Catching Up....Sid and the Pens, Wanny and Pitt, and Pirates Signings

It has been called to my attention by a Loyal Reader - and he knows who he is - that the Grandstander, while giving scads of ink to our Beloved Buccos, has been giving short shrift to a winning sports team here in town, The Boys of Winter, your Pittsburgh Penguins, and to that I plead guilty. As many of you who know me know, I am just not a true "hockey guy" (unlike Loyal Reader "The Legend" who has made the word "Hockey" a part of his signature), although I have been know to jump on the bandwagon when playoff time rolls around. Still, this is no excuse for not mentioning the red hot Penguins, who currently sit atop the National Hockey League, and are riding an 11 game winning streak.

And as for Sidney Crosby... wow! He will soon threaten Joe DiMaggio's 56 game streak as he makes a mockery of NHL blueliners and goalies.

I also want the readers to know that I plan on spending New Year's Day watching the Pens - and listening to play-by-play announcer supreme, Doc Emmrick - in the Winter Classic from Heinz Field as they take on the Hated Capitals and their commie superstar, Alex Ovechkin.

Let's Go Pens!!!


The other major sports news in town this week concerns the "resignation" of Dave Wannstedt as Pitt football coach. As I have said before in this space, I really like Wannstedt and feel very bad that he was not more successful at Pitt and that it has come to this. He obviously loves Pitt and it would have been great to see him take Pitt to Big East and BCS glory in his tenure. But let's be clear about one thing: college football in the circles in which Pitt seeks to compete is not about traditional autumn Saturday afternoons, pomp and pageantry, and turning out excellent "student-athletes." It is about winning, oft times at any cost, playing in "big" bowl games, and, perhaps most importantly, putting fannies in the seats, none of which was accomplished on Dave's watch.

So, farewell, Wanny. It is stated that he will remain at Pitt in some role. I hope that it is a meaningful one for him and that he is happy in it, and good luck to the next coach, whoever he may be.

As an aside, I didn't listen to any talk radio yesterday, but I am willing to bet that somebody called in and seriously said that Pitt should go after Urban Meyer as the next coach. Can anyone confirm that for me?



And finally, what would a Grandstander post be without a comment on the Pirates and the moves that they made this week at the winter meetings? While the lowly Washington Nationals were showing their fans a commitment to winning on the major league level in 2011 by signing Jason Werth, the Bucs come home with Kevin Correiea, Scott Olsen, and Matt Diaz. What can you say, I mean, really, WHAT CAN YOU SAY????? On a good team, Correiea and Olsen would make a good innings-eater fifth starter. With the Bucs, they will be competing for, and probably handed, the number 1 or 2 slot in the rotation. More likely, if they pitch well, they will be dangled to the contenders come the last week in July for "prospects with great long-term upside."

I really hate how cynical the Pirates have turned me.

And I loved GM Neal's comment when the Pirates lost pitcher Nate Adcock in the Rule 5 draft: "Hey, I can't protect them all." Not that I'm making a case for Nate Adcock here, but Neal doesn't exactly have a track record with personnel moves to make such smug comments.

More baseball...

• Yanks re-sign Derek Jeter. No real surprise there. While nothing should surprise you anymore, this one really couldn't have turned out any other way, could it?
• Red Sox trade for Adrian Gonzalez and then sign Carl Crawford. That free agent signing rates a capital-W Wow!!
• With these two moves by the Sawx, I can't see ANY chance that the Yankees will NOT now sign Cliff Lee. Chuck Greenberg and Nolan Ryan can't offer any amount of money that the Yankees won't top at this point. Of course, Lee might be a guy who will say that "it's not about the money" and actually mean it, but he would be the first.