Blog Archives

Dear Ryan

Amidst speculation on whether or not the Steelers will win another game this year following last year’s Super Bowl triumph, the team’s locker room is sliding toward dissention, whining, and blaming in very unSteeler-like fashion. The latest rant was the usually mild-mannered Ryan Clark going off on fans and the media before vowing not to talk to reporters again this year. Ryan was particularly offended by a letter he received from a fan detailing all the ways in which he stinks up the joint.

Personally, I’m not upset the Steelers are upset. I’d be more bothered if they didn’t seem to care. I want some chair throwing and media rants in my losing locker room. I do wonder, however, about a few things that I have not heard anywhere so far:

A) Do fans really write players letters expressing their disgust? I am all for booing and boycotting and putting paper bags over your heads if that is how you, as a fan, wish to voice your dismay. But writing a letter? Do people write letters anymore? If you write a letter to a player, will he play better? Or is just a cathartic exercise? Will that player be all, “Dang, this fan just told it like it is. I better get it together!” I grew up a fan of the Cubs who have been losers my entire life. It has never occurred to me that a strongly worded letter by me might have turned the whole thing around.

B) Who writes this letter? Is it someone Ryan knew, or just someone who decided Ryan needed to know how he felt? Is this person an expert in football or athletics in general? If I had to lay odds, I’d say probably not. This would be like me writing Michael Phelps and insisting that he put down the bong, correct his back stroke, and get his lard butt moving through the water again. This would be like me writing the Nobel Prize-winner for physics and chiding him on not having a better handle on the periodic table.

C) And finally, with all the problems the Steelers currently have, is Ryan Clark even close to the top? I could see if this fan wrote Ike Taylor or Limas Sweed or Ben Roethlisberger or Heath “Dropsies” Miller. But Ryan Clark has been one of the hardest hitting, effort-giving Steelers week in and week out. He has had to hold down the safety position without Troy Polamalu. Is he the problem? Just wondering.

Betting on Pennsylvania’s Future

Today’s Post-Gazette has Governor Rendell all hot and bothered that the state legislature recessed for the holidays without voting on casino table games. Now, he is threatening to lay off 1,000 state workers on January 8.

Is it me? I thought that lotteries and gaming were supposed to be a supplement for state programs like education and such. I didn’t think that gambling was intended to be the lynch pin holding our entire state budget together. I’m no prude, but this just seems wrong. These games are essentially a tax on the poor and elderly. The state creates a puppet groundhog to promote visions of big winnings for lottery players. We are even supposed to give them as gifts at the holidays. It’s in the tradition of gold, frankincense, myrrh, and quick picks. Let’s face it. This is not something that rich people do. They don’t play the lottery and they don’t gamble in Pennsylvania. They go to Vegas.

State legislators claim the layoffs aren’t necessary. They claim the governor can make less aggressive cuts and that there is surplus money available in other areas. Besides, even if table games passed, they would not ramp up and begin creating revenue for many months.

I’m sure Pennsylvania’s not alone here. But if people need to be laid off if we don’t, by God, get blackjack by Christmas, hasn’t something gone terribly wrong?

Sam I Am

Now, some holiday cheer. Three cheers, that is, for recent Duquesne graduate Sam Ashaolu. In 2006, Sam was a recent transfer to the school to play basketball when he and several teammates were shot following a school dance. Sam was the worst off with a bullet in his head. His teammates feared he wouldn’t make it to the hospital. He almost died there.

He didn’t die. But he did begin a long, painful recovery. He had to relearn how to walk, and speak, and read. He suffered debilitating seizures and migraines. Today, he still carries part of the bullet in his head. But he also carries a diploma.

At a time when so many college athletes go to school to play and never graduate, Sam walked the floor of the Palumbo Center yesterday—a floor on which he never was able to play a single game—and received his diploma. Coach Ron Everhart moved practice so the entire team could be there to cheer Sam on. After the shooting, Sam inspired the team on their recent turnaround and even served as an equipment manager. Check out the words of Everhart:

A lot of times society holds people in a certain degree of esteem for things and they really aren’t at that level. But this kid embodies—whether you want to call it being a hero, or whether you want to call it, a guy who has achieved something great—when all the odds were against him, he’s the guy who succeeded.

Aside from the day I got married and my children were born, this might be one of the proudest days I’ve ever had. He’s a great kid and has been very inspirational to our team, to me and, I think, to our institution.

Sam graduating today, when you look back on where he was, Day 1… (Mr. Everhart he stopped in mid-sentence, searching for the right words)… He’s a walking miracle. Sam is absolutely a walking miracle.”

There you go, Pittsburgh. Your Christmas miracle!

Sam will go home to Toronto for the holidays and then will return to Pittsburgh to look for a job. Something tells me he will find one. The man’s a Burgher through and through.