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Passions of “Worth”

Sep 122008

[Originally written Sept 12, 2002]

Football season begins anew. Maher’s pulse quickens, his blood begins to boil and the cynics renew their yearly pretensions. Let me relay a story.

I attended a gathering not too long ago. Some old friends, some new. It was a nice event. In the course of the evening’s conversations, football came up. I expressed dismay that my Steelers had failed to reach the Superbowl during the previous season.

“Depressed” was the word I used; an obvious exaggeration of my emotions but nonetheless, I thought, an understood exaggeration. On hearing of my state of mind, one acquaintance turned to another and remarked that she could not fathom how one could become depressed over something so trivial as a football game. No doubt.

I thought for a long time on this subject. The central issue here is “worth”. We often define ourselves by our passions. Think about a pursuit that captures your passion, your emotion, your energy… then realize that not everyone will see it the way you do. Chances are it is a “trivial pursuit”, one that does not necessarily affect your right to life or liberty. Nonetheless it still serves a purpose.

If you can honestly tell me that you have absolutely no trivial pursuits then I am trully sorry for you. Even the poorest child living in a slum village in South Asia gets caught up in a cricket match or a swimming contest in a nearby pond. Our passions, our trivial pursuits help us to bear the whips and scorns of time.

So do yourself a favor. If you find yourself scoffing the next time someone is “depressed” over the outcome of a sporting event, “giddy” over his/her performance in a dance or “pissed off” about the club closing early – look at yourself first. Spare me and everyone else your pretensions.

On Bill Cowher’s Resignation

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Jan 052007

I remember very little of the pre-Bill Cowher days. I didn’t start following football in earnest till Chuck Noll’s last year in 1991; seeing the malaise of the team in his final games, thinking on what it must’ve been like in the glory years of the 1970’s before I was born.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve been to at least one Steelers game every year since Cowher took over. I can’t imagine anyone else roaming the Steelers’ sidelines. I can’t imagine not seeing that Jaw jutting out, the fire in Coach’s eyes. As much as Dan Rooney’s silent, steady leadership, Bill Cowher’s tenure taught me the “Steelers Way”, our city’s way – hard work, team work, leadership, intensity, fundamentals with just a little bit of strut thrown in to keep people off balance (after all, it was a WR to WR pass that defined Superbowl XL).

I remember the coaching search after Coach Noll resigned and thinking who was this assistant from Kansas City who could possibly replace the Legend. I thought the trendy candidate, Mike Holmgren of SF at the time, would’ve been a better hire. Fifteen years later, I still marvel at the wisdom of the Rooney’s. Holmgren also won a Superbowl and sooner than Cowher but he could never have shown a 12yr old football neophyte “how we do”.

I hope and pray and trust that the Rooney’s will once again find another Man who embodies “our way”. It surely won’t be easy to hit the jackpot three times in a row (and this guy would like to see Russ Grimm as the next head coach).

You’re probably thinking that I’m over-eulogizing. But you can’t know how it is until you’re one of us, one of the Steelers Nation. I won’t like it one bit if/when Cowher comes back to coaching with a different team. I’ll hate it when he coaches against his hometown team for the first time. But Bill Cowher won’t ever be anything but a Pittsburgh Steeler to me.

Here We Go (Again)!

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Jul 082006

“HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!!” It’s a mantra that Pittsburghers chant throughout the year, even during Pirates and Penguins games, Pitt or high school football games. Few things define Western PA better than our love of the Steelers. I can’t begin to describe how it felt for us to win the Superbowl; you’d have to be one of the Steelers Nation to understand it.

But now the draft has come and gone and the players are talking about next season and staying hungry and getting after it again. I would expect nothing less from our organisation. But whereas some of my fellow Steelers fans are getting all up in arms over the lack of respect being afforded the Steelers since the Superbowl, I don’t think I care. For instance, Peter King recently gave New England & Indianapolis better Superbowl odds than the Steelers even though NE suffered some big free agent losses and Indy lost Edgerrin James and didn’t significantly improve their secondary.

Maybe I’ve lost some of my hunger for the game now that my team has reached the pinnacle. I don’t read the papers as diligently or watch Sportscenter several times per day. I know all the arguments against the Steelers – Ben didn’t cross the line, the pass interference call was ticky tack, that wasn’t a holding call – but it’s not those in Steelers Nation making those arguments. If you’re not one of us, I really don’t give a d*mn about your naysaying. I’m just not debating with you if you’re gonna hate on us so bugger off and let us enjoy our turn.

Hall of Fame Worthiness

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Oct 292005

The preliminary list of candidates for induction into the Pro-Football Hall of Fame was announced yesterday. There are a number of great Steelers or Pittsburgh-related players listed including L.C. Greenwood, Donnie Shell, Dermontti Dawson and Jimbo Covert & Russ Grimm (who both played at Pitt and then on the famed Redskins “Hogs” lines). Dawson is in his first year of candidacy and so might not get in this year but he will eventually. I sincerely hope that Grimm & Covert get into the Hall at some point.

It’s long been my position that Greenwood and Shell are most worthy candidates for election into the Hall of Fame. How can a member of the famed Steel Curtain defensive line not be elected?! In addition, Shell was a great player on those teams, responsible for a lot of coverage and read assignments.

There are those who will counter that there are already too many players from the 1970’s Steelers teams in the Hall of Fame. I fail to see how a great player can be less deserving because he played with other great players. Having said that, I must admit that I have my doubts as to whether Lynn Swann & John Stallworth deserved induction – not over L.C. Greenwood, not over Donnie Shell or even Andy Russell.

It’s not fair to Greenwood that his greatness is often overlooked because he wasn’t as flashy as Mean Joe Greene or Jack Lambert or Lynn Swann or Franco Harris. Not having that signature moment that elevated Swann or some of the others shouldn’t diminish his candidacy nor should having played with other greats of the game.

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