Teams – Page 11 – Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

Terry O’Shea, Steelers Tight End, 1989-1990

First, can you let readers know what you’ve been doing since your time in the NFL and how you got started in this line of work?

I’m holding up well.

I have a wife (Amy) and two kids – Moira (13) and Delaney (11).

I’m self-employed. I was in the environmental business until 9-11. I was laid off about six months after that. Now, I work on internet marketing and I’m glad I’m into it. I got into it through networking with some others that were involved in it. We have a strong focus on the health and wellness industries.

Continue reading “Terry O’Shea, Steelers Tight End, 1989-1990”

Mark Mravic, Author, “Pittsburgh Steelers: Pride in Black and Gold”

Mark Mravic:

First, can you let readers know how and why you decided to write “Pittsburgh Steelers: Pride in Black and Gold’ and how you started doing so?

With this being the 80th season of Steelers football, we thought it would be a good time to look back at the history of the franchise, what it’s meant to the city and the NFL, and the great personalities and games for which it’s known.

What makes the book unique in its coverage of the Steelers?

What we’ve done is separate the book into three sections: The Pride, Players and the Prize. The first examines the team’s unique bond with the city, from the early struggles through the great Super Bowl teams, embodied in the continuous ownership by the Rooney family and the smart choices the team has made to maintain stability, beginning with the hiring of Chuck Noll. We went back and found relevant stories from the pages of SI, and here we reprinted Myron Cope’s great history of the Terrible Towel to accompany some historical photographs.

Then we grouped together some of the great players who’ve worn the Steelers uniform through the years, from Ernie Stautner and Jack Butler through the Steel Curtain teams to the Tomlin and Roethlisberger years, with accompanying text and excerpted stories on each one.

The third section reprints each of Sports Illustrated’s game stories from the six Super Bowl victories.

The real distinction of the book, apart from revisited some of SI’s great sportswriting on the Steelers, is that we went deep into the photo archives for a lot of pictures that have never before been published, and many that haven’t even been seen by anyone in decades. There’s a great untapped store of sports photography there—when SI shoots a football game, maybe a half-dozen or so shots end up in the magazine that week. But the photographers have shot literally hundreds of pictures (and with digital cameras now, thousands). When we are putting the weekly magazine together, that number gets winnowed by the photo editors to maybe 100 that the editors then sort through to make their selection based on the subject of that week’s story. The rest get stored away.

So going back through all of that stuff, from old pictures of the Steel Curtain defense to outtakes from those Super Bowls, was just a phenomenal experience.

How can readers purchase the book?

There are actually two versions: a large hardcover coffee table book and a smaller-format softcover. The former can be ordered online through Barnes & Noble’s website and Amazon.com. The latter are on newsstands and in some Pittsburgh-area supermarkets like Giant Eagle and other stores.

How did your role as the Assistant Managing Editor at Sports Illustrated make your job easier or harder as you researched and wrote the book?

Well, I’m AME but also oversee the NFL beat, so I’m very familiar with our Steelers coverage through the years. As AME I also had the authority to make the final call on the format, the particular story selections and picture choices.

As a Pittsburgh native/Steelers fan, how difficult was it for you to stay unbiased in our coverage?

It’s not particularly difficult—I think I’m able to compartmentalize my fandom and guide our football coverage objectively based on what I think the Sports Illustrated reader would like. I won’t deny that I get a special thrill working on Steelers stories (and this book was a kid-in-the-candy store experience), but professionally I’ve treated the Steelers like any other NFL team. (Everyone at Sports Illustrated grew up a fan of some team; you wouldn’t be in the business if you didn’t have that background.)

The Steelers have been good for so long that we do cover them more than some other teams, but when it’s time to be critical we have not pulled any punches. Our cover story on the Roethlisberger scandal from a few years back was very harsh but authoritative—we went after that story with all of our resources and no hesitation.

What surprised you most as you researched and wrote the book – and why?

Outside of discovering that treasure trove of photography, I did learn about players I was not familiar with from the pre-Super Bowl days, particularly Jack Butler and Elbie Nickel. It was great to learn more about the history of those old teams and those great players.

Concussions and head trauma and the issues many former players deal with as a result of those injuries are a big topic today. How do you find the players you speak with to be on those issues. Angry at the NFL, accepting of them as a game risk…?

It’s really a mix. A lot of old players accept the physical toll—the bad knees, bad backs, etc., as something they were prepared to deal with. But we’re learning more about the potential psychological toll—depression, memory loss, dementia—and there is a lot of unhappiness and fear. You’ve got nearly 3,000 former players suing the league. It’s a huge issue.

And now I think some active players are beginning to think seriously about the repurcussions of their profession. They’re less willing to just “shake it off and get back in” when they’ve suffered a head injury, and more generally you’re beginning to hear some players say they would be concerned to let their children play football.

The Steelers have always embodied that physical nature of the sport. How in your opinion does/can the NFL successfully manage the need to keep a certain level of “old school” physicality in the game while better protecting players today?

