A Look Back Over the Highlights and Lowlights of the Steelers' 2012 Training Camp

Players are no doubt excited to return to their beds and families and people other than those they've been banging heads with for the last three weeks.

Media members are excited to not have to feverishly report every single step players take, whether on the field or off it.

Of course, a player taking a few steps probably leads the highlight reel of the Steelers' 2012 Training Camp, which ends in Latrobe, Pa., today.

Rookie NT Alameda Ta'amu injured his foot in some kind of hazing activity which had him hoof it to Wal-Mart to buy food and various other supplies. Ta'amu wasn't seriously injured, but we also didn't really hear his name again throughout camp.

Was he mad? We may never know for sure. Ya know who was, though? Antonio Brown and Ike Taylor, who slugged it out in three stanzas of street fighting goodness after the pair made contact during a heated goal line drill. Reports indicated a few players joined Taylor and Brown for breakfast to hash everything out after the fact. This issue isn't so much a concern for anything between Brown and Taylor, but rather, the message it sends.

At first, we kind of applauded the aggressiveness. Seeing the Steelers come out and attack early in the season can be beneficial. It comes to a point, though, where it just seems to go too far. Discipline must be at least somewhat maintained.

According to a sidebar on a story Tribune-Review reporter Mark Kaboly wrote, rookie OG Kelvin Beachum was involved in not one, not two but three fights this camp. Not sure whether to applaud or shake our heads. It is what it is.

Fighting and injuries (not typically involved in a cause-and-effect relationship) are the two biggest stories in training camp. We wrote about the relative health of the Steelers through the first two weeks of camp. Then the wheels fell off. Injuries to David Johnson, followed by Jonathan Dwyer and Isaac Redman took the depth at running back from the strongest on the team to the weakest in the span of that final week.

The Steelers had a roster spot open after Johnson's injury, and it was filled by an older veteran, but perhaps not the one many readers wanted. Plaxico Burress still remains unsigned, but there are still two more preseason games after Sunday's clash with the Colts.

That's a total of three games in which we can drink our Rainey Kool-Aid.

We saw two Steelers heroes inducted into immortality - Dermontti Dawson and Jack Butler - and four more honored in a similar and more unique way.

We also saw Steelers soon-to-be-former minority owner Jimmy Haslem purchase the Browns (we wonder if he ever got our letter). My offer to buy his stake in the Steelers still stands, Mr. Rooney.

Ahhh....the memories. Probably left more than a few items out. But considering what we know, and how there will be an equally long list of news items over the next three weeks, the only real question is how many wins will the Steelers pick up this season?

Really. How many?

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