Kovacevic: Serenading the new wife through pigs, polkas, plumes of smoke

By Dejan Kovacevic

Jan 10, 2018 • 12:00 pm

8.5K

Snow's in the forecast for Sunday.

The NFL playoffs begin in Pittsburgh with a 1:05 p.m. kickoff, and the Steelers will partake in that particular tournament for precisely the 30th time since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, more than any franchise. More than the Cowboys' 28, the Vikings' 27, the 49ers' 24 or Marvin Lewis' 0-8.

Sorry.

But seriously, it's not something to ignore. Because we're four days away from a scene unlike any other in our city, one that's pure football right here in the birthplace of professional football. Let it snow, man. Let the wind whip through the Ohio Valley and right through the once-dreaded, once-open end, cutting through the paying customers who prefer to congregate on the ice-cold rotundas, binoculars at the ready, beers dutifully held up to the chest.

I love it.

When I married my wife in 1996, she was 21. I brought her to Pittsburgh, took her for a stroll through Point Park and, by that Sunday morning -- the very next day -- she'd experienced her first serenade through the Nation. The real Nation, the one that's twirling pigs, spinning Jimmy Pol polkas and blasting Jack Fleming replays through the boom boxes as a sea of smoke rises from the frozen lots.

Once inside old Three Rivers, shortly after a game against Baltimore began -- she used to call them the Raisins because English was new to her, and it was so adorable it took me years to correct her -- Rod Woodson's pick-6 had the crowd go completely spastic.

"These," I shouted to her over the drunken din, "are my people."

She seemed to like it. She's still here.

Never, ever, ever take it for granted. Sure, these Steelers should win the Super Bowl. They're the most talented team still standing, they're as together as any team I've covered in any sport, and the challenge ahead is, as Ramon Foster put it this week, "Three games, man. Three games."

Don't think for a second that it'll always be this way. Don't presume that, just because there have been only three head coaches since 1969, that they'll always be as accomplished as Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin. Don't distort the playoffs in Pittsburgh as being some birthright. They aren't. They're special.

It was tremendous to hear Tomlin make that point himself Tuesday, this despite having made the playoffs now in eight of his 11 seasons.

“We are extremely excited about being in this tournament,” he said. “We don’t take it for granted. There are 24 teams that are on vacation. There are eight teams remaining. It’s great to be within that eight. We are singularly focused on this week and specifically the journey that is the preparation of this week. We are excited about stepping into Heinz Field and playing playoff football in front of Steelers Nation.”

My people.

• Coaches love bonus practice days. Those are candy canes on the Christmas tree to these people. And the primary reason, as they'll commonly attest, is that they can teach things they normally can't teach.

Major credit, then, to Tomlin, Keith Butler and their defensive staff for laser-focusing all of last week on the major defensive lapses they had all through the second half of the regular season. Because that's the ego-free, long-vision approach that benefits all concerned, not just for Sunday but beyond.

The easy thing, for example, would be to blame big pass plays on the absence of Joe Haden. The hard thing, the humble thing, is to look in the mirror, meaning at the coaches' level, and maybe recognize some schemes were either deficient or not a great match for the personnel at hand.

Tomlin doesn't come across as humble. At all. But watch what he does, not what he says.

• Martavis Bryant smiles all the time now. Just thought you should know.

• Never under-appreciate the coach you've got. The Raiders just ponied up $100 million for 10 years of Jon Gruden because they weren't satisfied with Jack Del Rio. That's not a commentary on their decision as much as it is on the cost of getting the guy that's being coveted.

• I hope that, over time, Dan Rooney is remembered for so much more than the Rooney Rule. But if that's to be the principal point of his legacy, that's OK, too.

In England yesterday, the Football Association, that nation's governing soccer body, adopted its own version of the Rooney Rule that, according to the BBC, requires all teams and companies to "interview at least one applicant from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background for future roles." And as you can see from clicking that link, the practice is already being called, simply, the Rooney Rule.

That's just amazing. Really is.

ROB ULLMAN / DKPS

WHAT'S BREWING

• We have a staff cartoonist, and we’re proud of that. It’s funny for a pioneering venture, I guess, to employ at a position that most outlets are abandoning as antiquated, but Rob Ullman adds life to our product that couldn’t be added any other way. He’s an immense talent, and he brings passion and painstaking historical accuracy to his work. Audrey Snyder asked him Monday if he could produce original artwork for this Midweek Reader -- it was her idea -- and he came up with what you see just above. Thanks to those two and to Chris Bradford for exceptional work on this.

• Not everything has to be super-serious around here. Matt Gajtka lets down his hair -- so to speak -- for this piece on the Penguins' use of hockey jargon.

• Lance Lysowski is in Bradenton covering Pirates minicamp for us all week. Send Wal-Mart gift cards. Oh, and read his piece about Josh Bell learning from Kevin Young, too.

• As with every Wednesday, I'll visit the 105.9 the X studios to talk sports with Mark Madden. That starts at 5:30 p.m.

• Do you follow us on social media? If not, we're available on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. We'll make it worth your while, as we've got some fun initiatives planned on those fronts toward signing up new subscribers.

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