PITTSBURGH STEELERS GENERAL MANAGER KEVIN COLBERT, right, answers questions as he sits with head coach Mike Tomlin during a news conference in Pittsburgh about the upcoming NFL football draft. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic/File)
‘Rock The Boat’ (Don’t Rock The Boat, Baby…)
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
“So I’d like to know where, you got the notion… Said I’d like to know where, you got the notion… To rock the boat (don’t rock the boat, baby), Rock the boat (don’t tip the boat over), Rock the boat (don’t rock the boat, baby), Rock the boat.”
—Lyrics from the 1973 Hues Corporation disco hit: “Rock the Boat”
The 1960s and the 1970s, two decades known to represent two concepts that were total opposites of each other: peace and war. Those that represented a conservative political philosophy were generally on the side of pursuing solutions by using warfare and all of the trappings that came along with it: those that were prone to espouse anti-war measures to help soothe and solve the problems of the world. I have been and I remain puzzled at how liberals fight for peace and conservatives push for more warfare and battle-related solutions but oh well, that seems to be the way of the world.
The Pittsburgh Steelers Football Club are comprised of liberals and conservatives and seem to have possibly gotten it right. Well, maybe not always but at least since they hired a young genius named Charles Henry Noll to be the head coach of the franchise in 1969.
From the beginning of his tenure, Coach Noll inserted the philosophy of: “ability breeds stability.” Noll knew that you could not take “Charley,” the mule of filmmaker Spike Lee, to Churchill Downs to compete as a racehorse and you could also not expect the legendary Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat to take the place of Charley and proceed to plow 40 acres to provide vital victuals for Spike.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ upper-level management has developed a tried-and-true management and philosophy that has rung true since mankind exited from the Neolithic revolution through the Industrial revolution, now having arrived at the Electronic revolution: “if it ain’t broke, leave it alone.”
Is there anyone out here that may think that that he or she can sneak, sleaze or slide their way onto the bridge of the USS Steely McBeam and steer the warship of the Black and Gold without being placed there by Art Rooney II? Well, put it like this: I have an extra barbeque grill to sell you that I purchased from Home Depot as you make your way to the kitchen of Beelzebub along with the services of Beetlejuice as your executive chef as well an an eternal supply of charcoal, scouts honor.
Following are a few of the remarks that the now-departed Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert said about his experience with the team. He basically said that he valued every pick including his final draft pick of the Steelers’ 2022 NFL draft Chris Oladokun, the QB from South Dakota State. “We hope it’s the best pick. Only time will tell.”
Colbert was asked about the state of the franchise he is leaving. “I don’t want to say better than. I’m proud that we’ve added to that room,” he said, referring to the library that holds six Lombardi trophies.
“There were four when we got here and you knew the task. You think about DMR (Dan Rooney). The next step, I mean, we’ve got to get more, and we’ll never lose that. But it means a lot.”
Kevin Colbert, you have meant a lot. You do mean a lot and you will continue to mean a lot. I choose to give you credit now because I don’t have the power to give you roses when I finally meet my maker.
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