Volume Three: The Life and Times of Tom Musial

Suprisingly, it has nothing to do with “Steely McBeam.”

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/07220/807819-100.stm

Steelers name new mascot ‘Steely McBeam’

Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
LATROBE — Steely McBeam is the name of the new Steelers mascot, the team announced today at Saint Vincent College following afternoon practice.

The winning entry was submitted by Diane Roles of Valencia, Pa.

The mascot was unveiled earlier this year as a part of the Steelers 75th anniversary celebration.

Over the past six or seven years, I’ve had to come to grips with the fact that I am older than almost all professional athletes. Especially NFL football players.

Like Matthew McConaughey says about high school girls in Dazed and Confused, “I get older, they stay the same age.”

But for some reason it didn’t occur to me until just now that I am also older than the Pittsburgh Steelers head coach.

I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize. The math is actually pretty simple.

I guess the issue is: When I was a high school senior, Mike Tomlin would have been a freshmen. And I can’t think of any freshman I knew when I was in high school that made me think, “That guy should be the head coach of an NFL team.”

That doesn’t really make any sense, but I’m trying to post to the website more often, and this is the best I could come up with today.

Come see my gig at Slapsticks tonight if you’re near Routes 51 and 88 in Pittsburgh.

From the time I was born until about a month ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers have had only two head coaches (Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher) and four first-string centers: Ray Mansfield, Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson, and Jeff Hartings.

In the past month, Cowher has resigned and now Jeff Hartings has retired.

That’s a lot of change for the city of Pittsburgh to assimilate in such a short time. Thank goodness there are still mullets, pierogies, and classic rock to help us keep a connection with our past.

So Bill Cowher has resigned as coach from the Steelers, ending the Bill Cowher Era in the Steel City.

As much as criticism as Cowher has received during his 15-year tenure (and believe me, I’ll be the first to say he should have won at least 3 Super Bowls during his reign), I’m going to go on record and say that future generations will look back on the Bill Cowher Era as a Golden Era in Steelers history.

Here is what he accomplished in his 15 years:

• 10 playoff appearances
• 8 division titles
• 6 appearances in AFC Title games
• 2 AFC Championships
• 1 Super Bowl championship

Continue reading The Cowher Years: A Golden Era?