The Sports Monitor

Sad news for Pirates fans: Chuck Tanner, the team's manager for their 1979 Word Series championship, died Friday. He was 81. Can't go into much detail right now, but I remember sitting behind home plate for several seasons at PNC Park and Tanner would be several rows in front of me on many occasions. Every game I saw him, there would be at least one fan walking down to Tanner's seat. Not once did I see Tanner turn away a fan for an autograph. He will be missed.

Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians could be in jeopardy of losing his job. The Post-Gazette reported Tuesday that Arians might not return for the 2011 season. If that's the case, then I'm all for it. Of course, we went down this road last season when Arians' hold on the job was slippery. He stayed with the Steelers, so I'm not getting my hopes up. I never was thrilled with Arians from Day One. Maybe that's because he used to be with the Browns, and we all know how well the Browns have been since their return to the NFL. I know Arians has his defenders, and they like to point to the fact that he has a Super Bowl championship on his resume. However, how is Arians perceived around the NFL? If any other team across the league thought he was a good coordinator or had the stuff to be a head coach, surely the offensive coordinator of a former Super Bowl champ would have had his name come up in some coaching searches by now. That hasn't been th...

A colleague at work went to a Salt n Pepa concert on Friday in Cleveland. I guess it was a nice flashback to the mid-1990s for him, but I should have taken it as a warning sign. It turned into a '90s weekend when I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. For each turnover, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Steelers loss to the Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. If it weren't for Neil O'Donnell, the Steelers would have won that game. I think O'Donnell still is getting paid by Larry Brown, who was voted the MVP of the game because he made two of the easiest catches in NFL history. Brown parlayed that MVP award into a huge contract, which he never deserved. But back to Super Bowl 45. With the mistakes the Steelers made, it was impossible for me to not think of that horrible Super Bowl 15 years ago. Ben Roethlisberger had two interceptions Sunday, one of which was returned for a TD. Rashard Mendenhall had a fumble, costing the Steelers an opportunity to take the lead...

I'll get to more posts about the Super Bowl during the week, but I wanted to get this off my chest first. How can such a veteran team noted for poise and the ability to rally at the end of games, look so inexperienced running the two-minute drill? Right up to the end of Super Bowl XLV, I thought the Steelers were going to pull it out. It was a similar feeling I had at the end of Super Bowl XLIII when the Steelers beat the Cardinals. Instead, Ben Roethlisberger and Co. looked like they were running the hurry-up offense for the first time. Speedburner Mike Wallace did not know -- or couldn't hear -- what plays were being called. That's fine. But why still throw to him when he's raising his arms in the air. The Steelers should have had some plays ready and memorized for the end of the game, just in case they needed it. Maybe they did -- it just didn't show. It's amazing, after all the trouble they had, they still could have won at the end. Maybe...