03 Sep
published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, September 3rd, 2015 – 10:45 am
Steelers Beat Writers Mark Kaboly, Chris Adamski and Ralph Paulk-how many snaps should James Harrison play? Not happy with depth at defensive line?
03 Sep
published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, September 3rd, 2015 – 9:22 am
— Yesterday, Martavis Bryant won our weekly Jagoff of the Week award TribLIVE Radio in one of the larger landslide victories of the year. We typically keep legal violators off the table (i.e. Aaron Hernandez type situations) to keep the award tongue-in-cheek, but four failed tests in 16 months speaks for itself.
— Bryant’s absence is going to hurt the Steelers worse on offense the first two weeks than missing Maurkice Pouncey and Le’Veon Bell will. DeAngelo Williams looks good, and although backup center Cody Wallace had some struggles in last Saturday’s preseason loss in Buffalo (against the immortal Corbin Bryant), I just have more faith in Wallace being “above the line” than backup receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey. And without Darrelle Revis this year, New England could have been very vulnerable to the on-field talents of Bryant in Week 1.
— Then again, I hear New England’s first-round pick from last year, DT Dominique Easley, has looked really good for the Patriots in preseason, so Wallace could be in for a long day on September 10th.
— Why should you watch the Steelers final preseason game against Carolina? I don’t have much for you. I’m a big Tyler Murphy fan, but Mike Tomlin all but ruled out any reps at quarterback for him. Then again, maybe that’s a good sign for Murphy, who would make the 53-man roster only as a wideout. Remember, Bryant and Bell won’t count towards the 53-man as they are on suspension, so a few temporary spots are opened up. Murphy or his Boston College teammate Shakim Phillips could get one, and perhaps fullback Roosevelt Nix could get the other.
— Speaking of which, if Nix makes the team, Wallace is a better run-blocker, and Heyward-Bey can’t catch, why not just ground-and-pound the Patriots next Thursday? Take the crowd out of the game, and keep (unknown quarterback) off the field. Keep feeding DeAngelo the pill, and maybe he won’t walk out on the team a-la LeGarrette Blount in Week 10.
— Of course, if they ground-and-pound Antonio Brown might walk out.
— Speaking of Brown, I usually swear off anyone on our show mentioning their own fantasy teams, but I’m going to break my own rule. I took Brown with the fourth pick in my fantasy league last week, selecting him over Bell who was also available. I had to think pretty hard during my allotted 90 seconds. How dramatically will Antonio be affected by Bryant’s suspension? For that matter, how about Bell without Pouncey when he does return? Will teams triple team Antonio this year? Will DeAngelo cut into Bell’s carries? In the end, the visions of Antonio Brown busting his ars all thoughout training camp swayed me to take him. Brown may be a diva, but his work ethic is like few I’ve ever seen, and I’m betting on that ethic.
— My co-host Tim Benz doesn’t want to hear Pittsburgh fans complaining about DeflateGate and the way it has kept the Steelers in the dark about which QB to prepare for. Tim’s main point is, every team in the NFL will have the same problem this year as we wait for endless appeals to run their course, so stop whining. That’s true, but the Steelers ARE at a disadvantage. It’s a twist of irony that the Commish has given New England another built-in veil of secrecy every week.
— There’s no secrecy in this: the Steelers defense is a mess right now. One of our emailers is predicting a ‘silk-curtain’ this year, and it’s impossible to argue right now. The team brought in recently-released DT Phil Taylor for a visit yesterday, and although they didn’t sign him due to a medical issue, they certainly need help and they know it. We’ve already seen more dumpster diving for waiver-level talent than we usually do, and expect it to continue over the next week. Or the season.
