Bucci Rocks

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=3696190&POLL374=400000000000000000

AC/DC is good, not great and I'm not a B's fan, but this line as pure genius from Bucci this week:

Humans are born with nearly adult-size irises that we grow into with time. It's why babies appear to have such gigantic, curious eyes as large as faceoff dots. One of life's little secrets is living with large irises long after childhood and finding great joys in little things like a Kessel wrist shot or a 28-year-old AC/DC album. Both were born from great craftsmen, and both can fill us with energy to get us through a day or two.

Rock on, Wayne. Rock on, Garth.

Big Ben vs Eli

So much is being written this week about these two quarterbacks. In reality, taking as objective a view as I can, there is no comparison between the two.

Eli backers only valid argument is that Ben played poorly in the Super Bowl while Eli led the Giants on the game winning drive late in the 4th quarter. But even that point, as it tries to prove that Ben can't play when the pressure is on, overlooks the dominant performances Ben had in the playoffs leading up to the game.

Ben a game manager only when a rook? I disagree quite a bit, but I'd take a rookie game manager who goes 13-0 over a rookie on the bench or failing miserably.

Again, in all objectivity, Eli was about to be run out of New York last season until he put together a nice 6-7 game run. And that is what tops his resume. Not a very long stretch of greatness by anyone's admission.

So, to get to the bottom of this, we will leave it to a site that is quickly becoming a favorite must-read, coldhardfootballfacts.com. Here is what they say:

Big Ben vs. Eli: Complete & Unabridged

Weigh all the evidence and one thing becomes clear: Big Ben quickly established himself as a winner in the NFL, he's put up historic passing numbers, while Eli's have been pedestrian. Big Ben's teams have consistently been better, and he even has a tasty sandwich named in his honor.

Pens Spotlight: Jordan Staal

UPDATE 10/24: The Spotlight (or the presence of his older brother) worked it's magic once again last night as Jordan Staal played his best game of the season so far in the Pens 4-1 win. He finished with only 1 sweet assist but had many scoring chances, set up several great opportunities for his linemates and was all over the ice. It should be a game that turns Staal's confidence around and gets him back to playing the kind of hockey he's capable of playing.

I know, I know. The Steelers are playing a fairly big game this weekend, the World Series is underway, and the Pirates hired a pitching coach! So why Jordan Staal? Because as things currently stand, he is the most perplexing pro athlete in Pittsburgh. Adam LaRoche, Ian Snell and Max Starks aside, questions about Staal and his future are plenty.

When my friends and I used to attend Pens games at the Igloo back in the 80s-90s, we used to "put the spotlight" on a player for a shift. We did this maybe once or twice a game and it was usually focused on a player who we thought needed to pick up their game. We wanted to watch him closely to see what he was doing without getting distracted. So we'd only follow this player during his shift on the ice. More often than not, it provided a different view of the player, maybe nothing super noteworthy, but still of interest. Of course, there were many times we put the spotlight on 66 just because he was so amazing to watch at any time.

So let's put the spotlight on Jordan Staal.

Over at hockeybuzz.com (a generally gossip rag of a site), the Pens writer Brian Metzer stands above much of what appears on the site and today offers up an interesting take on Staal, comparing Staal's situation to the one Markus Naslund faced in 1993 with the Pens:

Naslund was selected by Pittsburgh 16th overall during the 1991 NHL Entry Draft and came with a pretty impressive offensive pedigree. He had been lighting up the J20 SuperElit league in Sweden playing alongside longtime friend Peter Forsberg in Modo. Many in Pittsburgh were excited to add the dynamic forward to an already impressive roster.

Unfortunately, that roster is the main reason that the young Swede wasn’t able to succeed in Pittsburgh. Naslund appeared in 71 games during the 1993-94 season, recording only 11 pts (4G 11A). He was not given much of an opportunity to succeed, as he was cast in a third or fourth line role most of the time and received little to no time on the power play.

We know the end result of this was Craig Patrick making one of the all-time worst trades in pro sports history, giving Naslund to Vancouver for Alek Stojanov. (Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio; Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill; those were bad, this was was worse.) Metzer concludes by saying that trading Staal:

is looking more and more like the scenario that will have to play out for Jordan Staal to thrive offensively in the league. We can only hope that Ray Shero is able to make a better deal that his predecessor did 12 years ago.

GBoF doesn't think it's come to trading Staal yet and is still unlikely to happen at any time. Staal is still only 20 years old. Luca Caputi, one of the Pens top prospects, is only 20 days younger than Staal and he's not anywhere close to being NHL ready. Ok, expectations for Staal are much higher, but let's not forget he's only 20 years old.

Also, Staal looks to be a player who easily loses his confidence. Something that happens a lot with 20 year olds. And something that happens more frequently when you see guys named Crosby and Malkin, who are not much older than you, do things that you can only dream of and can't pull off no matter how hard you try. Confidence becomes less fragile with experience and age.

Confidence also comes in the NHL by scoring goals. I'll admit that so far in 2008, he has not generated many quality scoring chances. And he only potted 12 goals last year. But something happened about 2/3 of the way through last season and he began to get scoring chances and he looked like he was ready to emerge. That he didn't was only due to the fact that I believe he just barely missed his spots and hit more posts than anyone else down the stretch last year.

I will also argue that trading any player, no matter the sport, due to position depth is absurd and once you start doing so, you will start building a losing team (except for clear skill differences such as acquiring a goalie or a pitcher). Just look at the Pirates for a clear example fo this. If Jordan Staal is to become a good hockey player, he'll do it and he'll do it whether he plays center or wing, it won't matter. It may take a little longer if he plays wing, but it will come.

