For a Super Bowl victory to end our 26 year old drought in February, the last couple of months have not been that pleasant. When a team wins a championship like this, they immediately go under the microscope and the entire sports universe is centered upon them. Unfortunately a lot of the events or turmoil in this off season so far have been done at our own expense.
Here is a little recap of what has happened so far this off season. Jerome Bettis retires and accepts a job with NBC and their football coverage for Sunday nights. This leaves a huge void in the leadership of the team. Hopefully Big Ben & Hines can step up and accept this role.
The Cowhers buy a home in Raleigh, NC and apparently Mrs. Cowher and their youngest daughter will move there for this fall school year. Coach Cowher plans on commuting during the season between Pittsburgh and Raleigh. Cowher is the longest tenured coach in the NFL, still a young man by coaching standards, and finally achieved his goal by winning a fifth Lombardi Trophy for the Rooney family. Is he thinking he wants to retire? Who knows? It does raise some eyebrows though.
Antwaan Randle El signs a big contract with the Washington Deadskins. We could not match what they were willing to spend for a slot or third receiver. This kills me. He was a good receiver for us, very "versatile", and most importantly a stand up guy in the community and for the Steelers organization. He will be missed. He was an adequate receiver, a good guy to have in the slot, but he was an
"EXCELLENT" punt returner. That is where we will miss him. Hopefully Ike Taylor can step up and fill his shoes in returning kicks.
Santonio Holmes gets arrested twice in a course of a month after we take him with our first pick in the NFL draft. Once for getting into a fight in a club, and once for a domestic disturbance. He apparently has three kids(with I believe three different women) and was arrested once before while he was at Ohio State for getting into a fight. Who did the background check on this kid? It gets worse. Rumors have it that Cowher made the pitch for this kid and threw his weight around to get us to move up seven spots in the draft to get him. Kevin Colbert and our scouts did not like him, thought he was immature and had too many question marks around him. ??? What gives? Please, Please don't turn into another Plaxico. Should we start calling this kid
"Santurdio"? What is with drafting WR's in the first round? You would have thought we would have learned our lessons with Troy Edwards and Plaxico Burress. Anyways, I will get off my soap box now. I heard a rumor last week that the Steelers want to offer him a one year contract for $200-250K and put him on a short leash for a year. Sit down at the end of the first year and then do a long term contract. We will see. I heard in the rumor mill that if he does not accept the lower offer that the Steelers would not sign him at all, and he would have to wait a year and reenter himself into the 2007 NFL draft. Sounds kind of far fetched. Makes you wonder.
Last but certainly not least. Big Ben finds out he is not Super Ben. I could sit here all day and rant and rave about this. The main thing is that is sounds like he was not seriously hurt, and it sounds like he will miss little if any time come training camp. Here is my only comment. If I were the Rooney family, contract or no contract, I would point blank tell him not to get on a motorcycle until his playing days are done. End of story! No discussion! By the way, I would also
"make" him do a public service commercial or poster educating the public about motorcycle safety and the benefits of wearing a helmet. I would sit him on a motorcycle in street clothes, put a Steelers Football Helmet on his head, and make him say something to the fact that he was lucky and learned his lesson the hard way and not let the same tragedy happen to them(you).
