The internet has been an absolute boon for Steelers Nation. The dawn of the www.com age meant that Steelers fans could follow their passion, wherever they might find themselves in the globe (case in point, Steel Curtain Rising is written out of Buenos Aires.)

There is a downside to all of this.

Quantity of news does not always equal quality. The fact that the Steelers running game could die and resurrected itself in a week on PG Plus – all before the first pre-season game – serves as the perfect example.

• And so it is with Dwaine Board.

Dwaine Board is of course the defensive lineman the Steelers took in the fifth round of the 1979 NFL draft, only to cut him so that Dwight White could get a scholarship year. Board of course went on to start on a couple of Super Bowl teams for the San Francisco 49ers.

In one of his first PG Plus posts in 2009, Post-Gazette Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette commented on how the Steelers cut Sunny Harris in favor of Travis Krischke, and musing about whether the Steelers were erring in focusing on the here now instead of nurturing promise and potential.

That was a fair observation then and the fact that Harris did not pan out does nothing to diminish that fact.

Which brings us to this week, when the Steelers lost Thaddeus Gibson on the waiver wire so that they could activate Steve McLendon from the practice squad.

Ed Bouchette thinks the move is a mistake and both he and Gerry DuLac made excellent arguments to that end. However, comparing the Steelers decision to cut Gibson to their decision to cut Dwaine Board was not one of them.

Sure both are promising young defensive players trapped deep down on the depth chart. And both players got picked up by the 49ers.

But Board played in all sixteen games for the 49ers in 1979 starting three of those contests.

In contrast, Gibson, I believe, failed to dress, let alone play in a game during his time in Pittsburgh.

• As I have said on previous Watch Tower posts, I like PG Plus.

Bouchette and DuLac generally provide excellent commentary there, making the $4.00 (or 16 Argentine pesos in my case) you pay for PG Plus worth it. And that is no small feat because delivering added value to readers in this 24-hour On-Demand-Steelers-News environment is not easy.

…But perhaps Bouchette should take a little more care to avoid recycling content, lest more readers become bored by his reminisces about Dwaine Board.

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