The truth of the matter is, the Steelers acted like pretty much every other team in the NFL does: they cut the mediocre player, and let the good player get away with it. Unlike most other teams in the NFL, the Steelers immediate cutting of Wilson and subsequent statements to the press highlight how completely unprepared the Steelers’ public relations department is to deal with potential bad publicity. The Steelers have seldom had to deal with negative publicity throughout the history of the franchise, and clearly they weren’t prepared. By cutting Wilson so quickly, they made the fact that they didn’t cut (or even discipline) Harrison all the more apparent. The Steelers and fans looking at the world through black and gold colored glasses can try to rationalize how the two players’ situations are different all they want, but the fact is this: both men hit their girlfriends, both men confessed to it, and both men publicly apologized and have apparently attempted to make amends after the incidents by entering counseling. I don’t see a difference.

James Harrison’s charges were dropped last week at the request of the victim. The Pittsburgh Steelers would prefer you forget about his behavior. However, I will not forget that in the off-season this year, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed that like pretty much every other team in the NFL, they’re willing to let a star player get away with things that get lesser players cut.

A lot of readers of this blog may not be aware that Pittsburgh has its own roller derby league, which had its season opener this past Saturday night. I’ll be covering their whole season over at http://johncihon.blogspot.com/ The style of roller derby Pittsburgh plays is hard hitting and brutal, and might appeal to football fans looking to find a way to kill some time before training camp starts.

On Thursday, we’ll go back to the Steelers and the 99 problems they’re having lately.

This past Saturday night the Steel City Derby Demons, Pittsburgh’s female roller derby league and members of the Woman’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), staged their second season opener between the 2007 Championship runner-up Hot Metal Hellions and Wrecking Dolls.

After the Pittsburgh Steel Man, a familiar sight at Pittsburgh sporting events who wore discarded steelworker protective gear decorated in black and gold, welcomed the crowd, the match got under way. Although ‘Snot Rocket Science of the Wrecking Dolls scored first, the teams remained evenly matched through the first period, neither team gaining a strong advantage. During the second jam, a five-girl pileup occurred that ensnared Hellions captain The Crippler, and although she initially appeared to slow following the accident, she managed to come back and score shortly afterwards. Crip played strong all night, displaying no sign of any adverse effects from the shoulder injury she suffered at the hands of the Dominion Derby Girls of Virginia Beach back in February. At the end of the first period, the score was tied at 62 all.

As the second period started, two Hellions were in the penalty box, and penalties really controlled the match from that point on. The Hellions kept at least one player in the box until the 22:25 mark of the second period, and it showed in the score as the Wrecking Dolls, led by a very strong ‘Snot at jammer, ran up an eleven point lead, with 91 to the Hellions 80.

At 16:47, the game was stopped when ‘Snot got a hard hit on Hellion Maid of Steel, who exited the game with a possible broken nose. ‘Snot exited the game with a major penalty. ‘Steel returned to the match shortly thereafter, and is expected to make a full recovery.

‘Snot, clearly loving the game and excited to be playing, had fallen out of her skates before the match and duct-taped them on. Her excitement hurt her, however, during the second period as she gathered multiple penalties for false starts. Despite the penalties, she continued to play strong, taking the jammer spot for the Dolls about half the time during the second half of the match. The Hellions, on the other hand, divided the jammer duties up much more evenly, with The Crippler, Sugarplum Scary, and newcomer Mel Practice all effective at the jammer spot. Although the Hellions had started the period with two members in the penalty box, the penalties ultimately exacted a greater toll on the Dolls, who saw their lead evaporate until at the 6:20 mark, the score 117-112 Hellions. The Dolls had a strong, flashy offense throughout the night, but the penalties served to negate it, leaving the bulk of the job on the defense. Before the match, the Crippler told me that every girl on the Hellions tries equally hard and there were no standouts, and their strong defense attested to that. Hellions Bench manager Blissy Sadistic attributed the Hellions strong defense to a new pair-blocking defensive scheme they were using.

The final blow came for the Dolls at the 4:11 mark, when ‘Snot fell down hard and injured her hip, leaving the game. At that point, the Hellions led 125-115. Although ‘Snot was ready to return almost immediately after leaving, by rule a player is prevented from returning after a ref calls off a jam due to injury for the next three jams. After the match, Wrecking Dolls co-captain Ally McKill reflected, “Snot is just a superstar, and that was the worst luck of the night to have her go out in that jam. . . There is no one we’d rather see at the jammer line with the game on the line (and no one the other team would rather NOT see, haha) so that was a really bad break for us. I don’t think there’s anything we could have done differently, though…it was just bad luck.”

