A lot goes on any time the Steelers and Ravens face off, but last week’s pre-game barrage provided the Watch Tower some interesting fodder.
First came the news that Ben Roethlisberger had a broken foot. The Post-Gazette broke the news during the day last Thursday, titling their report as an exclusive. This was a scoop because Roethlisberger’s foot injury had previous been labeled as a “sprain.”
The Steelers quickly countered, arguing that Ben foot was not in fact broken but rather that the injury involved some scare tissue from a previous injury.
Two things are interesting about this. First, this is not the first time the Steelers have been less than forthcoming with the press about injuries. Marvel Smith had back surgery during the 2008 season and the news never saw the light of day until long after it happened.
Likewise, this is not the first time that the Post-Gazette has ratted out, or at least claimed to have ratted out, the Steelers in terms of injuries. After the Steelers final regular season game against Cleveland in 2008, the Post-Gazette reported that Ben Roethlisberger had in fact suffered a spinal cord concussion – a report the Steelers later disputed.
The interesting thing about both reports is that the Post-Gazette made no attempt to cite sources, simply leading with “the Post-Gazette has learned” as opposed to mentioning “unnamed sources” or “sources with knowledge of the situation.”
Steel Curtain Rising’s Watch Tower has might light of Ed Bouchette’s inability to get inside information on front office dealings in terms of contract negotiations.
But Ed Bouchette clearly has fairly reliable sources with access to the team’s medical staff.
Rooney Interview Scoop for the Tribune-Review
The Tribune Review missed out on brokenfootgate, but they may have scored a bigger coup. Last Thursday Tribune Review beat writer Scott Brown treated his readers to a full-length interview with Steelers President Art Rooney II.
Although Brown shared no indications of the conditions of the interview, other than to say that it occurred after practice, it appears to be an exclusive, as the Post-Gazette ran no story on it, and neither did the national outlets.
In keeping with Steel Curtain Rising’s long standing editorial policy of not stealing other writer’s thunder, I will not summarize the interview here. However, Rooney’s comments were surprisingly frank given how closely the Rooney family has supported Roger Goodell.
Click here to read Brown’s interview with Art Rooney II.
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