Mike on Mike

By Mike Batista
Steelahs.com front man
August 8, 2007

Cue up the twangy music.

We’d like to welcome Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to the table at the World Series of Poker.

With his lack of expression on the sidelines and those sunglasses he sometimes wears at practice – the ones with the rectangular frames the size of solar panels – Tomlin would make a great poker player.

Tomlin’s tenure with the Steelers will be a flop, of course, if he doesn’t get the franchise a sixth bracelet. Last year, the Steelers didn’t even make it to the final table. Tomlin’s predecessor, Bill Cowher, won a bracelet. But he could have won more. There were a few times when the Steelers were the chip leaders but couldn’t win the big prize. The Steelers finally won it all when they made it to the final table as the wild card.

Unlike Cowher, Tomlin plays it close to the vest. He’s not going to spit up a storm, kiss his players or stuff a photo in an official’s pocket. The Steelers’ starters looked good Sunday in a 20-7 preseason win over the New Orleans Saints. But we’re a long way from knowing if the Steelers hired the right man for the job.

I’ll admit, when I heard that Tomlin got the job, I let out an emphatic “No!!!” I was among the many who wanted either offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt or offensive line coach Russ Grimm to get the job. I liked Whisenhunt because he was at the helm when the Steelers opened up their offense in the 2005 playoffs, which led, finally, to One for the Thumb. I liked Grimm because of his cachet as one of the “Hogs” on the Washington Redskins’ offensive line in the 1980s, a line that was instrumental in winning three Super Bowls.

Mike Tomlin? Who the hell was he? All I knew is that he was younger than me. I’ve come to terms with players being younger than me. But coaches? I just turned 36. I’m seven months and 13 days older than Tomlin. Before Tomlin was born, I was already contributing to society by crying, shitting my pants and pissing on people trying change my diaper. I was even starting to crawl by the time the current head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers was born. Christ, I’m getting old.

Well, I’ve calmed down since the initial shock of Tomlin’s hiring wore off. And no, I never once considered firemiketomlin.com as the name for my Web site. If he could convince the Rooneys to hire him over one of their heirs apparent, then he can motivate a team.

Perhaps the Rooneys felt the organization needed a shakeup. Maybe they looked beyond the shiny Lombardi trophy and saw a team that went from 15 regular-season wins in 2004 to 11 in 2005 to eight in 2006. Yes, the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005. You win championships by playing your best football in December and January, and the Steelers did that. But were they really the best team in the NFL in 2005? What were the chances they could have beaten the Patriots in the AFC championship game if they had to play it at Gillette Stadium? They upset the Indianapolis Colts, but that was a team coached by a man whose son died about a month earlier. Do you really think Tony Dungy was completely focused on preparing for the Steelers? Yes, his assistants probably picked up the slack, but the entire organization was in mourning.

So instead of looking at last year’s 8-8 performance as an aberration, maybe the Steelers’ brass saw it as a sign of a franchise that had gone stale, of players who had become too comfortable.

So far in training camp, the Steelers have been anything but comfortable. No straw hats at this camp. Those two-a-days should knock out any remaining cobwebs from last year’s Super Bowl hangover. And I like the attention being given to special teams. If they remain serious about special teams, they might win a game or two in which they’re not the better team. Just like the Patriots did in the 2001 AFC championship game.

Not long after the Steelers hired Tomlin, I caught NFL Films highlights of Super Bowl XXXVII (the hours of Super Bowl highlights on ESPN is one of the best things about Super Bowl week, by the way). That was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 48-21 win over the Oakland Raiders. You could see Tomlin roaming the sidelines as the Bucs’ defensive backs coach. The Bucs had five interceptions in that game, four from the secondary. Dexter Jackson had two of those interceptions and was named MVP. He became a free agent and I remember being pissed when the Steelers – who needed all the help they could get in the secondary at the time – didn’t get him. Little did I know that the Steelers would eventually get the brains behind Jackson’s MVP effort. That more than makes up for not getting Jackson, who had six interceptions with Arizona in 2003 but has had just two interceptions since with Tampa Bay and Cincinnati.

Last year, as defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, Tomlin led a unit that was eighth in the NFL overall, first against the run. So Tomlin has the credentials, although I’d feel a little better if he had more than a year under his belt as a defensive coordinator.