The various rules changes and punishments the league is instituting have made a difference (it’s one reason why offenses are so much more prolific these days). Hard hits are always going to be part of the game, though, and even clean hits can cause serious injury (as when a player’s head slams the turf when he’s tackled). Players have been brought up in a culture that rewards and celebrates those hard hits, and I don’t really see that changing.

What needs to happen, as much as possible, is for coaches at all levels, beginning in peewee football, to teach proper tackling and blocking fundamentals and downplay the macho celebration of that physicality.

Who were some of the biggest characters on the Steelers teams and what made them so? Any examples?

So many of those guys from the ’70s era were characters, from Bradshaw and Harris and Lambert to Ernie Holmes and Frenchy Fuqua. They were also so much more approachable that today’s player—there weren’t 10 layers of PR between the media, the fans and the teams, or a uniform image that the league was trying to project. You still get that occasionally with players—Hines Ward comes to mind as a guy who was very up front with the media and always willing to speak his mind.

In your discussions with players over the years, how much did they discuss the difficulties players have on adjusting to post-NFL life, and what do you find separates those that struggled to do so from those that did not?

You just never know who may or may not struggle post-career. Some players are very smart with their money and in their personal lives others are not; that’s a big factor obviously in the adjustment to a career beyond football. But in terms of the physical struggle, it’s very hard to explain why a guy like former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon is apparently suffering the effects of the hits he took as a player while Terry Bradshaw, who took plenty of knocks of his own and has admitted to suffering multiple concussions, seems pretty much unaffected.

Most people are familiar with the unusual number of untimely deaths among former Steelers players, from Mike Webster to Justin Strzelczyk to Terry Long. Those old Steelers teams have been linked to steroid use—Steve Courson was the first really outspoken anti-steroid crusader—and while as far as I know there’s not a clear scientific link between steroid use and emotional or psychological difficulty, it’s hard not to think that the way some guys push their bodies, either within the rules or outside of them, can have a serious effect on their overall emotional health.

Without revealing too much, what players and stories were the most powerful, from your perspective. And why?

I really enjoyed revisiting all six of those Super Bowl stories—the first four because I was a young fan during at the time and remember eagerly awaiting my SI to read about the victories, and the last two because I personally edited those stories and had the strange experience of having my fandom and my professional life come together so perfectly. And I thought about the new generation of Steelers fans who may be experiencing what I felt as a kid back in the ’70s. In seventh grade I made a poster in art class of the SI cover with Swann’s amazing diving catch from Super Bowl X.

Now I’m working for that very magazine, hopefully making some other young fan happy about his team and his heroes in the same way.

Any last thoughts for readers?

I hope everyone enjoys the book. It was a real pleasure to work on, and hope some of that comes through.

Jim O’Brien: Pirates have provided us with a wonderful summer

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

It was well past midnight on Monday and I was still up. I had planned to go to bed around ten o’clock because I had to get up early on Tuesday. I am putting a new book to bed this week, and I have had my foot to the printing pedal all week to meet my own deadlines.

The Pirates were deadlocked with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, and the game was well into extra innings.

I had checked out bits and pieces of the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament during the day and the men’s championship final had lasted a record five hours, so I could handle a marathon baseball game as well.

The U.S. Open ended the way I wanted it to, with Andrew Murray, a Scot who won the gold medal at the Olympic Games, outlasting No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

I have come to like Djokovic, but I was rooting for Murray, who looks like a kid at his first summer sleep-away camp, say CampFalcon or something like that, and he came through. I also was glad to see Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka in a close match for her 15^th Grand Slam title.

But back to the Bucs. I’m pulling for the Pirates to pull this one out. I remain interested because of the kind of thrills and spills they have provided us this summer. People in Pittsburgh actually care about the Pirates again. I had dozed off earlier and been told to go to bed, but I rallied and stayed with the Bucs.

The Pirates posted the longest string of losing seasons – 19 – than any other team in any professional sport in America – and there was evidence that they could have a winning team. There were even overzealous fans talking about a wild-card spot in the playoffs and complaining about the price of playoff and World Series tickets.

I’m sitting there and I’m wondering just who it is that I am rooting for. Wandy Rodriguez was the starting pitcher for the Pirates, and he actually pitched well for a change. He was obtained in a trade that was supposed to help us in the stretch run.

A pitcher named Chris Leroux looked terrific in one of the relief efforts, and now a Dutchman, yes, he grew up in The Netherlands, is pitching for the Pirates. His name is Rick van den Kirk. The name VANDENKIRK is across the back of his uniform and I am thinking it is the longest name in Pittsburgh sports these days this side of ROETHLISBERGER.

The shortstop is a guy named Chase d’Arnaud, the second baseman is named Brock Holt – or is that Tim Holt, the old cowboy? – the left-fielder is named Starling Marte, and the Pirates have had pinch-hitters in the game named Travis Snider and Gaby Sanchez.

Who are these guys? Where have you gone, Neil Walk?

