U mad, bro?: Steelers fans want less criticism of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Dwayne Haskins; Pirates fans want more information

Steelers and Pirates fans get to sound off early this week.

Because Labor Day is looming, “Breakfast With Benz” is ending the week a day early. As a result, everything gets moved up and “U mad, bro?” comes your way on a Wednesday.

That’s good because the submission box was overflowing this week. And the topics are all over the place.

So, let’s dive in headfirst.

I always like starting off with one of these finger-wagging emails from the grammar police. Take it away, RC!

“As a writer, I’m asking you to please stop using ‘how come’ instead of simply ‘why.’ One’s writing should always be more literate than one’s speech.”

R.C., I have no idea what you are referencing. But if thou must know, when one is a columnist, one’s word in print and one’s speech are very much the same.

In other words, one’s goal is to be … like, conversational n’at. Ya know?

Yinz OK wit’ dat?

Napolean disagrees with some of my beliefs about the Steelers quarterback situation.

“Quit hating. Go find another job and write about something else. We know Dwayne Hawkins is going to be the number one quarterback when Big Ben retired.”

Big Ben retire”d” already? Gee. How did I miss that story? I really should find another job, I guess.

And who is Dwayne Hawkins? Did he go to Ohio State, too?

Jim chimes in on JuJu Smith-Schuster’s decision to take on the dangerous “milk crate challenge” Twitter fad.

Complaining about juju being silly either his tik tok stuff, gaming, or other goofy kid stuff is just wasted effort. He’s not doing drugs, no dui,not hitting women, no bar fights or saying hateful things against any group like others do.

— Jim Duron (@JimDuron1) August 31, 2021

No, but he is risking a fall from those milk crates in his free agent year, driving 104 miles per hour in his sports car and providing bulletin board material for opponents non-stop.

That’s not enough for me to complain?

Morten has a problem with me dwelling on the Steelers strength of schedule. It’s rated the toughest in the league.

Teams bounce up and down in power rankings, but who has the toughest schedule is subjective too. Yet the SoS is weirdly always presented like this objective, static thing. The Steelers have a tough schedule. But we won't know if it's the toughest before it's over.

— Morten Jacob (@mhouring) August 28, 2021

Agreed, Morten. But you know what the first excuse will be if they finish in eighth place, one tiebreaker out of the final playoff spot or one tiebreaker off a division title, right?

Right?

“HOW CAN YOU CRITICIZE THEM??!! THEY HAD THE TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN THE LEAGUE!! TOMLIN HAS STILL NEVER FINISHED UNDER .500, YOU KNOW!!??”

Ian wasn’t happy that I decided to take some shots at Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto and his Dark Sky legislation proposal when I was guest hosting on 105.9 The X this week.

“Do you really need to pile on to the dark sky legislation complaints? I think the local yinzers already have that covered with the multiple asinine comments on social media. Maybe if people took a few seconds to look up and realize our place in the universe we wouldn’t have such a day to day (expletive) show here on earth.

FYI - the 80% comment is not an exaggeration. You should take a day to check out truly dark skies (Cherry Springs State Park is a good spot) and see the difference in visibility.”

Then I suggest you move to Cherry Springs, Ian.

Look, I have never been to Cherry Springs. It sounds like the quaint, suburban town where I grew up. And, yes, the stars were sure nice there.

But I live in the city now. Having a bright, energetic skyline is attractive. Especially for a city where — outside of its own walls — some people still misidentify it as a smoggy, smoky dump.

I live on the North Side and frequently walk across the Allegheny Commons at night — ironically, a stone’s throw from the aviary. The same spot where Peduto was holding that press conference.

I assure you that I have never once thought to myself, “Golly. You know what? It’s just too darned bright in this park, isn’t it?!”

Also, having lived downtown on Liberty Avenue for a while, let me tell you that the more lights, the better.

They probably aren’t as necessary in Cherry Springs.

Forget the Dark Sky legislation, there are plenty of other ways to start saving the world first.

Ed checks in about the Pirates drafting strategy.

I read this column everyday expecting to see "The Pirates just announced a major success in their building for the future program. They have signed a young lad who was rated the #3 overall prospect in the Houston, Tx T-ball league."

— ed frazier (@edfrazier14) August 20, 2021

I don’t buy it for a second, Ed.

We all know the No. 6 prospect in the Tennessee T-ball league is commanding less of a signing bonus than that kid, which would allow the Pirates to sign the No. 11 prospect in the New Jersey league and the No. 12 prospect in the Rhode Island league.

And that’s how you end up with Baseball America rating you No. 1 in their draft scouting report, which will inevitably lead to the Pirates building a dynasty 15 years from now.

Unless they trade all those kids before they make it to high school, when they run out of arbitration years.

Finally, John wants me to lobby for box scores to appear in TribLIVE Pirates game stories.

“(Box scores) would be nice. Don’t you agree?”

I’m not sure if looking at a Pirates box score is ever “nice.” But I’ll see what I can do, John.