Oct 31 2009
By Bob Smizik | Saturday 1:40 p.m.
Count me among those who were wrong about Freddy Sanchez. I did not expect him to get more money than the $10 million over two years the Pirates offered him in July. I thought it was a fair offer and Sanchez rejected it because he didn’t want to stay in Pittsburgh.
Turns out, he did get more, but I’m not so sure it proves the Pirates wrong.
Sanchez signed a two-year, $12 million contract Friday with the San Francisco Giants, the team to whom the Pirates traded him in July. Those terms don’t make the Pirates offer look ``embarrassing,’’ as many bellowed at the time the offer was made. The deal makes the Pirates’ offer look realistic but a little low.
But it’s not all that simple. We’ll never know what Sanchez would have received on the open market and we do know the Giants had reason to get him under contract and perhaps at above market value.
The Giants gave up a prized prospect in starting pitcher Tim Alderson to get Sanchez. Had they lost Sanchez in free agency, after failing to make the playoffs with him, it would have looked like they gave up Alderson for nothing. Now they have Sanchez, who is best known for his offense but whose offense is in decline.
Among the 16 National League second basemen with more than 350 plate appearances, Sanchez was fifth in batting average, 11th in on-base percentage, ninth in slugging percentage.
When the Pirates traded Sanchez, they were in last place, which is where they finished with him in 2008 and 2007. He was going to be a free agent after the 2010 season, a year in which the Pirates again would surely finish last.
Call me a ``Bob Nutting apologist,’’ as someone on this site did today, but the Pirates made the right move in trading Sanchez.
Oct 31 2009
Saturday, 1:00 a.m.
Q: Thank you for your blog on the Pitt-Penn St. series – a matter of continued interest to many of us who grew up with that great rivalry. Like the rivalry itself, the matter of who is the “blame” for the demise of the multi-sport eastern league (which I agree now was visionary and I wish would’ve happened) remains of much dispute and “myths” about it abound. I was hoping you could perhaps shed more light on the actual reason for the league’s demise. One popular version – which I can’t verify or deny – is that it was actually Syracuse’s unwillingness to submit to Penn State’s demands to share basketball revenue, but not football revenue that doomed the league.
Eric Thumma
Bob Smizik: As I wrote, the decision of Pitt to not join the league was widely believed to be the major factor in it failing to come to fruition. If Pitt had joined, the wisdom of the day was that Syracuse would have to follow. Football was king at the time and Pitt and Penn State were the two top teams in the East and nationally elite. Basketball was not nearly the revenue producer it is today. I‘m not even sure the Carrier Dome was open. If it was, I‘m doubt anyone could visualize what it would become for basketball. ESPN either hadn’t been invented or was in its infancy and few realized its potential. It’s possible that Syracuse had a problem with it the finances of the league, but as I understood the situation Pitt’s decision to join the Big East was decisive in killing Joe Paterno’s league.
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Q: I think Penn State needs Pitt more at this point. Pitt and the other Big East teams have the luxury of playing high profile out-of-conference teams that continue to keep them in the national spotlight. The Notre Dame series with Pitt is a good example. Joe Paterno has hurt his program with the non-conference 
schedule. Moreover, the Big Ten has a limited number of teams that generate national interest. Another difference is the style of play. The Big East has more exciting offenses.
Bill Hawkins
Bob Smizik: Sorry, but you points do not hold up. Yes, the Pitt-Notre Dame game is nice, but what about Ohio State-USC and Michigan-Notre Dame? I haven’t done a comparison, but I’m guessing the Big Ten non-conference schedule is roughly the same in terms of quality opponents as the Big East. As for style of play, I can’t think of a more entertaining offense than the one Rich Rodriquez runs at Michigan. The Big Ten has more teams that generate national interest than does the Big East.
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Q: The only way I think we will ever see the Pitt-Penn St game is if state lawmakers threaten to stop funding for both schools.
Scott Shapiro
Bob Smizik: I don’t think holding the 75,000 or so students at both schools who don’t play football hostage is a good idea. I think politicians should stay out of sports.
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Q: It would be interesting to compare the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference, especially since the BE has survived the plotted demise following the raid by the ACC. It is an amazing story of survival and role reversal from what was projected. How does the ACC dodge the wrath of the sports writing community that loves to dump on the credibility of the BE, but seems to ignore the biggest joke in the sports world? They were going to push the Big Ten and SEC off the front page and create this juggernaut. It didn't quite work out.
I imagine Boston College is having serious second thoughts about the wisdom of aligning with a conference so far away, and so culturally different than a Catholic University from Boston. Actually it is very amazing how this has worked out.
