PITTSBURGH - Ladies and gentlemen, our regional nightmare apparently has come to an end.
The Internet was melting Tuesday night with reports that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and new offensive coordinator had finally met.
Keep an eye out for the parade route, and put aside a few dollars for the commemorative T-shirts.
News of the standoff between the quarterback and coordinator had been all over the news.
Given that training camp is still at least five months away, this was more curiosity than crisis.
But perhaps it was symbolic of the strange way this off-season is unfolding at Steelers headquarters.
Was this a battle of protocol?
Did each man think the other should make the first move?
Were they avoiding each other?
Were they peeking around corners before they walked down a hallway?
How did they handle restroom breaks?
Had Haley talked to other players from the offense?
Where was coach Mike Tomlin in all of this? Couldn't he have called both of them into his office to take the "who calls whom" element out of this?
It's over now. They've met.
Now all they have to do is work together and win games.
Remember, they won 12 games last season, and it wasn't good enough.
But at least they're talking. The lines of communication have been blasted open.
Steelers Nation breathes a collective sigh of relief.
Silly season
The NHL trading deadline arrives on Monday.
This means all the ridiculous rumors will also end, and for that we should celebrate a mini-Thanksgiving.
Maybe turkey sandwiches would be appropriate.
Pittsburgh Penguins Paul Martin is having an awful year and he's making $5 million, with three years left on his contract.
If Penguins GM Ray Shero could just unload the contract, he'd be a magician. It's foolish to think he could get anything of value in return.
Yet talk shows are clogged with fantasy scenarios in which a discard is magically turned into an asset.
Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com