But it was time for a change, and there might not have been enough change under Grimm or Whisenhunt. Another area where the Steelers needed a kick in the pants was discipline. They committed far too many personal-foul penalties last season. I wouldn’t trade the Cowher Era for anything. It was a great time to be a Steelers fan. But one thing I wasn’t proud of was the Steelers’ trash talking. They were among the league leaders in that category, and they didn’t always back it up. Hopefully, the combination of a new coach with a calm demeanor and the exit of Joey Porter will change that.

Tomlin’s true test as a coach won’t come until the games count. How he’ll be remembered as the Steelers coach depends on what happens when we see the turn and the river. But so far, I think he’s well suited to the job.

Commercial break

Since this is still a fledgling site, and I don’t have the money to advertise on billboards, not yet anyway, I’m going to have to use this space for some shameless plugging. Here goes.

Why choose Steelahs.com? Because the man who brings you Steelahs.com was surfing the ’Net for Steelers stories while the two other major pro sports teams he roots for, the Red Sox and Celtics, made blockbuster trades.

That’s right. On July 31, the Red Sox, for whom a second World Series title in four years is within reach, made the best bullpen in baseball even better by getting Eric Gagne. The Celtics, meanwhile, made a 17th NBA championship a realistic possibility by grabbing Kevin Garnett.

But the real news of the day was Tomlin cutting practice short because Jeff Reed made a 42-yard field goal. A historic day in Boston sports history was unfolding, and I was busy reading about Tomlin wearing all black in the searing heat – again – and Lawrence Timmons standing on the sidelines with a sore groin – again.

But really, I was excited about what the Red Sox did. As far as the Celtics go, does this trade mean I have to start paying attention to the NBA again?

Banner day

Has anyone noticed that the slogan on the Steelahs.com banner is different? It went from “STEELAHS.COM: MUSINGS OF A MISPLACED STEELERS FAN” to “STEELAHS.COM: STEELERS COMMENTARY FROM BEYOND THE ’BURGH.” Let me explain. I didn’t like the word “musings.” The 1993 edition of Mirriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary refers the reader to “meditation” in its definition of “musings.” It’s basically a fancy word for thoughts. After further review, I decided it was too fancy. I’m sure most of you know what it means. After all, if you’re reading Steelahs.com, you’re not stupid. But I thought the word was a little too uppity for a football Web site. So in the spirit of training camp, I had to cut “musings.”

I had to change the banner, anyway, because I wanted to get the word “Steelers” closer to the beginning of the slogan for search engine purposes. For one day, the banner read “STEELAHS.COM: VIEWS FROM STEELERS NATION’S NORTHEAST TERRITORY.” You only saw that if you visited the site late in the day on Aug. 2 (my birthday) or early in the day on Aug. 3. It was sort of like Reggie Jackson playing for the Orioles in 1976. Has anyone actually seen footage of Jackson in an O’s uniform, by the way? I’m beginning to wonder if he really played for the Orioles.

Anyway, I decided to scrap the second slogan because while I wanted to somehow encompass the fact that I’m a Steelers fan from another region, I thought the word “Northeast” might turn away some Steelers fans from Pittsburgh. I don’t want to do that. Most of my feedback so far is coming from the Pittsburgh area.

I think “BEYOND THE ’BURGH” is a more subtle way of saying that I’m from outside Pittsburgh while at the same time, with the use of the term “’BURGH,” letting readers know that I’m in tune with the Pittsburgh culture.

There will be a few more changes to Steelahs.com in the coming weeks. After all, this site is still in its infancy. I plan to add reference information about the Steelers and the NFL in general, so that when you come to Steelahs.com, you’ll want to stay a while.

Talk of the tawn

Matt K. is the latest to offer me assistance with my Pittsburgh accent. He tells me it’s “awt of tawn” or “out of taun.” Then he said “You're the man, but remember that yinz aut a' tawners need to keep rootin on em Stillers n'at.” I think I understood that whole sentence except for the “n’at” at the end. If you’re out there, Matt K., help me out.

Correction

OK, I made a mistake. I said in my previous column, “Summer Reading,” that Alan Faneca was born exactly 30 years after Larry Bird. The difference is 20 years, not 30. Damn. But it’s still a round number. It doesn’t take away from the spooky parallel. Two of the best players ever on two teams that I root for from different cities were born exactly 20 years apart. One of them played his whole career with one team. It doesn’t look like the other one will, and I have a lingering feeling that wherever the other one goes, he’s going to have a few good years left in him.

Hey, at least I was right about one thing. Way back on May 18, I said that I like the Steelers’ second-round draft pick better than their first. How ya’ like me now? Stick with me, we’ll go places.