Bouchette, Prisuta, Smizik, Harris:
Which writers are the best?
After a decade or more of reading Steelers coverage on the Internet, we think it's time to rate the quality of writing, reporting and commentary coming out of Pittsburgh. Here are the awards we'd hand out, if anyone would let us throw a banquet...
Best writer — Mike Prisuta, Tribune-Review
The most readable of all the Steelers beat writers. (That does not necessarily mean "most interesting.") Equally adept at news writing and column writing. Columns usually end with a nice touch. Particularly in the offseason, tends to write a few too many "If things go well, this could be a big season" type of pieces, but makes up for it with the quality of prose. (No, we've never had any contact with the guy whatsoever and don't know a thing about him.)
Second-best writer — Gene Collier, Post-Gazette
When he's on, he's on. Doesn't hurt that he can apparently pick his spots. Could be No. 1 but for consistency -- sometimes, tries to give the "Lawrence of Arabia" treatment to a "Road House"-caliber movie.
Best scoop — Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette
Draft day, 2003. Bouchette reported that, though selecting 27th, the Steelers had targeted USC safety Troy Polamalu and would attempt to trade up if necessary in the first round to get him.
Best scoop, runner-up — John Harris, Tribune-Review
In the weeks prior to the 2007 draft, was ahead of the pack in reporting that Mike Tomlin had attended a Lawrence Timmons workout and was interested in selecting Timmons at 15 in the first round -- something Bouchette clearly missed in his draft-day musings that perhaps the Steelers would trade down for Jamaal Anderson, who went 8th overall, one of his undeniably worst articles ever.
Most interesting viewpoints — Joe Starkey, Tribune-Review
He may not be the regular Steeler guy, but he usually manages to nail a topic overlooked by the others. His best? We're going to say it was during 2002, before the Texans game, after Tommy Maddox had been temporarily paralyzed and Kordell Stewart had led a victory in Jacksonville and Starkey declared, "Stewart should start."
Most unknown or unappreciated — Alan Robinson, AP
Sometimes puts together the most interesting daily practice material of all media. Writes with a keen knowledge of the Steelers but no homerism. Among AP's best NFL reporters in any city.
Best understands importance of Steelers — Jim Wexell, free-lancer
Is neither jaded, nor a homer. Has always told it like it is and knows it may only be football, but it's Steelers football -- and makes or breaks many people's Sunday/January/fall/winter, however irrational that might be. Yes, we've e-mailed Wex in the distant past, and own one of his books.
Biggest homer — Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette
Yes, we're fans too, and there's a market for a local cheerleader. Way too many predictions though of 20-point wins.
Biggest critic — Joe Starkey, Tribune-Review
Few if any of these writers are actually anti-Steeler. Starkey just tends to be among the first to pronounce the team's faults.
Wrong direction in terms of relevance — Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette
The chats are still a must-read despite too many repeat or unintelligible questions. During the season, too many mid-week articles say little more than "(so-and-so aging veteran) is having a good year." Two long-term trends are working against a guy like Ed. One is the Internet, which provides similar information to everyone via many different channels. Two is the still-growing corporate nature of the NFL, which sees itself less and less as a football organization and more and more as a cash cow, is more Art Rooney II than Dan Rooney now, and to protect that notion keeps players and executives off limits to the media virtually all the time as if the whole league were a canned TV show. It's extremely rare to get a scoop from an NFL player these days -- Ed getting an exclusive complaint from Cedrick Wilson after practice a couple years ago is about as good as it's gonna get.
Mr. Irrelevant — Scott Brown, Tribune-Review
Good writer and reporter who does a fine job, but doesn't have the presence of Bouchette, and not enough scoops.
Best Web site of Pittsburgh media, ever — the old ‘SteelersLive’
Background: In the mid-'90s when the Internet was taking off, the T-R was the first to do it well. So well, it got a little ahead of itself and entered the subscription-premium-tier level business, then like most other sites embraced blogging and bulletin boards and now is a mess to sort through. In the last few years, the Post-Gazette is the obvious choice.
Biggest cliche among all Steelers writers — the ‘quiet locker room’
After every loss, it's imperative to let us know the players weren't dancing up and down in private.
Least useful regular feature — Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette
The weekly "Game Matchup" is overloaded with maybe's and what-if's, so many of them that by the end it's obvious that just about anyone or anything could end up deciding this game. Against the Bengals on Nov. 20, 2008, he said that for the Steelers to win, they must, in this order: 1. Get plays from William Gay. 2. Make a splash. 3. Jump Geathers. Yeah, sure.
Worst prediction — Ron Cook, Post-Gazette
After the victory over the Colts, said the Steelers would lose the 2005 AFC Championship Game to an obviously overmatched Denver squad.
Favorite columnist of www.6thring.com — John Harris, Tribune-Review
One category where we're 100% biased. Harris is the only one to acknowledge our presence with a very gracious e-mail. The others? Hey, we tried. We're still waiting for Bob Smizik to take us up on our wager to write something for our site if his preseason prediction proves a bust.
Most reliant on stats, quotes to fill space — Bob Smizik, Post-Gazette
Just an honest observation. We like Smizik because he strikes us as old school, and is not a homer. His columns, particularly his critical ones, tend to supply too much supporting evidence. Ben's having a crummy year. We get it. The offensive line can't pass block. We get that too; no need for sacks-allowed-vs.-total-pass-plays charts. Recently he defended Kevin Colbert -- contrary to a position taken at 6thring.com -- by citing contributions from players such as Rian Wallace. Too much stat-searching leads to too much reaching.
Worst ‘scoop’ — Mike Prisuta, Tribune-Review
Writers never give up their sources, of course, so we'll never know how Prisuta got around to reporting this on Jan. 21, 2007: "Russ Grimm has been offered and has accepted the Steelers' head coaching position, a source in Pittsburgh confirmed late Saturday." This was after Sports Illustrated's Michael Silver reported Tomlin was the choice. Everyone's entitled to a failure. Rough guess? Kevin Colbert wanted Tomlin, Art Rooney II wanted Grimm, Colbert appealed to Dan Rooney, and all the parties involved called a sportswriter somewhere down the line until it was settled.