Commentary
Wayne Gandy’s parting shot at Steelers had a good point PITTSBURGH – Wayne Gandy sounded a warning as he headed out the door.
Gandy, the Steelers’ left tackle for the past four seasons, signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent on Monday. The Steelers, who are working to lessen their salary cap number, made little more than a token effort to keep Gandy. But Gandy says as long as the Steelers are committed to playing Tommy Maddox at quarterback, they’d better make an investment in getting him the best protection they can.
Ordinarily comments like those are self-serving from a player who can’t imagine how the team will function without him. In this case, though, Gandy has a point. Maddox doesn’t have the mobility that Kordell Stewart does and won’t scramble as effectively if his blocking breaks down.
Stewart was remarkably durable in his Steelers career. One reason was his ability to get away from hits that would have leveled less agile quarterbacks.
Now that the Steelers are more pass-oriented (at least for now), opposing defenses are better able to come after the quarterback. Maddox isn’t a statue like Kent Graham was but he’s a much more stationary target than Stewart ever was.
It’s possible the Steelers will come up with a replacement who plays the position better than Gandy did.
At minimum, they have to get someone who’s as good as he was. If they don’t do that, they had better get themselves a top-flight back-up quarterback.
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Word from Pirates camp is Jason Kendall can see.
Vision tests showed that Kendall needed corrective lenses. He’s wearing contacts for games and glasses away from the field.
In a newspaper story, Kendall said it was no big deal and faulty vision was not the reason for the decline in his batting average over the last couple of years.
There are other factors: Kendall has been bothered by a thumb injury that caused far more pain than he’s willing to admit. The new ballpark doesn’t have the symmetrical dimensions and artificial turf that helped his hitting style at Three Rivers Stadium.
It is natural that Kendall would protest about making a connection between his eyesight and batting average.
He’s old-school and doesn’t want to be perceived as making excuses.
But Bob Walk discussed the subject on one of the broadcasts and he told a different story, one that Kendall would likely share with a friend in a non-interview setting.
According to Walk, Kendall said he had trouble making out the letters on a nameplate on a locker across the clubhouse. That means it’s unlikely Kendall could pick up the spin of the ball out of a pitcher’s hand, which is the key to recognizing a pitch.
That would be a tough way to hit and could explain his decline as much as the new field and bad thumb.
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People who think college basketball player Toni Smith should be penalized for her one-person protest miss the point.
Smith of New York’s Manhattanville College has been turning her back on the American flag during the playing of the National Anthem before games.
It is her way of expressing displeasure with the possibility this country will go to war against Iraq.
The beauty of living in this country is dissent is allowed, even encouraged. You can call a talk show and say you think the President is an idiot. You can vote for candidates who reflect your views of the issues. In states other than Florida, pains are taken to make sure your vote is accurately tallied.
The flag is a symbol of that marvelous freedom. A college campus should be a forum for a diversity of opinion. Smith happens to play basketball. How different would things be if she stood in front of the student union for two hours a day and held an anti-war sign? The biggest difference would be more people would see her. You have the feeling Manhattanville women’s college basketball isn’t a big issue with ticket brokers.
Smith is expressing a political opinion in a manner that brings no harm to anyone else and no destruction to any property.
She’s standing up for her beliefs.
What’s more American than that?
John Mehno can be reached online at: john mehno@lycos.com.