This season, Staal has been presented with an opportunity to play on the second line, both with and without Malkin. And he will continue to get that chance - a chance that is like the time Naslund got when he was on 66's wing. The window is there, if he does well, there won't be any talk of Staal not getting enough ice time or being relegated to the third line. If he does well, he'll be a fixture at center or the wing as a top 6 forward.

But he hasn't taken advantage of that chance yet. I see a player who is unsure of himself and whose confidence is low. He looks indecisive at times. What he needs is a goal and, much like the hitter in baseball who gets a broken bat Texas Leaguer and then goes on a hitting tear, his confidence will grow and he will become more comfortable with his place on the team. It may take a few goals but they will come. And only then will we be able to effectively judge Staal.

Now is not the time to decide to trade him. Anytime you beign to think about trading a player, you want to make sure you're trading him when you can get good value in return and not when he's at a low point in value. Right now, Staal is still at a relatively high point because of his age and potential. Another full season of less than 15 goals and that will go down. The key for Ray Shero is being able to judge Staal and what he'll become before other GM's do.

But to do so, he needs to see what Staal can do with a good sizable opportunity, including power play time. 7 games are not a season. If, as I suspect, he finishes the season with 20+ goals, we'll know he's arrived and is likely to keep improving and should remain a Pen, even if his price will go up. If he never finds his touch or it appears only fleetingly, remember he is only 20 years old and he'll be cheaper for the Pens to sign this coming offseason. But also know that if he is presented a perfect chance playing on the second line and the PP and doesn't produce, Shero may decide that he never will.

Personally, I don't think Shero will decide to trade Staal. He's just too young and big and he has scored 29 goals before. But if he does, I agree with Brian Metzer and we'd better see a lot more than Alek Stojanov coming back to the Burgh.

NYT: Eldest Rooney Brother Poised to Buy Steelers

The New York Times is reporting that the Steelers Ownership Issue will likely be resolved by the end of the year and result in Dan Rooney buying out his brothers.

The NYT has been on top of this story from the beginning and what they are reporting is only good news.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ muddled ownership picture could clear by the end of the year, with the team’s chairman, Dan Rooney, buying out his four younger brothers, N.F.L. owners were told at a meeting here this week.
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The league is pushing the Steelers to settle their ownership situation. The four younger brothers are also working against their own deadline: they want to sell before the end of the year because they fear an increase in the capital gains tax rate if Senator Barack Obama is elected president in November.

Although the N.F.L. has not set a deadline to conclude the sometimes contentious intrafamily negotiations — which have now stretched into a third year — some owners have privately wondered why it has allowed three of the younger brothers to continue to own shares of the team while also owning racetracks in Florida and New York that have casino gambling operations, a violation of league rules. That, one owner said Tuesday, is a double standard.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has reported that at least two of the brothers have recently tilted toward selling to Dan Rooney.

Rooney and his son Art II met with the league’s finance committee last week to update it on their offer for the team, which includes outside investors who have not been publicly identified. Each of the five brothers owns 16 percent of the team, and N.F.L. rules mandate that one person own at least 30 percent.

Last month, the four younger brothers rejected a bid from the hedge fund billionaire and Steelers fan Stanley Druckenmiller, who had offered an all-cash deal to buy out their shares of the team. That decision followed a meeting of all five brothers with Commissioner Roger Goodell, after which Goodell made clear that the owners of the other 31 N.F.L. teams would do everything possible to ensure that Dan Rooney retained control of the team — an indication that the owners, who must approve the sale, would reject any other suitor.

When the four brothers rejected Druckenmiller’s offer, they said they wanted to reopen the bidding to others. But the global financial crisis probably means additional bids could be hard to come by in the next few months.

Dan Rooney also has a right of first refusal for any outside offer his brothers receive.

“Dan Rooney made it extremely clear that he was not going to be involved in the gambling business moving forward if he was successful in being able to complete this transaction,” Goodell said. He added, “That is important to our ownership because it is one of the rules that they are not in compliance with.”

Bucs Find Another Way To Not Finish Last

In the all-important TV ratings game, the Bucs finished ahead of the Nationals, Royals and Orioles. Still, they had a 15% drop in viewers from 2007. That's it? I wonder what they were before the trading deadline and hw low they dipped in September.

From The Sports Business Journal and the Pittsburgh Business Times:

Diamond ratings fail to shine
Television ratings for Major League Baseball games were down almost across the board, as the national networks and most regional sports networks suffered significant declines during the regular season. Fox's MLB ratings dropped 13 percent to a 2.0, and its viewership dropped 12.5 percent to average 2.9 million viewers for its Saturday afternoon package.

Fox Sports Net's performance was virtually flat, off 4 percent from last year.

"That's an acceptable variance," said Kyle Sherman, FSN's executive vice president of ad sales. "FSN remained very consistent against strong competition from the Olympics and the presidential primaries. Overall, I think we held up extremely well."

FSN's best performing network was FSN Florida, which saw a 99 percent ratings jump in its Rays games (1.74 to 3.47). FSN also was helped by the Marlins, which were up 21 percent on Sun Sports and 16 percent on FSN Florida.

FSN's trouble spots were in Atlanta, where the Braves' ratings dropped 29 percent on FSN South and 28 percent on SportSouth.

MLB's top concern has to be MASN, which pulled anemic numbers for the last-place Nationals and Orioles. The combined 37,000 homes that watched both teams' games in the Baltimore-Washington market beat only Pittsburgh (32,000) and Kansas City (26,000).

With an average of only 8,000 homes tuning in for each game, the Nationals had by far the lowest audience of any team, and showed a bigger year-to-year percentage drop than any Major League team (down 50 percent).

According to industry data, the Pirates saw their average number of viewers dip about 15 percent in 2008, compared with the previous year. The Pirates averaged about 32,000 households watching each game.