There's a part in the movie "The Shining" directed by Stanley Kubrick in which one of the lead characters types over and over, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
That's true. We do need to break away from the monotony of constant work every once in a while. And that's true of football players, as well.
Even though they are playing a game, constantly working at that craft can get boring after a while. That's especially true in the offseason, which is filled with non-tackling situations, something that is an affront to a sport often called "tackle" football.
But even more than just giving guys a chance to get away from the monotony of taking a handful of plays from the classroom to the practice field, team-building exercises such as the one the Steelers did Monday are important.
Mike Tomlin took his team to Top Golf and allowed them to hang out off the field together for a day instead of taking the field for the seventh of their 10 OTA sessions. And he did so with a purpose.
We see videos all the time now of guys hanging out off the field together. The defensive linemen all went to a cookout, or the skill position players went with Ben Roethlisberger to his vacation home in Georgia a few weeks back.
But because the roster is so big -- currently at 90 players and just 53 men when final -- it's tough to have get-togethers for the whole team. Nobody has a house that big.
So the coaching staff will do something like it did Monday every once in a while. Or, they'll all go bowling, see a movie or go to some other kind of establishment.
It allows the younger players to see the veteran leaders in a different light. They might be all business on the field and in the classroom, but they'll let their hair down away from the team facility.
And because these guys end up spending nearly every day together for six or seven months at a time, it's important that they all feel like they're part of the team -- even the guys who won't be with the team when everything is said and done.
It's the same reason the Steelers enjoy going away for training camp to Saint Vincent College. They could easily do the same thing at the Rooney Complex but see the importance of sequestering guys as a team, even for just a few weeks.
NO PARTY FOR ARTIE
As I mentioned in Insider last week, Artie Burns appears to not be talking to the media. I took another run at him on Tuesday and he jogged off without speaking again.
I get it. He doesn't want to answer the obvious questions about his contract status and future here.
And he needs to stay focused on the task at hand, which is making this roster. That's something that is no longer guaranteed.
But I won't stop trying to talk to him.
THAT REMINDS ME
In my first season covering the team in 1993, there were a couple of players who didn't like to talk to the media. Barry Foster was one. He hated it.
Another was receiver Jeff Graham. Graham was a second-round draft pick in 1991, but by 1993 was in the final year of his rookie contract. And he wasn't happy about it.
So, he apparently went on a media boycott. I say "apparently" because nobody really tried to talk to him at any point that season — at least I didn't.
After all, in three seasons with the Steelers, he caught one touchdown pass. And he had 38 receptions in that 1993 season.
Late in the year, however, he had a seven-catch, 192-yard game in a loss to the Oilers in which the Steelers got spanked so badly, one of the Oilers' linebackers -- I can't remember who -- said it was "A butt-kicking contest. We provided the foot. They provided the butt."
So Graham was one of the stories of that game. And when I approached him and asked if he could talk, the guy beside him said, "He hasn't spoken to the media all season."
OK. I didn't know because nobody did. They hadn't had a real need to speak to him because he hadn't done anything.
For his part, Graham did have a nice, productive career in the NFL, playing 11 seasons and catching 542 passes for 8,712 yards and 30 touchdowns, spending time with the Bears, Jets, Eagles and Chargers.
He just wasn't productive for the Steelers. So there is some hope for Burns, a former first-round draft pick. It just might not be here.
NEW INTERNS
Former Steelers defensive back William Gay and fullback David Johnson were officially offered contracts by the team as coaching interns on Tuesday.
Good for them. Both have been working with the Steelers this offseason on a voluntary basis, with the team giving them a chance to get their feet wet and see if they would potentially like to get into the business.
Both apparently feel good enough about it to want to move forward.
It's not an easy transition. I'm often asked why this player or that doesn't get into coaching. It's not for everyone. The hours are long. The pay isn't as good as it was when they were players. And, sometimes, the best players don't make good coaches. They just can't communicate what made them good players to young guys.
But Gay and Johnson have always been guys who had great attention to detail and a greater understanding of the big picture.
