That Super Bowl was so boring I couldn’t glean an entire column from it. So what we got is refreshing sports notes. (I was going to write them using either Spanish or redneck. I couldn’t decide.)
• For Steelers fans, the big takeaway from the Super Bowl is that Seattle has had one losing season in 14, that you don’t have to burn it down to build it back up. OK, but you do have to get a franchise quarterback. The Seahawks signed Sam Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract. New England went 4-13 in 2023, drafted Drake Maye in 2024. The Steelers are going to run it back with a 42-year-old.
• Super Bowls create trends. The unfortunate trend from this one will be settling for field goals instead of trying to convert fourth downs. It’s a shame Mike Tomlin didn’t stick around.
• If you didn’t like Bad Bunny’s halftime show, you probably weren’t supposed to. It wasn’t for old, white men. Bad Bunny brings different eyes to the telecast, namely female and Latino. Nobody stopped watching the game because of the halftime show. Nobody will ditch following the NFL because of Bad Bunny.
• If you don’t think a Puerto Rican should be the Super Bowl’s halftime act, how did you feel about a Puerto Rican playing right field for the Pirates? Time to burn your Roberto Clemente jerseys, I guess.
• The highlight of the Super Bowl was the Dunkin’ ad featuring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady, Ted Danson, Jason Alexander, Matt LeBlanc, etc. Good Will Dunkin’ = brilliant.
• Aaron Rodgers is likely coming back to play a second season for the Steelers and to reunite with Mike McCarthy, one of his coaches at Green Bay. Their relationship with the Packers was mostly solid, sometimes fractious. We assume the former will be the case here. But Rodgers always gets mad. He often yelled at the sideline during this past season’s second half. But don’t worry. If something’s wrong, the Steelers will fix it. (Sarcasm font.)
• Sidney Crosby is Canada’s captain for men’s hockey at the Olympics. He has three Stanley Cups and six international championships. He’s a serial winner. The U.S. captain is Auston Matthews. He’s won two playoff series and captains the NHL team that’s synonymous with underachieving. Bet accordingly.
• The U.S. roster isn’t what I would prefer. I’d have picked forwards Cole Caufield and Jason Robertson and defenseman Lane Hutson. The U.S. emphasized size and checking. Olympic hockey is about speed and skill and is refereed accordingly. GM Bill Guerin left himself open for criticism. Unless the U.S. wins. Brothers Brady and Matthew Tkachuk turn every shift into a five-car pileup. That’s good. Until they get hurt.
• Nikita Kucherov spit truth about Olympic hockey when he said, “It’s not a true best-on-best without Russia.” He’s right. Russia should be there. It’s one of the top two hockey nations. Politics shouldn’t dictate. Kucherov is one of the world’s best players. Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin got denied a final kick at the Olympic can.
• I’m rooting for Canada because of Crosby. If that makes me a bad American, well, what’s one more?
• There’s no reason to watch women’s hockey at Milan till the inevitable gold-medal game between Canada and the United States. Canada beat Switzerland, 4-0, outshooting the Swiss, 59-6. The U.S. defeated Finland, 5-0, holding a 54-11 advantage in shots. That has zero entertainment value.
• It’s a shame to see the Penguins’ season halted, though the break lets 18-year-old rookie Ben Kindel get rested and allows the elderly Malkin and Kris Letang to heal. The Penguins seem legit. The only bad part is that development is on the backburner, with Kindel the lone youngster playing regularly. But the Penguins’ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club is 32-12-4 and on a five-game win streak. The franchise is on the climb.
• Avery Hayes had two goals in his NHL debut Thursday at Buffalo, then went back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and netted a hat trick on Saturday. Hayes, 23, projects as a solid, energetic bottom-six, and perhaps even better. He has a bit of Bryan Rust about him, who wasn’t initially projected as a scorer at the NHL level and had just four goals in 41 games during his rookie season. Hayes might elevate.
• If you don’t like American athletes at the Olympics questioning what’s currently going on in this country, consider that Tommie Smith and John Carlos holding up gloved fists in a Black power salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games was a cultural turning point and became iconic. The U.S. was founded on free speech, and we still have it. For now.
• Lindsey Vonn attempted to compete in downhill skiing with a ruptured ACL, breaking her leg in the attempt. What did she think would happen? There’s a fine line between brave and stupid.
• For a change, the Pirates got more than a near-miss: Marcell Ozuna signed a one-year, $12 million deal with a mutual option for 2027. It’s a solid get. Ozuna, 34, dropped from 39 home runs in 2024 to 21 last year, but there’s still pop in his bat. Ozuna will likely DH, so that means the end of Andrew McCutchen’s second tenure as a Pirate. That’s OK by me. His offseason whining grew wearisome, and at some part you’ve got to turn the page.
• Cam Heyward is a pain, too. His post on social media that depicts a book being slammed shut cryptically suggests he could retire. Go ahead and quit, with your one measly playoff win and one playoff sack. Heyward was second-team All-Pro this past season, but he’s 36. That was likely a last gasp, not a new beginning. But if Heyward keeps playing, he might “hold in” for a third straight preseason, which would have to be a record. Heyward went from a strong, silent leader to an attention junkie. He got poisoned by his podcast.
• It’s suggested that Ozuna might help Oneil Cruz do better by way of being a Dominican mentor. Cruz is 27 and entering his fifth MLB season. Why does he need baby-sat to finally reach his considerable potential?
• If they can stay healthy and their entire roster meets reasonable expectations, the Pirates could be a .500 team and stay in the playoff race till the very end. Rarefied air.