Breaking News

Voice of the Fan

Big Ben will leave a large void

The atmosphere at the Steelers-Cleveland game was at the AFC championship game level. I was at Kobe Bryant’s last game in Los Angeles, and there were a lot of similarities as the both games seemed to a celebration of careers. As with Bryant, there is something very special about a connection between a city and fan base when a player stays with one team for nearly two decades. Heinz Field was packed an hour before the game just to see Ben Roethlisberger warm up. Helmetless, with just a knit cap on his head, knowing this was the last time he would ever warm up before a game ...

Sunday Sports Mailbag

Penn State football plight: It’s stuck with Franklin This entire Penn State coaching staff lacks accountability, starting with our overpaid head coach. Excuses galore but no results. Where do we (re)start? Coaches: I know we are now stuck with James Franklin until he demands another raise, but is it too much to ask for him to actually coach? The top coaches (Saban, Smart, Swinney, Fisher, Day and even Schiano) are much more engaged in the game than Franklin. His M.O. seems to be good recruiter, below average coach. His trick plays don’t fool anyone. I will ...

New year brings renewed hope

By Jim. Caltagirone For the Mirror Speculating on what the new year will bring is one of the joys of the holiday season. Even if it’s only wishful thinking, entertaining hopes for that elusive lottery jackpot or new job certainly come at no cost. It’s better to dream big than not at all. That’s certainly true in sports. A championship is the ultimate reward for a loyal fan base. It has a way of erasing all the frustrations created by near misses and seasons best forgotten. Of the four major American team champions in 2021, only the Atlanta Braves were a major surprise. ...

Madden found a way to make the game feel fresh

By Jim Litke The Associated Press So it barely mattered whether you first ran across John Madden as the growling, grizzly bear-sized coach of the Oakland Raiders, the big, booming soundtrack of the NFL, or the guy with the “what-me-worry?” smile peeking out from the slot on a video-game console. All three generations of football fans faithfully followed in his wake because every run-in with Madden after that was bound to yield something new. An insect landing on the camera lens in the middle of a game? Instead of ignoring that detail, Madden turned it into 10 seconds of ...

College sports sending bad message

Do big-time college athletics programs have any educationally-redeeming value? Penn State recently extended the contract of football coach James Franklin and increased the salary of one of the highest paid football coaches in America after what Nittany Lion followers lamented were woeful seasons in 2020 and 2021. The Franklin situation, however, is not unique. It is symptomatic of a plague that is actually destroying the values and foundation of higher education in America. The Chronicle of Higher Education explained how this is taking place in a detailed analysis. The op-ed ...

Texas football sponsors ‘cattle call’

By Bill Contz For the Mirror L eave it to the state renowned for the exploitation of its vast oil reserves to let their flagship institution of higher learning set the bar for monetizing the value of a college lineman. The Texas Longhorns’ recent unveiling of “The Pancake Factory” gives brand new meaning to the phrase “prime Texas steer” with a program that now earmarks $50,000 annually to each of their 16 offensive linemen on scholarship. This endeavor trumps the school’s Clark Field Collective, a cross-sport NIL initiative which had previously promised a minimum of ...