If it's Tuesday, it's time for 21 Takes ...
• Having hardly anything to do with sports, my spirits were buoyed beyond words on a Monday afternoon walk with my son Marko to check out the recently reopened Sixth Street Bridge and ... wow, take a look up there!
I do my share of complaining about public projects, but all due praise to all responsible in Allegheny County government and at Downtown-based Michael Baker International for the complete reconstruction of all of the Three Sisters bridges -- Sixth, Seventh and Ninth -- in a first-class way that underscored their historical significance as the world's only side-by-side-by-side matching bridges. Be sure to invest a few extra minutes examining the extraordinary detail when crossing for, oh, say, a certain ballgame in a few days.
Which is to say nothing of the billions of LED bulbs that now light all three -- in harmony, of course -- every night until midnight!
Brilliantly done! Three beaming points of pride for our city!
• It's one thing to hear Omar Khan say stuff, as he did yesterday at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., like this: "I don't ever necessarily consider myself or describe myself as aggressive. I'm trying to do everything I can to help. I owe it to the Steeler Nation to do everything I can to try to get to the Super Bowl. Every decision that we make and that we talk about, every move that we make and talk about, it's based on that. Sometimes we make moves, we make decisions, and sometimes we don't. But it's always with the intent of doing what we can to get to the second week in February." ... And it's quite another to know that comes, from everything I've learned about the man, from the heart. The Steelers have themselves a real one.
• (Whips detective lens from under trenchcoat.) So, let's see, between Khan and Mike Tomlin over the past 48 hours in Orlando, they've strongly suggested that the center position doesn't run more than 2-3 deep, while also acknowledging they really need to find one, while also acknowledging there are wide receivers galore, while also at least tacitly acknowledging -- by signing the meh likes of Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins -- that the draft's where they'll find one. To me, that sounds like Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson in the first round, then pick-a-receiver in the second.
• And for that receiver, as long as I'm getting greedy, I'll take Hines Ward, Part II. A possession guy who'll move the sticks and bash bodies.
• Is anyone else seeing a potentially dynamite defense at hand? Here are 10 of the 11 names who'll start: T.J. Watt, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Cam Heyward, Alex Highsmith, Joey Porter Jr., Larry Ogunjobi, Keeanu Benton, Elandon Roberts, and newcomers Patrick Queen and DeShon Elliott. Donte Jackson, acquired in the Diontae Johnson trade, is set to be the other corner, and that seems to excite Tomlin more than it does me. And a slot corner's still a must. But otherwise ... my goodness.
• Two words that put my mind at ease about outside corner: Cory Trice.
• Mike Sullivan's earned his share of the increasingly heavy public criticism for the Penguins' ongoing collapse, but Kyle Dubas acquired 17 of the 33 skaters who've suited up this season, per local hockey analyst Adam Gretz. And those 17, in having accounted for more than half of the team's total man-games played, have scored just 27% of the team's goals, or 56 out of 203. That's an F-minus showing for a general manager regardless of what he inherited.
• Maybe he needs to not be both the president of hockey operations and the GM. Not to bury him after less than a year on the job, but there are plenty of carryover patterns from his tenure in Toronto, and most of those are rooted in an inability to identify supporting-cast players. You know, the kind who might be capable of protecting a four-goal lead.
• Under another head coach, Lars Eller would be wearing a letter on his sweater.
• Should be a fun scene tonight at PPG Paints Arena, with Jake Guentzel already back as a member of the Hurricanes. I wouldn't bet on a bigger return, though, this summer. I can see Don Waddell, Dubas' counterpart in Raleigh, making a passionate push to keep Jake right where he is, well before free agency comes into play. He's fit there perfectly to date, and he's still new.
• Sidney Crosby's for-real mad. Not manufactured. Not in the moment. Mario Lemieux wasn't the most hands-on owner, but he'd never have allowed any of this to unfold the way it did, even if he'd been in favor of rebuilding, even if he'd been in favor of moving Jake. All I'll say for now.
• Most under-appreciated professional athlete in Pittsburgh right now: Marcus Pettersson. No, he hasn't been great of late, as he'd be first to admit, but his body of work's above and beyond what most seem to recognize.
• Henry Davis was never not going to be the Pirates' opening-day catcher ... according to Henry. And trust me on that one. Encouraging as it was this spring to see him slash .310/.400/.667 with four home runs, three doubles, 12 RBIs and seven walks, it paled next to seeing the effort he invested in his defense pay off. That's who he is, as I've been told and as I've learned from those close to him. It's the most dogged no-way-you're-sending-me-down showing I've covered since Bryan Reynolds' rookie arrival. And good for him.
• Similarly, Jared Jones never once adjusted his own volume on the mound. He was rearing back and letting it fly from front to finish, making an impression on management -- as well as his teammates -- that couldn't be ignored. And let history show, since we'll always cite the reverse, that he could've been a classic Super-2 case where the Pirates would eventually save money by keeping him in Indianapolis for a couple months. Credit where due, albeit late.
• No one likes seeing Liover Peguero demoted, but it's impossible to not like what Jared Triolo's brought. Both can be true. Triolo's got as solid a floor as anyone on the roster this side of Reynolds, with that superlative glove and steady bat, and all he needed to do was to find a spot on the infield where he could plant a flag. Third base, his natural position, seems kinda taken. So he crossed the diamond and came through. Love it.
• With Peguero's ceiling, the way the ball erupts off his barrel, his outgoing personality ... yeah, he'll be up sooner rather than later. It's obvious Derek Shelton wants Alika Williams around to deploy defensively in late innings. I don't agree with it, but I'm not dying on that hill, either.
• Now, with all that happy fodder off my plate ... Bailey Falter? In the actual rotation? After an offseason in which adding starting pitching was allegedly the top priority? Come on.
• Whatever. Baseball beckons. Jack Wilson days till Miami.
• I'm flying down tomorrow, covering the full four-game series, beginning with Jesus Luzardo's first pitch to Oneil Cruz at 4:10 p.m. Thursday. Can't wait. Always something special about the opener, no matter where it takes place, even in a literal fish bowl.
• Thanks for reading.
• And for listening: