The Week That Was

Looking back on the week this Sunday morning.....

High(?)light of the week for me involved the return of an old nemesis - kidney stones. The unmistakable pain in my right side came on Thursday morning. There then followed a call to the doctor, a CT scan, a visit to the doctor, lots of water drinking, and the continued use of a strainer. I have not been in any pain since Thursday morning, but the offending little bugger currently lodged in my internal plumbing has yet to pass, so the story isn't over yet.

I posted about this event on Facebook on Thursday, and few posts that I have ever made on Facebook have drawn the number of comments from Friends as this one did. Everyone's concern was and is most appreciated.

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I worked the WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit at the Heinz History Center this past Monday morning. A great event with over 600 high school athletes in attendance. I really enjoyed seeing the energy of all of these kids. Made you realize that the high school athletes with the sense of entitlement of, say, Terelle Pryor, are the exception, thankfully.

Last year's featured speaker was Pitt Womens Basketball coach Agnes Beranatto, and she was terrific. This year the speaker was Lavar Arrington. Let's just say that it is safe to assume that Arrington never took a public speaking course while matriculating at North Hills High School or Penn State.

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News Item: Franco Harris steps down as chairman of the Pittsburgh Promise under political pressure from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl because of his expressed support of Joe Paterno.

You can question Franco's judgement in this matter while at the same time admiring his loyalty to his old coach. What cannot be questioned is the naked political opportunism of Boy Mayor Cravenstahl in his attack on Harris in the news media. The Mayor, who has made a habit during his administration of being invisible during moments of crisis, never misses an opportunity to grandstand in the very worst sense of the word. But, hey, he did get that cameo spot in the new Batman movie, and Davey Lawrence never did anything that cool, did he?

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While being stalled in Monday morning rush hour traffic this week (it was raining, after all), I tried to relieve the boredom by punching the radio buttons, and I was astonished to be reminded that Jack Bogut is STILL on the air in morning drive time on WJAS, the Music of Your Life station (aka, the Geezer Station). Yes, Bogut is still doing all of the same old boring stuff he did at KDKA back in the Jurassic Age. I am not quite sure what this says about the Pittsburgh market.

It made me wonder about just how old this guy is, so I googled him when I got home. I find out he even has his own website! Interestingly enough, his bio on his website does not include his year of birth. It does say, however, that he came to Pittsburgh in 1968. Forty-three (43) years ago!!! He has to be well into his seventies.

Maybe fresh air is good for your teeth.

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It is being reported that the Pirates are close to signing a two year deal with free agent short stop Clint Barmes, age 32. The deal is reported to be worth $5 million. On Twitter last night, Dejan Kovacevic stated that the "Pirates have no peers when it comes to lateral, inexpensive offseason moves. Looks like that will be 2 for 2. Actual upgrades, anyone?"

Can you describe this move and the Rod Barajas signing any better?

Will either of these signings significantly improve the Pirates in any way?

My SABR and Facebook friend Dan Bonk described the Barajas move as a completely irrelevant free agent signing, and the Barmes signing will prove, no doubt, to be the same.

My brother Bill summed it up very well - "The Pirates: Where ballplayers in their thirties go to die."

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Amazingly, Tim Tebow is turning out to be one of the biggest stories of the year in the NFL. I tuned into the Thursday night NFL game at the end, just in time to see him engineer that 95 yard game winning drive against the Jets. (What happened to Rex Ryan's vaunted defensive schemes?) He may win ugly, and his style may not be sustainable in the NFL, but right now, Tebow is 4-1 as a Broncos starting QB, and how can you ignore that?

What surprises me is how much of a lightning rod Tebow is for criticism. Why? Some have speculated that this is because of his public profession of his Christianity. While I am somewhat suspicious of people who wear their religion on the sleeves, I don't think Tebow is any more or less overt in this than any one of dozens of athletes you could name, and they don't get dumped on by the public as Tebow seems to be.

Maybe the criticism stems from the fact that Tebow is not the ideal of an NFL quarterback or, even worse, not a good "Fantasy Guy." Hey, if he doesn't have the goods, the other teams in the league will catch up to him soon enough. Until then, though, give the guy credit for winning games right now.

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Speaking of the NFL Network, they seem to be working on another set of announcers for their Thursday night telecasts. This time it's Brad Nessler and Mike Mayock. Nessler is a more than capable play-by-play guy. Mayock is okay, I suppose, but he suffers the same disease as all color guys in that he has to comment and expound on EVERY SINGLE PLAY.

The good news is that (a) it is a two man booth and (b) Matt Millan and Joe Thiesman are not there any more.

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A Sunday with no Steelers game. How are you planning on spending this day?