Ed Selker
Bob Smizik: In my years of covering sports, I’m not sure I’ve seen a more reprehensible power play that the one the ACC pulled on the Big East (This is my column on the subject in 2003.) That said, I believe the primary motive of the ACC was to strengthen itself -- not destroy the Big East. That this despicable plan has not worked shows there is some justice in this world.
While the ACC is not as strong as it hoped, I’m not sure it’s ``the biggest joke in the sports world.’’ Nor am I sure the two leagues have had a role reversal. The ACC has three ranked teams in the most recent AP poll, same as the Big East.
The decision of Boston College to leave the Big East remains inexplicable to me and I can’t believe there’s not more to that story and we‘ll probably never know it.
It has been my experience that some fans think their team and their conference don’t get enough respect. I think Big East football gets the respect it deserves and the same is true of Big East basketball. I’m sure the lackluster showing of the ACC in football is well reported by newspapers that cover the league.
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Q: I was wondering why you choose to only report about DeJuan Blair when he has strong games? Why did you cherry pick his debut when he had 14-11-3 but didn't say anything in his follow-up game when he had 6-4-0? His minutes went from 23 in the opener to only 13 in the second game. I could argue that his performance was because the team had easy control in the opener and the game was never in doubt from the second quarter on. However, in the next game, when San Antonio was losing and the score close, his minutes were dramatically cut because the Spurs didn't use him when the game mattered.
I'm not trying to downplay his early accomplishments. I am simply indicating that once again a local sports commentator is only reporting positive things about locally connected athletes. Don't be a homer and report both sides of the story.
Kevin A. Van Asdalan
Bob Smizik: Well, Kevin, it’s not often I’m called a ``homer.’’ In fact, I don’t believe it has ever happened. But let me say this: I don’t cover the San Antonio Spurs. I have tried to keep readers abreast of what Blair and Sam Young are doing in their first pro seasons. Had I been aware of Blair’s second-game performance, I might have commented on it. But I’m not going to blog on all of San Antonio’s 82 games. I did comment on Young’s first game, in which he did not score a point. Does that make you happy?
By the way, congratulations: You’re the first person I’ve come across who doesn’t like DeJuan Blair.
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Q: In your opinion, would an old-fashioned World Series with each game starting in daylight at 4:00 PM EST or earlier, generate enough positive PR and "buzz" for baseball (week-long national holiday, "hooky" from school and work, etc.) that it would offset the decreased television revenue?
Also, if Pitt and Penn State were to resume playing, would it make sense to return it to the end of the season even though they are in different conferences, similar to Georgia-Georgia Tech?
Jeff Flynn
Bob Smizik: I don't understand the fascination for starting the World Series in the afternoon during the week. Would Fox run ``American Idol'' in the afternoon? I don’t think starting week day World Series games at 4 p.m., when most adults are working, is a good idea and don’t believe it would create any kind of PR buzz that would be worth losing millions of TV dollars. Last time I looked most kids are out of school by 4, which means no need to play hooky. Having the final innings during the dinner hour in the East would not work.
I think some of the leagues have rules about playing non-conference games late in the season. I think if Pitt and Penn State played the game would have to be in September or October.
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Q: By reading your blog, I would think Pitt fans are the only ones to boo their quarterback.
James Smith
Bob Smizik: I made no such claim. If you inferred that, I can’t help it.
There have been three primary reaction by Pitt fans to criticism of them for booing Bill Stull: 1) There was no booing; 2) Only the students were booing; 3) Everyone else does it.
Oct 30 2009
By Bob Smizik | Friday, 9:05 a.m.
To paraphrase a discussion general manager Branch Rickey had with slugging outfielder Ralph Kiner almost 60 years ago, the Pirates finished last with Perry Hill and they can finish last without him.
I am not included in that seemingly large group that is in mourning over the decision of Hill, the Pirates celebrated infield instructor, not to return to the team next season.
An Internet story, for example, called Hill's departure ``a major blow.''
Balderdash!
I say that while acknowledging Hill is one of the best, if not the best, infield coaches in baseball. Nor do I u
nderestimate the value of teaching and instruction in baseball. The sport needs more of it, not less, and significantly trails football and basketball in that area.
I don’t think you can overvalue the importance of teaching and instruction but you can give the man doing the teaching and instructing too much credit.
Consider the Steelers:
The emergence of rookie wide receiver Mike Wallace has been one of the highlights of their season. So has the play of tight end Heath Miller, who had become one of the team’s top pass catchers after so many seasons of mostly blocking.
Can anyone name the Steelers wide receivers coach and/or tight ends coach?
