Pittsburgh Sports, Opinion and Politics | Just Watch the Game Blog

There seems to be a lot of disappointment, among my friends in the media,  over the size of the crowds at PNC Park this week.

The Nationals are in town. They have two of the biggest young stars in baseball. The Pirates are almost at .500.

So why did only 11,000 show up Wednesday night?

Maybe the media and way too many more people in this area have become numbed by the Pirates pathetic existence the last 20 years.

We are talking about the most pathetic major professional sports franchise (italics don’t do this justice, so excuse me for going to caps) IN FRIGGING NORTH AMERICAN FRIGGING HISTORY.

It’s astonishing that more than 11 people, who aren’t members of the players’ immediate families, show up.

The Pirates are in the throes of the worst long term performance by any sports team in the history of North America and the media are lecturing the local citizenry about not showing them enough support?

If there’s not a massive walkup tonight to see Stephen Starsburg pitch, expect to be lectured again.

These lectures are coming from people who are cursed (like me) with the experience of having watched and/or covered a real, competitive Major League Baseball team. If they’re old enough, they remember being motivated to go to a game to see Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale or Bob Gibson. If they’re a little younger than that, they still remember going to to see Tom Seaver  or Steve Carlton.

But, if you went to see those guys pitch, you went because you wanted to see what Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell or Dave Parker could do against them.

You didn’t go because you didn’t want to miss Koufax striking out 17 Pirates.

I heard the guys on The Fan asking listeners what it would take to get them out to a Pirates game and, for the few minutes that I listened, I didn’t hear much of a response.

It’s a stupid question.

How about not having the WORST FRIGGING TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA?

I don’t care if they figured out a way to have Sandy Koufax in his prime show up to pitch for the Nationals tonight, the Pirates still wouldn’t deserve to have more than 11 paying customers.

Football fans may not want to hear it, but the sport is going to have to change.

I’ve been saying here for a while that I think that technology has caught up to all contact sports –football and hockey —  and the more we learn about concussions the harder it’s going to be to find parents who will allow their kids to play.

I’ve quoted Dr. Charles Yesalis here many times.

He’s one of the foremost authorities on performance enhancing drugs and sports.

I had hoped to get him on my talk show tomorrow, but he was on his way out of town and couldn’t commit to a time. I did get a chance to talk to him and here are some of the highlights of what he said:

The number, severity  and frequency of concussions is going to profoundly change the game of football.

Yesalis said that the brain studies being done on former players, who have died at a young age, will make it harder and harder for parents to sign off on their kids playing football. He said that it will be in trouble not only at the high school and collegiate level but, as he called it, the “pipeline” — pee wee level.

“I’ve said for the last year that the concussion issue in the NFL is going to dwarf the steroid issue in baseball.”

“How many middle class families allow their kids to box? How many colleges have boxing teams?”

“I’m 65 now, but if I had a young kid, I would not let him play football.”

“We don’t need to have a Nobel Prize in physics to know that the size and speed of players contribute to the impact, which contributes to the increase in concussions.”

“Roger Goodell should be prepared for a tsunami of law suits and questions about player safety. This is the tip of the iceberg.”

When I asked him if he still believed that 90-95% of NFL players are using PEDS, he said, “There has been no decrease in steroid use in the last two decades. They’re just more sophisticated now.”

He also said that there have been so many spinoffs of drugs that the testers can’t keep up.

“The drugs are readily available and they work. Multi-millionaires can get whatever they want.”

“The major sports have drug testing systems that amount to the fox guarding the hen house.”

“I find the claim that we are now in the post-steroid era of Major League Baseball to be hilarious.”

“Steroid fatigue has set in. The leagues don’t care because they know their customers don’t care.”

“You can deny that your favorite athletes or favorite teams use steroids, but you can’t deny that they’re getting concussions.”

“The media are  the same on the issue now as they were during the baseball steroid era–a bunch of sycophants who look the other way.”

“The concussion issue in the NFL is not going to change unless they do what my late, good friend Steve Coursin suggested– put weight limits on players by position.”

Yesalis also told me that there is no definitive proof that steroid use leads to depression and suicide. He said steroids have been used to treat depression and there is also a belief that discontinuing their use can lead to depression.

We had several posters call Junior Seau selfish and gutless for committing suicide last week.

(I also heard several talk show callers and received email at TribLive Radio  saying the same things.)

I thought it would be a good idea to post this column written by a guy who has lived with clinical depression.

If you’ve been watching the Stanely Cup playoffs, you had to notice an amazing number of blocked shots.

The Flyers blocked 40 of the Penguins’ shot in their series clinching win in Game 6.

It’s a sign of commitment and a good way to win games.

But have blocked shots gotten out of hand?

Larry Brooks of the New York Post thinks so and he thinks it time to discuss and idea that was dismissed a few years ago.

Put me down as in favor of Bob Gainey’s idea.

Here is my almost nationally syndicated column for this week:

Maybe the Pirates were right about Pedro Alvarez.     Every indication, before the team broke Spring training, was that he was the reason the idea of a farm team was conceived. He wasn’t just having trouble hitting. He was the classic case of a guy who couldn’t hit the floor if he fell out of bed.

He was striking out just about every other at bat.   Fast forward to the first weekend in May, after a disastrous start, and Alvarez was hitting .257 with seven homeruns and 14 RBI. (He also had 24 strikeouts in his 70 at bats — not a good sign.)

