Steelers & Pirates Update

As I wrote a few days ago, many Steelers fans seem to worry (to the point of obsession at times) about the team. Tonight's preseason game against the Washington Redskins is not going to help. After seeing that Duce Staley may not return until October, Jerome Bettis injured his calf . The Steelers first-team offense didn't do much again tonight and the besides Polamalu's interception, the first-team defense did not look great giving up a lot of yards. Troy Aikman keeps saying that the Steelers have nothing to worry about, but I'm sure that is not what the Pittsburgh talk shows and newspapers are going to say over the next few days.

Transitioning to the Pittsburgh team with no expectations, there is certainly hope for next year. Unfortunately (at least for him), next year will probably not include current manager Lloyd McClendon. I don't remember if I have written this here before or not, but I do not think it's Lloyd's fault that the team has been so bad the past few (13) years. I'll write more about that some other time. Anyway, besides the actual results on the field, the rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals and Pirates, particularly Lloyd and Cardinals' manager Tony LaRussa over the past few years has been great to watch. The most-recent incident was a "tussle" between both teams during batting practice. We're talking about batting practice. If Lloyd does get fired, the Pirates should bring him back just for games against St. Louis.