Labriola on training camp

Bob Labriola
Steelers Digest

It’s fair to describe the Pittsburgh Steelers today as a team in transition, and Merriam-Webster would support the argument. But the Steelers don’t see themselves as being a “team in transition” in terms of what that phrase has come to mean in the lexicon of professional sports.

In sports, when a franchise dons the “transition” hat, it’s usually to deliver a two-pronged message: that a moratorium on competing for a championship has been declared while more realistic goals are chased; and it serves as a shout-out to fans to dial down the expectations.

The 2013 Steelers are in transition in that they are – as the definition reads – “evolving from one form, stage, or style to another,” but they head to Saint Vincent College fully intending to compete for a championship and understanding their fans’ expectations toward that end. They will arrive knowing all of that, just as they should realize what they get accomplished during their three weeks on campus will set them either on a solid or shaky footing for the opening phase of the 2013 season.

There is going to have to be some team-building that takes place, for sure, and along with that process always comes some weeding-out, but from among the 90 can emerge a representative group of 53, a group capable of contending for a spot in the playoffs.

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