Been There, Wrote This
By John Mehno

You know you're getting old if you remember when the NFL had an offseason.

Go back far enough and there was a time when the league pretty much disappeared when Christmas decorations did ­ and didn't return until the most sweltering days of summer.

The 1965 NFL Championship game ­ the last before the NFL-AFL Super Bowl format started ­ was played between Cleveland and Green Bay Jan. 2, 1966. The draft was held in December in those days, which meant teams that didn't make a coaching change probably didn't get a headline again until training camp opened.

Now the Super Bowl is played in the last week of January and there's an hour or so before the free agency period starts. Players on recruiting visits smile nicely for the cameras just about every day in March. After sampling the market, teams get ready for the April draft. There's usually a mini-camp or two before the traditional late June vacation and the migration to camps starts in mid-July. Free agency, an albatross for other sports, has been a huge publicity boost to the NFL. It's also made the draft far more important than a lot of people thought it would be. Sure, you can go and sign a proven veteran to plug a gap. But you can't sign that many. The reality of the salary cap system is that good teams are going to lose a certain number of quality players. A steady stream of younger, less expensive talent is a must if a team plans to compete. Better come up with a Kendrell Bell and Joey Porter fairly often if you're serious about building a winner.

In other matters:

o   One of the biggest disappointments of the Penguins season ­ aside from the incredible run of injuries to key players ­ was the regression of Alexei Kovalev.

In 2000-2001, Kovalev finally shook the label of a gifted player who was as inconsistent as he was talented. Kovalev was more prone to those occasional maddening fogs again this season. He's always one of the most talented players on the ice. He isn't always one of the best performers. —

o   There's a TV station in town where a couple of the sports guys can't stand each other. Each thinks the other is an insufferable jerk. One of them is right.

o   The best game broadcast team in town is Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey on Penguins radio. Nobody prepares like Steigerwald, who works both locker rooms and always has solid information. Errey is a find along the lines of Bob Walk, a complete novice who turned out to be a natural in the booth. They mesh well, no easy task in a sport that doesn't have the built-in dead time of baseball or the rigid structure of football. They offer a level call and aren't afraid to be critical, an admirable trait considering Steigerwald holds down a position in the Penguins' office.

o   The time to pity the Pirates has passed. Sure, baseball's economics work against smaller market teams but that's no excuse for nine consecutive losing seasons. The system makes it impossible for small market teams to sustain success but they can certainly attain it. Look at the Oakland Athletics. The Pirates' biggest problem has been a decade of inept management, for which they should be held accountable.

o   If you've ever been in the car with a teenager, you know few things are more annoying than the constant jabbing of the buttons on the radio. Who wants to hear to 10 seconds of 100 different songs? Yet that's exactly what you get at baseball and hockey games. Job justification for "in-game entertainment" specialists leads to a constant barrage of noise. If a Pirate gets a single, you'll probably get a snippet of KC & The Sunshine Band's "That's The Way I Like It." No matter that they're losing, 7-0, in the seventh inning. To Greg Maddux. Of course, it cuts off quickly so the next guy can hit into a double play ­ and they have a song for that, too.

o   Nice that the Pirates have come up with a Manny Sanguillen barbecue stand at the ballpark. It offers another service to fans and ties into the club's history. Maybe next they can mine the same era with a Dock Ellis pharmacy.

John Mehno can be reached at: jmehno@timesnet.net