Sports Beat

Sports Beat

By Rich Briggs
The Weekly Recorder
April 4, 2008

*Baseball season started this week and I can honestly say that I actually watched parts of games as the week wore on. Not an entire game, mind you, but enough to attempt to develop an old/new appreciation for the game that gave me so many great memories from the 1970s and 1980s. However, one issue that scared me was the fact that two magazines I subscribe to, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News, each had a baseball preview issue and I could not name more than five baseball players throughout the majors without looking at the publications. This is what baseball has come to for me, and that bothers me.

I used to know at least one player on each team, and several on a number of teams. Now, I know very few. As I stated in a column a few weeks back, baseball is a beautiful game. In its purest form, I do love baseball, although it will never overtake football on my list of favorite sports. But I did manage to watch part of the game last Sunday night between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves. The Nationals were christening their new ballpark and two of the best announcers in the business, Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, were broadcasting the game. Those two, alone, are enough to make me tune in. Both are tremendously knowledgeable and make the broadcast enjoyable.

However, I wonder how many in this area paid much attention to the beginning of the baseball season, now that the Penguins are in the Stanley Cup playoffs and, at the time of this writing, were battling for the Atlantic Division title and first place in the Eastern Conference, assuring them of home ice advantage throughout the playoffs, at least until the Stanley Cup Finals. I hope this edition of the Pirates breaks the losing streak and restores respectability and credibility to baseball in Pittsburgh. We are all tired of the losing.

*One of my contemporaries in this business, Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote a column on Penguins Head Coach Michel Therrien and how those in this area take umbrage with him and how he has handled his players. Let’s see, the Penguins are in the playoffs for the second straight year, they may clinch a division title for the first time in 10 years, they may also clinch home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference, and people are complaining about the way he is handling his players. Yeah, I can see why he should be fired.

Speaking from a coaching standpoint, and from a fan’s standpoint, I have no problem whatsoever with how he is handling his players. Therrien was hired to win games, period. That is exactly what he is doing. More than other sport, hockey players can be coach killers. No coach has lasted very long with this franchise, and with good (or bad) reason. Hockey coaches are now a dime a dozen. As much talent as this team has, Therrien has done a marvelous job of pushing the right buttons at the right time. He knows who to push, when, and with the right reasons.

I could play for Michel Therrien because I would know where I stood with him. That’s all a player can ask of his coach. Where do I stand and what do I need to do to get better so I can play for you? No, Therrien is not a player’s coach, unlike another coach we had in Pittsburgh not that long ago (and who did not break my heart when he left, either) and he shouldn’t have to be. It is his job to evaluate and decide who plays. It is up to the players to be ready and prepared to play. If you do not produce, you don’t play, or you don’t play as much.

One of the many things that bothered me about Bill Cowher when was coaching the Steelers was that he was too cozy with his players at the expense of his relationship with his coaches. He kissed Kordell Stewart and nearly kissed Joey Porter. If my coach tried to kiss me, I would slap him silly. You don’t kiss your players. You can slap hands, pat them on the back, the butt, or the shoulder, but DON’T kiss them!

If the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this spring/summer, Therrien will have proven why he was the right coach for this team. Yes, he inherited some incredibly talented players, but talent, alone, does not win championships. You have to have someone who knows how to work with his players and do the right thing at the right time. Coaching is more managing than anything else. Thierren has done a masterful job of that the past two seasons and here is hoping the Penguins keep him around for awhile.

*We live in a sports crazed region, that much is obvious. We have been equally blessed with sports broadcasters who have made the sports in which they cover all the more exciting to tune into. We have experienced a legend in each of the major league sports that calls Pittsburgh home.

The Pirates began with Rosey Roswell and continued with Bob Prince, who most people remember from the early to middle 1970s before he was unceremoniously fired by KDKA Radio. That act still brings a sting to many faithful Pirate followers. The Steelers have actually had/have three legends in the broadcast booth. Myron Cope is the one most associated with the Steelers, while Jack Fleming, who called, among other games, the Immaculate Reception while Cope was headed down to the Steeler locker room for post game interviews. Bill Hillgrove is now the man behind the microphone for the Steelers, and he is most associated with Pitt Panther football and basketball. He broadcasted the last Pitt national championship football season in 1976 when Tony Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy.

Mike Lange has been the Voice of the Penguins for a long time. He started his career in the middle 1970s with the Pens and, with the exception of one season, has been here ever since. Lange was unceremoniously fired two years ago by FSN Pittsburgh and has since been broadcasting games on the radio, which is where he got his start. He is one of my broadcasting heroes.

Of all the above, only Hillgrove and Lange are still with us. Roswell, Prince, Cope, and Fleming have all since left us for the broadcast booth in the sky. I originally went to school for broadcasting and journalism, at one time wanting to be a sportswriter and sportscaster. I have since gone in other directions, even though I announce several events at my school, including home football games and also home basketball games. I have been told many times I have a great voice for radio and those compliments are humbly received.

When I watch those I admire in an industry that, literally, eats its talent, I have no regrets for not following in their footsteps. It still bothers me that Lange was axed from television and had to go back to radio, taking a pay cut in the process. But, at least, he is still in Pittsburgh. I only hope those who have followed these respective sports appreciate these men and the dedication to their craft as I have. They have all been a part of some very special sports moments in Pittsburgh.

*The Final Four has been set and, much to no ones’ surprise, all four number one seeds, for the first time in Final Four history, have made it to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas for Saturday’s, and Monday’s, games. I did pick all four number one seeds to make it this far because of the storied history of their programs and all four teams are masterfully coached.

UCLA will play Memphis in the early game and North Carolina will play Kansas in the nightcap. These games are just too close to call. However, for the sake of prognostication, I am going to make my bold picks – I see UCLA and North Carolina advancing to the championship game Monday night, with North Carolina prevailing and winning the title. Good Luck to all four teams this Saturday night.