The title “My Worthless 2 Cents” that I came up with isn’t one I feel I can take full credit for, but is a story in itself, so here it is. I was in the 8th grade at the time, and found myself tagging along with my older sister (a senior in high school), as she was a part of the high school theatre group who would work as ushers for local community theatre productions. Working as an usher at a production of “Harvey”, the dad for one of my baseball friends came up to me at intermission and handed me two pennies and asked me to go back to the dressing area and find the lead actor in the play. I was to give him the pennies and tell him “this is from the guy with the big nostrils, giving you his two cents worth”. I thought this was funny so I agreed to do it, especially since I knew the two were friends. I go to the dressing room and deliver the message and the “gift”. The response I was given was even better. The actor told me to return the pennies and I was to “tell the guy with the big nostrils to take his worthless 2 cents and shove them right up his big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. This is quite the opposite of my Knee Jerk Reaction article, so I get to bring everything full circle. You might tell me to take my worthless two cents and shove them up my nostrils, and that’s okay, because we are friends and I don’t look at it as personal.

I am going to break things down into three categories: One, something I feel stronger about. Two, something I have softened on a bit. Three, something that didn’t really change.

SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

There needs to be change. The status quo is not good enough for this team. After all the changes that were made last year we were greeted with the same exact team in the end: A 10 and 7 record followed by a first-round playoff exit. For all the change that occurred, the outcome was the same. I would like to see some change that creates something different. Of course I would like that something different to be better, but there’s no guarantee that any change could turn out that way. What I don’t want to see is another 10 and 7 record with a first-round playoff exit.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

The NFL in general. I’m taking a little bit different route on this one. My softening on the NFL doesn’t have to do with me giving them a little more slack. It has to do with me softening. My passion for all things NFL football is not as strong as it was a couple years ago. I’m kind of worried, as the NFL was the one sport I was always gung-ho over. Now with the Steelers eliminated I’m not that interested in watching as many games. I’m not totally sure if it is me, the product, or a combination of the two, but I hope my feelings for this change in the future.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

The new substandard standard. Coach Tomlin can walk around and talk about the standard all he wants. What we see as fans is that his standard is now substandard to our expectations. So if there was one piece of advice I could give to Coach Tomlin it is that the standard better change and the bar should be raised. Yes I understand that things could be a lot worse for this team, but if it takes being worse for a little bit to eventually get better then I am okay with it.

There you have it. My worthless 2 cents. Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you want to tell me to shove my worthless two cents up my big nostrils. Maybe you have your own worthless 2 cents you would like to share. If so please feel free to share it in the comments below, I might look at it and tell you to shove it up your big nostrils…but that’s okay, because we are still friends.