Randy Fichtner is the wide receivers coach and James Daniel is the tight end coach. They are, I’m sure, very good at what they do or Mike Tomlin wouldn‘t have them on his staff.
But here’s the thing: If both resigned at the end of the season, they would be replaced with other coaches who also are very good and there would not likely be any decline in the play of Wallace and Miller. There might even be improvement.
To continue the football analogy, if defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a 10 on a scale of 10, left the Steelers at the end of the season, does anyone seriously think his replacement would be, say, a 6 or a 5. Of course, he wouldn’t.
There are lots of good coaches out there. Pirate coach Tony Beasley was tutoring the infielders before Hill joined the team last season. After watching Hill for a season, there's no reason Beasley can’t take over and continue the instruction and tradition that Hill began.
Hill has not invented a secret method of catching the ball nor has he reinvented the double-play pivot. What he has done is found new and better ways to teach those skills. That can be duplicated or be close to duplicated by a good coach.
There was some intrigue concerning Hill’s departure. In making the announcement that Hill would not be back, general manager Neal Huntington said, ``Perry has decided that he does not want to coach.’’
It sounded like a voluntary decision by Hill to step away from the game for a season. But it probably was a case of the Pirates holding Hill to his contract, which runs through 2010, rather than Hill choosing not to work next season.
Oct 30 2009
By Bob Smizik | Friday, 8 a.m.
This blog aroused the ire of some Penguns fans last week when it proclaimed the injury that would keep top defenseman Sergei Gonchar out of the lineup for four to six weeks actually was a blessing and that both the player and the team would benefit from the injury.
Some people even questioned my hockey expertise. Imagine that!
The reasoning for the stance was that with the Penguins a lock to make the playoffs, it wasn’t a bad idea that Gonchar, who broke his wrist, take some time off to stay fresh from the grind of the long season and the playoffs.
That logic did not register with hockey aficionados. I
stand behind it, though. The Penguins will be fine without Gonchar, who is 35 and will be 36 by the end of the season. His fresher legs will benefit the team more in May and June than his presence on the power play will in October and November.
As for the strained shoulder of Evegni Malkin, which the Penguins announced yesterday, well, it's not such good news that he'll miss two weeks. Malkin is a young stud and he doesn’t need to rest his legs for the long grind of the season, although he might benefit for such an absence.
Malkin is an elite player, who led the NHL in scoring last season and won the Conn Smythe trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Penguins will miss his great ability and it will enable teams to focus more on Sidney Crosby’s line now that the Malkin line will be a lesser threat.
But here’s another reason why Malkin will be missed. His absence removes the air of invincibility that has surrounded the Penguins. Some teams might actually believe, unlike the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night, the Penguins can be beaten now that Malkin’s out of the lineup.
I’m not suggesting teams gave up before the game started when facing the defending Stanley Cup champion, but maybe they did once the Penguins took the lead. With Malkin out for two weeks, the aura of superiority that has surrounded the Penguins will vanish.
The good news is Malkin figures to miss only about six games, beginning tonight when the Penguins play at Columbus. and he should be a better player when he returns with his shoulder given a chance to rest and, yes, with fresher legs.
Oct 29 2009
By Bob Smizik | Thursday, 2:35 p.m.
To no one’s surprise, Pitt was not ranked in the top 25 in the first ESPN/USA Today pre-season college basketball poll that was released today.
The Panthers, who lost four starters from last year’s team that advanced to the round of eight of the NCAA tournament, received 19 votes and were 37th.
Six Big East team were ranked in the top 25. They were: Villanova (6), West Virginia (9), Connecticut (14), Georgetown (21), Louisville (23) and Syracuse (25).
Among those also receiving votes, Notre Dame was 35th.
The top five were Kansas, Michigan State, Texas, North Carolina and Kentucky.
After losing senior starters Sam Young, Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs, along with sophomore DeJuan Blair, who opted for the NBA draft, the Panthers were not expected to be ranked.
Oct 29 2009
By Bob Smizik | Thursday 1 a.m.
The subject of a possible Penn State-Pitt bowl game was posted on this site yesterday and -- surprise, surprise -- the sniping began.
Mention either football program and the discussion quickly gets to the fact the two teams have not played since 2000, why one program is afraid to play the other, how the Penn State basketball program stinks or how Pitt can’t sell out its football games.
For years, the subject kind of bored me. I was covering Pitt when the groundwork for dispute began. It was in 1980, I believe, that Penn State coach Joe Paterno tried to form an Eastern all-sports conference. At the time, both the Big East and the Eastern Eight (now the Atlantic 10) were in their early years and neither league had football. Paterno wanted football in his league.
