Sports Happenings on Pittsburgh's North Shore

What a few days it has been on the Pittsburgh sports scene, and where do I even begin?  

Let's start with last night's Steelers 27-14 win over the awful Miami Dolphins.

When I got home from the Caring Place last night and turned on the TV, it was early in the second quarter, the Steelers were down 0-14, and Mason Rudolph was standing in his own end zone to take the snap from center.  Things looked grim indeed.  Well, you know what happened next.  The Steelers drove the field and kicked a FG to make it 3-14, and then proceeded to score 24 more unanswered points to win the game 27-14.  Obviously, my presence in front to the tube cheering them on made all the difference.  I will try not to miss any more action in future games.

Mason Rudolph in action last night

Rudolph, playing for the first time since October 10, looked horrible at the start, then he shook off the rust, and performed admirably, I thought, in leading the team over the last two and one half quarters of the game.  He was helped by a strong game from James Conner, and great play from WRs Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Shuster.  Rudolph is still very much a developing work-in-progress, but I see some good things there and am encouraged by how he has performed thus far.

Now the Dolphins, as I said, are truly awful, so a win over them must be kept in context, and at 3-4, the Steelers season thus far has been nothing to brag about, but I take joy in at least these two facts:

1. The Steelers are one game AHEAD of the 2-5 Cleve Brownies in the standings.  You know, the Browns who were everybody's trendy pre-season pick to storm their way to the Super Bowl.
2. Browns cinch-for-the-HOF QB Baker Mayfield has thrown six TD passes thus far this season.  Mason Rudolph has thrown seven.

The season is only half over, and the Steelers and Browns have yet to play each other, so things can certainly change, but for now, at least, those two facts are just delightful.

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The bigger sports news this week, though, has been made by the Pirates. Last week, team president Frank Coonelly and the team agreed to part company. Yesterday, GM Neal Huntington was fired, and Bob Nutting introduced Travis Williams, an executive with the NHL Islanders for the last eight years, and more importantly, a native Pittsburgh who had served for many years as Chief Operating Officer for the Penguins, as the new President of the team.  Nutting, himself, actually met and spoke with the press on the occasion for the first time since Spring Training.

Travis Williams

In the end, Nutting did what Pirates fans had been screaming for - he cleaned house.  Since the end of the season, the manager, general manager, and team president have all been given their walking papers.  The so called "best management team in baseball" is no more.  Nutting also talked the talk and said what many fans have been saying....why haven't we drafted and developed players like other teams have, and why are our players suddenly performing so much better when they go to other teams?  He also tap-danced around questions about payroll and spending money, so we will wait and see if these changes will, in the end, really mean anything.  As one sports writer has said, he did what needed to be done insofar as cleaning house, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt and a fresh start - for now.

Travis Williams certainly brings a good resume as a sports executive to the job. He's not a baseball guy, but the team president doesn't really have to know who should be called upon to get Cody Bellinger or Christian Yelich out with the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth.  That's for the GM and the manager and the "baseball people" to figure out.  Williams first order of business will be a huge one: hiring the next GM to steer the ship in the days and years ahead.

One quote from Williams presser yesterday struck me.  Before taking the job, he asked Nutting if he was willing to do "whatever it took" to do things right and win and contend consistently, and Nutting assured him that he would.  Seems that I heard the same quotes from Coonelly and Huntington when they were hired in 2007 and from Hurdle when he was hired in 2011.

Like I said, we'll see.

A word about Frank Coonelly.

Full disclosure: Back in 2009, when I was working for Highmark, I met Frank Coonelly, and we became friends. He is a charming and engaging guy. He never forgets a name or a face once he meets you.  Marilyn and I would run into him at the ballpark, at spring training in Bradenton one year, or even just around town, like at a PNC Bank ATM machine, or the Ace Hardware in Wexford (true stories!), and he always  would take time to chat and engage with you.  Every year in November, I would have lunch with him, and I considered him a personal friend.  Often times at those lunches, the state of the Pirates was the least of what we talked about.  I never wrote about what we discussed during those lunches, and I was always reluctant to be critical of him in all of the many posts I've written about the Pirates over the years.  Hey, I never claimed to be Woodward and Bernstein when I write this blog!

So, as I mentioned to a pal on Facebook when the news of Frank's departure became known last week, I take no joy in this.  I look at it as a friend of mine losing his job, and I feel bad about that.  Not that we need hold a benefit for him.  He will bounce back from this, and I know that he will land in a good spot for him and his family.

Maybe Frank's departure and Williams' hiring will work well for the Pirates.  As a fan, I hope that it absolutely does mean good things for the team, but I am sorry that a friend of mine, Frank Coonelly, will no longer be a part of the process.  I wish him well, whatever he does.

