Nobody asked me, but ...

The news coming from Ben Roethlisberger the other day that he did not enjoy a good relationship with Bill Cowher should not be considered particularly pertinent. Despite the quality of the relationship, Roethlisberger was hugely successful under Cowher. We can only hope the Steelers go 34-14 and win a Super Bowl in Mike Tomlin's first three seasons.

If the Pirates are serious about competing this year, they should start playing with their best team, which means recalling Ryan Doumit from the minors. If Doumit, who was leading the American Association in batting (.465) and runs batted in (15), were where he belongs, he'd be, beyond doubt, manager Jim Tracy's best option off the bench. A team as offensively deficient as the Pirates needs to be a full strength.

Where are all the people who thought Georges Laraque would make a difference for the Penguins?

We've encountered only one major problem with the Pirates' switch from KDKA to WPGB (104.7): The necessity of listening to between-innings promos for the "Jim Quinn Show."

Now that it has been reported that Mario Lemieux gave $2,300 to the campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, it should be interesting to hear what John Steigerwald -- whose morning talk show has a goal to see Sen. Clinton "is not elected president" -- has to say.

One of the first orders of business in the offseason for Penguins general manager Ray Shero is working a new deal for coach Michel Therrien, whose contract expires after the 2007-08 season. Therrien is a leading candidate to win the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. The award, which was established in 1974, has never been won by a Penguins coach.

This just in: The Pirates are bursting with pride that 22 players on their 40-man roster are home grown, placing them tied for second among the 30 MLB teams in that category. If the Pirates were any good, that statistic might have meaning. Since they were in last place in the National League Central Division at the start of yesterday, all it means is they are continuing to develop inadequate players.

The only people who should be impressed with the decision of NFL thug Pac-Man Jones to take out a full-page ad in a Nashville newspaper to apologize for his deplorable behavior are the staff members of the newspaper advertising department. Fans will have to wait years to see if Jones is truly repentant. In the meantime, Jones should withdraw his appeal, accept his minimum 10-game suspension and consider himself lucky.

We can only hope the talks about a coaching job between St. Louis University and Rick Majerus are fruitful. Anything to get Majerus off the air.

With Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard in deep early season slumps, look who's back as the National League's most dangerous hitter. It's Barry Bonds, who will be 43 in July. Bonds led the league in on-base percentage and slugging percentage and was second in home runs going into games of yesterday.

Of the 3,161 people who voted in a post-gazette.com survey, 77 percent said Alan Faneca was wrong in not reporting to the Steelers' minicamp, although he was not contractually required to do so. Count us among the minority 23 percent. Faneca is using the only leverage he has.

The notion that a winning sports team, be it Penguins, Steelers or Pirates, will attract and/or keep young people in Pittsburgh is ludicrous. Jobs attract and keep people, not winning sports teams. The greatest era in Pittsburgh sports, the 1970s, was followed by a mass exodus of people because there were no jobs in the region.

The unimportance of spring training: The Pirates' best hitter in the spring, Ronny Paulino, has been one of their worst. Their worst pitcher, Tom Gorzelanny, has been one of their best.

Houston's Craig Biggio is staggering toward 3,000 hits, another example of an individual accomplishment taking precedence over the team. Biggio, the Astros' leadoff hitter, had a terrible .306 on-base percentage last year and that number is down to .264 this year. He'll get the milestone -- he needs 55 hits -- but his pursuit is hurting the Astros' chances of returning to the postseason.

Much to their credit, Pirates announcers are being more critical this season. Yesterday, John Wehner correctly called out Jason Bay for not hustling on a fly ball to center field that was dropped. Bay only reached first base and could have made second if he were running all the way.

Judging from the latest news reports, it looks like Gateway is challenging Central Catholic as the area's top recruiting high school.