Everything is bigger in Texas
PITTSBURGH – Leftovers from the week in between: n The routine was similar to the regular season for Steelers players this past week. Two days off, followed by three days of practice. Just like every other week since August. The only difference was the volume of notebooks and microphones being stuck in their faces.
n If they thought this week was bad, wait until they get to Texas, where everything is bigger. Personally, I don’t think they noticed one way or the other, except for some unfamiliar faces in the crowd of reporters.
n If it was controversy you wanted, the best offered here was guard Chris Kemoeatu speaking when he should have been thinking. Kemoeatu said what everybody else surmised when he saw center Maurkice Pouncey sporting a hard cast and a set of crutches. The normal first reaction was, can’t imagine Pouncey getting better quickly enough to play about 10 days in the future.
n His assumption was probably dead on. His mistake was saying so in the presence of a guy with a recording device. That’s how easy it is to be a media star, reluctant or otherwise.
n By Thursday, Kemoeatu was in pretty serious backpedaling mode. “What I was trying to say was, if he plays, he plays, but if he doesn’t, we trust Doug Legursky to get the job done.”
n If only he had the foresight to say what he meant to say in the first place.
n Sorry for the pause, but Dick LeBeau just walked by. Greeted me with a big smile and a handshake. “Must be something big coming up,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Yea, something about a big game or something,” I muttered back.
n LeBeau, I’m more convinced by the minute, is the most genuine, original, down-to-earth superstar walking the planet. Such a superstar that he doesn’t consider himself to be one at all.
n I could go on about LeBeau forever, but these are supposed to be short items. I’ll get back to him next week, that’s for sure.
n Ben Roethlisberger looks none the worse for wear after what may have become a very trying season for him. Same goes for James Harrison. How could I possibly tie together a quarterback who was accused of sexual misconduct twice in the last year and a former defensive MVP who rang up $100,000 in fines for improper hits this season? Read on.
n I’ve never been a player, but I’ve been told that game days are the greatest release from the world, as we know it, that there are to be enjoyed. So, in that sense, game days were the only days Roethlisberger and Harrison got to forget about their troubles and go about the business of playing good football and piling wins on top of wins.
n Maybe, just maybe, games days allowed them to focus better on what was in front of them and helped them play better, in spite of what was happening around them.
n Or maybe not. It’s only a theory.
n Simply stated, this week between the AFC championship game and Super Bowl XLV was boring in Pittsburgh, just like I assume it was in Green Bay. Neither of these great franchises wanted to fire the first salvo. Nobody wants to show up on the others bulletin board.
n That won’t stop a player from one side or the other taking a molehill and making a mountain out of it. Remember back in Detroit, when Joey Porter taking Jerremy Stephens to task for wanting to ruin Jerome Bettis’ last game by beating the Steelers?
n Stephens said nothing wrong, let alone inflammatory. That didn’t stop Porter from making a story out of it.
Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at heraldstandard.com.