The Best and Worst of 2015 in Pittsburgh Sports

Photo creds to doubletree3.hilton.com

With 2015 on life support, I think now is a good time to reflect on what it brought to Pittsburgh sports. As with all years, there was good, and there was bad. It was not a year that was worthy of our ''City of Champions'' moniker, as the Penguins accomplished nothing while the Steelers are in danger of doing the very same. The Pirates, on the other hand, had their best season in almost a quarter of a century but crashed out before having a chance at a playoff run. Pitt football experienced an energy boost that has not been seen in a while; while Pitt basketball crashed out in the first round of the Not Important Tournament. Meghan Klingenberg made her hometown proud, as the Pine-Richland graduate played a key role in bringing team USA their first World Cup in 16 years. Let's get into what went right, and what went wrong, with my end of year awards for Pittsburgh Sports.

The ''Not Pittsburgh Penguins'' team of the year: Pittsburgh Pirates 

''But all they did was finish in second place''! ''They don't want to spend money''! All that crap aside, the Pirates were the best team in Pittsburgh sports in 2015. Yes, they failed to do anything in the playoffs, but neither did the Steelers or Penguins. Sure, not much good has happened since the Bucs were bounced out by the Chicago Cubs in the N.L. Wildcard game, but I'd like to see anybody argue that the Steelers or Penguins had a better year. The Bucs had a great year, winning 98 games and doing much better than any of their city counterparts, so they are the obvious choice for my first award.

The ''Not Mike Johnston or Jaime Dixon'' Coach of the Year

Photo creds to Detroit Free Press

Joe Smeltzer is not, nor will he ever be a Pitt fan. But he is a Pat Narduzzi fan. Ever since Narduzzi was hired away from Michigan State (where he was the defensive coordinator), he has pushed the right buttons. Although Pitt's final record of 8-5 seems pedestrian, 4 of the Panthers losses came against ranked opponents. Aside from a dud against Miami in the regular season finale, as well as a bowl game waxing at the hands of Navy, the Panthers were in every game and came within a miracle field goal conversion of beating Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. Narduzzi's Panthers played with an intensity that is rare from current Pitt teams, and he deserves credit for taking what was thought of as a soft team and toughening them up. The future looks bright for Pitt with this man calling the shots. 

The ''Not Sidney Crosby'' Athlete of the Year: Antonio Brown

Andrew McCutchen and Ben Roethlisberger are both terrific athletes that our city has produced, but neither of them has done as much as AB. Brown has cemented himself as the best receiver in the NFL, and may just be the league's best all-around player. Just look at Brown's numbers, and think of what they would be if he had Big Ben throwing him the ball for the whole season. AB is the man, and I hope the Dapper Dan honors him with their ''Man of the Year'' award for the second year in a row. 

The Game of the Year: Cardinals at Pirates, July 11th

This was a hard one to pick, as none of our sports teams did anything significant in the post-season. I was initially going to go with the Steelers-Broncos game that took place over a week ago, but then I remembered the series that the Pirates had with the St. Louis Cardinals just before the All- Star break. The Bucs were facing their division rivals and looking to gain ground in the NL Central race. Pittsburgh did just that by winning 3 out of 4 series games. None was more eventful than on Saturday, July 11th. I'm sure a lot of you reading will remember this game, so click on the video above to relive how awesome it was. I was on a mission trip, so I was not able to attend, but I can't remember a game at PNC ever being better in terms of quality of play. 

Breakout Athlete of the Year: Jung Ho-Kang

This was an easy call. Nobody knew what to expect when the Pirates signed the Korean superstar to a four-year, $11 million dollar contract this past January. How would he adjust to Major League pitching? After a woeful spring training, it appeared that he would not adjust too well. But Kang proved a lot of people wrong with his performance, and became one of the Pirates most valuable assets, hitting .287 with 15 home runs, 58 RBI and an On-Base Percentage of .355. His season was cut short by a catastrophic knee/leg injury in September, but Jung-Ho captivated the city for the better part of 6 months. Easy call. 

The biggest one-minute sensation: Landry Jones

Jones came in relief of Mike Vick during a Week 6 game with the Arizona Cardinals. Jones ended up winning the game. The next week, Jones lost to the Chiefs. Then, Big Ben came back, got hurt, and Jones led a game-winning drive against the Raiders. Jones started against the Browns, got hurt, and that's all she wrote. The city was quite in love with this guy after the Arizona win, but all good things must come to an end. Some good things just don't last very long. 

