Hines, Hailey, Phil, A.J., Jack Butler, and Other Topics

Having been hit with some kind of bug over the past few days, The Grandstander decides to clean out the Mental In-Box prior to leaving for a doctor's appointment....

• The Hines Ward Drama is playing out on the sports pages and talk shows - and on Facebook - in the last few days. I agree with Ron Cook to a point. True, Ward has been paid handsomely by the Steelers over the last 14 years, and football is first an foremost a business, so in that respect, the Steelers owe Ward nothing if they feel it is time to cut the cord and move on. However, having someone in the Steelers hierarchy leak the word to Jason LaCanfora of NFL Network (and how else would LaCanfora get such info?) was NOT something that the Steelers should have done to a player of Ward's stature in team history. That was a move that Steelers Nation Loyalists would scorn if Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder did it to a similar player.


• I have a feeling the dance that is now taking place involving Art Rooney II, Mike Tomlin, Todd Hailey, and Ben Roethlisberger is not going to end well, and it could get a lot uglier than, say, the possibility of Hines Ward wearing some other team's uniform in 2012. Hope I'm wrong.


• No one remembers Franco Harris as a Seattle Seahawk. He will always be a Steeler. Same thing will apply to Hines Ward, no matter where he might play in 2012.


• If Roethlisberger had been a boy scout during his past off seasons, would the Steelers - and their fans - be so fired up about Ben needing a hard ass coach like Hailey to reign him in and "tweak" his game? Understand that I am not defending Roethlisberger's past antics. Merely posing a hypothetical question.


• Did anyone watch the final round of the AT&T National at Pebble Beach on Sunday? Playing in the next to last group on Sunday with Tiger Woods, and two shots behind Woods and five shots out of the lead, Phil Mickelson put a beat down on the field and on Woods, in particular, to win the tournament by three shots. Golfers can talk all they want about how they play the course and not against each other, but there is no way that Phil wasn't relishing that 11 shot pasting he dealt Tiger.


• To his credit Mickelson downplayed the whole thing, pointing out the greater body of work over time, while allowing others to site the stats (Woods -71 PGA Tour victories to Phil's 40; 14 Woods' majors to Phil's 4). Still, when paired head to head, Mickelson has beaten Woods the last five times this has occurred.


• At the age of 41, you have to wonder how many more of these victories Mickelson might have left in him. As for Woods, who ever could have envisioned the kind of meltdown that we saw on Sunday?


• The Pirates are in the news with their pursuit of pitcher A.J. Burnett from the Yankees, who are willing to do almost anything to get rid of him. Hey, the addition of Burnett certainly can't hurt the Pirates, but it doesn't envision a free ride into the post-season, either. Bob Smizik points out that if nothing else, the pursuit of Burnett (and Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt before that) will prove to the players on the team that management is trying to do more than just turn a profit.


• Bob Smizik also linked to a blog by some guy named Jim Krug. I don't know Krug's background, but he offers a look at the Pirates management's performance that is hard to refute. Check it out here http://isportsweb.com/2012/02/12/pittsburgh-pirates-a-j-burnett-situation-showcases-lack-of-direction/


• On a much more positive Steelers note, belated CONGRATULATIONS go out to formers players Dermonti Dawson and Jack Butler for their recent election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I am happy for Dawson, and I am sure that he is deserving, but, be honest now, who among us is equipped to judge the merits of an offensive lineman for HOF worthiness? If the selectors deem it to be, then I'm sure OK with it. As for Butler, his election at the age of 82 is long overdue if only to prove to too many of generations of Steelers fandom, that the Steelers did indeed exist before Franco's Immaculate Reception. Butler's stats and accomplishments were well documented in the media at the time of his selection, so I will not restate them here. I will, however, recommend that you go to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website and search out Bob Dvorchak's "Sports 'n'at" video about Jack Butler. It pays tribute to Butler far better than any words that I can write here.