Welcome to Steelers Takeaways!

Thanks Kent for doing this! I wanted to see how this Steelers drafted relative to RAS and how it’s changed over the years. Starting at receiver – Bernard seems different from the guys they traditionally have been drafting – accurate?

Wide receiver is tricky  – it’s very style-based. They’ve gone after guys like Martavis Bryant and George Pickens in the past who had very specialized roles in the offense. I don’t get that with Bernard – he scored well on speed, agility and decent explosiveness. You can do a lot more with that. When you draft a guy like Cooper Kupp or Amon St. Brown you get very specialized players. Bernard looks like a guy that offers much more versatility.

You see that in the draft overall – guys they’ve taken recently like Dunker, Iheanachor, Everett – there are no limitations to what these players can do – they don’t come with super-specialized scores. They are all guys who are very versatile athletically.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Kent Lee Platte of RAS on the Steelers Drafting Trends”

First off, what’s the plan after the Post-Gazette layoff –  I’m sorry to see that happen. 

The new ownership said they’d keep going with the strengths of the paper and I guess they felt I wasn’t one of them. I had a nice, long career here – it was longer than I expected. I’m just concerned about the younger people there – their need to figure out what’s next. I think many will probably have to relocate.

It leaves a big gap in the city’s music coverage for sure…

I didn’t have the sponsorships for the music section that the other sections had – I didn’t have LiveNation sponsoring my section – which is probably a good thing now!

Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh Music Beat Writer Scott Mervis”

First off, what are you up to now – what have you been working on?

I’m doing Fallout season three now. And I’m working on making movies, doing standup and working on a lot of things. The Fallout talk show did well too. Just living life in LA!

How did acting start for you?

I did some plays in middle school – Carson – North Allegheny. I was always trying to be funny in school. I was obsessed with hockey too – I played from Pee Wee and Bantam through high school. But then I got into plays in high school and got good roles. That encouraged me.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh Actor Jon Daly”

First off, how did you get started with this new role?

I spent the last 24 years in public education – 22 years as an Athletic Director in McKeesport. I was born there and played three sports there. I was tasked to find teams who want to use this new space. Central Catholic will play here. I’ve managed countless high school games and sat on the WPIAL Steering Committee – so I know a lot of people in the area. It’s really doing the same stuff I’ve been doing just with another role, working for Sports Facilities Companies as the company that manages and operates the facility. Community outreach, youth football….I’ll be managing those things.

There are a variety of places that I anticipate will utilize the facility once it starts up in August.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Charley Kiss, General Manager of The Field at Hazelwood Green”

First off, any projects you’re working on now?

At the moment I’m working on a Godzilla project – Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater. I did a book two years ago – Godzilla Versus the Great Gatsby which was successful. Now there’s a whole series of literary Godzilla mashups. Godzilla Versus Robin Hood .. . IDW has been doing 10-15 years of Godzilla stories.

How did you get your start in comics – how did The Myth of 8-Opus start?

I went to college at Pitt to study all kinds of art – sculpture, painting, film-making and comics. When I was there I did an anthology with a few guys my age called Codex Pop – we each did a bit and I did a Jack Kirby-esque style science-fiction story.

Continue reading “Exclusive with Pittsburgh Comic Book Creator Tom Scioli”