03 Sep
published in category: College Sports on Thursday, September 3rd, 2015 – 8:53 am
College football season sneaks up on me every single year. I can’t pinpoint why that is, exactly. The NFL season and its accompanying news cycle never ends. That’s a big part of it. There’s the absence of preseason games, which whet the palate but don’t sate the appetite. Locale is a huge factor. This is a pro town, and the college teams haven’t been very good. It’s not tough to see how the college game gets pushed to the back burner. I know there are diehard Pitt fans out there, but even the most ardent H2Person won’t dispute that Pitt football doesn’t exactly play at the forefront of the local sports consciousness. General enthusiasm for Penn State football hasn’t returned to pre-2011 levels, and maybe never will. I’m not talking about the alums or the season ticket holders. I’m talking about “sports fans.” For lack of a better explanation, I’m talking about the folks who only care when the team is good. The bandwagoners. The people you know that live for the Pirates now, but don’t quite care about the Penguins or Pitt hoops as much as they did, say, 5 or 6 years ago. I have no issue with bandwagoners. Heck, I admire their ability to enjoy the good times without suffering the bad. I wish it worked that way for me. The attention of the masses drives chatter, and right now, in Pittsburgh, college football doesn’t draw that attention. Also, it’s summer. College football is fall’s business. Anyway, I’m not really interested in figuring out “why” I’m surprised by the start of the college season. It’s just that it arrived…suddenly. I like the surprise. I hope the start of college football catches me unawares for years to come. {shrugs} It’s better than waiting impatiently.
I know that football is a dangerous game for young men to play, and I know that the structure that allows schools, conferences, the NCAA, and television networks to profit from the labor of those who play it is patently exploitative and unfair. BUT, I’m a sucker for spectacle, and college football is great at spectacle. Student sections, marching bands, SEC night games, six-figure crowds at Big Ten games, town-emptying fanaticism on the Plains, terrible uniforms on the West Coast, sideline cameramen taking blatantly creepy footage of cheerleaders in the air….it’s all great. I hate preseason polls, but I love that every game matters. Every week is meaningful. From playoff berths to bowl games to superiority over a rival, even the most disappointing season can be salvaged with one perfect result.
Saturday night, for the first time since I became a Notre Dame fan (the day I matriculated; I never cheered for ND as a kid), I get to watch my Irish take on Texas. That’s awesome. The Longhorns and the Irish, at Notre Dame Stadium. That FEELS big, even if Texas is, as a program, well below where they should be, and Notre Dame’s rosy preseason expectations are sure to turn into massive, soul-crushing disappointment after a week 4 loss to UMass, if not on Saturday night. Ohio State will be seeking weird revenge on Virginia Tech (sure, Tech handed the Buckeyes their only loss last year, but they still won the title, so how upset could they be?), but they’ll face the crush of massive hype and practically unattainable expectations, and it’s always interesting to see how a team responds to that. Wisconsin-Alabama could be entertaining, and we’ll all get to complain that Pitt and Penn State are playing Youngstown State and Temple, respectively, instead of one another. That’s never not fun. That’s just week 1. I can’t say I was “ready” for it, but now that it’s here, I’m pumped. Go Irish.
02 Sep
published in category: Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 – 1:36 pm
Steelers Writer Chris Adamski joins the guys to talk reworkings of contracts for Antonio Brown and others to free salary cap space for new kicker Josh Scobee.
Crowning the Jag-Off of the Week, the listeners have chosen Martavis Bryant as the winner.
Stillers 365 brought to you by Mr. Rooter Plumbing and Mr. Magic Car Wash. Interviews with Big Ben, Scobee and Martavis Bryant. Fantasy Football talk with Jeff Erickson.
02 Sep
published in category: Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 – 10:31 am
01 Sep
published in category: Wrestling Reality on Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 – 3:29 pm
01 Sep
published in category: Sports Talk Radio on Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 – 3:24 pm
During the course of my sports broadcasting career, when people ask me what my favorite sport is to cover, I always give the same answer: high school football.
The reason why: John Fedko. For the past 29 years he brought the best of western Pennsylvania high school football to WPXI-TV and created a level of excitement for the sport rivaled in only a few regions across the country. And that era is now coming to an end.
Monday on TribLive Radio, Fedko announced that not only would it be his last on-air appearance in the studio, but he also will not return to host “Skylights” this upcoming season. He has decided to step away from broadcasting to devote more time to the capital campaign as President of Vincentian Academy and to spend more time with his two sons as they progress in amateur baseball. His son Christian, a junior infielder at Vincentian, is expected to announce his college commitment this week.