This was a season when my wife Kathie could tell you the Pirates’ starting lineup for the first time in 20 years. I could tell you the starting lineup for the first time since 1979, and something about each of the players. And then they bring in the Indianapolis team from Triple A to turn things around and, so far, it ain’t happening.

The Pirates loaded the bases in the top of the 14^th inning with no outs. And they couldn’t score a run. Pedro Alvarez grounds out to the first baseman, hitting a bad pitch to do so, and fails to advance any runners. Jose Tabata grounds out to end the threat. He also swung at a bad pitch.

Before you know it, the Reds have runners on base in the bottom of the 14^th inning. It’s 12:30 a.m. Am I crazy or what for staying up, thinking the Pirates could pull it out? The Reds win it when d’Arnaud fails to come up with the ball in deep short and the Reds are celebrating. It was a good effort, but d’Arnaud, like so many of the Pirates, just isn’t good enough, especially with the game on the line.

There were over 500 dogs in the ballpark as part of a special promotion – and I’m not counting any of these new Pirates – and there is howling in the stands. Did you hear that howling? It was scary stuff right out of one of those horror flicks.

At first, I was blaming it on teenagers who got bored in the late going, but then the camera focused on some dogs in the ballpark, the four-footed ones. There were just over 16,500 people in the stands. It was the smallest crowd of the season at Great American Ballpark. The Pirates also drew the second-smallest crowd earlier this season. Didn’t the Cincinnati baseball fans know a pennant race was going on and their team held the lead?

I believe we have better fans. And Pittsburgh baseball fans are the best sports fans in town because they haven’t exactly been spoiled over the last two decades.

The Pirates couldn’t get a run in the top of the 14^th inning with the bases loaded and no outs, and now the Reds have won the game and are celebrating on the field. The Pirates were now 12 games behind the first-place Reds in the National League Central Division.

I think we can forget about the wild-card playoff spot and the World Series. The Pirates had just lost for the 21^st time in their last 30 games, and you can add whatever has happened since to that total. What a bummer!

The Pirates were swept in three games at home over the weekend by the Chicago Cubs of all people. They had lost to the Houston Astros in their last go-round in the National League before they jump to the American League next season.

Bucs’ fans who don’t know any better had figured the Pirates would beat the Astros and Cubs, looking at them as soft spots in the schedule. Listen in closely…there are no soft spots in the Pirates’ schedule.

Like the Pitt and Penn State football teams this season, the Pirates are simply not good enough right now – maybe by next year – to be serious contenders. Too many holes in the lineup, too many automatic outs, two reserve catchers do not make one full-time catcher, too many unreliable pitchers and catchers and hitters.

No wonder the fans continue to hold on to Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente when it comes to buying a Bucs’ blouse.

It’s 12:36 a.m. and I am getting into bed.

I slept well.

I can’t forget the kind of summer the Pirates have delivered for the most part. They had Pittsburgh interested in major league baseball again. People were talking about the Pirates. People were coming to PNCPark, people were watching the games on TV at record ratings numbers, and listening on the radio. People cared about the Pirates.

Alvarez had his great days, and so did Joel Hanrahan and A.J. Burnett, and Andrew McCutcheon and Garrett Jones.

I would urge you to go to your nearest card shop and get a “thank you” card and send it to the Pirates’ players. It was a good summer until it was time for the kids to go back to school.

The Pirates frustrated us so much this summer because they proved they could win games most of the season, and that’s why it has hurt so much when they hit the same kind of season-ending slump that ruined last season.

I had a fan come up to me a few weeks back and tell me he didn’t like the Pirates’ new pitcher, Wandy Rodriguez. I asked him how well he knew Wandy Rodriguez to arrive at that position.

He said he didn’t like his body language.

That made me realize that the Bucs’ do have bad body language in their lineup. So many of them, starting with Rodriguez, Alvarez and Tabata and Correira, never show any emotion. It’s like they all had face lifts at the same medical center as Joan Rivers.

I love it when the new pitcher from Japan – Takahashi – puts a glove over his mouth so no one knows what he’s saying during mound sessions with his catcher. No one knows what he’s saying anyhow. He speaks little English. Who’s going to pick up on anything he mutters to his catcher?

Clint Hurdle has to be disappointed. He looked like a candidate for Manager of the Year for such a long time, and now this. “I’ve heard that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” Hurdle said after this one, taking a break from blowing bubble gum in the dugout. His jaw has to be tired for this stretch run. His jaw has to be stretched to the limit.

Hey, Hurdle has great body language otherwise, and he looks alive, something John Russell did not, so he’s a real improvement on his predecessor.

I went to a high school game on Friday night to see my local team, the Upper St. Clair Panthers, play at Canon-McMillan in one of my favorite settings in Canonsburg. I sat on the visitors’ side for a change, which was a mistake, because the temporary stands (the last five or six years) are so low you can’t see over the USC players standing on the sideline.

Upper St. Clair, followed up a season-open victory over Woodland Hills (31-12) with a 50-0 victory over the not-so-mighty Macs. They were up 43-0 at the half.