Like Paterno or not, he’s a very smart guy. In this particular case, he was a visionary. I remember speaking to him about his vision of the league. He talked about television revenue at a time when almost no one in college athletics had an inkling of the kind of money that was out there for sports. Look what the Big East has done with basketball. A football league with Pitt, Penn State, Boston College, West Virginia and Syracuse could have done something similar.
I
n order for the league to work, Paterno needed Pitt, which, along with Penn State, was a nationally elite football power at the time under Jackie Sherrill. Pitt pondered its option. If it went with Paterno, Big East members Boston College and Syracuse would have no choice but to join because they’d have to follow the football powers. Keep in mind that back then football was absolute king. The Big East had not yet begun to flex its basketball muscles.
Pitt spent months studying the situation and decided it would cast its lot with the Big East. With Pitt in the Big East, Boston College and Syracuse stayed put and there was no Eastern league. Paterno’s grand plan was ended by Pitt’s decision. He hasn’t forgotten.
I used to believe Paterno was entitled to his grudge and that this game really wasn’t all that necessary. Besides, long stretches of this series were totally lopsided. Except for the Johnny Majors-Sherrill era, Paterno dominated and often lopsidedly so.
B
ut those games of the Majors-Sherrill era were riveting -- annual classics. Once Majors got his team in place, Pitt could play with Penn State and the games, played late in November, often had national championship implications.
It never will get back to that. The fact the teams are in different conferences and that any future game probably would be played in September or October would take some of the shine off it.
But this rivalry has been dormant long enough. Paterno has exacted his revenge. If he can play Alabama home and home, he can play Pitt home and home. Penn State talks about wanting their national alumni to have a chance to see the team. Well, where is there more alumni than in Pittsburgh?
I wrote in response to someone’s comment yesterday that Pitt ``needs’’ this game. That was inaccurate. Pitt is fine. But getting Penn State on its schedule on a regular basis would be a bonanza in terms of selling tickets and increasing interest.
What’s in it for Penn State? Not as much as for Pitt, but what’s wrong with doing the right thing? Paterno always has been a guy who was about doing what’s good for college football. Well, this is good for college football. It’s good for Pitt and it’s good for Penn State.
Give it up, Joe.
Your once-diminishing legacy has been rebuilt by Penn State’s return to success. Here’s a chance to add another brick, not that you need one, to that legacy.
Show some compassion. Show some class. Show why you’re one of the most respected men in the history of college football.
Resume your rivalry with Pitt.
Oct 28 2009
By Bob Smizik | Wedmesday 10:55 p.m.
In his first regular-season NBA game, former Pitt center DeJuan Blair pretty much picked up where he left off with the San Antonio Spurs.
Blair, who led the Spurs in scoring and rebounding in the exhibition season, played almost 23 minutes off the bench last night in a 113-96 win over the New Orleans Hornet. He scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. His rebounding total was one shy of Tim Duncan’s game-high 12.
Blair, who made seven of 10 shots from the field, was one of 10 Spurs who played between 20 and 29 minutes in coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation.
Sam Young, a teammate of Blair’s at Pitt last season, had a less dazzling debut as his Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Detroit Pistons, 96-74. Young played 9 minutes, 10 second, missed all three of his shots and did not score. He had three rebounds.
Both Blair and Young were second-round draft choices of their respective teams.
Oct 28 2009
By Bob Smizik | Wednesday 12:20 p.m.
With two world champion teams playing in front of us at least twice a week, it easy to understand why baseball -- where Pittsburgh has a world ``chumpion’’ team -- is getting scant attention in town these days.
The Post-Gazette sports section regularly buried the game stories on the National and American League Championship Series and probably never heard a word of complaint. The Steelers, Penguins, Pitt and Penn State give us the sports news we want.
But this is the World Series, once, but no more, the pre-eminent sports event in America. That was before the NFL became the national pastime, before the Series began playing in prime time and before the Pirates and the economics of the game ruined baseball for a lot of people.
The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who begin their best-of-seven series tonight at Yankee Stadium, are a classic matchup. No one is disputing the fact, as sometimes happens in all sports, that these are the two best teams.
The best teams, some might say, that money can buy. The Yankees, after failing to make the post-season 
last year, went out and bought elite slugger Mark Teixeira and superstar pitcher C. C. Sabathia, along with A. J. Burnett, another excellent pitcher, and Nick Swisher, a guy whose nice to have around. So what it if cost them a couple of hundred million.
