Steelers Digest is an excellent publication. It provided Steelers Nation a vital lifeline in the pre-internet days, and today it continues to serve as the source of some of the best Steelers analysis available. It also serves as a pleasant counter-weight to some of the knee-jerkism that tends to inflict the Pittsburgh media from time to time.
- I have been a proud subscriber since 1990, only succumbing to the on-line version in 2007 when Correo Central simply refused to stop losing my issues.
Suffice to say it caught my attention when I found not one, but two glaring factual errors in its pre-draft edition. On page 15, the “Fast Fact” under running back states that the Steelers have drafted more Tight Ends in the first round than running backs, listing Eric Green in 1990 and Heath Miller in 2005. True. It also leaves our Mark Bruener, our first round pick in 1995.
- They add to the mistake on page 16, stating that Matt Spaeth was highest pick the team spent on a tight end since their number two pick in 1984. Again, this leaves out Mark Bruener and Eric Green.
The errors continue on page 17. Again, in the fast fact section, it states that the Steelers have only drafted three offensive tackles (Jarmain Stephens, 1996; Leon Searcy, 1992; Mike Taylor, 1969) in the first round during the last 40 years. Opps! This leaves out 1989’s second first round pick Tom Ricketts. (Ok, we all might want to forget that one, and he did play a few games at guard during his rookie year. Still, he was drafted and played as a tackle.)
Steelers Digest is normally a rock-solid publication, so I am quite surprised by these mistakes, especially since first rounders have such a high-profile. I plan to send a letter to the editor, and we’ll see if it gets printed.
