Tim Benz: A different spin on the Pittsburgh sports ‘GOAT Mountain’ list
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On Monday, Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy took us for a hike up Pittsburgh’s “GOAT Mountain.”
Last summer, the outlet decided on a Mount Rushmore style, greatest-of-all-time list for 13 of America’s cities that have all four major pro sports teams (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL). This year, they expanded the list to the four best athletes from nine places that have at least three of those sports represented. As a native of Elizabeth Township and a former Pittsburgh sports writer, DeCourcy took on the task of compiling the four people who should be on Pittsburgh’s Mount Rushmore for sports.
The only restrictive rule is that any person who made a city’s sports Mount Rushmore had to have worn the jersey of one of the three teams in their city. So even if DeCourcy had wanted to put Arnold Palmer, Chuck Noll, Art Rooney Sr., Tony Dorsett or Dan Marino on the list, he couldn’t have.
So his list included Penguins great Mario Lemieux, Pirates legend Roberto Clemente and Steelers Hall of Famers Mean Joe Greene and Franco Harris.
“The first three choices — Roberto Clemente, Mean Joe Greene and Mario Lemieux — were easy and automatic. I didn’t think that there was much debate at all about them,” DeCourcy told me on Tuesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “The candidates for the fourth one would supersede a lot of others’ first four. The player who made that fourth slot, in the case of Franco, or just missed — like Sidney Crosby, Honus Wagner, Ben Roethlisberger, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, etc. — those players who just missed would be easily better than a lot of cities’ first four.”
Agreed. Here’s why DeCourcy went with Harris.
“One of the first things that was said in that conversation after Franco tragically passed away (in December) was the great Mean Joe Greene saying, ‘It all changed when Franco walked in the door.’ It’s easily forgotten, but it’s true,” DeCourcy said. “They were 1-13 in Joe’s first year, 5-9 his second year, 6-8 in his third year. They were getting better. But Franco walks in the door and, pow, they’re a playoff team. And through the miracle of the Immaculate Reception, they are a playoff winner in that 1972 season.”
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It’s certainly a reasonable argument. Personally, I’d go with Rooney Sr. or Noll if it was my “GOAT Mountain.” But under the Sporting News’ rules, I’d choose Crosby as the fourth person. It’d be by just an eyelash over Roethlisberger.
Indeed, Harris’ status makes him worthy of inclusion. I just think you need one of those two guys as a representative of the success the city had in the 2000s. And while the NFL casts a wider net than the NHL does, I’d still go with Crosby over Big Ben because Crosby and Alex Ovechkin were the flag-bearers for the entire league post-lockout. As great as Roethlisberger was, he wasn’t even the best player at his own position in his own conference.
Also, while drafting Roethlisberger changed the course of the Steelers franchise, drafting Crosby saved the Penguins franchise in Pittsburgh. That has to count for something.
You can hear the entire interview with DeCourcy here. But let’s take this argument and tweak it for a moment. Let’s play by the same Sporting News rules and restrict consideration to just players who began playing in Pittsburgh from 2000 through to the current day.
The first two selections are obvious: Roethlisberger and Crosby. But who are the other two?
Jerome Bettis is eliminated since he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1996. So I think that leaves, essentially, three people for two spots: Evgeni Malkin, Troy Polamalu and Andrew McCutchen.
Malkin’s impact speaks for itself if we are to take a second Penguin. Due to his overwhelming popularity and unique style, I’d probably take Polamalu over Alan Faneca or Hines Ward if I’m going with a second Steeler from that era. Plus, I’d want a defensive player up on the mountain.
McCutchen’s career in Pittsburgh has been shorter than Malkin’s or Polamalu’s. He won an MVP, but never won a title. However, being the driving engine to finally break the hex of 20 straight years of losing baseball has to weigh heavily in his favor. To an entire generation of Pirates fans, he’s the closest thing they may ever have to Clemente or what I had in Dave Parker and Willie Stargell. His return to the team this year underscored that connection.
So I’m going to allow intangibles to obscure stats and resumes on this one and put McCutchen on the mountain so the Pirates can at least be represented, even though that’s not required. And if I have to choose between Malkin and Polamalu, I’ll choose Malkin and let Roethlisberger stand alone as the Steelers representative. I just think that it’s too difficult to separate Malkin from Crosby when talking about this era of success in Penguins’ history.
Sorry, Troy. That hair would’ve looked great carved in stone.
Listen: Mike DeCourcy and Tim Benz discuss the Sporting News’ Pittsburgh “GOAT Mountain”