Got to Category

Tim Benz Columns category, Page 93

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Tim Benz: Ways to fix the Penguins and end their 6-game slide
Penguins fans certainly have spent a lot of time in recent days trying to figure out what’s wrong with their favorite hockey team. I know I have. I imagine those fans came to the same conclusion I did. Everything is wrong. Nothing is right. And that’s not an overreaction. Look...
Tim Benz: Fans should have seat at NFL’s collective bargaining table
When it comes to NFL coverage, I‘m usually one of the last guys to write a weepy column that sobs, “But what about the fans!?” Actually, make that the last guy. The absolute last person to do so. You’re a football fan. Not a child in an orphanage, an abandoned...
Tim Benz: How the Steelers should address the dirty little secret about their defense
The word “luck” wasn’t often used in connection to the 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers. Especially relating to injuries. • The team lost the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart. • The starting running back sat out six games and parts of four others. • The starting tight end missed two...
Tim Benz: Championship coaches encourage Pitt’s Jeff Capel to stay the course
Can you blame him for being frustrated? Five straight losses. By blowouts. By nail biters. Down to 6-12 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Pitt basketball coach Jeff Capel was decidedly frustrated after his team’s 72-49 loss to Syracuse at home Wednesday night. “We have guys who are taking playing here...
Tim Benz: NFL is insane for reinstating Vontaze Burfict
The National Football League is welcoming back longtime Steelers nemesis Vontaze Burfict. The NFL deserves whatever comes next as a result of this decision. Unfortunately, whatever player Burfict attacks next does not. According to NFL.com, the former Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals linebacker quietly got reinstated by the NFL last...
Tim Benz: How Penguins fared on trade deadline day vs. Metro Division foes
Back on Feb. 10, when the Penguins acquired Jason Zucker from Minnesota, the question appeared to be: “Have the Penguins done enough to catch the Capitals atop the Metro Division?” That question is still very much up for debate. Now, on Feb. 25, another question needs to be asked: “Did...
Tim Benz: The NCAA rule book is dumb. And so were Pitt’s violations of it. 
The NCAA rule book is far too dense. The application of those rules is woefully random. And its allocation of discipline when those rules are broken is horribly inconsistent. Technically, those are just my opinions. But I dare you to find me a fan of college athletics who doesn’t presume...
Tim Benz: Steelers’ honey-do lists should keep Kevin Colbert busy
ESPN.com’s Bill Barnwell took on the heavy task of outlining the top five needs for every NFL team. Essentially, a team-by-team to-do list. It’s a good post. Some worthwhile suggestions. Especially for all the clubs in the AFC North. Definitely worth a read. We’ll take a look at his ideas...
Tim Benz: Max Talbot on nuances of being winger for Sidney Crosby vs. Evgeni Malkin
Maybe too much was made of it. But the quote did kinda just hang out there. After Jason Zucker’s first game with the Pittsburgh Penguins — a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last week — captain Sidney Crosby probably thought he was giving Zucker a compliment. “Regardless of...
Tim Benz: ESPN coverage of Myles Garrett vs. Mason Rudolph was a disgrace
The only thing more maddening than the Myles Garrett-Mason Rudolph situation has been ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” coverage of it. It was biased, agenda-driven and, at times, vengeful. Not just toward Rudolph. But toward the Steelers as well. On Thursday, ESPN released a condensed version of an interview between Mina...
Tim Benz: NFL must stop Myles Garrett from making racism claims against Mason Rudolph
After Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett was reinstated by the NFL this week, he reiterated his claim that Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph called him a racial slur. And, Garrett said, that’s what touched off the helmet-swinging brawl which occurred between the teams last season. I am just as convinced...
Tim Benz: Sorting through Jason Zucker trade and his Penguins debut
For almost two days now, I’ve been trying to find my bottom-line stance on the Penguins’ decision to acquire Minnesota Wild winger Jason Zucker. And after seeing him in black and gold for about 62 minutes Tuesday night in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, I’m still...
Tim Benz: Minkah Fitzpatrick doesn’t need to move in Steelers defense. Stats, video tell the story. 
