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Meyer finds out you can’t be a bully in the NFL

By Jim Litke The Associated Press There’s a dozen good reasons why college coaches rarely make a successful jump to the NFL. Leave it to Urban Meyer to trip over the dumbest one. After 13 games packed with more missteps than a Master P appearance on “Dancing With the Stars,” Meyer was still treating grown men like kids, still behaving like he was the king on a campus somewhere. Still sloganeering, blustering at some and blaming everybody else at the drop of a pass. But there’s a reason bullies run out of rope a lot faster in the pros. It’s because the guys holding onto the ...

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Potts epitomized Bellwood spirit I was shocked and saddened to read in the Altoona Mirror obituary page of the passing of two former Bellwood-Antis High School athletes: Ronald Patrick Blazier and Glenn Randal “Randy” Potts. John Hartsock wrote a fine feature article in the Mirror on Blazier, who went on to pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies. I had not known Blazier but as the Bellwood-Antis JV basketball coach when Randy Potts played on the 1977 varsity team, I had the opportunity to witness his unparalleled love for the game. Potts had good skills in high school, but ...

‘Coach Pilfering Season’ in high gear

By Bill Contz For the Mirror College football’s annual calendar now includes a shiny new entry, one which commences right after Rivalry Week then continues throughout Championship Week and beyond. Coach Pilfering Season (CPS for short) is a frenzied, cut-throat bidding war for current top talent and shatters any remaining myth that a coach’s loyalty lies with the school that currently employs them. And our inaugural CPS is certainly off to a raucous start. Aggressive boosters in the Bayou have ensured that Irish eyes won’t be smiling anytime soon while Tommy Trojan and his ...

Baseball treading on unstable ground this time

By Paul Newberry The Associated Press ATLANTA — Baseball’s last labor dispute was devastating, but the comeback had two big things working in its favor. Cal Ripken Jr. and steroids. The sport won’t be so fortuitous if this lockout lingers into the spring. For the national pastime to maintain some semblance of its former glory, we better be talking about WAR and slash lines instead of the CBA and luxury tax rates by the time the Super Bowl is over. The brouhaha that came to a head this week with the owners locking out the players is a mere sideshow at the moment, ...

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Talking elite and getting there are different Is the glass half empty or half full for Penn State with James Franklin’s new contract? While the contract keeps Franklin in tow for awhile now it also deprives the Penn State faithful of seeing an elite coach. It would be nice to think that a nationally recognized or relevant coach might be leading the football program one day, but sadly the Penn State fan base won’t get that opportunity anytime soon. They certainly don’t have a nationally recognized or relevant head coach in Franklin. Those coaches mentioned in Neil ...

Steelers at home when they’re away

By Ira Kaufman For the Mirror Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles is the most expensive stadium ever constructed in the history of the world and is nearly 2,500 miles from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home stadium, Heinz Field. The Los Angeles Chargers (and Rams) play at Sofi and have one of the best young quarterbacks, Justin Herbert, and a solid team with a chance to make the Super Bowl this year — which ironically will be played at Sofi. So why in the world, two Sundays ago, were a vast majority of the 70,000 fans in the stadium, wearing the Steelers’ black and gold and ...