Biggest Heart: James Conner

No athlete in this city, whether it be college sports or pro sports, has been through more adversity than Pitt's James Conner. Yes, Jung-Ho Kang went through a terrible leg injury, and Pascal Dupuis of the Penguins was forced to retire due to a blood clot, but James Conner suffered a double whammy. First, his season ended before it started, when he suffered a torn MCL in the season opener against Youngstown State. Then, on December 4th, it was revealed that he had Hodgkins Lymphoma. Conner is determined to play football again, and I wish him nothing but the best. I will always dislike Pitt, but this kid is the definition of tough. Pat Narduzzi put it best when he said, ''Cancer started the fight, James is going to finish it''. 

Now let's get into the crappy stuff that went on in our city in 2015

Most Disappointing Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

Where to start? These guys have been underachieving for the past five years, and this year is looking to be the worst of it. The Pens ended the 2014-15 campaign with a first-round playoff exit, and they'll be lucky to get that far in 2015-16. The Pens are currently in 5th place in the metropolitan division, and the so-called ''best player in the world'' is nowhere to be found. If the Steelers do miss the playoffs, it will be a great disappointment, but at least with the Steelers, we can say that the guys who were most expected to perform did. As for the Pens, Evgeni Malkin, and Marc-Andre Flury are the only ''stars'' who are doing much of anything. Mike Johnston's style of coaching is partly to blame for this awful start, but his replacement, Mike Sullivan, hasn't been faring much better. Hopefully, Sullivan can figure things out soon. If not, this will just be a lost season.

Biggest Underachiever: Sidney Crosby

Through 34 games, the ''best player in the world'' has accumulated seven goals and 24 points. Crosby is a great guy, and nobody is more upset about his slow start than himself, but I shouldn't have to explain very much why he deserves this dubious honor. 

Worst Game of the Year: NL Wildcard Game

98 wins. One playoff game. Jake Arietta was just too good. I don't want to talk too much about this. Any Steelers-Ravens game gets an honorable mention. 

The Coach who couldn't coach: Mike Johnston 

See everything that was said about the Penguins above, and note that Johnston's ''we want to score goals but not really'' style of coaching is to blame for a good deal of it. That's why he's no longer coaching.

Athlete who was never given the chance to break out: Daniel Sprong

When the General Manager approaches the coach about not giving a player enough playing time, he's probably not getting enough playing time. Sprong is a supremely talented 18-year-old from the Netherlands, and nothing he did seemed to get him any more ice time. Sure, he is very young, but what would the Penguins have had to lose by putting him on Sidney Crosby's line? Judging by the Eastern Conference standings, not a whole lot. Sprong won't be riding the bench anymore, as the Pens shipped him to the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. We hope to see him back one day. 

Now for the in between stuff



Biggest Story of the Year: Steelers sign Mike Vick

                                                             

It's hard to fathom that signing a back-up (turned out to be a 3rd string) quarterback could divide the city, but that's what happened with Mike Vick, and the reasons for this had nothing to do with football. As most of you probably are aware of, Vick is a convicted dog killer, so many dog lovers were not happy with signing Vick. While it was one thing not to be happy about it, it's another to make ridiculous and off-base predictions as a result. Many predicted that the Steelers attendance would take a slide. Yes, because the most popular franchise in American sports is going to no longer be that because of a backup QB. Many ''die-hard fans'' (ha ha) claimed that they would end their allegiance because of a guy holding a clipboard on the sidelines. For those who believe in forgiveness (such as myself), it was a smart, low-key football move. Vick has not made too much of an impact since coming to the Steel City (although he did start three games and led a game-winning drive in San Diego), and has since been relegated to 3rd string behind Landry Jones. Nonetheless, his signing caused a lot of people to talk, and while there were other big stories, such as the Pirates trading Neil Walker, no other story caused as big a stir as the signing of the Madden 2004 cover boy.

Here is a link to my original article about Vick's signing http://joesmeltzer775.blogspot.com/2015/08/steelers-sign-mike-vick-my-thoughts.html