Apr 24, 2026 5 min read

Sports, by its nature, rewards the aggressor. You can’t win a team championship without an aggressive defense. Baseball and softball teams that are aggressive on the basepaths often can create scoring opportunities for themselves and force the opponent into mistakes. Being aggressive in combat sports puts you on the offensive.

Philadelphia sports teams have shown those in Pittsburgh the benefits of being the aggressor this week. And the results have been bad for Pittsburgh, and in one case laughable.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers were the attacking, aggressive and faster team than the Pittsburgh Penguins in Games 1 through 3. That aggressiveness gave the Flyers a 3-0 series lead and had the Penguins playing from their heels, making mistakes, and in some cases, blunders.

No blunder in this week’s Philadelphia-Pittsburgh rivalry was larger than the one Thursday night in the first round of the NFL draft. It was Pittsburgh’s blunder and it was caused by Philadelphia’ aggressiveness.

If you’ve been stuck under a rock for a few days, here what happened:

The Steelers, in need of a wide receiver and armed with the most draft picks of any team, wanted to select USC’s highly regarded Makai Lemon, who was still available at the middle of the first round. Steelers general manager Omar Kahn reportedly made a phone call, in attempt to swing a trade for pick No. 15, which was held by Tampa Bay. Pittsburgh would use it to draft Lemon. The trade was never made.

Lemon continued to slide and was still on the board when pick No. 20 arrived, which was owned by Dallas, a team desperate for defensive players. The Steelers, thinking Lemon was theirs, called the wide receiver and told him that he would be their pick at No. 21.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia, also seeking a wide receiver, tried to call Lemon but could only get his voicemail. That signaled that somebody, perhaps Pittsburgh, was talking to him. So the Eagles pulled a fast one on the Steelers and traded for Dallas’ No. 20 pick and selected Lemon.

The Eagles had stolen the Steelers’ guy by being aggressive. The Steelers decided to play it safe, and instead of being aggressive and trading up a slot or two, was left without the receiver they had coveted at least six picks earlier.

Pittsburgh instead drafted Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor at No. 21. Iheanachor is a solid pick. His draft ratings were that of a first-rounder.

While Iheanachor could turn out to be a better player than Lemon, he doesn’t fill an immediate need and he wasn’t the guy the Steelers wanted with that pick.

The blunder is just another first-round mistake made by the Steelers. Going back to the 2013 draft, Pittsburgh has had only one first-round draft pick (linebacker T.J. Watt) play well enough to get a second contract with the Steelers. If you want to know why the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since January of 2017, that’s reason No. 1. You can’t botch your first draft pick.

By all accounts, Pittsburgh did a great job hosting the first night of the draft, which set an attendance record. Everything seemed to go smoothly, until it was time to make the pick.

Klase hired at C-M

Seton LaSalle athletic director and boys basketball coach Kenny Klase has been hired as the AD at Canon-McMillan.

Klase is a Bethel Park High School graduate who played college basketball at Waynesburg. He will replace Frank Vulcano, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

Swing and miss

In the spring of 2012, Bill Lee sat in the third-base boxseats of EQT Park (then known as Consol Energy Park), and while watching the league’s open tryout that attracted more than 300 participants, he talked to the Observer-Reporter about the growth of the league. It was preparing to play its 20th season and Lee had been its commissioner for 19 of those.

Lee mentioned that the Frontier League had finally established name recognition in the baseball community and no longer had to sell itself, or explain what it is, to prospective players. College players and those in the affiliated minor leagues had heard of the Frontier League and knew it was an independent league with years of history.

The Frontier League has continued to grow in the 14 years since Lee’s comments. It’s now the longest-running independent league and the largest, with 18 teams and in two countries. Lee retired as commissioner several years ago.

Next year, the Frontier League name will be extinct. The league announced Wednesday that it will be rebranding in 2027, changing its name to the National Association of Professional Baseball.

To use a baseball term, the name change seems like a swing and miss.

Though Frontier League sounds a bit quirky, backwoods and small time for a circuit that has teams in Ottawa, Quebec City and Chicago, it does have plenty of name recognition in the baseball world. The league has established its brand.

The National Association seems destined to be confused with the American Association, another one of the four major independent baseball leagues. And there is no affiliation between the American Association and the soon-to-be National Association. The league will have to start selling itself all over again.

Playoffs ahead

The WPIAL baseball and softball playoffs are scheduled to begin in less than three weeks. Entering Friday, six local baseball teams – Canon-McMillan, South Fayette, Belle Vernon, California, Fort Cherry and Avella – and 12 in softball – South Fayette, Trinity, Charleroi, McGuffey, Chartiers-Houston, Burgettstown, Bentworth, Washington, Carmichaels, Jefferson-Morgan, West Greene and Beth-Center – already have clinched postseason berths. There are three softball teams and 13 baseball teams that remain in playoff contention.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com