Welcome to Paul Zeise’s weekly mailbag, where the Post-Gazette columnist and 93.7 The Fan radio host answers your questions about sports, life and everything in between. You can also chat about all sports with Paul at noon Thursdays. If you want to ask a question, tweet him @paulzeise or email him at pzeise@post-gazette.com.
Let’s get started:
George: A lot of people wonder ‘“is it possible to play sports?” I have a more important question. Is it responsible to play sports? I don’t think so. What are your thoughts?
Zeise: This is a question for Dr. Fauci. And I’m only half-kidding. I’m not smart enough to know the answer to this. However, I will say that I have read a number of expert analysis of this and they all say the same thing: In life, there are risks. This is no different. All we can do is the best we can to try and mitigate the risks. It seems to me that young and healthy people are at very low risk of getting really sick with this virus. That doesn’t mean there is no risk at all, because there is. The question is what the risk really is. I think we have seen that sports leagues are going to do the best they can to make it as safe as possible. And as long as that is the case and safety measures are being taken, I think the answer is yes, we are being responsible even though we are playing sports. That’s just my humble opinion and I’m not a medical expert. The fact that medical experts are signing off on sports, though, suggests to me that I’m probably not wrong.
Zach: How does a college football team not playing their non-conference schedule make them any safer from COVID-19 than if they had?
Zeise: I asked the same thing but only tongue in cheek. It is clear the idea is twofold. The first is financial, as the major conference teams will safe a boatload in guarantees. Penn State will save $1.5 million by not having to play San Jose State. The second reason is this pipe dream of an idea that moving the start of the season back a few weeks will buy time for, well, something. The idea is to try and buy some time hope the numbers of cases are better, maybe a cure comes along ... whatever. The first reason has merit. The second is a Hail Mary that isn’t going to land.
Chad: With the state of their starting rotation and only 60 games to play this season, do you think the Pirates will be more inclined to use "the opener" this year?
Zeise: They have already talked about this and it is likely to happen on some level. They have talked about Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl teaming up for starts. They have talked about Kuhl being an opener. They have floated the idea of using Derek Holland in this role. It is going to happen, I am just not sure what it will ultimately look like. The Pirates have a few legitimate opener candidates, though, so this isn’t a crazy idea and it is one that will need to be utilized by most teams, I would guess.
Gavin_Money: Who is the Pirates’ best player now that Staring Marte is gone?
Zeise: This is a great, great question. I would say the obvious choice is Bryan Reynolds but he needs to do more than he has before I give him the crown. He has had one season, so we need to see if it is sustainable. Right now, though, it appears he has the best combination of glove, bat and running on the team. There are some other guys who do one or two of those things well, not all three.
Marty: If there is no college football, will all the players be granted an extra year of eligibility?
Zeise: There is precedent for this — it just happened in the spring and all of those players were granted an extra year of eligibility. I’m sure the NCAA will grant all of these players an extra year but it will be up to the schools. And I’m not sure how many schools are going to be crazy about bringing back a bunch of players because it will cause financial and roster headaches.
Jason: Who is the best local basketball, football and baseball player of your lifetime? By local, I mean home grown and not necessarily someone who played college or pro locally.
Zeise: Wow. Well let me give this as my caveat: I am going to say there are two answers — the best high school player I saw, and the player who had the best career. The best Western Pa., high school baseball player I saw was Neil Walker. The answer to best ever from here is a little bit of a technicality — Ken Griffey Jr., who was born in Donora. The best high school football player I’ve seen (well, besides Elijah Zeise) is Lavar Arrington. Dude was a man among boys as a freshman. The best Western Pa., football player of my life is Dan Marino or Tony Dorsett. The best high school basketball player I’ve seen (besides Hailey and Isaiah Zeise, of course) from this area is probably Dante Calabria. The best basketball player from this area of my life though is Pete Maravich.
First Published: July 15, 2020, 6:59 p.m.