So, right now, the Pirates were right and just about everybody else was wrong. But, the Pirates and everybody else have to keep in mind that it is the first weekend in May and we’re talking about 70 at bats.  I’m sure that Mario Mendoza, whose line Alvarez was having trouble rising above, had a stretch of seven or eight games when he hit .350.  It’s all about the 162, especially with a guy like Alvarez, who is supposed to be a superstar in the making.

That’s right. A superstar.

Not a pretty good player.

Not just an all star. Alvarez was the second overall pick in the draft and was paid a ton of money by the Pirates. He’s 25.   Guys like him are supposed to become Prince Fielder, if not Willie Stargell.    For the last week and a half, Alvarez has been doing what he’s supposed to do.    He’s probably  above the Mendoza Line to stay, but let’s see where he is on the Fourth of July.

- Maybe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to give James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley each a big hug. They Twitter-ripped him after it was announced that he had suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma for the entire 2012 season.

At first glance, Vilma’s punishment might have seemed a little severe, since he could have made the “I was only following orders” defense of his participation in the Saints’ bounty program that was overseen by then defensive coordinator Greg Williams.

Vilma’s head coach, Sean Payton, also got a year.

But, the investigation showed that Vilma was an organizer and a ring leader in the Saints’ locker room. Harrison and Woodley just don’t get it and it’s obvious they never will.    They think Goodell is being a sissy.    They don’t realize that the future of their sport is at stake.

When a player as accomplished and popular as Junior Seau commits suicide and serious consideration is given to the possibility that multiple blows to the head may have contributed to his depression, a few more parents are going to re-think the idea of their sons playing football.

Lots of players, who might have taken the same stance as Harrison and Woodley 25 years ago, are now taking part in a law suit against the NFL.

Just this week I had breakfast with a former classmate of mine, who was a quarterback in grade school, high school and college. He’s had two knees replaced and several back surgeries. Twenty years ago, he told his young son, who is now 6’4” 225, that he was not going to play football.

His son focused on golf instead and is now a successful golf pro.   Chances are pretty good he’ll take his original knees with him to the grave.    Twenty years ago it was unusual for a former college football player to prevent his son from following in his footsteps. I’ll bet it’s a lot less unusual now and will be even more so in 2022.

Not that Harrison or Woodley should be expected to care.

-Last week I was watching ESPN’s coverage of the NFL draft. When the Bengals selected cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick from Alabama in the first round, one of the analysts referred to him as an elite tackler. As he was saying that, a video of Kirkpatrick’s greatest hits was on the screen and I didn’t see him make one tackle.

I did see him launching himself head first into receivers and running backs.

He’s pretty good at that.

Maybe ESPN has another reel of him actually making what used to qualify as a tackle.

- Would it be safe to say that a guy who made $20 million before he turned 24 would have the luxury of no longer allowing his salary to determine how happy he is? That’s where Jordan Staal is right now.

Maybe the Penguins will have to trade him before he becomes a free agent next year because of salary cap issues, but it would be refreshing if Staal didn’t allow money to be his first  consideration. Assuming, of course that the Penguins don’t try to take advantage of him.

Staal will be 24 in September. He has already made $20 million. If he gives the Penguins a hometown discount, he could still make another $35 million in the next five years.

That would give him $55 to $60 million before he’s 30.

He’d have at least two more multi-million dollar contracts to sign before his career is over.

A kid in that situation should make his decision based on just about everything other than money.

Very few do.

The football world was in shock yesterday at the news of Junior Seau’s suicide.

And the speculation about what might have caused his mental problems began immediately.

Virtually all of the talk was about the possibility that  multiple concussions may have caused damage to his brain that led to depression.

That could very well turn out to be the case.

You’ll be hearing a lot about that in the next few weeks.

What you won’t be hearing much, if at all, is speculation that steroids or withdrawal from them could have played a role.

If the NFL wants some good to come out of the tragedy, it needs to make that a part of the discussion.

“As with corticosteroids (Alcena & Alexopoulos 1985; Alpert & Seigerman 1986; Amatruda et al. 1965; Byny 1976; Dixon & Christy 1980; Judd et al. 1983; Kaufmann et al. 1982), increasing attention and discussion is being focused on the withdrawal effects that athletes encounter when they cease use of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Interestingly, many of the same effects attributed to anabolic-androgenic steroid use are alleged to occur following anabolic-androgenic steroid cessation. Purported withdrawal effects include mood swings, violent behaviour, rage and depression, possibly severe enough to lead to thoughts of suicide (Brower et al. 1989a,b 1990; Goldman et al. 1984; Editorial 1989). Pope and Katz (1988) report that 5 of their subjects (12%) developed major depression while withdrawing from anabolic-androgenic steroids. Duncan and Shaw (1985) suggest that weight and fluid loss may worsen (or be the cause of) the impending depression.”

Draftnicks everywhere are saying that the Steelers got another great 1st round pick in David DeCastro, a mean, nasty guard from Stanford.

That’s nice but it doesn’t mean anything unless and until he lives up to the billing.

Getting protection for Ben Roethlisberger seemed like a no-brainer but most of  the scouting reports I read on DeCastro focused on his agility and ability to pull.

Sounds like more of a road grader than a pass blocker to me.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

I just wonder how valuable a good pass blocker is to the Steelers.

Obviously you want guys who can protect the quarterback, but Ben Roethlisberger is a different animal. He does his best work outside the pocket.

Art Rooney II said after the season that Ben had to “tweak” his game a little bit.

He has a brand new offensive coordinator and at least one brand new pass blocker.

If the plan is to force Roethlisberger to stay in the pocket, I’m going to need to be convinced that that will make him a better quarterback.

The Steelers still need a running back, by the way.