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And while we are talking about sports on the North Shore, how about the Pitt Panthers spitting the bit last Saturday against a not-great Miami team?  After winning five straight games and sitting at 5-2, there was talk that it was certainly possible for Pitt to win their remaining five games, finish at 10-2, maybe getting to the ACC Championship game, and getting a really nice Bowl game for their efforts.  

Then they fail to put the ball in the end zone and lose 16-12 to Miami.  They are now 5-3 with four games left.  They could win all four of them.  A case can be made for that.  It is also possible that they could go 1-3 in those games.  I doubt that they'll lose all four of them, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if that happened either.

As Dan said when we left Heinz Field on Saturday, "I've followed Pitt all my life.  I'm used to this." 

Justin Morneau Is a Pirate

Here is what yesterday's Pirate trade for Justin Morneau - and the trade earlier in the week for Marlon Byrd and John Buck - means.  

It means....

• ...that the Front Office has lived up on it's promise to do what needs to be done once all of the building blocks were put in place in the franchise infrastructure
• ...that Bob Nutting opened up his wallet and spent money, significant money in the case of Morneau, to put the pieces in place for a serious post-season run
• ...that maybe, just maybe, Neal Huntington has been right all along in his "plan" to make the Pirates a contender (and regular readers know that The Grandstander has been a huge NHR critic in the past)
• ... that in terms of the 2013 season, Nutting, Coonelly, and Huntington have done their jobs
• ...that the Front Office has given Clint Hurdle, to the largest extent possible, the tools he needs to succeed
• ...that it is now up to the players on the field to finish the job

So, I would suggest that everyone quit bitching about the timing of these trades ("should have done it on July 31") and just enjoy these last 28 games of the season.  Wait until the World Series is over to fire up the Hot Stove and put Nutting, Coonelly, Huntington, and Hurdle on the griddle.

Right now, there is a pennant race to enjoy. 

Frank Coonelly

By now, I am all sure that you are aware of the news of Frank Coonelly and his DUI citation from December that broke yesterday.

I come at this from an admittedly biased viewpoint, because I consider Frank a personal friend. that said, I make no excuses, none, for what he did. Driving while impaired is absolutely one of the worst things that a person can do, and it is most fortunate that no one was injured or worse when this event occurred. Frank certainly owned up to what he did, apologized, and I am sure that he will bear whatever punishment the justice system metes out to him.

I just want to say that I consider myself fortunate to know Frank, and I know that he is a good and decent person. One bad decision and a single aberration doesn't change who a person is, not in my mind, anyway.

I find it interesting that the news broke on the same day that, buried deep on page 5 or 6 of the sports pages, was the news of Hines Ward's plea deal on his DUI, which Pittsburgh seemed to conveniently "forget" all football season, of last summer. I am bothered by the fact that in the last 24 hours I have read and heard more righteous indignation from people over Coonelly's transgression that was heard for the last six months over Ward's.

Not that there is a double standard where the Steelers are concerned, of course.

Spring Training...and Other Travlin' Thoughts

For those of you who may be wondering where I have been for the last several days, the picture above should tell you all you need to know. Marilyn and I took off last Tuesday and headed down to Long Boat Key, a barrrier island situated halfway between Sarasota and Bradenton, Florida, and took in some Spring Training baseball.

Thanks to Bucco Prez Frank Coonelly, we had prime seats for the Pirates-Blue Jays on Wednesday and Pirates-Orioles on St. Patrick's Day. Second row, right behind the Bucs dugout. You could almost reach out and touch the batters in the on deck circle, as the pictures below will attest.

And if you are lucky enough to be a Grapefruit League game on March 17, you can see the Bucs wearing their once-a-year green caps. You may even get the new Skipper to tip his hat to you!

As for the games themselves, we were fortunate to see the Pirates start their Opening Day line-ups both days, including starting pitchers Paul Maholm and Ross Ohlendorf. In fact, the only projected regular we did not see was catcher Chris Snyder, who was sitting out both games with some sort of tweak. (On the bright side, we did see Snyder field a foul ball hit into the dugout and then roll it over the dugout roof to a kid with a glove sitting in front of us. So, kuddos the Snyder for this fan- and kid-friendly gesture!)

We also got to see Neil Walker belt a home run and Andrew McCutchen lace a gap shot double in one game. Watching Cutch steaming around the bases is one of the more fun things you can see at a ball game. Unfortunately, we also saw Maholm give up a four run inning to the Jays and Ohlendorf yield a six run inning to the O's, and both of these innings led to Pirates losses.

As we left McKechnie Field on Thursday, Marilyn said she wondered if what we saw was a preview of what we would be seeing at PNC Park in the season ahead. Unless the Pirates can manage to score about eight runs a game, I do fear that the mediocrity of the starting pitching could indeed cause us to see much of the same as we saw in Bradenton last week.

But, hey, what the hell...these were spring training exhibition games!!! Who really cares if you win or lose? It was just great to be at baseball game in gorgeous Florida sunshine!