Then I watched bits and pieces of Pitt and PennState losing their second games in as many outings. Robert Morris lost. Duquesne won and so did CMU. I was so happy to see CMU win at AlleghenyCollege.

The CMU coach, Rick Lackner, lost his wife Cindy to cancer a few weeks back, and I kept thinking about what he was saying about her mettle over the previous eight years. “She could play for us,” I heard Lackner tell a man who was previously on his coaching staff at CMU.

I love the Lackner family – Rich’s parents, Dan and Lois – are great people. I didn’t know his wife, but I’ve heard great things about her spirit.

Some times it helps to think about what’s going on in the real world, and even in our own neighborhoods, to keep in mind that our sports teams are mere diversions in our daily lives. We can’t always depend on them to make our day.

Pittsburgh author Jim O’Brien is working on a book called Immaculate Reflections, which will be out in late October. His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

Daniel Piacquadio – Harold’s Corral Sports Bar

Daniel Piacquadio – Harold’s Corral Sports Bar:

First, can you tell readers about how you got involved with Harold’s and when?

I grew up in Pittsburgh and moved here out Arizona in ’87. I graduated from Seton-LaSalle high school.

My dad owned a couple of restaurants (Pasta Too in Bethel Park and Piacquadios in Mt. Lebanon) in Pittsburgh. He started dating a lady that lived in Cave Creek Az. and fell in love with Arizona. He moved out there to the Cave Creek area – at that time, Cave Creek was about a a half-hour to 45 minutes from Phoenix. Later, I went to Arizona State University – I had some friends from Pittsburgh there so it was an easy transition.

My dad bought Harolds in ’87. Before then, my friends and I used to watch Steelers games in the back of bars when I was still in school. After three years of owning the restaurant, we started going and spending time watching the games with my dad at the restaurant. It started off with maybe ten or twelve people. Now, we have over 1,500 in the fan club and over 600-650 people come to see the games, on average.

What makes Harold’s so unique?

There are lots of Steelers sports bars, but this is unique in that a guy from Pittsburgh owns it. I am able to do stuff that maybe other fan clubs can’t. We have the passion for it. We have a 10×11 screen. We know and serve the Pittsburgh food – we put that in there. We give you the full Pittsburgh experience, even though it’s a country western bar with boots hanging from the ceiling.

What are some of the more memorable times/occurrences you’ve had at Harold’s, and what made them so?

We got 3,200 fans for the Seattle Super Bowl, 3,600 for the Arizona Super Bowl and 3,800 for the Green Bay Super Bowl. We’re right next to a Green Bay sports bar and share a parking lot, so during the Green Bay Super Bowl we actually together had over 6,200 fans!

I remember a few years ago I got a phone call from Mel Blount. He was referred to me by the Steelers marketing director Tony Quatrini and Bill Hillgrove. He asked me if I knew who he was and I said of course (laughing). I asked how I could help him, and he said they wanted to come out to Arizona for the Steelers game and expand their fundraising efforts there and wanted our help working with our fan club.

Well, we created events – a golf tournament and fan fest on saturday the day before the game- that brought in over $30,000.

Mel Blount called me again a couple of years later and we threw a huge event and gold tournament. Blount, Mike Wagner, Andy Russell all came and Donnie Iris played. We had over 2,200 people rocking to Donnie Iris. Bill Hillgrove mc’d – it was a great experience.

I actually went to Mel Blount’s boys home ion Washington, PA. I was blown away by his dedication to those boys. He was raised on a farm and now owns acres of land. He has the boys do what he used to do when he was on the farm growing up – taking care of the animals and the farm. He’s an impressive man – he’s still bag and looks like he could still play today!

From caged lions and tigers to frequent visits by celebrities, Harold’s has a rich history. How did that history come about – what made Harold’s such a unique place from it’s beginning?

The Corral started in 1935 – it was started by a guy named Johnny Walker. And that time it was a liquor stand really – that’s all they did. Two dams were being built in the area and the construction workers would come there and buy beer – it was really their one social engagement they had.

Harold bought it in 1955 and did some crazy stuff to bring people to Cave Creek from Phoenix. Live tigers and lions, gunfights….stuff like that.

No live animals today?

(laughing) We inquired with the zoo to see if we could bring in a live tiger to celebrate the anniversary of Harolds, but that didn’t go over. We do live gunfights still – we just use blanks!

We’ve added to it since. One of Harold’s grandsons has become a big Steelers fan. He’s happy to see what we’ve done with it now. It’s now the biggest Steelers bar in the country, I assume. It’s bizarre but a really cool thing.

What’s the most difficult aspect of running a place like Harold’s, and why?

I was flipping pizzas since i was twelve. The restaurant business is in our blood – my grandfather and father both owned restaurants.

It’s rewarding meeting people. We sell season passes for tables, just like they do in the stadium for seats. There are some people who have sat at the same table for fifteen to twenty years. We’ve gone to weddings and made lots of friendships with those people.

