Really, what does anyone (outside the Pirates inner circle) know about the Buccos' abrupt firing of pitching coach Joe Kerrigan and Gary Varsho?
How could we know? The Pirates are about as forthcoming with "truth" as Pravda was during the Kremlin era (for you kids out there, Pravda, the Kremlin, ah, forget it).
For all we know, Kerrigan and Varsho might have been fired last October.
Rampant speculation has it that manager John Russell and the two fired coaches had "a personality clash."
Really, who knew? Who knew John Russell had a personality?
“Life is for livin’,” Dick LeBeau said yesterday in his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech.“Don’t let somebody tell you you’re too old.Stay in life.Life is a gift.Life is a joy.”
Man, if you don’t like Dick LeBeau, you don’t like life. LeBeau is about as cool a cat as any of dem cats, Miles, Thelonius, Sylvester, Felix, Gatto del Sol, any of dem cats.
And not just because he’s had a distinguished career as a storied NFL coach and record-setting defensive back (corner and safety, but mostly corner).
By all accounts, and we do mean all, everybody loves him. Everybody. His players, colleagues, peers, fellow coaches, reporters, analysts, fans, observers, casual acquaintances, everybody. And everybody says the same thing: Dick LeBeau is a consummate gentleman, a Class Act, all the way.
“If they had a Hall of Fame for human beings,
Dick LeBeau would be in that one, too.”
-- Rod Woodson
In addition to being all that, LeBeau just also happens to be a brilliant guy, a trailblazing coach, a scratch golfer, a great athlete, one whose eye-popping accomplishments as a player alone could have, should have, gotten him into the Hall of Fame years ago.
Think about it. By any standard, his 62 interceptions spanning a 14-year career would get your attention. By comparison -- and not to diminish anything Deion Sanders did -- but for comparison's sake, during his 14-year career, Deion Sanders had 52 interceptions.
You might say, well, QBs avoided throwing to Sanders' side of the field. True, maybe, but consider this: LeBeau's 62 interceptions were made long before the NFL had a pass-happy 16-game schedule, or even a 14-game schedule. And it's not like LeBeau was a weak link out there -- he made the picks -- again, 10 more than Sanders during the same-length career, but with a shorter annual schedule.
Okay, just for the hell of it, consider this, too ... Maybe QBs did throw to LeBeau's side more often because of who was on the other side, but just appreciate for a moment the sheer awesomeness of this cornerback tandem: LeBeau played corner for the Detroit Lions opposite Dick “Night Train” Lane, and how bad a bad-ass tandem was that? Yeah, pretty bad. As in: Great.
LeBeau didn’t say much about his playing career during yesterday’s speech, but he made his point, briefly and succinctly, toward the very end. That's when we saw a glimpse of his self-effacing, self-deprecating, wry humor – tinged with just a bit of, “Yeah, aw shucks, I guess I did okay in my day” type of tinge to his soft-spoken, almost-Southern lilt -- if only we could all talk like that.
Toward the end, when, during a long, almost rambling paen giving credit and judos to his players, he said of current Steelers cornerback IkeTaylor, “Maybe you don’t know this, but Ike has been not only a very good corner for us, but very durable.Over the past six seasons, he hasn’t missed a start.And not only has he not missed a start, he hasn’t missed a down we've asked him to line up, not a single play, so that’s testament to his durability.”
I’m scratching my chin, thinking, “Damn, I didn’t realize that. I guess Ike has been been pretty damn durable at that, and pretty damn reliable, never mind his hands.”
Thinking all that, when LeBeau adds the zinger, “I can’t help teasing Ike, I tell him, ‘Keep that up for another eight years, and you’ll catch me.'”
That’s when your jaw drops. Fourteen years without missing a start.
Damn. There it all is. The wry humor. The point made, yet not in a boastful or prideful way. Just. Point. Made.
It was like, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my players, but I was pretty good player myself. And these players today, as good as they are, they couldn’t touch me as a player. Maybe that’s why they listen.“
And, “listen” they do. They had to, yesterday – they were all there. When was the last time – maybe this was the only time -- an entire NFL team left training camp to honor one of their own coaches by attending the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies? Yet there they were -- all of them.
That's because head coach Mike Tomlin took the entire Steelers squad to Canton. THAT alone is testament to the great respect and affection Dick LeBeau has inspired as a coach, as a player, and as a, well, as a gentleman.
As Coach LeBeau said, “Life is for livin’.”
Let’s not forget.
*** *** ***
Noteworthy Footnote and a Few Links Well Worth Reading:
Twenty times or more this year, Dick LeBeau,age 72, has golfed his age or better – meaning he’s a scratch golfer – at age 72 – i.e., that his score for 18 holes of golf is routinely 72 or lower.
Coach LeBeau is reputed to recite "The Night Before Christmas" by heart to his players every holiday season.
“Since retiring as a player, LeBeau has coached an amazing 37 consecutive years. And what he's done is make the "zone blitz" famous. Some people had tried it before, but he's the one who made the zone blitz a staple by changing it from using man coverage when you rushed six players to how we know it today: dropping out a defensive lineman into space. They then don't have to play man coverage and could play zone coverage. That's how it got the name.
