Pittsburgh's Sports Scene 2022: A Mediocre Wasteland

PITTSBURGH, PA — There was a time when the city's professional and collegiate sports teams could be counted on to give championship-level performances. If you recall those days, you definitely should apply for an AARP membership.

When it comes to 2022, however, Pittsburgh sports teams served up helping helpings of profound disappointment. This was no city of champions, as we were referred to back in the 1970s. This instead was a city of competitive castaways, stuck on an island on far much longer than a three-hour tour.

How bad were things? Glad you asked.

Steelers

Where to begin?

Aging quarterback Ben Roethlisberger improbably led the Steelers to the playoffs in January, but the team fell 42-21 in a first-round game to the Kansas City Chiefs. In the obvious rebuilding season since then, the team is now led by rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. He's already suffered two concussions in his initial NFL season. The Steelers enter this week's game against the Baltimore Ravens with a 7-8 record and a less than one percent chance of leapfrogging the four teams ahead of them for the final AFC playoff spot.

Penguins

For the fourth consecutive season, the once-proud Pens bowed out in the initial round of the NHL playoffs in the 2021-22 season. Did they overhaul the roster after another disappointing exit chasing Lord Stanley's cup? Nope. Instead, they gave contract extensions to their trio of aging superstars - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. They needed to get younger and quicker; instead they got older and slower. Their record currently is good at the moment, but just wait until playoff time rolls around again.

Pirates

Who can complain about the Bucs after they followed an abysmal 61-101 2021 season with a staggering improvement to 62-100 in 2022? Among the season's highlights: Ke'Bryan Hayes, the team's highest-paid player, was caught on camera pulling sunflower seeds out of his back pocket IN THE MIDDLE OF A PLAY. Major League Baseball suspended infielder Rodolfo Castro for a game after his cell phone slipped out of his pocket IN THE MIDDLE OF A PLAY, violating baseball's electronic device policy. Oh, and following the season, the team's best player Bryan Reynolds, asked to be traded from this dreadful organization.

Pitt Football

After winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship last year, the Pickett-less Panthers regressed this year and finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and a berth Friday in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. You read that correctly, the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl. Such is the fate that awaits teams that are 22-point favorites at home to a bad Georgia Tech team and manage to lose by a 26-21 score. Suffice to say that this season, Pitt certainly wasn't greeeaaaaat!

Pitt Basketball

Hopes were high when former Duke assistant Jeff Capel took over the program in 2018. He has yet to have a winning season and finished the 2021-campaign with an 11-21 campaign. Capel has lost to far too many small-college teams that a competent high school program could be competitive against. The Petersen Events Center, once packed with raucous fans, now is as quiet as a Christian Science reading room. The Panthers are mired in mediocrity and that doesn't appear to be changing soon.