Hey Steelers Fans. Welcome to Tuesday.
The Kickoff
My father was many things. A Vietnam Vet, an HR executive, a rancher… He took on many things in his brief life and another of those was as a sailor. Back in the 1970’s he was part of a sailboat crew in Michigan that raced in the annual Port Huron to Mackinac Sailboat race. In one particular race his boat was leading the race and high was quite a feat for a group of small town guys. But then they found the doldrums. If you’ve ever sailed, it’s a bad word and an even worse feeling. It’s essentially where your sails find zero wind. You are as dead in the water as a row boat with no oars. Making it worse, is that other boats see your situation and sail around you. That’s the feeling I always have this time of year. For those of us loving and covering the Steelers, this is our doldrums. Baseball, the World Cup etc all sail by us while we sit idle. The best news is that eventually you get out of this awful state and we fans of the Black and Gold will do just that. In a few more weeks, the Steelers will return and this “dead in the water” feeling will be a thing of the past.
The Latest Podcast
We took a rare week off on July 2nd but we will be back this Thursday! If you haven’t already, check out my interview with Alan Saunders of SteelersNow.com on the SCB Steelers Inside Blitz presented by DEK Roofing Inc.
A Lesson
The World Cup controversy over American Striker Folarin Balogun’s red card and eventual “overturned suspension” reminded me of my early days in coaching. Our varsity was state ranked and a favorite for the state title. At the end of a playoff game we were about to win, a fight broke out. Our all-state tackle and tight end were trying to separate everyone yet were considered part of the group “fighting.” They were ejected and much like Balogun, they were forced to miss the following week. Our head coach felt wronged as did our team and we appealed but were told we had to follow the protocols. We lost the following week. These were kids after all and they struggled without their leaders and best players. When it was over our coach, in his final message to the kids, compared this to life. He talked about how you will have constant disruptions throughout life and how you react to them is what matters. Adversity is part of life. Some handle it well and some don’t.
Training Camp Previews
I have completed all of our Steelers Training Camp Previews and for the first time I’ve completed them way before Camp actually starts. Little victories right? What I’ve done is gone through position-by-position to look at who will be in Camp and who is likely to make the roster. Check out all of them right here.
Coming Up
Over the next couple of weeks while the Steelers enjoy the final moments of their offseason, I’ll be putting together a number of things leading up to the season. Some will be pretty much what you’d expect while a few will have some ‘outside the box’ thinking.
Random Reads
Congratulations to Troy Fautanu and his fiance as they got engaged this past weekend… Have you noticed how expensive hats are now? I was looking at both Lids.com and Fanatics.com and I was stunned. $50 for a hat??? Get out of here… There is nothing that gives you perspective in life quite like a power outage. We were without for the entire Fourth of July Weekend and it sucks. Fortunately I have a portable generator and was able to keep the fridge running along with a couple of window AC units. It makes you appreciate how many people around the country are not as lucky… Interesting comments from Najee Harris last week. He was on a podcast and was discussing the number of players who immediately go to their phones during halftime or even before they leave the field after a game. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising.
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