Though the days here are bright with snow, darkness sets in early now and stays overlong.� Just so, the Kordell Stewart Era is within 4 to 8 games from its close.� We all know the deal; the Steelers have just over 40 players under contract for 2003 but are within a mill, give or take, of the dreaded cap.� That�s not enough; the next crop of rookies will cost 10 % either side of $4M and, given the Steelers� issues in their secondary, a big-ticket FA import should be in the offing.� Traded or cut, Kordell�s departure will free his $6.3M salary for other purposes and beyond doubt this is going to happen.

 

Since no player this side of Barry Bonds has been so vilified here, I imagine KS is eager to leave.� Not that it matters; sports are entertainment and entertainment is business.� Kordell is headed out exactly in the way that, say, Viacom shifts shows from one network in their stable to another.� We loved him as Slash, half mascot and half super-hero; we dug the 2^nd half magic in �97, right up to the AFCC when his three picks caused some to imagine that Steeler-edition was actually superior to the eventual SB-champion Broncos.� All the magic drained away in 98-99, straight through the O-line holes afforded by such non-entities as Stephens, Stai and Skates.� The �00 season was a turgid affair and, while no one anticipated the Steelers� run in �01, anyone could draw a parallel with the endgame against the Pats to that more distant close four years previous.

 

For that matter, anyone could see that the opening games this season looked a lot like �98.� Despite all blather about Coach Cowher�s unnaturally protective role with Stew, in Game 3 and for the third time in four seasons, KS was yanked and set on the pine.� This time though, the Steelers had an NFL-caliber replacement in T-Max; clearly, that was not true when T-Czak took the reins in �99 or Kent Graham opened at QB in �00.��

 

T-Max is the superior performer; T-Max is best suited for the game as it now played.� Rightly then, so ends the Kordell Show, at least in this venue.� No doubt, that�ll get a run elsewhere for a time and, no doubt, we�ll see current highlights, for a time, contemporaneously with some back flash on ESPN Classic; Kordell lights it up for Team-X in real-time �03 while, on another network, 23-year-old Slash takes it to the house.�

 

The past is past no more, that is why the Steeler moniker remains attached to a team representing a city where no steel is now produced.� Similarly, whatever KS accomplished in the period between AFCC tilts, whatever he may accomplish from here on, all that is insignificant.� Like a mammoth in deep ice, his (6) AFCC picks are frozen on tape and, everywhere now, we can hear any beer-fuddled Bluto repeating: � He blew it; he blew it again.�

 

Maybe that homonym accounts for the gay slander.� Evidently, everyone in this metro area had an uncle, or a cousin, serving in the City�s Police Force who, somehow, stumbled over a queer tryst in some park and�

 

Whatever.� Look, if T-Max comes out in an ostrich boa, fishnets and 7� spikes Sunday to throw for 350 and (4) TD, no one, this side of the League�s uni-police, will give a damn about his fashion sense.� If RuPaul, Harvey Firestone or Nathan Lane could cover, we�d all be down with those guys at corner, or free safety.� We know this to be true because, last year when Stew was MVP for the 13-3 Steelers, that rumor mill went quite as quiet as those that once spewed steel all along the Mon.�

 

Gross hypocrisy with respect to homosexuality isn�t news; a week or two ago, the DOD drummed out some fully qualified Arabic translators because, somehow, it was determined that these men comported themselves, off-hours one hopes, with one another.� Possibly, this is regarded as a potential security breach although it is apparent that, were there no shame attached to gayness, there would be no jack-point for any blackmailer.� Regardless, that personnel maneuver made scarcely a ripple, what with new reports of bin Ladin still on the loose vying with the continuing prospect of war in Iraq for that coverage time not already allocated to weather or trailer trash.� Of course, after 9-11, news-honchos everywhere had lamented our failure to properly process intelligence gathered in advance of that attack.� This suggests that anyone qualified to do so ought not be discharged now for any act, short of treason or homicide but, evidently, connectivity is not a feature much favored either at the news desk or within that five-sided bastion in Arlington.��

 

Considering the saga of Flight 93, this is egregious stupidity.� It is a good guess that some number of persons now upside of the sod in DC are so exactly because the passengers on that flight put their airframe in the woods at Shanksville rather than riding on for another half hour or so into, say, the Capitol Dome.� We all know there were four ringleaders amongst the hero-passengers; we all ought recall, one was a rump-wrangling rugby player.� Pretty obviously, the qualities of courage, comradeship and commitment are not confined to the straight community.

 

However, gay-phobia does have deep roots, no more so than in DC, birthplace and life-long home of life-long FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.� The DOD�s recent firings reached beyond �don�t ask, don�t tell� some sixty years, seizing for precedent that time when the Fibbies and their ilk busied themselves rooting out faggots at mid and low levels of government while queen bee Hoover and his drone, Clyde Tolson, remained at large to regale themselves in the company of Mafioso and Texas Oil killers.� That was Jim Crow Washington; meanwhile, in Motown, Harley Earl was tasked to forge the chains that bound us then, and bind us now, to the Saudis.� This is part of the dark side of that work performed by the group that anchor-dope Tom Brokaw references as the greatest generation; that appellation confirms that analysis is no part of the workload in mainstream media today.

