... We've been here for years. Well a year, or so. Give or take. Anyway, been a long lay off for us since the draft. Time was well spent, visiting foreign lands, seeing strangers in a familiar garb:

(It's "Steelers World" not Steelers "nation." Seriously -- Saw both of these dudes in Rome, neither of them is an American. Bangladesh and Canada. We asked. )

But ...

Noweth. Beginneth. Thy. Countdown.

One month. One month from tomorrow, the Pittsburgh Steelers will report to training camp under a new head coach for the first time since all this stuff happened.

Whether you are pro-Tomlin, or wanted Grimm or Whisenhunt. It's all moot now. But first, let's review some of the events of the past 16 months in a quick three part-series:

1. The Good:

2. The Bad:

3. The Ugly:

So here we are. One month and the first REAL season of Steeler football since 2005 is about to commence. And I say "REAL" because let's face it -- the Super Bowl afterglow season of 2006 was like having senioritis in college -- you knew you were going to graduate, had a job lined up -- and you spent finals week at the bar rather than the library, soaking in the last of the good times until things changed forever.

Well, real world time, and things have changed, forever.

Remember this guy? He's gone.

Perhaps this chap looks familiar? He's gone too.

And by chance you may have heard of this gentleman:

He goes by the eponym of Mike Tomlin, but Wyatt Earp might be a better moniker. I feel like the first day of Camp Tomlin might be like that early scene in "Tombstone" when Wyatt Earp [bad word] slaps Johnny Tyler and throws him out on the street by his ear. These guys are gonna feel it.

The exciting thing about this season will be the possible new identity that the Steelers begin to morph into. The Bill Cowher brand of football was effective, successful, reliable, and with the exception of the few years when he lost his mind with Mike Mularkey, predictable. That is likely to change. By taking a TE instead of Tony Hunt in round 3, with the intent of opening up Heath Miller in the slot and giving Big Ben more targets, this is quite a departure from the power running/pass-when-necessary offenses we've come to know and love.

That said, we also think the Steelers are going to get worse before they get better. The offensive line is aging and ramshackle; Sizable Benjamin and Fleet William will only do as well as the line does. The WR corps look competent but again, their ability to produce will be predicated on the protection the gentleman lobbing the oblong leather vessel to them receives.

On defense, the secondary will challenge each other with some terrific position battles -- McFadden vs. Townsend and Smith vs. Clark, and Troy Polamalu was assembled from the best spare parts of Norse Gods, Roman Gladiators and Samoan Warriors. No worry there. The D-Line will be steady and stable, as per usual.

The linebackers -- hold your breath and pray. BNG did not like either the selection of Lawrence Timmons, nor Lamar Woodley. Larry Foote might be the hardest working man on the defense, but he'd be exposed in a 4-3. Likewise with Farrior, who while a tremendous competitor, but that AARP card isn't far off for him. Clark Haggans is also a terrific gent, as when he donated his time in the offseason to Big Brothers Big Sisters, but ... he played his best with Peezy on the other side.

However, the X-factor is Dick Lebeau and Tomlin. The 2 defensive minds should be able to concoct something straight up devious for opposing offenses, deploying Polamalu like a trained assassin all over the field.

It should give any Steelers fan shivers to read that early accounts that Tomlin is more like Chuck Noll than Cowher. A teacher and disciplinarian. Not that Cowher didn't scare the Jumpin' Jeebus out of his players sometimes, but he was often accused of being too chummy, too lax, too loyal at some times.

Anyway, it's good to be back. Look for this space to be updated early and often as we lead up to Latrobe and throughout training camp and the season ...