“Personally, I don’t think this is a big deal,” Fedko said during his farewell show. But with all due respect, I couldn’t disagree more. Frankly, I don’t think enough is being said about it.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, my parents were frequent viewers of WPXI, and Friday was my favorite day of the week for two reasons. One was “Skylights” during the 11:00 news, and the other was “The Fedko Zone,” the self-named, musically-accompanied blooper reel near the end of the 6:00 show.
It was evident within 30 seconds that John was different from any other sports anchor you ever watched, and he used a style that had never been seen before, even despite his admitted stylistic nod to Howard Cosell.
But Fedko took Cosell’s style and gave it a unique combination of energy, flair and excitement that kept you coming back every week. The songs he used while reading highlights, the nicknames, even the way he pronounced “THE LITTLE PREXIES!” made the shows more appealing.
“The thing I am sad about — because eras end in media around here — is that I thought it was fun,” Fedko said. “I tried to make ‘Skylights’ fun. If you didn’t care about the two teams, but you kind of liked high school football, you were tuning in.”
It was because of John Fedko that I learned the names of young men who became local legends like LaVar Arrington, Mike Caputo and Kevan Barlow, among many others.
I think back to 20 years ago, during my freshman year when John came to Schenley High School to present us with the Skylights Spirit Award. (That was back when Baby Kaley was actually still a baby. She is now a cheerleader at the University of Miami.) I remember the packed gym, the drumline playing, the cheerleaders dancing and John singing “Happy Birthday” to my sister Rebekah, who was the squad’s captain.
It was experiences like those that were the defining moments of many students’ high school years. They were also the catalyst for some who aspired to do the same thing he did, like myself. If you grew up in western Pennsylvania and went on to cover high school football for local news, odds are you probably copied a gimmick or two from John Fedko. And if you didn’t, well, you probably weren’t that good, anyway.
When I first started covering high school football as a television reporter in Arkansas, my go-to Fedko gimmick was the cheerleader skits. With every game I covered, I always looked for new ways to get fans and students involved in the coverage of the game, because I knew it was how John did it; because “Skylights” became one of the measuring sticks for how high school football is presented.
“High school football is a part of western Pennsylvania that is critical to the fabric and the history of the city,” Fedko said. And he helped to cultivate that into a large facet of the local media landscape every fall.
It took creativity, energy, foresight — and frankly, guts — to do some of the things John did, like incorporating North Allegheny athletic director Bob Bozzuto or a shout-out to a local priest in every show.
It was because of John Fedko that we learned to be careful when you’re carrying an abnormally-large stack of boxes. You never know when some lunatic might come out of nowhere to collide with you and send everything flying.
Then there were the school visits, the skits and the crowd-surfing. Part of the allure of “Skylights” was that when John Fedko was on the air, you expected the unexpected. He was a game-changer long before spread formations and up-tempo offenses. When “Skylights” hit its peak in the 90s, there was nothing like it on television anywhere in the country.
“When I got here, I sold them on ‘Nobody’s covering high school football,'” Fedko said. “We had a general manager, John Howe at Channel 11, who was a genius. He was innovative and open to anything. He was open to failure. When you try something like ‘Skylights’ you’ve got to be open to failure.”
Friday nights in Pittsburgh will never be the same because of the man who became high school football’s voice for at least two generations and one of the most unique voices this business has ever seen.
“I’ve had my run here, and I’m absolutely okay with fading into oblivion,” Fedko said. “God has been really good to me. I’m in a really good part of my life here. I have a lot of things that I’m really involved with now that I love.”
During my short time working with him at TribLive Radio, John always left the studio offering the same adulation: “You’re the greatest!”
No, John. You are the greatest. And just in case you ever decide to come back to high school football, we’ll leave the Friday night lights on just for you.
01 Sep
published in category: Wrestling Reality on Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 – 2:21 pm