Is Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick perpetually unhappy with his job description? Or does he have a point? When Fitzpatrick requested a trade from the Miami Dolphins early last season, apparently part of his reasoning for doing so was that he was switching positions too much for his liking within the...
Jason Zucker is coming to Pittsburgh. Was he worth the price? How will he fit?
Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford got his man. The second time. Rutherford wanted to get Minnesota Wild forward Jason Zucker as part of the return for Phil Kessel last summer. But Kessel rejected that deal. No such problems this time. The left winger comes to Pittsburgh in exchange for a...
Tim Benz: Ex-Pirate Charlie Morton accepts scorn for Astros’ cheating. More need to do the same.
In the wake of the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, one player I’ve been anxiously waiting to hear from is Charlie Morton. After his stint in Pittsburgh, Morton was traded to Philadelphia then to Houston where he ended up winning Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. It is that 2017...
Tim Benz: Antonio Brown’s interview was maddening. Now let’s talk about where he was right.
Antonio Brown’s first Pittsburgh radio interview since he left the Steelers was 22 minutes of rambling inconsistencies, inaccuracies and illogical denials. That being said, let’s try to do what you may think is impossible. Let’s talk about where Brown was right. Because, believe it or not, A.B. was actually on...
Tim Benz: Penguins’ Bryan Rust’s ‘foundation’ for his goal-scoring surge on full display
This is what Bryan Rust’s season has become. On a shift where the Penguins winger scored a goal, the actual scoring of the goal wasn’t the most impressive part of the play. And, during the same game, a play where he almost scored an overtime game winner may have been...
Tim Benz: I’m not ripping Peter King for his Troy Polamalu snub
“Football Morning in America’s” Peter King admitted that he didn’t vote for Troy Polamalu for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even though he felt Polamalu was worthy of being in the top five. His rationale? King felt Polamalu had the votes to get in anyway (which proved true), so...
Tim Benz: My bad, Troy. I could’ve done this better.
My bad, Troy. You deserved better for this. I dropped the ball. I was so busy being concerned about Steelers guard Alan Faneca getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — and mad when I found out that it didn’t happen — that I barely acknowledged your candidacy and...
Tim Benz: Pirates’ Josh Bell thinks he knows why his hot start faded in 2019
Pirates first baseman Josh Bell has an interesting philosophy on his swing. It’ll be worth tracking as this season progresses for him in Pittsburgh. Well, unless he gets traded for two prospects that are barely old enough to shave, as was the case for Starling Marte last week. Bell is...
Tim Benz: Cleaning up that list of 50 greatest Super Bowl moments 
Longtime football writer Rick Gosselin compiled a list of his “Top 50 Greatest Super Bowl Moments” for the “Talk of Fame” network. He had the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl LI comeback against the Atlanta Falcons after trailing 28-3 as the top moment. It was followed by the David Tyree...
U mad, bro? Some Pirates fans bash Starling Marte trade. Others bash Tim Benz for bashing it.
This week’s “U mad, bro?” was easy. Everybody was mad about the Pirates trading Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks for two 19-year-old prospects, who are years away from making their big-league debuts. You are either mad about the trade. Or you are mad at those being critical of it....
Tim Benz: Steelers’ Alan Faneca has grown ‘wary’ of Hall of Fame process. Me too.
If former Steelers All-Pro Alan Faneca is feeling good about his chances of election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, he’s hiding it. “I feel about it like I do every time,” Faneca told me Monday on 105.9 the X .“You are excited. You never know which...
Tim Benz: If Pirates are serious about getting a real MLB center fielder, here’s an idea 
Here are the options for the Pirates in the outfield now that Starling Marte has been traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks. 1. Move Bryan Reynolds to center field and have newly acquired Guillermo Heredia play left field. 2. Keep Reynolds in left field and have Heredia play center. 3. Move...
Tim Benz: Different melody, same lyrics from Pirates after Starling Marte trade
Ask someone more social media savvy than me. You know, one of “these kids today.” But I think now that Ben Cherington has made his first significant trade as Pirates general manager, this would be an appropriate time to go with the Spider-Man meme that I see on Twitter all...


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
More Editor's Picks >