“Teams hate to play against teams LeBeau coaches. One reason for that is his unpredictability -- you might play a LeBeau-coached team one week, and the next week everything they do is totally different. What it forces opposing coaches to do is make really quick decisions. It also means a lot of time has to be spent getting ready for the style of play. You only have so much practice time and instead of using it on other parts of the offense, you're spending three-quarters of your time getting ready for the zone blitz. That's the challenge of facing LeBeau's defense.”
The Minnesota Vikings are reportedly in "close negotiations" with the Pittsburgh Steelers about a possible trade for quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Sources "close" to the Vikings, speaking on condition of anonymity over pitchers of beer at the Mystic Squaw Lodge near the Vikings' training vamp in Mankato, Minn., revealed team owner Zygi Wolf is "fed up" with the Brett Favre situation.
The Vikings reportedly have offered the Steelers several cheerleaders, a Viking "horns helmet" and a late-round draft choice for Roethlisberger, who faces a league-mandated four-game suspension to start the 2010 season.
No comment from the Steelers, but team officials are believed to be looking closely at the cheerleaders.
Nah, on second thought, laugh it up and have a good time, as always.
``````````````` `````````````` ```````````````
"I went in, and the priest asked me if I wanted to confess my sins. I said, 'Tell you what Father, if I tell you all my sins, we'll be here all day. How 'bout I tell you what I didn't do, and we'll get this over with."
-- Jimmy Conn
Back in October 2008, I toddled on over to McCabe Funeral Home to see my longtime friend JimmyConn, who had returned to Pittsburgh to bury his brother Frank, a captain in the Pittsburgh Fire Department. Jimmy, retired from his longtime career as a legendary Pittsburgh Police detective, had moved to Florida a couple years previously with his 30-year-old wife Gretchen. Jimmy was 61. He'd been informed recently that he had pancreatic cancer and may have a year to live. At the funeral home, I greeted Jimmy with, "Hey, Jimmy, how ya doing? You look great. Sorry to hear about the, uh, pancreas." He waved his hand in dismissal and said, "Oh hell, I got no regrets. I've had an amazing life." "Yes you have," I replied. "The doctors say I have a chance. And if not, I've got no regrets. I've had a lot of fun along the way, a million laughs. Now, next spring, if I live that long and can make it, Gretchen and I are going to take a trip to Europe. We're going to Paris, so I can take a piss off the top of the Eiffel Tower." "Uh, okay," I said. "Sounds good." "First, we're going to Hamsterdam and eat some hash. Then, we're going to take a cruise down the Rhine Valley. Then we're going to Paris, so I can piss off the Eiffel Tower. I hate those fucking French," he said, laughing. "I ain't afraid," he continued. "I'm on good terms with my Maker. My brother Frank, here in the box, made me go to confession last year. I went in, and the priest asked me if I wanted to confess my sins. I said, 'Tell you what Father, if I tell you all my sins, we'll be here all day. How 'bout I tell you what I didn't do, and we'll get this over with. Here's what I didn't do: I never committed adultery with another man's wife. I never put false gods before my Maker. And I never killed anybody. "Other than that, I did everything else. A thousand times over. A thousand times over.'" Jimmy paused, then, "The priest goes quiet, says, 'All right, son, your sins are forgiven. For your penance, say one Our Father.' "I walk out of the confessional, and Frank asks, 'What'd you get?' I tell him, one Our Father. His jaw dropped, and he says, 'I got more than that!' And I say, 'That's because you were a fireman. I was a cop!" He shook his head, grinning. "No, I got no regrets. I've had three wives, a lot of good friends and a very, very good life."
Footnote:Jimmy's older half brother was the late Billy Conn, the legendary boxer who lost the celebrated match with Joe Louis in Yankee Stadium on June 18, 1941. Scroll down the entry at this link for an excerpt from Frank Deford's vivid Sports Illustrated account of the fight and Billy's famous comment afterward, having blown his chance to win the championship.
"What's the sense of being Irish if you can't be dumb?" ``````````````` `````````````` ```````````````
Now that the ritual unloading of vehicles is over, Steelers training camp is in full swing. In today's Post-Gazette,Ed Bouchette offers encouraging words about the first impressions made by Maurkice Pouncey, the first-round draft pick (18th overall) from the University of Florida.
According to Bouchette, who has seen it all and is rarely quick to praise, Pouncey already has evoked comparisons to former Steeler great Dermontti Dawson, and that is no faint praise indeed ...
"... it became quickly evident that Pouncey was the most talented center in camp after his first two practices Saturday, which went well.
"... people in the organization were talking about how they had not seen this kind of play by a center against nose tackles since Dermontti Dawson retired a decade ago. Pouncey, who lined up at center and right guard in the two Saturday practices at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, moves nose tackles back. He gets low, gets leverage and away they go as if on roller skates. His feet move like no center since Dawson."
The Steelers have sorely missed that sort of talent, mobility and power at the center position the past few years. It would be nice, to say the least, to see Pouncey continue the tradition of great Steelers centers from Ray Mansfield to Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson.
Whadda we know?
