Pirates Season Glass Half Full

 The Pittsburgh Pirates were atop the National League Central in late July. It was the latest they had earned a winning record in a season since 1997. The Pirates set the city on fire with baseball fever. Every weekend game was a sell out for weeks. Even the national media covered this story relentlessly, as the perennial cellar dwelling Pirates were on the way to completing a miracle. Then the blown call incident happened, followed by the pitching blewing a tire (more like blowing the engine). The Pirates collapsed epically and historically. They are now fighting to stay in 4th place in the division. There is reason for optimism for next season. Jeff Karstens and Charlie Morton showed great leaps in terms of their developments as shut down starting pitchers. Alex Pressley, Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutcheon showed just how dangerous and fast they can be whether its in the outfield or the batters box. McCutcheon's name was even swirling around MVP talks all the way until the All-Star break. Neil Walker has proved he is not just a flash in the pan and can be a consistent every day hitter, finishing in the top 3 in RBIs for a second baseman in the National League. Yes, the Pirates are still the Pirates, and the absolute studs they drafted are still all young, varying from ages 17-23 and not close to the majors. However, being in first place for half the year beats being in last for the whole year.

NFL Week One Overreactions

In week 1 of the NFL season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were destroyed by the Baltimore Ravnes 35-7. Sports writers all across the country jumped at the chance to criticize the Steelers, mainly their "old" defense. Many "analysts" proclaimed the Steelers were done, and the division officially belonged to the Ravens. This is all too common in the world of sports, as many of these analysts love to jump on bandwagons and jump off others. The Steelers were said to be too slow. But in week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, the Steelers only gave up 164 total yards. Say what you will about the Seahawks offense and their quarterback, but those guys get paid to win games too. They are also professional football players, and Pittsburgh dominated them. The Ravens on the otherhand, were handled quite easily against the Tennessee Titans, a team probably in the same tier as Seattle and in the rebuilding stage as well. The Ravens not only lost, but lost bad. Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck threw for 358 yards against the same defense that people were handing the Super Bowl to a week again. The Ravens are a great team, and this will be a great battle all season long for the AFC North crown, but neither the division nor the Super Bowl can be won after week 1. Even I know that and I do not get paid to sit behind a desk in a suit and talk about football all week long.

Russian Hockey Tragedy is Just That

Wednesday, a team plane carrying the Russian hockey club Lokomotiv of the Kontinental Hockey League crashed in Central Russia near the city of Yaroslavl. Sources say that at least 43 people were killed, most of them being members of the team. The cause is not yet known, but the plane that the team was on was notably old and aging, as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that the government has been trying to put these old Soviet planes out of commision for a while now. Numerous players had National Hockey League ties, and I can easily identify some of the names as i have watched them plenty of times. As a hockey player and a fan, this is an extremely sad day. Tragedy is the only word that fits. These were professional athletes and personnel who their fans loved to watch play, bought their jerseys and cheered them on. They played the game they love and brought joy to others. Anybody who loves sports should be remorseful today. This should be the number one headline on all sports networks, especially ESPN. Sadly, it will not get the coverage that it should, just for the fact that it is not American athletes. If ESPN is the real worldwide leader in sports, then they will do their due dilligence and pay respect to these athletes as much as possible. This is not only a tragedy in Russia, but also in the sports world as a whole.

Problem Tweets

My name is Brian Zagorac. I am a junior at Slippery Rock University and a Sport Management major. I play for the Slippery Rock Ice Hockey team, and have played hockey and baseball my whole life. I have scouted for junior hockey, taught summer hockey camps, wrote for sports websites and helped coach former teams. I have a major problem with twitter and the sporting world. Athletes seem to always cause a stir with controversial tweets, such as Houstan Texans running back Arians Foster posting a picture of his injured hamstring, showing that more damage was done than initially disclosed to the media. Not only did this worry fans, but it also had opposing team doctors noting how severe the injury actually was. Foster put himself before his team. Although he probably had good intentions, he needed to keep this quiet. Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall also caused a stir when he posted about Osama bin Laden's death, implying bin Laden could have been innocent. I have no problem with Mendenhall's personal opinion, but when he represents a high-class franchise such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, and works for an owner who also happens be the U.S. ambassador to Ireland and then posts such a tweet, it becomes a problem. It is a free country and players should be allowed to use twitter, as long as they use their brain before using their mouse.