The sports media in Pgh in their defense have some very, very narrow wiggle room to deal with, when you think about it.
The biggest, most rigid requirement is that harsh criticism of the Steelers, particularly the head coach or ownership, is expressly verboten. No matter how obvious, or poor the results, or bad a decision that was made in a game.
Steelers GM is typically OK to be mildly critical of, in matters such as specific drafts or signings. But not too much. And it will be interesting to see if it’s allowed at all when Khan takes over.
Steelers coordinators are OK to be critical of, at least their strategy or tactics. That criticism must somehow position that the coordinator totally made his idiotic decisions in a vacuum, with no orders or even agreement sought from the HC.
individual players are murky to criticize. Subtle signs must come from the team. For example, Leveon or AB. These two had been PIA (esp AB) well before their public contract disputes, but the team itself must not have given the ok to go after them (too much).
When the public crap began to proliferate, you could tell the team made its subtle nod to let loose, because seemingly overnight, both were pariahs.
In fact, when a Steeler will not be retained you can almost predict it…you can feel the vibe by the change in media treatment. For example, with James Conner. Seemingly overnight in the media he became this fumbling, bumbling albatross on the running game. Never mind that the two backs brought in to challenge him did totally nothing, somehow the horrible OL was only a problem for Snell and McFarland (and Ben, but not for Rudolph).
(I’m not being critical, just noting how challenging it is to work within such rigid confinement when covering the Uber-Topic of the town.)
As for other topics:
Penguins: With Mario now less directly involved with Penguins ownership, they can now be more safely criticized. Not Crosby of course (not that he deserves much if any). But after 4 straight playoff flops it’s become ok to go after Geno ages Letang.
Pirates: Almost too easy to attack, you’d think. Ah, but no so fast. They provide a ton of subject matter esp in the dead summer months; Pgh geezers who still like newspapers also still like baseball; and 162 plus exhibition games are on the Fan. They can’t be nearly as critical as the Bucs deserve.
Penn State: Golden boys. Untouchable. Local and adored when they are good. Outright don’t exist at all if they lose, especially embarrassingly. It used to be because the old farts in the media were in the Paterno cult. But even the new wave of media are total gushers.
Pitt. Easy whipping boys. Grudging acknowledgement when there is success, though it is minimized. Losses and attendance are aggrandized to the hilt. When nothing else is allowable to criticize, Pitt is the favorite go-to
The biggest, most rigid requirement is that harsh criticism of the Steelers, particularly the head coach or ownership, is expressly verboten. No matter how obvious, or poor the results, or bad a decision that was made in a game.
Steelers GM is typically OK to be mildly critical of, in matters such as specific drafts or signings. But not too much. And it will be interesting to see if it’s allowed at all when Khan takes over.
Steelers coordinators are OK to be critical of, at least their strategy or tactics. That criticism must somehow position that the coordinator totally made his idiotic decisions in a vacuum, with no orders or even agreement sought from the HC.
individual players are murky to criticize. Subtle signs must come from the team. For example, Leveon or AB. These two had been PIA (esp AB) well before their public contract disputes, but the team itself must not have given the ok to go after them (too much).
When the public crap began to proliferate, you could tell the team made its subtle nod to let loose, because seemingly overnight, both were pariahs.
In fact, when a Steeler will not be retained you can almost predict it…you can feel the vibe by the change in media treatment. For example, with James Conner. Seemingly overnight in the media he became this fumbling, bumbling albatross on the running game. Never mind that the two backs brought in to challenge him did totally nothing, somehow the horrible OL was only a problem for Snell and McFarland (and Ben, but not for Rudolph).
(I’m not being critical, just noting how challenging it is to work within such rigid confinement when covering the Uber-Topic of the town.)
As for other topics:
Penguins: With Mario now less directly involved with Penguins ownership, they can now be more safely criticized. Not Crosby of course (not that he deserves much if any). But after 4 straight playoff flops it’s become ok to go after Geno ages Letang.
Pirates: Almost too easy to attack, you’d think. Ah, but no so fast. They provide a ton of subject matter esp in the dead summer months; Pgh geezers who still like newspapers also still like baseball; and 162 plus exhibition games are on the Fan. They can’t be nearly as critical as the Bucs deserve.
Penn State: Golden boys. Untouchable. Local and adored when they are good. Outright don’t exist at all if they lose, especially embarrassingly. It used to be because the old farts in the media were in the Paterno cult. But even the new wave of media are total gushers.
Pitt. Easy whipping boys. Grudging acknowledgement when there is success, though it is minimized. Losses and attendance are aggrandized to the hilt. When nothing else is allowable to criticize, Pitt is the favorite go-to
