Jun 9, 2023 4 min read

This is the time of year that all NFL teams look their best. All their draft picks are going to work out. Every free-agent signing is the best.

For the most part, the only news coming out about teams is bad news. Somebody got hurt. Or suspended. Or is holding out for a new contract.

You get the idea.

The Steelers, meanwhile, have been going about their business at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex pretty quietly.

With their voluntary OTA sessions now in the books, they’ve avoided any big controversies.

Linebacker Alex Highsmith would like a contract extension, but that hasn’t kept him from attending every OTA session.

In fact, attendance at the optional sessions has been among the best in memory. Sure, there’s been a player who misses here or there, but it’s not been a major issue.

“You see Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and Minkah Fitzpatrick running around out there going 100 percent and you know you’ve got to do the same,” said nose tackle Breiden Fehoko, signed in the offseason as a free agent from the Los Angeles Chargers.

“There are family obligations that come up, but for the most part, everyone has been here.”

Will that pay dividends when the season begins? Perhaps.

One thing for certain, with so many new faces on this team, it has been necessary.

Take the secondary, for example. In safety Keanu Neal and cornerbacks Patrick Peterson, Chandon Sullivan, Joey Porter Jr. and Corey Trice, the Steelers have a lot of new parts in that unit.

But because all of the new pieces, with the notable exceptions of Porter and Trice, are veterans, the transition has been good.

“A lot of the guys we brought in have experience,” said Fitzpatrick. “A lot of the guys we brought in are ballhawks. Now, it’s just learning that chemistry, learning how each other communicates, learning how each other sees the game. I think we’re doing a good job. I think we’re ahead of the game. We’re definitely ahead of where I thought we would be, which is exciting. We’re just going to keep working and continue it into Latrobe.”

The energy and pace with which the Steelers have been working has been excellent. And it starts with the leadership that players such as Fitzpatrick provide.

• The Pirates swept the St. Louis Cardinals last week, then lost two out of three games to the Oakland A’s, who are on pace to win about 40 games this season.

That stinks. But it’s what inexperienced teams do, much the same way they frittered away their 20-9 start to the season.

None of this means they can’t stay in the race in a mediocre National League Central. Even after losing to the A’s on Wednesday, they only dropped one game out of the lead in the division.

Nobody is going to run away with the division.

• The merger of the PGA Tour, LIV Tour and DP World Tour announced this week left a number of golfers who stayed loyal to the PGA feeling betrayed.

It’s understandable that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan would want to bring an end to the animosity that developed between his tour and the LIV, caused by high-profile defections and lawsuits.

After all, the players who stayed loyal to the PGA – especially the lower-level players – have to be wondering what will happen to them once the LIV players are welcomed back.

And that’s why Monahan should have kept the players in the loop about what was going on behind closed doors, not blindside them as he did earlier this week.

• The tryouts for the 2023 Washington County team for the Pony League World Series will take place next week with 45 to 50 players from the Founders League taking part in the three-day workout.

And because the league has grown so much, now including 15 teams from the Trinity, Washington, McGuffey, Canon-McMillan, Fort Cherry, Burgettstown, Avella and Chartiers-Houston school districts, for the second consecutive year, a second 14-year-old team will come out of the league that will enter into the Host Zone Tournament and try to play its way into the Pony League World Series in August.

Given the depth of talent in the league, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the second team qualified for the World Series.

What a win for Washington County baseball that would be.

Even if it doesn’t happen this year, given how the Founders League has grown, it will happen at some point.