DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Brief and to the Point ...
• My first day at spring training, for years now, has come with a focus on what's new, what's changed, what might I have missed while covering teams other than the Pirates through February.
Chad Kuhl, for example, has a new changeup grip, as he showed after a terrific two-inning start here Monday:
There were a few other spring-ish observations, for sure. But after watching a batting practice from behind the cage, infield practice from the third base line and a full game -- the quick, quiet 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays -- it felt like I was missing something terribly obvious.
And it wasn't until after Clint Hurdle's session with reporters, once everyone else had cleared out, that it occurred to me to ask the manager: Man, you look good ... you look different ... did you do something?
You'll love the response. Pull up a stool and join us.
"Right after last season, I made up my mind: I weighed 275 pounds. I had to do something," Hurdle told me. "I had to push myself, but I also needed to be pushed. I needed accountability. I needed reality."
That began, believe it or not, with him telling his players in the clubhouse, following the final game of the 2016 season, that his plan was to make himself better in the offseason, just as he expected of them. And that meant losing "a pound a week," or 40 in all.
Well, meet the new Hurdle. He's lost 30 and counting.
And he looks and sounds incredible, even his voice and body language out on the diamond. In that photo I snapped for the top of this column, he was barking out baseball banter like a Pony League instructor, and at full throat.
"It feels good. I feel good. I do."
He also feels, apparently, that it wasn't an option. He'll turn 60 this summer, he's had two hip surgeries, his knee has bothered him and, to say the least, the added heft wasn't helping.
The process began on the 10th of October, and it was motivated by a professional -- a Pittsburgh area woman he didn't identify -- who hit him about as hard as a Starling Marte uppercut to the upper deck.
"She was ... it's hard to describe. She asked me about my family. She asked me about how long I wanted to ..."
He didn't complete the thought, but his wife Carla is 10 years younger, his oldest child Ashley is 31, and he has two younger. He wants to watch them grow. Their children, too.
But that was only part of how the point was made by the pro involved.
"She calls me up one days and says, 'Giant Eagle's where you like to shop, right? Go to Giant Eagle, go to the meats section and call me back.' So I go there, I call, and she asks me to pick up a 10-pound package of ground beef. 'Good,' she says, 'now hold it for 10 seconds.' Then it was another. Then another. And I'm standing there holding 30 pounds of meat for 30 seconds, and she says, 'That's what you're carrying around right now. For no reason."
Boom.
Hurdle's changes have begun with the diet, naturally, but he's also worked with the Pirates' athletic trainers on lifting weights -- "I can't remember the last time I even touched one!" -- and some advanced stretching and other exercise. It hasn't been complex, but it's been successful with a little help from his friends and his players, many of whom took him up on the promise and texted him all through the winter.
The next goal?
"I want to be at 240 pounds for opening day."
What a wonderful loss that will be at Fenway Park.
• It's commendable all around that the Steelers pulled off the ultimate daily double in keeping Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell within the span of a couple hours Monday. There never should have been a doubt that was management's goal, and they deserve all appropriate credit for seeing it through.
At the same time, feel free to thank Sean Davis, Artie Burns and Javon Hargrave for this, as well. Bud Dupree, too.
If it wasn't for the four youngsters stepping up on defense in 2016, the cap counter would never have offered anywhere near the room to push for both AB and Bell, possibly not either. Because there's just no way the franchise could have forged ahead being so imbalanced toward the offensive side of the ball.
• The onus now, some will say, will be on AB. Now that he's got the biggest payday he'll ever know, with $19 million of it lining his fur-coat pockets in the form of a signing bonus, it's reasonable to predict that the space-cadet behavior will only worsen.
But sorry, I'd put that onus on Mike Tomlin. When our Mark Kaboly reported shortly after the AFC championship loss that Tomlin and AB hooked up at a Downtown Pittsburgh steakhouse for a lengthy, private discussion, it was immediately safe to assume, I'd think, that the coach wanted one last guarantee from his star that this extension wouldn't come back to bite the Steelers.
Now, the coach has to make sure that's the case, every bit as much as the player.
• I'm wholly in favor of anything Jim Rutherford wants to do.
Is it OK to think that simplistically about this approaching NHL trade deadline?
Because I can't recall another roll for any GM I've covered quite like the past couple years Rutherford has had, where most every transaction has turned up gold. Even the one he himself panned -- Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy -- helped win the Cup by steadying a penalty-killing unit that hasn't been the same since the latter left.
• One more mobile NHL-caliber defenseman, please. Keep the forward and save the splash. If this blue line gets meaningfully fortified, the Penguins will rise right back up to being the team to beat.