Speaking of that Florida sunshine, we could not have asked for better weather. Temps in the high 70's each day, breezy, and not a cloud in the sky. Chamber of Commerce perfect!

Some other comments and observations about the trip....

• We flew on AirTran for the first time and give them a solid "A." All four flights (Pgh-Atlanta, Atlanta-Sarasota each way) were on time. No delays. Perfect.
• When checking our bag (which cost us $20, btw) on the flight home, we were found to be six pounds overweight. We could have checked it through for an additional $49. Instead, we made quite a picture at the Sarasota Airport check-in opening our suitcase and pulling stuff out to cram into our carry-ons. We made it with a half-pound to spare!
• Forty-nine bucks! It would have been cheaper to pack a second bag and pay whatever they were extorting, er, excuse me, charging for a second bag!
• It had been 18 months since we've traveled by plane, and AirTran's good performance aside, air travel really is a pain. I understand why this is so in these times we live, but it is still a pain.
• We stayed at the Hilton Resort Hotel on Longboat Key, which we learned is the last actual hotel on Longboat Key. The rest of the place is now given over to luxury condos.
• Very nice pool at the Hilton, but we did encounter a Sopranos-like moment. Early one morning as we sat on the side of the pool, two ducks flew in and landed in the pool! As soon as I got home today, I made an appointment for myslef with Dr. Melfi!!
• Friday evening we decided to walk up to the beach to sit for a spell, and when we opened our room door, we almost collided with a young lady in a wedding dress. Turns out there was a wedding on the beach about to take place! I wish I knew where the happy couple lives, because I got some great pictures of the Happy Event.
• Had some great meals down there, but our favorite was in a little bar in Bradenton Beach called the Bridge Tender Inn. Open air seating, ice cold beer, great food, a guy with a guitar singing 60's era music. An absolutely perfect seashore place.
• It also happened that the Bridge Tender is owned by a guy from Wisconsin and the place is covered with Packers memorabilia. I told the guy that we were Steelers fans but we were going to stay and eat anyway! Ended up having a nice conversation with the guy, and that just added to the zietgiest of the moment.
• As for the singer, if you travel to beach towns like this, you have seen the same kind of guy. He was in his 50's with a David Crosby mustache and a gray ponytail. There are hundreds of guys like this. What is his story? Is singing Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor songs for tips how he supports himself? Or, did he play in a band forty years ago and now works in a square 9-to-5 office job, and singing in a bar with a tip jar is how he recaptures his past when he was REALLY happy?
• We watched the sun set into the Gulf of Mexico for four nights in a row. Spectacular!
• I found myself to be hopelessly out of it by traveling without either an iPad or a Smart Phone of some type. It seems that everyone is now connected all of the time.
• That included the jackwagon at the pool one morning who was kind enough to share his office conference call with everyone at poolside. There oughtta be a law against that.
• Coming home last night, we had a three hour layover in Atlanta, which we learned is now the busiest airport in the world. Talk about people watching heaven! You wouldn't think an airport would be all that busy from 7:30 to 11:00 on a Saturday night, but Hartsfield Airport sure was.
• Contrast that scene to arriving at 12:15 on a Saturday night/Sunday morning in Pittsburgh. I believe that we were one of two flights arrriving at that time. It was ghost town.
• A word about Frank Coonelly here. As CEO of the Pirates, he takes a lot of heat, and not without some justification, for the performance of the team, but he could not have been nicer to Marilyn and I during our trip. I've gotten to know Frank due to my SABR connections, and let's face it, that is just a glorified fan club. Yet Coonelly was giving us the same kind of treatment - almost - as he was also giving during one game to Sy Holzer, Chip Ganassi, and Tom Reich, guys of considerably more import to the Pirates than Marilyn and Bob Sproule. There are a lot of reasons that I root for the Pirates, and not the least of them is being able to see Frank Coonelly succeed!
• At the risk of slipping into an advanced state of Geezerhood here, I note that there was no loud, ear-splitting music during every stoppage in play and between innings at the games at McKechnie, and the absence of this was absolutely delightful.
• I enjoyed running into SABR buddy Ed Luteran at the game on Thursday. Ed now lives in Winter Haven and works as an official scorer for Florida State League games. Ed is hoping for a visit to Pittsburgh in the fall, which could call for an impromteau Hot Stove Night for some of the SABR guys.
• Having a Kindle sure makes travel easier for the reader. On the down side, you have to turn it off when the airplane is taxiing, taking off, and landing.
• Read a thriller called "They're Watching" by some guy named Gregg Hurwitz. Don't bother with it.
• Started reading the new book "56" by Kostya Kennedy about the Joe DiMaggio hitting streak. Am about 25% into it, and it's a good one. I'll give it a fuller review when I'm finished with it.
• All in all a great trip, but, as always, it's good to be home once again. It is even better to be home from vacation and not have to worry about getting up for work tomorrow!