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John Steigerwald Columns category

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
John Steigerwald: Can Steelers match Super finish of 1978 team? Why not?
The 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers have gone where no Steelers team has gone before. Of course they have. It’s 2020. Until the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 24-19, on Sunday, no Steelers team had started 8-0. The 1978 team started 7-0, finished 14-2 and went on to beat the Cowboys in...
John Steigerwald: Kudos to PIAA for giving student-athletes chance to compete
The PIAA was right. High school athletes all over Pennsylvania should be glad the organization that oversees high school sports in Pennsylvania didn’t listen to the so-called experts. Here’s what Pa. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Aug. 18: “The recommendation from the governor and myself is that all...
John Steigerwald: Pitt should be longing for Dave Wannstedt
Dave Wannstedt should still be coaching at Pitt. Pat Narduzzi is the third coach to take a crack at it since Wannstedt was fired at the end of the 2010 season, and after Narduzzi’s fourth loss in a row Saturday to Notre Dame, he is 3-4 this season and 39-33...
John Steigerwald: Browns’ Baker Mayfield no match for Steelers defense
Baker Mayfield had no chance. The Steelers defense obviously smelled his bruised ribs and gave him no time in the pocket and, even more importantly, gave him no chance on his rollouts, something he has had a lot of success with this season. In Browns Country, you can be sure...
John Steigerwald: NFL soon will stand for National Forfeit League
Are you ready for the National Forfeit League? How long can the league go without forcing a team to forfeit? The Steelers already had their Oct. 4 game against Tennessee postponed and rescheduled for what was supposed to be their week off later this month. There were lots of people...
John Steigerwald: Bob Gibson’s dominance hard to watch as Pirates fan
Bob Gibson brushed me back once. More on that in a minute. Gibson died Friday from pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Every player who tried to get a hit over the last 52 years can thank Gibson. His 1.12 ERA in 1968 was the last straw for major league owners...
John Steigerwald: Not letting fans into Heinz Field, high school stadiums stinks
Sports without fans stink, and everybody knows it. OK, games with no fans are better than nothing, but they still stink. Pitt and Louisville played an exciting football game at Heinz Field on Saturday on a beautiful, sunny day and every seat was empty. The Steelers and the Houston Texans...
John Steigerwald: Debut of ‘Monday Night Football’ 50 years ago was risky, revolutionary
The NFL went to prime time 50 years ago on Monday night, Sept. 21, 1970. It was so long ago that it made perfect sense for the league to have the first prime-time game played in Cleveland. The Browns were a well respected, successful organization, and they could be counted...
John Steigerwald: Gallup survey shows maybe it’s time for leagues to return focus to sports
Sports have nowhere to go but up. That’s as in up in the ratings. Actually, they could go down a little bit and become lower rated than the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government. We’re not talking about TV ratings here. We’re talking about Gallup’s annual survey of Americans’ views...
Steigerwald: Tomlin or Cowher as Steelers’ 2nd-best coach? Right now, it’s a tie
Who is the second best coach in Pittsburgh Steelers history? Is it Bill Cowher or Mike Tomlin? Right now, it’s a close call. Both are 1-1 in the Super Bowl. Cowher coached 15 years and was 149-90-1, a .623 winning percentage. Tomlin is starting his 14th year and is 133-74-1,...
John Steigerwald: Reaction to Mike Milbury’s remark out of control
Add Mike Milbury to the list. He has been canceled because of a completely innocuous remark he made while working as an analyst during Thursday night’s NBC telecast of the Islanders-Capitals game. Analyst Brian Boucher said this about the NHL’s bubble, which, by the way, might have played a part...
John Steigerwald: The longer NHL playoffs go, the more players will wish they followed Rask’s lead
Maybe Tuukka Rask is the smart one. He told his Boston Bruins teammates and the world Saturday he was opting out of the 2020 version of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was a pretty big deal because Rask is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, and his goaltending was a...
John Steigerwald: High school athletes don’t need Gov. Wolf to keep them safe
Let’s see what happens in Sturgis. You’ve never heard of Sturgis? It’s a little town in western South Dakota where at least 250,000 unmasked, un-socially distanced bikers are expected to visit over the next several days. If Gov. Tom Wolf were in charge of the state instead of Kristi Noem,...
John Steigerwald: Not time for Penguins fans to panic; this series could go the distance
Now what? The Penguins are down 1-0 in a best-of-five series. Is it time to panic? Not really. A good time to panic might be if/when the Canadiens score first in Game 2. All the solutions are out there: Get Patric Hornqvist in front of the net, and sit Patrick...
John Steigerwald: NBA should be sending more than one message during playoffs
It’s time the NBA woke up. Its bubble season starts Thursday, and the league has made it clear the presentation is going to be as much about promoting Black Lives Matter as it is about basketball. Those words will be painted on the court, and the players will have the...
John Steigerwald: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of a 59,000-seat mistake
Thursday was the 50th anniversary of a really bad idea. Three Rivers Stadium opened July 16, 1970, and I was there. It was a spectacular debut, even though the Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2. After having watched baseball in dingy old Forbes Field, with its view-destroying pillars and...
John Steigerwald: Overreactions will keep sports from being played
I’ll believe it when I see it. That’s been my attitude for months when it comes to the return of the four major sports. What has happened lately to make me believe we’ll be seeing some semblance of a season any time soon? Major League Soccer isn’t part of the...
John Steigerwald: Dan Snyder should have realized long ago Redskins wouldn’t work in 21st century
What’s in a name? Daniel Snyder, who owns the NFL franchise in Washington D.C., is finding out, at least 10 years too late, that the name Redskins is no longer a good idea. The fact FedEx, which paid $220 million for stadium naming rights, requested a name change and, according...
John Steigerwald: 49ers should think twice before flying Black Lives Matter flag 
The San Francisco 49ers have opened a large can of worms. In what many may see as a sincere effort to show that the organization has a new dedication to the eradication of racially motivated injustice toward Black people, they raised a Black Lives Matter flag last week to fly...
John Steigerwald: Transgender females belong in boys sports
Pick a side. Do you want transgender females (biological males) to be allowed to compete against biological females in sports? The fight has been overshadowed by a pandemic and massive demonstrations and rioting, but the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits...
John Steigerwald: Pirates erred in not drafting West Allegheny’s Austin Hendrick
Austin Hendrick may come back to haunt the Pirates. He’s the outfielder from West Allegheny who they didn’t take with the seventh pick in the MLB Draft on Wednesday. By all accounts, the Pirates had a good draft, but everybody knows it’s a crapshoot, especially when you take a high...
John Steigerwald: Stop playing national anthem before games
Drew Brees was right the first time. When the New Orleans Saints quarterback was asked by Yahoo! Finance about the possibility of more NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, he said this: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our...
John Steigerwald: Sidney Crosby isn’t being selfish by staying silent
Evander Kane needs to mind his own business. Kane plays left wing for the San Jose Sharks, and he’s black. And Canadian. Here’s what he had to say on ESPN’s First Take on Friday following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis: “We need so many more athletes that don’t...
John Steigerwald: Just let the kids play ball 
Could the pick-up game make a comeback? You would have to be of a certain age to remember when kids didn’t need to have adults around to organize everything they did. Baby Boomers remember picking two captains, having them “shink it out” and choose from a group of kids to...
John Steigerwald: Despite what Blake Snell says, MLB players in no danger
Blake Snell is afraid. In case you never heard of Snell, he is a 27-year-old pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. In a Twitch stream Wednesday night, he said, “I should not be getting paid half of what I’m getting paid because the season’s cut in half.” That’s what the...


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