The challenges are really just of the every day business. It’s not the easiest business to be in.

What’s next/new for Harold’s in 2012-2013?

We’ll bring in a recently retired Steelers player this year – I can’t say who it is yet. We’re not playing the Cardinals this year in Arizona, so the fan club will do a road trip – probably to Pittsburgh.

As a Steelers fan, what are you looking forward to most from the team this season and why?

I love this year’s team. Cincinnati with their young players will be tough. Baltimore’s always tough. Playing them twice in three weeks – I just hope we survive and don’t have any injuries.

I think Haley will inspire Ben – he’s still one of the best quarterbacks in the league today. I think he needed that push Haley will give him. The concern is that we lost veterans like Hoke, Farrior and Hines, but the bond in the locker room overcomes that.

I’m excited. I’m optimistic at this time every year, but I think this is the year. I think this team is better than last year’s.

The Steelers Defense: Prone to Fourth Quarter Letdowns? The Numbers Suggest Otherwise

Ron Lippock:

We’ve seen the players, media and fans speak to the issue. The fact the Steelers’ defense falters in the fourth quarter, letting up leads and losing games.

It sure feels that way after suffering end-of-game scores that led to losses last season to Baltimore and Denver.

But, the facts belie the feeling.

Of the top three defenses in the NFL in 2011- Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Baltimore, according to ESPN’s drive charts, the percent of drives that led to scores (excluding “drives” with unreasonable scoring expectations – like 30 seconds left before the half on one’s own 20) for each team is as follows:

Across all four quarters:

San Francisco: 25%
Pittsburgh: 26%
Baltimore: 28%

On fourth quarter drives:

Pittsburgh: 26%
Baltimore: 28%
San Francisco: 33%

On fourth quarter drives where the game is within 14 points(and there’s still time enough to won – excludes scores that bring it to a once score game with seconds left on the clock, for example):

San Francisco: 26%
Pittsburgh: 29%
Baltimore: 33%

While the team slips slightly (by 3%) when the game is close in the 4th quarter, the numbers still show Pittsburgh’s defense is stout in the fourth – as much so as the other leaders. Just a couple stinging losses don’t make it feel that way.

It is interesting to note that most defenses slip percentage-wise in the 4th quarter in close games as offenses become more pass-oriented….

Stewart O’Nan, Author

Stewart O’Nan:

First, can you let readers now about your latest projects – what should we be looking out for from you next?

I’ve just started a historical novel set in L.A. in the late ’30s. It involves historical figures, so the research is involved (and fascinating). I’m hoping to have a draft done late next year.

You didn’t start off as a writer. What made you decide to transition from a test engineer for an aerospace company to full-time writer, and how nervous were you about making that kind of commitment to writing?

I’ve always been a big reader, and in my mid-twenties I just started writing short stories after work. Some of them were published in literary magazines, and a few won prizes. My wife encouraged me to pursue writing fulltime, since I was spending all of my free hours doing it anyway.

With her support, I went back to Cornell and got an MFA. I wrote four books in three years up there, and one of them was Snow Angels.

Much of what you write – from Emily, Alone, Last Night at the Lobster and the Missing to The Odds: A Love Story – focus at the core on the middle class and middle class struggles. Do you think Pittsburgh represents the spirit and hardships you write about and vice versa- and is that a reason why you chose to live in the city?

Growing up in Pittsburgh in the ’70s, I was very aware of what a bad economy does to people–the fears they have and the choices they have to make–so it’s no surprise that I often write about the downwardly mobile middle class. My wife and I promised each other that when our kids were done with high school, we’d move back to a city. We looked at Boston, where we’d lived in the ’80s, but it was insanely expensive, and my whole family’s still in Pittsburgh, so it was an easy decision.

Best move we ever made.

What are your thoughts on the Pittsburgh writing community – is there enough support for local writers? How can it better support local writers?

I’m still new to this version of Pittsburgh, and since we’ve moved back I’ve spent way too much time on the road, but I’m amazed at how many writing communities there are in Pittsburgh. Between the library, the universities, the Drue Heinz Lectures, Sampsonia Way, Braddock Ave. Books–there’s a lot going on.

Maybe more residencies?

Many of your books involve missing persons and violence – and a bit of the macabre. Why choose those vehicles in your stories – especially missing persons – across so many of your novels?

It’s universal. As humans, we’re going to lose everyone close to us. Our parents will die, our lovers will die, with any luck we’ll die before our children. So there’s always going to be someone missing, there’s always going to be a loss we can’t recoup.

The violence in the early books comes out of characters in extreme situations not having the faith (or resources) to go on after these losses. The later books are more about endurance–how, even though we miss people we wish were there for us, we find ways to get from day to day.

How has sports influenced you and your writing?

As a Pirates and Red Sox fan, I’ve learned that the good times don’t last forever, but neither do the bad ones. As Terry Francona says: “Don’t get too high, don’t get too low.”

