radio show?" than Madden's tired act? I've lived in Boston and DC in addition to Pittsburgh and all are rabid sports towns. Granted, metropolitan Boston and DC are much larger than Pittsburgh, but their sports talk is infinitely better, too. Sure, Boston has their share of dumbass radio guys, but not every one of them sucks. DC is probably the least ridiculous of the bunch and this is a town that calls the Washington Redskins the hometown team.

Anyway, maybe the Pittsburgh media outlets are finally realizing that Madden's a fat slob not good for anything other than making stuff up and cleaning up at the buffet table. Old man Smizik recounts the latest – which includes Channel 4 firing Madden for being a prick. My only question is what took so long?

Seriously, when do ratings trump common sense? I know, I know, I ask this question every year, but I have yet to get a good answer. Or even an answer, for that matter. Who are these people that enjoy listening to him? Has anybody met them? Do they have three heads? I just don't get it.

Anyway, the point of this post was to ask a very simple question: Where do you get your sports news. And specifically, your Steelers news?

For me, my routine, especially during the football season, was to fire up the computer and read the Post-Gazette followed by the Tribune-Review. In 2003, my first year out of Pittsburgh, I actually subscribed to Black & Gold Insider, a $20 scam perpetrated by the PG under the guise of "insider content." Okay, whatever.

Because I'm not very smart, I spent $30 in 2005 for the Trib's version and it was infinitely less informative. Yeah, I thought that was impossible too, but it's not. Not even close.

Now, I get most of my Steelers news from skimming headlines, Bill Cowher press conference transcripts and any Wexell interviews/notebook columns. (Doesn't that tell you something about the state of news reporting when I just prefer to listen to Cowher blow smoke up guys' asses for 30 minutes instead of reading the exact same thing in Wednesday's paper?)

I'll also check the Football Outsider stats to get an idea of who's doing what, how the different units are fairing (except special teams, I know they're awful) and maybe how the opponent looks. I might also read the opponents' local paper just to see what they're up to.

And if I have a particular question, I'll usually look up the data and write something up if it's interesting. I think it's telling that I read the Washington Posts' Sports section every day and I loathe all things Redskins. Sure, I'm sitting on a subway for an hour a day and I need to kill time, but I could just as easily read a book or act like I actually know how to solve Suduko. The Posts' Redskins coverage is light years better than what anybody at the two big Pittsburgh papers is even thinking about doing. Why is that? It's not like the Post has a monopoly on all the good beat reporters.

(I think part of it has to do with the area. DC's a big market and if the Post's coverage slipped, people would go elsewhere. In Pittsburgh you get the sense that this is how things have always been and why change something that's working, even if it's not working all that well. It's thinking like this that leads to voting with my feet mouse. But I digress … )

But as far as local coverage, I sometimes go days without reading the two papers. And like I've said before, I'll check out Eddie B's Daily Question and Chat transcript only if I need a good laugh.

I think it says something when reading the paper in no way enhances your appreciation of the football-viewing experience. It still amazes me that the old school reporters still regurgitate dumb stats like total yards and points allowed when we know they're not a true measure of a team's true abilities. And when you throw in all the hysteria that is ESPN (and shows of their ilk) I'm pretty sure too much exposure will actually make you dumber. (Right Michael Irvin? Of course, doing blow has that effect to … or so I've been told.)

Anyway, here's my little midseason mini-tirade against the mainstream media. If all goes according to plan, I'll be running things in short order. I approve this message.