A Letter from the BTSC Deputy Editor: Changing personnel, but running the same play

In the offseason, seven months can seem like an eternity. While we are on the cusp of watching our beloved Steelers take the field against an opponent wearing a completely different colored jersey, it has been a long journey through a meaningless playoffs of winter, the “new life” to the team through the spring, and the hot grind of summer practices. The wait is almost over.

It was almost exactly seven months ago when I addressed the readers of Behind The Steel Curtain as the new community manager. Since then I have become a regular on The Steelers Preview podcast, filled in as needed on the other BTSC family of podcasts when needed, and last week had the debut of my own show: Steelers Stat Geek. Even though my first article was only published on September 1, 2018, I really felt that I had been quickly adopted into the BTSC family with all the benefits of being a part of such a passionate and well-informed community.

When I received a call from BTSC editor Jeff Hartman last week to inform me Simon Chester had accepted a position with Pro Football Focus, my first thought was about getting inside information to help with my statistics-driven articles. Little did I realize Jeff wanted to discuss with me the possibility of taking over the deputy editor duties. While it was a great honor to be offered the position, I knew how much work Simon put into Behind The Steel Curtain and the commitment it would take. After discussing the idea with my family, and making sure I could still attend several games each season, my wife helped to seal the deal when she told me, “You’re going to be doing Steelers’ stuff every free moment you have anyway, so you might as well have it be more of your job.”

In regards to the content on Behind The Steel Curtain, I want readers to first understand that I am not Simon Chester, nor will I ever be Simon Chester. If my goal is to simply become the next Simon, I will fail miserably. All I can do is be Dave Schofield and to, as Mike Tomlin would say, “jump on the moving train” and “get better along the journey.”

Our goal at BTSC is still give you the same great content. One thing you will see is an increase in the number of articles with my name on it, if you pay attention to those sorts of things. I am hoping to continue to do some statics articles each week. With at least 90% of the time associated with some of my former articles being devoted to research, I will have to be very selective with the topics I will have time to dive into on a regular basis.

One new feature I hope to bring each week during the regular season is a “BTSC Betting” article where I select several NFL games and have readers pick the game which they would like to place a hypothetical wager against the spread. Based of voting, imaginary bets will be placed of various amounts and results will be tracked for the season to see how the BTSC community would fare in the sports betting world.

I will also be bringing another giveaway during the season for a signed David DeCastro football. The details of the contest were supposed to be announced this past week on The Steelers Preview, but a delay due to technical difficulties has pushed the announcement back. Stay tuned to both the BTSC family of podcasts and an article to outline the details of the contest.

With the added responsibilities of the deputy editor position, I have decided to step down as community manager of BTSC. With the time it takes to produce the necessary content for the site, I was concerned with giving the proper attention to the responsibility of upholding the standards of the Behind The Steel Curtain community. Effective August 1, another BTSC moderator took over the community manager duties. Username “SNW” has been a very active moderator since I took over the job and will slide into the position with most users having no idea a change occurred.

The new community manager wants to remind all BTSC users they are the best moderators we have and to use the flag option to better serve us. Flagging a comment is a much better way to deal with issues than engaging in an argument as every flagged comment will be checked by a moderator. SNW has been reading nearly every comment for as long as he’s been a member, so the community manager position will just be a continuation of his already established membership.

On a final note, I am exited about my new role in helping deliver some of the best Steelers content available to fans. As Jeff Hartman says, “Behind The Steel Curtain is truly your one stop shop for all Pittsburgh Steelers news.”