• I'm guilty of not praising Mike Sullivan more effusively for how he's navigated the situation with Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury, both publicly and behind the scenes. He's been open, forthright and unapologetic whichever way he's gone. And he's also empowered and advised Mike Bales, the positional coach, to be exactly the same way.
Being a good head coach involves a lot more than a tough look behind the bench and smart line matchups.
• A defending champion is fair game for criticism, but almost assuredly not in the realm of character. These Penguins, tired or not, still ooze the stuff.
That said, the personality of Ron Hainsey, as strong-willed as they come, will be a fine addition to the locker room. Other than Patric Hornqvist, there isn't that consistent dissenting voice that every winning dynamic can always use. Someone has to pipe up when things aren't going well. Someone has to help a less vocal leader like Sidney Crosby, if only because he can't outright cross the line into bad-cop territory.
Think Brooks Orpik. Like that.
• Daniel Sprong is absolutely ablaze for his Quebec League junior team on Prince Edward Island, with 20 goals and 17 assists in the first 22 games since returning from June shoulder surgery that originally was to have shelved him for 7-8 months. He's gotten those 20 goals on just 99 shots, to boot, so it's safe to say that wicked release is all the way back.
Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.
Any other teenager, and it would be absurd to consider him for a late-season promotion to add fresh legs for a repeat Cup run. Not this kid. He's been here, done that, and nothing comes close to fazing him. Not to mention, he could score goals from a coma.
• Auston Matthews vs. Patrik Laine makes for one of the most fun Calder Trophy races in years, even if the overbearing presence of the Toronto media in the sport assures the Leafs' candidate.
But serious question here: Do you suppose anyone anywhere is aware Murray is still officially a rookie and, thus, still eligible?
• The next outdoor game involving the Penguins should be at Beaver Stadium. It couldn't handle a big-league event now, as Penn State officials will readily concede, but it will once Sandy Barbour fulfills her plan of significant upgrades within a couple years.
These events need to be events. They need to stay original to stay relevant. And challenging the commonwealth -- both ends this time -- to pack the place with 107,000 for the all-time hockey attendance record would work.
Just lower the prices some, and get the students involved.
• Why didn't the Civic Arena ever open its roof for what would have been the NHL's signature outdoor game?
I've heard many logistical explanations over the years -- scoreboard hanging from the center, lights and wires running through the ceiling, dangerous edges off the E and F balconies -- but the place was designed to be opened and, in fact, was opened for concerts and maintenance close to the end of its life.
History opportunity forever lost.
• Speaking of history: Duquesne hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 1977. I know most don't care. I know Old Main hasn't cared for far too long. But every once in a while, it's worth mentioning, you'd think.
• I like Jim Ferry. I love the two freshman guards he uncovered in Isaiah Mike and Mike Lewis II. But the administration brought in David Harper from Dayton, the model Atlantic 10 school, for a reason. An AD always should be free to pick his coach, and that goes double when that coach hasn't won for half a decade.
• The number of Pitt fans clearly feeling comfortable rolling this team's seniors under the bus -- largely because they can't confront the underlying cause that they couldn't stomach another coaching search if Kevin Stallings were dumped -- has really bugged me.
Chiefly, I notice in various fan discussions that very few folks cite their names. As if it's easier to just label them 'underachieving seniors' and wash their hands of the calling them out.
Well, here are their names: Mike Young and Jamel Artis.
Go right ahead and call out Young, a homegrown product and model citizen for the program who's currently averaging 20.2 points per game, which ranks No. 1 in the ACC, the best basketball conference in the country. He's done exactly what was asked ever since starting as a freshman, and he's probably gone beyond that.
Go right ahead and call out Artis, who's averaging 19.2 points per game to rank fourth in the ACC, this despite Stallings having badly miscalculated that he could play point guard and, in turn, not bothering to go out and find an actual point guard. The coach now admits the adjustment was too much, but that hasn't stopped Artis' critics.
If you want to blame the players to protect a rampantly mediocre coach, even if that's based on a demonstrably false narrative, then go right ahead and do precisely that. But don't hide behind nebulous terminology when doing it.
Those two deserve a lot better.
• I was going to try to end with something snappy, but that subject fouls the mood. These are unpaid student-athletes who committed to Pitt, gave their all and -- most important -- produced. Good luck getting the next recruit to Cardiac Hill who'll lead the ACC in scoring if he or his parents see or hear this stuff.
• Wait, no, I've got this: Congratulations to Hurdle. He's already inspired so many in Pittsburgh on so many levels that it often feels unfair to ask any more of this very good, very spiritual, very real man. To borrow from my favorite Hurdle-ism, we're all blessed to have had him "bond with the city."