You are a self-professed Pirates fan despite writing about the Red Sox in your book Faithful that you co-wrote with Stephen King. How did you come to be a Pirates fan and are you allowing yourself to become optimistic about the team yet?

My Grandmother O’Nan was a big Pirates fan. She listened to them on the radio. And my older brother and his friends were ballplayers and big Bucs fans. Like the library, Forbes Field was less than a mile from our house, so we’d take the bus there. My grandmother made sure we had tickets for the first game in Three Rivers.

I’m allowing myself to be optimistic about the Pirates for no other reason than they win when I go to the ballpark. Their home record is excellent this year, but even back in our 105-loss 2010 season, they were 20-10 at PNC when I was there.

This year I’ve got two 20-game plans plus some stray singles, so I’ll be there more than not. Let’s Go Bucs!

Have you had a chance to meet any of the Pirates players or front office staff? If so, what was that experience like for you?

I met Cutch and Walker in ’07 when they were with the Altoona Curve. I was living up in Hartford, and went to see them when they came to New Britain. I was more tuned into the minors then.

Also saw Cutch at Piratefest this year and asked him what his favorite book was. I kind of ambushed him with the question (it was live radio) but he picked a good one: Lord of the Flies. The guy’s a six-tool player: for such a young man, he carries the mantle of the franchise with amazing ease.

If you could be GM of the Pirates for a day, you would ….?

Give Clint Hurdle an extension.

Do you think Pittsburgh relies too much on sports to define itself? Why/why not?

I think it was necessary back in the day, when we were defensive about what was happening to us economically (and culturally). In the world’s (and some of our) eyes, they were the only thing major league about the city. Now we’ve got lots of reasons to be proud, but–especially when we’re far from home–the Stillers, Pens and Bucs still bring us together.

What’s surprised you the most over the course of your writing career, and why?

The radical changes in publishing and bookselling. I’ve been publishing for only twenty years, but I’ve seen the rise of the big box stores and the decline of the independents, the German takeover and consolidation of the major houses, the beginning of Amazon, Oprahmania, three or four attempts at launching a viable e-book reader (remember Rocketbook?), Harry Potter and the YA craze, the death of the big box stores, the hardball marketing of the Nook & Kindle, the battle of the independents to keep going . . .

And I thought aerospace was a volatile business.

Any last thoughts for readers?

Please support your public library. And thank you for reading.

REVENGE IN THE ROCKIES” (ALL DAY Steeler Fan Rally)

STEELER FOOTBALL IS BACK!!

What better place is there to begin our “stairway to seven” than in Denver? We all remember the last matchup, the last play and the bitter taste of defeat we so rarely experience. THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW!! Come welcome Peyton back into the league with thousands of the greatest and most devoted fans in the world, as we INVADE DENVER with towels waving and lungs blazing! The madness officially begins one day early before we seek…

“REVENGE IN THE ROCKIES” (ALL DAY Steeler Fan Rally)

Saturday, September 8

Featuring two fromer Steeler greats…

ANDY RUSSELL and JOHN “FRENCHY” FUQUA

Rusty Bucket Bar & Grill, 3355 S. Wadsworth Blvd, Lakewood, CO 80227

(303) 980-6200

~ FREE entry to Steeler fans

~ Player autographs

~ LIVE Steeler DJ & Fight Songs

~ Steeler Highlight films

~ Black and Gold Raffles by Steelcity Mafia

~ LIVE Polka by “Accordion Joe”

~ Iron City Beer and Primanti Style Sandwiches

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Jim O’Brien: Blass blessed to be still living the dream

Blass blessed to be still living the dream

By Jim O’Brien, Columnnist, Pittsburgh Business Times

Steve Blass says he is blessed by the gods of baseball. He fell in love with the game as a kid in Caanan, Conn., and found a way to make it his life’s work.

“Of course, it’s not really work,” said Blass before a recent Pirates’ game at PNC Park. “Willie Stargell used to say the umpire says ‘Play ball.’ He doesn’t say ‘Work ball.’ ”

Blass counts playing ball with Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente, Bob Friend, Bill Mazeroski and his neighbor and buddy Dave Giusti among those blessings. He said Maz once told him not to make excuses: “They care why you could and not why you can’t.”

Blass can’t believe he’s 70 and nearing his 20^th year as a color commentator for Bucs’ baseball. He was an outstanding right-handed pitcher for the Pirates for ten years (1964-1974). His career record was 103-76).

He was a World Series hero in 1971 against the Baltimore Orioles when he pitched two complete game victories, giving up only seven hits and two runs in 18 innings, winning the seventh game 2-1. He finished second in the World Series MVP voting to Clemente. His career was cut short in his prime when he could no longer control his pitches. That condition is now called “the Steve Blass Disease.”

He never lost his sense of humor and it has served him well working with Greg Brown on the Bucs’ broadcasting team.

Former Pirates’ broadcaster Lanny Frattare says Blass has become one of the most popular Pirates ever. Blass, in turn, says he learned his craft from all the announcers he worked with, beginning with Bob Prince, Frattare, Mike Lange, Brown and John Sanders. “I paid attention and they brought me along.

