In training camp last year, I approached William Gay and asked about the selections of Cameron Sutton and Brian Allen in the NFL Draft and what he felt that meant for him.
"You probably asked Deshea Townsend that same question when I got picked in 2007," was Gay's reply.
He then went into a thoughtful answer about how he's played 10 years in the league and, taking his keys from Townsend, he would work with the young guys to help make the Steelers better and ensure the team's future.
That has been played out time and again on the Steelers' roster. Cam Heyward credits Aaron Smith and Brett Keisel for helping to make him a better player early in his career. Lawrence Timmons did the same with James Farrior. Willie Parker had Jerome Bettis.
Heck, even James Harrison, lone wolf that he is, would take all of the young linebackers with him to Arizona each year to work out and do their conditioning.
But it might have been too much to expect Ben Roethlisberger would follow suit after the selection of Mason Rudolph. Quarterbacks are just different, mostly because they're like the Highlander. There can be only one.
Gay knew he would still have a roster spot on the team last year even if he helped Sutton and Allen improve, because the Steelers wound up keeping six cornerbacks. And, for the most part, all six would play — at least a little. Teams play just one quarterback. At least that's the idea. And if things go well, the Steelers hope that quarterback is Roethlisberger for as long as he continues to play at a high level.
If he's to be believed from what he said last week, he told the Steelers that would be another three to five years. But he's also the same guy who told them last year that he had to think about returning for the 2017 season.
Things change. People change their minds. Quarterbacks get old quickly.
So the Steelers had an opportunity to select a potential quarterback of the future. And they did so.
Roethlisberger is obviously upset the team didn't contact him first before doing so. Hence the passive-aggressive response where he says he's worried about the futures of Landry Jones and Josh Dobbs and doesn't understand why the Steelers would pick a player who might not help them win this season.
Had the Steelers taken that same tack in 2004, they wouldn't have selected Roethlisberger in the first round. They would have done as Bill Cowher wanted and selected offensive lineman Shawn Andrews. After all, they had just signed Tommy Maddox to an extension. And the idea wasn't for Roethlisberger to play or help the team win in 2004. That's just what came to pass when Maddox suffered an injury two games into the season.
So Roethlisberger can pout about the selection of Rudolph all he wants. But it was the right move for the Steelers.
He doesn't need to take the route Gay did and help the young guy. He was right about that. That is the job of Jones, who has more time to talk to the young quarterback. But Roethlisberger has to accept that this is part of the business of the NFL. The Steelers have paid him a lot of money over the past 15 years to be their star and have stuck with him through some pretty tough times. He has to realize there's life after Ben and the Steelers have to have an eye on that.
• It says here there is no way Roethlisberger plays five more years. It's just not going to happen.
He's an amazing athlete and competitor. But he's also 36. And his once-special mobility is just a shadow of what it once was.
If Roethlisberger needs any reminder of how quickly things can pass in the NFL, he needs to look no further than the Steelers' own history to see that Terry Bradshaw told the team in 1983 — at age 35 — that he planned to play at least three more years. He lasted — or more correctly, his elbow lasted — just one more game.
• I have reader Michael Long to thank for this thought: The Steelers did Ryan Shazier a big favor that wasn't even thought of when they turned most of his 2018 salary into signing bonus.
Because of the way many cities tax professional athletes, had Shazier received his salary over the 17 weeks of the regular season, he would have been forced to pay taxes in each city under the aptly named "jock taxes." A number of cities have taxes that specifically target professional athletes who happen to perform within their boundaries. Because his salary was turned into bonus and paid now, Shazier won't be subjected to those except on a small portion of his contract.
• Are the Penguins done? Not by a long shot. I thought they would win this series in seven games and still think that will be the case.
But I also don't think it's because of what happened in any previous series against the Capitals. Yes, the Penguins have had success against Washington in the past. But there's so much turnover in hockey from year to year that what happened in a series two years ago is remembered only by a handful of players.
What happened 10 years ago? Ancient history.
Fans might remember. But that will only matter then next time the fans take the ice to play.
• The Pirates just took two out of three games in Milwaukee, improving their record within the division to 10-3. That's a .769 winning percentage.
If they can keep that up against the other teams in the National League Central, they'll stay in contention all season no matter what they do outside the division.
The Pirates have 76 games against NL Central opponents. If they keep up that current .769 win percentage, they'll go 58-18 in the division.
Of course, that's asking a lot.
• This has nothing to do with sports, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. Marvel's movies are so much better than DC's. It's actually laughable how much better.
I saw the latest Avengers movie Friday, then watched the Justice League movie for the first time Saturday. We're not comparing apples and oranges here. This should be like watching an American League game and comparing it to a National League game. After all, the only real difference is the DH. They're playing the same sport.
But it's not even close. And that's despite DC having the closest thing to an unbeatable trump card — Superman — as anything. But there's just little fun in the DC movies. It's all so serious.
Marvel superheroes are just more fun.
I did just think of one comparison. Marvel is like college athletics, or at least what they should be. They're fun. The mascots aren't forced. The cheerleaders are there to serve as cheerleaders.
DC is professional football and basketball. Corporate. Forced mascots and such. You can still enjoy them, and I do. But there's just more fun watching the college game — at least for me in basketball.
Maybe it's a bad analogy. But it's all I could come up with.
Seriously, all apologies to DK, but did you like Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool or did you like him as Green Lantern? I rest my case.