The Phillies added Raul Ibanez, who cost $31 million, to replace Pat Burrell, who had been a key player in their 2008 World Series win. As the season progressed, and the Phillies saw they needed more, they added Cliff Lee, a Cy Young winner, and, in a crafty deal, Pedro Martinez, a future Hall of Famer who still has something left.
Sabathia and Lee matchup tonight and Burnett and Martinez tomorrow.
Both lineups are power-packed, with the Yankees probably having a slight edge but nothing all that overwhelming. The Yankees have more reliable starters but with Martinez and Cole Hamels behind Lee, the Phillies are not shabby.
What this could come down to is the bullpens. The presence of Mariano Rivera, the greatest reliever of all time, gives the Yankees have a large edge. But one reliever cannot do it the way the game is played today. The Yankees have been counting heavily on Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain to set up Rivera and neither has been as good in the post-season as they were in the regular season.
Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, the hero of 2008, had been horrendous this season and many didn’t believe the Phillies could get this far with him at the end of the bullpen. But Lidge has looked more like 2008 than 2009 thus far and the Phillies must keep their fingers crossed and hope he continues to pitch well.
It’s no fun to pick the Yankees, the Evil Empire as Red Sox president Larry Lucchino famously called them. But they have the edge, although not large, in almost every area.
The Yankees in six.
Oct 28 2009
By Bob Smizik | Wednesday 1 a.m.
Last week about this time, Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, less than two years removed from being America’s prime football recruit, was being critically dissected by those who formerly praised him.
Pitt and Penn State fans were proclaiming their gratitude that Pryor decided to go elsewhere. Ohio State fans wanted him out as their starting quarterback. Experts were suggesting he’d be of better use to the Buckeyes and would have a better pro future at another position.
P
ryor’s athleticism is so prodigious that it would not be an exaggeration to say he could be switched to wide receiver, tight end, outside linebacker, rushing defensive end or strong safety and, given time, start just about anywhere, including the NFL.
But he wants to be a quarterback, and after a good, but hardly excellent performance Saturday against Minnesota the heat has been turned down under Pryor and Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
Pryor probably would have been better off at Michigan, where his skills would more fit the system of Rich Rodriquez. But Rodriquez doesn’t develop pro quarterbacks and that’s Pryor’s ambition.
You don’t need to be a quarterback coach to know Pryor has mechanical problems and that they’re not being fixed at Ohio State.
Part of the reason for that might be that Ohio State doesn’t have a real quarterback coach. The man with the title is Nick Siciliano, who took over those duties this season from Joe Daniels, who was a great quarterback coach. Daniels, in his mid 60s, was moved to an administrative position at Ohio State and was said to be OK with that move.
Although Siciliano served as quarterback coach at North Carolina A&T in 2004, when he also was special teams coordinator, his main qualification for his current job seems to be a long association with Tressel.
I don’t like calling out a guy I know little about, but I’m not sure Siciliano is the guy to get Pryor over the hump. And I know just the guy who is. He’s on another job at the moment, but I think he could be persuaded to return to Ohio State, where he once coached the quarterbacks.
I am speaking of Walt Harris, who knows as much about the passing game and teaching young quarterbacks as just about anyone. I was never a big fan of Harris as a head coach when he was a Pitt, but I always respected the way he built offenses and developed quarterbacks. When it comes to quarterbacks, Harris has a Ph.D.
He’s just what Pryor needs and Tressel would wise to seek him out. Tressel has an rough diamond of a quarterback. If anyone can put the proper polish on Pryor, it’s Harris.
He’s currently coaching at Akron, where his title is assistant head coach/passing game coordinator. The head coach is J.D. Brookhart, who was Harris’ offensive coordinator at Pitt. The Zips aren’t zipping this year -- they’re 1-6 -- but I doubt that’s any fault of Harris.
Harris is no kid. He’ll be 63 next month and is never going to be a head coach again after his disastrous run at Stanford. I’m guessing he’d like one more fling at the big time and would love Ohio State.
Tressel should give Harris a call. His future and Terrell Pryor’s will be a lot brighter if he does.
Oct 27 2009
Tuesday, 11:40 p.m.
Pitt and Penn State haven’t played a football game since 2000 and there is not known to be any conversations between the two school involving a renewal of the series that for a time was among the best in college football.
The sticking point appears to be Penn State’s wish to have Pitt play more often at University Park than the Lions play in Pittsburgh. Pitt has refused such an arrangement.
But with both teams headed to bowl games this season, the possibility exists they could meet in a post-season matchup. Cory Giger, who covered Penn State for the Altoona Mirror, wrote about such a possibility. It’s a long shot but Geiger has all the bases covered in an informative and interesting story that you can read here. --- Bob Smizik
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