“One of my friends told me I am getting paid for something I did 40 years ago. I’ve been through 19 straight losing seasons, but I didn’t let that get me down. It was still a privilege to live my life with the Pirates.”

He teamed up with writer Erik Sherman for a memoir this past May called “A Pirate For Life.” Blass shares stories about the ups and downs of his career, and the book is a delightful read.

“It’s my love letter to Pirates’ fans,” said Blass. “I’m so happy for the fans that we’ve had the kind of season we have enjoyed most of this summer. The fans deserve this.”

Blass bought a home in Upper St. Clair early in his career and he still lives there, just around the corner from Dave Giusti, one of the great relief pitchers in Pirates’ history.

“I’ve had a good life,” said Blass. “I’ve been with one team, one wife and one house. Not many people can say that.”

Blass was spotted at a Washington Wild Things ball game during the Major League All-Star break.

His wife Karen accompanied him. “He gets a few days off,” she said, “and what’s he do? He takes me to a baseball game.”

In 2005, Blass did make the decision to serve as color commentator for only home games so he could spend more time with his family. He serves as a goodwill ambassador, speaking at luncheons and playing in charity golf outings.

Blass is a pretty good golfer. He had two holes-in-one in 2009 in one 18-hole outing. “He’s great to play with,” said one fan. “He has a funny line about something for every hole.”

He does the same as the jester at Fantasy Camp each January, and his presence alone is worth the price of admission.

Blass credits Prince for his popularity. “Bob Prince said don’t ever say ‘no’ to anything in your own community.”

Anyone who wants the full story on Blass will have to buy his book, but his attitude is to be admired. “I’ve had the two best jobs in baseball,” said Blass. “I was a starting pitcher and only had to work every five days. And then being a baseball broadcaster. There’s no pressure; this is a lark. Everyone is more fun to be around when you’re winning, but it’s just not in me to get down about the team. Hey, I’m still living the dream.”

Jim O’Brien has written 20 books, including “Fantasy Camp: Living the Dream With Maz and the ’60 Bucs.” His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com

Jim O’Brien: Homestead’s Charlie Batch hopes to stick with Steelers for another season

Pittsburgh sports author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien

This Thursday may be a make or break night for Homestead’s Charlie Batch.

Once again, he and Byron Leftwich are looking to stick with the Steelers as backup quarterbacks to starter Ben Roethlisberger.

There’s a new kid on the block with a strong arm named Jerrod Johnson who has impressed the coaches, but Leftwich and Batch are hopeful of holding him off the way they did with Dennis Dixon in recent seasons.

Dixon is gone now. Johnson and Batch are expected to see action tonight in the final tune-up game before the regular season starts. Roethlisberger will be on the sideline when the Steelers take on the Carolina Panthers at Heinz Field, resting up for the real stuff.

He and the Steelers will be opposing Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, the team that Tim Tebow led to an upset of the Steelers in the opening round of last season’s AFC playoffs, when the regular season begins. The Steelers are still smarting from that unexpected setback. The game in Denver will be on national TV.

Batch is 37 years old and in his 14^th season in the National Football League, his 10^th with the hometown Steelers. He has been the perfect backup for, at first, Tommy Maddox and more recently for Ben Roethlisberger.

Batch would have liked to have been the starting quarterback, of course. That’s the competitor in him. But he never stirs the pot or creates any kind of controversy. He has been content in his role with the Steelers, where he also has the opportunity to serve his neighborhood community in a meaningful way.

He has been honored by NFL and local agencies for the way he has helped improve recreational facilities, be it football fields or baseball fields, and be a role model for young men and kids in the Homestead-Munhall area. He has raised money through a golf outing he hosts to help Mercy Hospital provide health care for homeless people. He has his own foundation to raise money to enrich the lives of local kids.

Leftwich, at age 32, showed in the Steelers’ last game that he can still throw deep and accurately. He and Batch both have been injury-prone in their pro careers, so it has been an insurance policy for the Steelers to keep both of them, hoping at least one of them is healthy when Big Ben needs a breather or someone in relief if he is hurting from a hard tackle or sack.

The daily newspaper reports have indicated that Leftwich and Batch are believed to have an edge on Johnson in sticking with the Steelers. The team will try to keep Johnson on the practice team to continue his development, hoping no one claims him on waivers.

Some day, sooner than later, the Steelers will need to nurture a quarterback to replace Roethlisberger in the lineup. Big Ben is 30 and thought to have another five or six strong seasons in him. But he has taken more than his share of hits because of the way he prefers to play the game, biding for more time to find an open receiver or for something positive to develop, and because the Steelers have often had a make-shift offensive line.

The Steelers selected David DeCastro from Stanford and Mike Adams from Ohio State, two big offensive linemen, with their first two draft picks this year, but DeCastro went down early in the exhibition victory over the Buffalo Bills last Saturday night and will miss most of his rookie season. The Steelers were counting on DeCastro as a starter. Ramon Foster is the fill-in and he must step up and show he can do the job at guard.

