Category Archives: Commentary

But, But, But…T.J. Watt?

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Screen Shot 2017-05-03 at 5.12.29 PMThe post title is not because I feel this way. I think I made my feelings clear when he was my Round 1 pick in Momma’s Mock Draft. But not everyone likes the pick as much as I do, and those who don’t have plenty to say about it.

I suppose part of the point of being a sports fan is to be passionate about your team. But I’ve always wondered if having a passion for something automatically makes you stupid. One would certainly get that impression from some of the things you hear on sports radio (mostly, although, alas, not exclusively from the fans) and particularly in the comment sections. Read more

Why I Still Love Football – and the Steelers

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james conner

Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY Sports

A week and a half ago I wrote one of my patented Momma’s Mock Drafts.  I was out of town from the Monday through Wednesday before the draft, so I wrote a post encompassing Rounds 4-7, planning to then publish Rounds 1-3 on Thursday.

Strangely, I returned to discover no trace of my Round 4-7 post, and had to incorporate what I could remember into a 7-round draft on Thursday. One of the problems with this was that I had such a great ending for the Monday post. It didn’t fit in the middle of a 7-round draft, though, so I axed that part of it, with the intention of expanding upon the idea. Read more

Momma’s 7-Round Mock Draft

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usa-today-8544524-0Talk about on the clock! This is going to be a gargantuan post, as my picks are coming in at the very last possible moment. 

I have an excuse, though. My dog ate my post. Seriously, something went badly wrong. Knowing I would be away at the beginning of the week, I scheduled Rounds 4-7 (lovingly researched of course) for Monday morning and planned to publish the remainder of the draft today.

I returned last night only to discover there is no trace of that post anywhere. Rounds 4-7 are as if they had never existed. Even in the browser history I can find the tabs I looked at for my research but nothing whatsoever in terms of the post. It’s a bit creepy.

So I’m going to attempt to recreate an abridged version of those four picks and then finish up the last three rounds. Sorry to trouble you with my technical difficulties, but I promised a post for Monday, and didn’t want you to think I lied… Read more

The All-Pro Names Mock Draft, Rounds 1 and 2

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dangerfield

Another fine name already on the roster—Jordan Dangerfield (photo from USA Today Sports)

The excitement is mounting as stuff having to do with actual football is happening, like last night’s announcement of the league schedule for the coming season. Shockingly, given that the word on the street was that Pittsburgh was due to start the season with a home game, given that they haven’t had one for a few years now, they are once again starting on the road. Since the opponent is the Browns, this is perhaps less important that it might be if it were, say, the Chiefs. But then again, maybe it is now Cleveland’s time. Let us hope not.

The Chiefs, oddly, start out the season at Foxborough, and one wonders why the Chiefs drew the short straw. You would have thought it would be a rematch with the Falcons. As Michael North, the guy in charge of the scheduling, told NFL.com’s Judy Battista:

It’s rare that you get to disappoint 32 billionaires and five television networks on the same day.

Seems like an odd thing to aspire to. Anyhow, as Mike Tomlin (or just about any of his players by this point) would say, “It is what it is.” A true tautology if there ever was one.

So let’s move on to the next major excitement, the draft, and wrap up my draft using the Best Name Available metric. We will move right into BLA (Best Looking Available) next week. Luckily for you all, I don’t have time to do an “All-Cooper” draft, but I easily could have, as there are a large number of players to choose from with either this first or last name. But there’s only so much intensive research I can do…

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The All-Pro Names Mock Draft, Rounds 3 and 4

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Dreamius SmithThe Steelers have three picks in these two rounds, due to the compensatory pick, so let’s see what fabulous football names we can pick up in these rounds. (For an explanation of the metric please see the previous post.)

Rounds 5-7 were more offensively-minded, with the Steelers taking a guard and a quarterback before finally picking up a DB in the seventh round, but I didn’t expect this trend to continue. First off, the Steelers definitely need some defensive guys, and second, this draft is said to be a strong one for defense. 

It may be strong defensively, but there was something of a dearth of interesting names in the middle of it. (In case you’re wondering, I’m judging the likelihood of where a guy will be taken by his NFL.com draft grade, which in fact is not a very good indication at all, judging by where guys were actually drafted. But it’s a place to start…

The picture which heads the article is of current Steeler Dreamius Smith, from his days as a Butler Grizzly, if they can be spoken of singly. I don’t want to ignore the guys who have pretty fabulous names and are already on the roster…
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If I Were Commissioner

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NFL: Annual Meetingsby Ivan Cole

It’s relatively easy to be a critic. Untold thousands feel both qualified and emboldened to render judgment on the efforts of others and deem them as being either worthy or not. But the number of those who have the opportunity, courage, perseverance and skill to create products of high quality is exceedingly small, and critics, particularly the more self-assured and voracious of the breed, are rarely among them.

For several years, I have lamented the state of the National Football League, and the behavior of some its grand actors such as commissioner Roger Goodell. I continue to believe that they have earned the harsh critiques they have received and more. But, as I have said, it’s easy to be a critic. More difficult to discern is how reform is implemented, short of overseeing the demolition of a highly successful sports entertainment empire by way of the following:

  1. Moving forward towards an effete, toothless, flag footbally future that leeches away what made the sport great and alienates the game’s most integral and loyal fans.
  2. A suicidal, retro approach that eventually crashes and burns in human wreckage and lawsuits, or,
  3. Continue the ongoing corporate cook-the-goose strategy. A WWE in helmets, with the attendant vulgarity of values and practices.

How to proceed in a manner that creates a potential win/win/win for owners, players and fans? Here’s my best shot. Read more

The Man Who Saved My Love of the Game

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“The Chief” with Dan Rooney on the left and Art Jr. on the right. (From Art Rooney Jr.’s website)

by Ivan Cole

“ If you haven’t noticed, though Dan Rooney is still technically Chairman, Art II is now the sole public voice of the Franchise. This, to my thinking, reflects a natural succession process, accelerated by health issues involving the elder Rooney. It’s Art’s team now.”

That was published on Monday, with no forewarning concerning how prescient it would turn out to be. Read more

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