On Friday morning, Rawlings announced the finalists for the American League and National League Gold Gloves. Three of your Pittsburgh Pirates were nominated as a top-three finalist for their respective position. At catcher, Russell Martin joined A.J. Ellis and Yadier Molina as finalists. Martin leads by a wide margin at throwing runners out, but he'll have to compete with Molina's reputation. In left field, Starling Marte is nominated for his first Gold Glove, as he'll join Carlos Gonzalez ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Be thankful for Big Ben
Defense wins championships. That's the old adage, after all. However, outside of the Trent Dilfer-led Baltimore Ravens, you need a pretty good quarterback to win the NFL, as well. Now, we all know how much Pittsburgh fans — all fans, really — want to be reactionary after a loss. After the Pirates lost in the playoffs to the Cardinals, someone actually called into a local radio station to say that Clint Hurdle needed to be fired for not advancing to the NLCS. OK, that's an extreme example, but ... Read More
Clint Hurdle wins Sporting News NL Manager of the Year
From 57 wins in 2010, to 97 total wins in 2013, the baseball world has taken notice of the Pittsburgh Pirates. One day after three Pirates finished Nos. 1, 2 and 3 respectively in the Comeback Player of the Year voting, the Pirates have another award under their belt. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was named the 2013 Sporting News NL Manager of the Year. Hurdle led his team to three straight improved seasons, including snapping a 20-year losing streak, taking his Pirates to the second round of ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Roger Goodell – Commissioner and Hypocrite
When Roger Goodell first took over for Paul Tagliabue as the commissioner of the NFL in 2006, I was excited for the change. He came off as a hard-nosed ruler, who wasn't going to cut the players any slack. You break the rules — or more importantly, the law — then you get suspended and fined. I loved it. Then Goodell expressed his interest in tightening up the game to protect the players. The NFL has done everything in its power to protect the quarterbacks and wide receivers. I like the ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Can the Flyers please be good again?
Rivalry - a competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. Without rivalries in sports, they are nothing but games. Rivalries are what fans live for. For the past 10 years, you've had the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning national rivalry. In the NBA, you have the old school Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers, or the new school Kobe vs. LeBron. It's what we all look forward to. In Pittsburgh, we are lucky enough to have had two of the better rivalries over the past ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Which free agents can the Pirates bring back
With the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox both within one game of the World Series, it's just about that time to start discussing offseason moves for your favorite team. With the Pirates 97-win season (including playoffs), they have some interesting decisions to make in the coming months. Now, we don't know how much money each team will be allocated for the national TV deal, but for arguments sake and inflation, let's say that the Pirates enter the 2014 season with a middle of the ... Read More
Andrew McCutchen announced as finalist for 49th annual Hutch Award
PITTSBURGH — Ten Major League players on Tuesday were named nominees for the 49th annual Hutch Award, given yearly in honor of former Major League player and manager Fred Hutchinson. The award, bestowed annually upon a Major Leaguer who demonstrates the honor, courage and dedication exemplified by Hutchinson, will be handed out on Jan. 30 at Safeco Field. This year's 10 nominees are: Jeremy Affeldt (Giants), Craig Breslow (Red Sox), Neal Cotts (Rangers), John Danks (White Sox), Sean ... Read More
One-on-one interview with Tyler Batts
A year ago, we spoke to Tyler Batts, who is a local football player looking to achieve his dream of making an NFL roster. Batts has played professionally indoors for the past two years. In 2012, he was a member of the Cedar Rapids Titans of the Indoor Football League, where he earned the team's Rookie of the Year Award. Batts rushed for 308 yards on 74 carries for six touchdowns. He also had three receiving touchdowns on 18 catches. Last year, Batts had 300 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on 32 ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Ryan Clark: football player or analyst?
There's a difference between being a player and a part of the media. It's no surprise that many athletes plan on taking to the booth when they are done playing the game. Look at any of the major networks, and you'll see guys like Trent Dilfer, Andy Roddick, John Lynch, Barry Larkin and even the insufferable Ray Lewis analyzing or calling games regularly. That's all fine and good. However, if you're still playing the game, should you really be auditioning for your post-athletic career? Ryan ... Read More
Cup of Joe: Pirates could (should) take home four awards
So now that it's going on a week after the Pittsburgh Pirates were eliminated from the playoffs, it's time to put it all into perspective. Man, what a season. As Pittsburgh Sporting News announced yesterday, Clint Hurdle will receive the Chuck Tanner MLB Manager of the Year award in Nov. What an honor. However, don't expect that to be the only hardware for Hurdle or the Pirates this year. The Pirates have a shot to win four major awards in the next few weeks. 2013 NL Manager of the Year ... Read More