Barred from using their strongest offensive player, (although McKill played valiantly and trimmed the Dolls deficit to three points at the :25 mark), the Wrecking Dolls were no match for the Hot Metal Hellions strong defense. The Dolls’ fate was sealed when newcomer Genghis Mom fouled out on the last jam, leaving the final score at Hellions 138, Dolls 127.

After the game, Blissy Sadistic attributed the Hellions strong play in a close game to the experience her players gained against other teams on the road, stated that the close play throughout the match was a credit to both the league and the relative strength of all the teams going into the new season.

All McKill stated, “The penalties were incredibly frustrating, and I think they had a big impact on the game. I think the Wrecking Dolls are generally one of the cleanest-playing teams in the league and we pride ourselves on that, so all of the penalties were rather surprising. It’s just something you have to deal with and move on though, I guess. We’ll just have to work harder on making sure our play is always very clean.”

Today, Ben Roethlisberger became the highest-paid Pittsburgh Steeler ever, as well as one of, if not the highest, paid players in the NFL. NFL contracts being only slightly simpler to understand than the tax code, it’s unclear whether or not Ben has the absolute highest paying contract in the NFL, but he’s definitely up there. To be specific, $102 million over eight seasons, $36 million in guaranteed money, and a $25 million signing bonus. A lot of money, to be sure, but the way the NFL is going, it won’t seem as high in six years towards the end of Ben’s contract as it does now, and totally in line with what is expected for a franchise quarterback with a Super Bowl win who’s been playing at a level with the best of the best in the NFL this past year.

After years of mediocre quarterbacks in Pittsburgh, it’s great to know that the Steelers finally have an elite quarterback, and they’re going to have him for the long haul. Big Ben pulled the Steelers up on his back more than a couple times this season, and is more responsible for their successes this past season than any other player. As long as he’s playing in Pittsburgh, they’re going to be contending for the post-season, and if the right cast ends up around him, another Super Bowl ring or two.

This leaves the Steelers with only 2.4 million left under their salary cap, so they probably couldn’t have afforded to keep Alan Faneca, even if they wanted to. And they didn’t want to. He’s historically been one of the best at his position, but he slipped this past season, and the New York Jets will likely not improve their team by his addition relative to the $40 million they’re going to pay him. As great as Faneca has been, the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, to name two teams, have had great successes recently with relatively unknown guards. The bottom line is, Faneca won’t help the Jets make a Super Bowl run, and when you’re spending that kind of money, you want a player that helps make your team a Super Bowl contender. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Ironically, the player hurt the most by the lack of cap room is Ben Roethlisberger, who badly needs a couple better receivers and an improved offensive line. In a normal year, the Steelers wouldn’t get any big-name free agents because that’s simply not the way they do things; this could be the one year where they really can’t afford to get any big-name free agents.

In a related note, the Steelers may be a little smarter than we thought, because they’re preparing to remove the transition tag from Max Starks. They never intended to pay Starks a ton of money; they just put the tag on him to let him know that they didn’t want him to leave and to make it difficult for another team to make him an offer while they were negotiating.

On the other hand, Steelers management may be as dumb as we think they are, because they just re-signed Nate Washington, when the thing that would have helped the Steelers most would have been if Nate Washington became a free agent and signed to the Cleveland Browns.

By now, most of Steeler nation is aware of the passing of Myron Cope. Cope, for those outside the Pittsburgh area, was the color analyst on the Steelers’ radio network from 1970 until 2004, the longest amount of time any individual has announced the same team in NFL history.

He was an unabashed fan of the team he covered, not even attempting to contain his enthusiasm during games. I think that was one of the traits that endeared him to Pittsburghers the most. He wasn’t slick, and he wasn’t smooth. You could feel like that’s what you’d do if you were in the broadcast booth. New York or Dallas would never have an announcer like Myron Cope, because Myron Cope was from Pittsburgh, and he was one of us. He was a strange man with an annoying voice, a corny sense of humor, and singing ability that rivaled William Shatner. And perhaps his greatest strength was his courage to be himself, and not try to change his rough edges to make himself more palatable. He wasn’t immediately accepted in the very early days, and it must have been tempting to try to change himself to be accepted. Thankfully, he never did, and he probably wouldn’t have been able to anyway. And Pittsburgh loved him for him.