That’s just another reason I never get too worked up about the draft stories and all the analysis about how the new players are going to help the team. You just never know.

The Steelers have a lot of injured players to start the season – never a good sign – and they may have held on to at least one of them, Casey Hampton, too long after they did some house-cleaning at the completion of last season.

They got rid of a lot of veteran players and leaders. Batch has been a positive force in the locker room. The players like him and respect him. He is good for the team. To date, he has been a model citizen.

The team’s general manager Kevin Colbert has always been a big fan of Batch. Colbert was working in player personnel with the Detroit Lions when they drafted Batch out of Eastern Michigan University on the second round of the 1998 draft.

Batch was a starter for the Lions for most of four seasons, but was released when Matt Millen was brought in from the TV booth where he’d been an analyst to manage the affairs of the Lions. Millen made personnel changes, and he gave up on Batch, who had been nagged by injuries throughout his time with the Lions. Millen, a Penn State product, was a disaster as the Lions’ GM.

Batch and Leftwich have missed considerable time since they have been with the Steelers for one injury or another that sidelined them.

Batch has been a survivor, going back to his early days in Homestead. He is the son of Lynne Settles, a former school teacher, and they experienced challenging times. She raised Charlie and his sister, Danly Lynn, mostly on her own.

Danly Lynn, at age 16, was shot and killed in a gangland crossfire while walking down the street with school friends. Danielle was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That memory still haunts Charlie’s family.

“The things that happened in our family inspired me to work harder,” Batch once told me. “It was just the two of us for a long time. We always shared everything and I’m glad we can share this. You can’t take anything for granted. You are never guaranteed tomorrow so you better make the most of today.”

Batch has been a goodwill ambassador for the Steelers. He has lent himself to many good causes in the community. He has become an entrepreneur and everything has not worked out well. He’s had some financial setbacks in his efforts to rehab buildings and homes in his old neighborhood.

Some things have worked out well, while others have been big disappointments. But Batch keeps moving on.

He earned a degree in criminal justice, not business, at Eastern Michigan University, and maybe he’s always had an interest in helping steer kids in the right direction, as coaches and teachers and his mother had done for him.

At this stage of his life, I don’t think he’d want to play elsewhere in the National Football League. He realizes his days are numbered in the NFL. But he feels good, everything is still functioning fine, and he’d like to play at least one more season with the Steelers.

Colbert was with the Steelers when the Lions released Batch and he signed him to a one-year contract for 2002 as a backup quarterback. Batch has been here ever since. He signed another one-year contract this past April.

He’s made good money in his pro career. He’s lived in a nice home in the North Hills – in the Gray Oaks development in Franklin Park — but he has never forgotten where he came from. One of the first things he did when he signed with the Lions was to buy his mother a new home.

“This was always the dream,” said Batch. “When you grow up in Homestead and you dream of playing in the National Football League, it’s playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“When I was in high school, I was a big fan of Dan Marino. He had come from Pittsburgh. Just being able to watch him and knowing he came from a nearby neighborhood was an inspiration for me.

“I’m happy just to be here. Considering my family’s history, you just don’t let the outside world confuse you. A lot of things can make you go down the wrong road. You are never guaranteed tomorrow and that is the attitude I take, and I am going out there living every day to the fullest.

“In your mind, you know what you have to do. I only know one way to compete, or to prepare, and that’s as a starter. You always want to compete to be the guy.

“Charlie Batch has always been in sports, always competing. As a kid, I loved the Steelers. So this is great to be with them.

“I try to help out at Steel Valley High School, my alma mater. I grew up in the Steel Valley. That’s where the Steelers got their name in the first place, right?”

I will be rooting for Charlie Batch to be with the Steelers come next week, and the start of another season. I like what he is about, and I think a lot of people will be rooting for him to stay.

Pittsburgh author and Valley Mirror columnist Jim O’Brien has written “The Chief” and “Steeler Stuff” among his 20 books on the Pittsburgh sports scene. His website is www.jimobriensportsauthor.com and his e-mail address is jimmyo64@gmail.com

Merril Hoge, Steelers Running Back, 1987-1994; ESPN Broadcaster

First, can you tell readers how you got started in your broadcasting career?

It was back I think in my rookie year. I was asked to do so some autograph sessions and did some call-ins after the sessions for B-94 – the radio station. I was then asked to do some for WDVE – B-94 wasn’t paying me then, so doing them for WDVE was interesting to me. The only thing was I had to go into their studio on Monday mornings to do them. At first I didn’t like that idea, but the studio was on the way to the stadium, so I said what could it hurt? I got up thirty minutes earlier and started doing them.

The first day – well, I was never in a studio before. When I got there it just hit me – this bis what I wanted to do. I just knew this is what I wanted, and took advantage of various opportunities since then.

Continue reading “Merril Hoge, Steelers Running Back, 1987-1994; ESPN Broadcaster”