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Media vignettes for your pleasure

7 min read
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Days in the Life

Just to give a reporterĢƵ perspective today, the so-called Days in the Life, I’m going to roll out some media vignettes for your reading pleasure.

But please remember, these are only OTAs. The real hitting won’t start until late July.

I.

We in the media have about a 10 percent chance of scoring the one-on-one interview of our choice here at spring practices with the Steelers, so itĢƵ wise to have about three players-of-choice in mind as the team walks off the field.

Since we’re not allowed in the locker room until the official minicamp, we have about 10 minutes to interview on the field, and if we’re lucky a one-on-one takes up about six of those minutes. If we’re even luckier, the words are not plucked out of the air by anyone elseĢƵ tape recorder.

ThatĢƵ almost an impossibility as someone in the vast mob sees your choice and thinks, “Yeah. ThatĢƵ a good idea.”

So as Heath Miller began drawing the flies following practice, I had two other guys in mind: LaMarr Woodley and Jonathan Dwyer.

While Woodley may not want to talk about those comments from an anonymous teammate that pretty much labeled him a shirker last season, he was looking fit and thatĢƵ a story in itself.

My second choice, Dwyer, may not want to talk about his poor conditioning last season, but he has been getting the first-team reps this spring, and that, too, is a story.

So, which one do I grab?

Well, radio man Joe Starkey solved my dilemma by taking Woodley off to the side, so I was left with Dwyer, who gave me honest answers to my difficult questions.

To my pleasant surprise, a mob had encircled Starkey and Woodley. They not only ruined JoeĢƵ one-on-one, but provided me with a transcript that was posted in the media section of Steelers.com. These were the highlights from Woodley:

• “The anonymous person is right next to me, my locker. ItĢƵ my locker so there is no one there. I don’t know who said it.”

• “It just comes with the territory. You deal with it and you continue to march on with your day.”

• “Everybody thought that last year I was out due to hamstring injuries but it wasn’t that. It was due to a high ankle sprain in the Cleveland Browns game early in the first quarter when somebody fell on my ankle.”

• “I’m good to go. Ask the anonymous person. They can answer it better than I can.”

As for my opinion, Woodley looks fit. Or, I should say, he looks like he always has. But perhaps I’m the wrong person for this comment because I thought he was large and lumbering coming out of college, and heĢƵ surprised me with his range ever since. I just haven’t seen this out-of-shape linebacker that so many have criticized the last few years. HeĢƵ the same guy to me.

But then again, thatĢƵ just me.

II.

Mike Tomlin spotted a couple of us reporters on the sideline and made his way over and with a big smile asked, “Are any of you under any undue pressure to come up with any real stories today?”

Now, that was a paraphrase. The real words — since forgotten — were far better phrased, far more Tomlin-esque. The guy, in fact, should be writing this column.

Anyway, I smiled back and said that, no, there isn’t any undue pressure, but that people really are interested in the seemingly innocuous minutiae of football in shorts.

“Like Reggie Dunn having 4.2 speed,” I said as Heath Miller walked past us in the background. “Or Heath Miller walking without a limp.”

“Hey, Heath,” Tomlin called over. “You’re walking without a limp. You just made the 11 o’clock news!”

Miller only said, “Yeah, about a month ago.”

III.

I’ve had good days with Ryan Clark, and I’ve had bad days with him.

Thursday was a great day with Clark, and it came as a bit a surprise because it started off with a complaint.

Clark approached me on the sideline, during practice, while I was talking to the PR staff about what had just been my fourth rules violation in four practices.

Not that anyone was upset with me. ItĢƵ more of a clarification process as the team bears down on media regulations during spring practices.

But I was worried about being on some sort of record pace that might end in a head-on collision, so when Clark approached I could just see a fifth consecutive violation on the following rule: no socializing with players or coaches during practice.

“Jim, you’re a guy I respect,” said Clark, a guy whoĢƵ given me both barrels in the past when he hasn’t liked something I’ve written.

We’ve hashed things out, though, like reasonable men, so I appreciate his respect and in turn respect him.

“So I want to ask you a question,” he continued. “Just because I am proactive in pursuing a career in pro football punditry, does it mean I love being on this grass any less?”

And then he raced back to the field to continue practice.

I wondered if this was some kind of Zen riddle, or if he had been hanging around with Troy Polamalu a bit too much, and then he turned back and hollered: “ThatĢƵ what you wrote about me, remember?”

I guess I did. Maybe. It was a bit cloudy, though, so I looked it up.

With Ryan Clark entering the final year of his contract, and apparently preparing for his lifeĢƵ work in football punditry, it appears that Troy Polamalu is the free safety of the future.

I had written that in the most recent issue of Steelers Digest. I looked there first because I know some of the players read that column. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy notes columns?

But Clark took exception to the fact I had implied that his impressive work with ESPN is a signal heĢƵ ready to retire.

I countered that I’ve covered the team long enough to believe the Steelers won’t offer a 34-year-old a new contract, and that taking another option was a better way for him to bow out rather than just being let go.

“But I don’t want to take that option right now,” Clark said. “I want to keep playing. I love this game. I love this team. In fact, my agent is trying to get an extension for me right now.”

And, really, the more I think about it the more I see Clark coming back. HeĢƵ been one of the top free safeties in the NFL the last couple of years, hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, and the Steelers have a history of sticking with their free safety well into old age. (Just kidding, Ryan, but see Brent Alexander.)

And, really, the Steelers don’t have another free safety in the pipeline, unless Robert Golden surprises us this season.

I told Clark that I had come to this new conclusion the third time he stopped over – this time during a special-teams session – and he nodded without comment.

We went on and had a friendly conversation about life in the media, his appearance at the LSU pro day, and how well he thinks Eric Reid and Shamarko Thomas are going to do as NFL safeties.

All in all it made for a great day, and all because I had written something a player didn’t like.

And I wasn’t found in violation by the team, either. That seems to be a miracle these days.

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