Rooting for Red Zone

Steelers training camp has arrived and the stars are garnering all the publicity. But it's the unsigned rookies with whom yinzers most relate.

There's no better example than Isaac "Red Zone" Redman, who ripped apart the Steelers goal line defense last year during training camp, before plowing into the endzone for a few preseason touchdowns. "Red Zone" is what Pittsburgh is all about, and judging by my mother's allegiance to the undrafted running back from Bowie State, he certainly was the town's favorite Steeler in training camp. He didn't make the final cut in 2009, but he has a great chance to join the team this year with all of Yinzer Nation rooting for him.

So it was with great shock this week when kicker Jeff Reed complained about his $2.8 million franchise year contract. This is the same person who beat up a Sheetz towel dispenser in New Alexandria and later put up his dukes to police following tight end Matt Spaeth's splash play in a bar parking lot. Now, this liquored up kicker has the audacity to claim that "life isn't fair." Living in a city that lost its only industry just a generation ago, Reed should just look at the hypocyloids on his helmet to realize that, indeed, life isn't fair. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave Pittsburgh merely because they can't kick a pig intestine through a metal pole.

So we may cheer for Big Ben when he's chucks 70-yard touchdowns, and we salute Jeff Reed when he puts the game-winning kick through the uprights. But us yinzers love players like Hines Ward and Isaac Redman when they show heart for our team. They are what Pittsburgh is all about.