 

But I digress�

 

Kordell Stewart is a one-time Pro Bowl player, and one-time alternate.� He has been a starter for parts or all of (6) years; in 2 of 3 seasons when he was the fulltime starter, the Steelers reached the AFCC.� His lifetime QB rating is 72.3; that�s not good though this stat doesn�t account for his career +2500 yards rushing.�� He lost his starting gig, putting him in the same company as Drew Bledsoe.� In fact, in assessing his trade worth, we should consider the return for:

 

1.      Drew Bledsoe: 9 year starter, lifetime QB rating of 77.5, brought a deferred 1^st round pick last year.� More or less, the anti-Stewart in that he is regarded as a great passer and entirely immobile, in or out of the pocket.� In 2001, Bledsoe signed a 10 yr., $103M contract with the Pats. He played just two seasons in NE under that deal; presumably, this was re-negotiated when he signed with Buffalo.

 

2.      Trent Green: Started (1) year in Washington before going to the Rams pre-1999.� Blew out his knee in pre-season opening the door for Kurt Warner.� No Wally Pipp, Green played effectively for the Rams in 2000 after Warner was injured.� Traded to KC at draft day 2001 for a 1^st round pick, #12 overall. Lifetime QB rating is 84.2.

 

If the Steelers can�t get a 1^st, and they certainly won�t from most of the teams on the list below, the best value probably comes in deferring, for a season, a portion of the package.� A 3^rd now can become a 2^nd in the following year; the Bucs have made a number of such deals from �98 forward.� Also, it may be advisable to get a conditional pick, which is a guaranteed minimum with the possibility of more, depending on performance; this follows the Saints-Fins Ricky Williams paradigm.� In assessing likely venues, we may consider:

 

1.      Teams with bad QB.

2.      Teams with competent but fragile QB.

3.      Teams with cap room:

 

The best bet, for both sides, is a team that has some salient strength now.� Few teams are going to go 6.3M for a one-year starter; more likely, a team would have to be interested in KS as, at least, a mid-term solution at the position.� This suggests a re-do (similar to Bledsoe�s) where KS would get his 2003 salary in a bonus spread over so-many years.� For that to be attractive to him, the receiving team would have to have some prospect of contending within the first portion of his (not-so- guaranteed) deal.�

 

Considering just the three items above, with possible trade partners listed alphabetically:

 

 

Team	QB there	Team strengths	Cap/Prospects	Steeler-centric
Arizona	Plummer is done there; McEown probably isn�t ready. 11TD and 18 INT as a team.� Kordell could provide a running game for a team that desperately needs one.	Leonard Davis leads a strong O-line   Cards will probably franchise David Boston who, if he gets healthy, could give Stewart a Thigpen-like security blanket.	Usually, this team is well under; on the downside, Cards have been a sinkhole, it�s not likely KS would be interested in a long-term commitment	NFC.
Baltimore	Blake beat out Redman but Blake will be a UFA; Redman will be an RFA.	Leadership corps, RB, LOT.		Not great; KS seems to function best when he�s got some attitude and revenge could be a factor here.
Carolina	Three starters means no starter; the incumbent trio have combined for 9 TD and 18 INT.	Defense could be enough.	Have been in cap-hell but may be emerging.	Unless in SB, Steelers won�t play this team for� (3) years.
Chicago	Miller and Chandler are both fragile; however, Miller is a team leader.	Few.	Probably poor; in the past couple years, the Bears have signed quite a few elderly FA.	NFC.
Cincinnati	Kitna isn�t their biggest problem.	Few.   It would be cruel and unusual punishment to pack Stew off to Cincy.	Usually, this team is well under; on the downside, Bengals have been a sinkhole, it�s not likely KS would be interested in a long-term commitment	Not great; KS seems to function best when he�s got some attitude and revenge could be a factor here.
Cleveland	Couch�s QB rating is 73.8 but, off two early season starts, Kelly Holcombe is in at 101.9.	WR, DL, maybe RB.	Many crappy FA signings combined with a continuing need on the O-line suggest that this won�t happen.	Not great; KS seems to function best when he�s got some attitude and revenge could be a factor here.
Dallas	They like Chad Hutchinson	Defense	Depends on E. Smith.	NFC.
Miami	Committed pre-season to Fiedler but he�s been hurt.	Defense, RB, also, Thigpen-esque WR in C. Chandler
Washington	Drafted Pat Ramsey in the 1st last spring and Kordell doesn�t seem a fit for the Fun �n Gun.	CB. RB. OT.		NFC.

 

 

The best fit, for both sides, is Carolina.� The Panthers have a play-off worthy defense and a hot HC.� If rookie 2^nd rounder DeShaun Foster can play next year then they may have a RB.� Still, OT and WR are at issue.

 

Carolina has been a behavioral sink but KS is a good guy and has been a good teammate.� That should make him attractive to the Panthers; the marketing opportunities in matching him against Vick and Brooks for (4) games per season should not be overlooked.