The 2020 State of BTSC Address

Yes, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been at Training Camp for the past few weeks, but those workouts are more akin to Organized Team Activities (OTAs) or Minicamp than actual Training Camp. The real training camp starts Monday with the pads being put on for the first time in 2020.

This year is different for a lot of reasons, and we all know about the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the globe. But it is also different here at BTSC, and this article is here to help get things off on the right foot.

It also is the kickoff article for the 2020 Training Camp Confidential, which will provide 4-5 days of features, commentary and opinion to help you get ready for the upcoming season.

With Dave Schofield and me captaining this ship as equals this year, it only seemed right we both contribute our thoughts on the upcoming season.

Here we go...

Jeff Hartman: After two months away, I returned to my comfortable chair here at BTSC. I missed the camaraderie I had developed here at the site for over 5 years, and look forward to working with Dave to bring you the best Steelers site on the internet.

I realize my return came with both positives and negatives. The positives being a rapidly developing podcast platform, which will only grow, and the negative being the new Coral commenting system which seems to have been a death knell for many who used to, and hopefully will again, call this site their Steelers home.

Just as a 16-game football season, there will be ups and downs, but good teams always prevail. For me, that would equate to what our plans are for the upcoming season. Sadly, we cannot make any direct changes to the commenting system ourselves. That goes way over our heads. But what we can do is continue to put out diverse, quality content for you to enjoy every day.

No days off.

That means 12-14 pieces of content a day, even though some of those will be podcast articles, but at least two podcasts during the week and even shows on the weekend. Like I told Dave the other day when we were discussing how our number of comments have dropped significantly during the change over, all we can do is control what we can control.

We will put our heads down and grind...all year. No matter what. You can take that to the bank.

I can’t say how excited I am for this upcoming season, and I hope you all will join us for what looks to be a wild ride.

HERE WE GO!

Dave Schofield: It has definitely been a wild year. It was during training camp in 2019 when I became deputy editor here at BTSC. I never envisioned having that role, let alone being called upon to be editor. It was a decision I did not take lightly. One of the reasons I decided to step up to the editor plate do while Jeff explored another opportunity was because I didn’t want to see an upheaval of things here with this wonderful community.

Of course, this happened anyway with the launch of Coral at the beginning of August. But thankfully Jeff was around to help.

I learned a valuable lesson over those two months in the editor chair by myself. First, I realized how much of an amazing friend Bryan Anthony Davis is and how much he cares about this community as well. I also realized that I was capable of doing the job if I had to, so it’s something I will never have to wonder. But even Scottie Pippen knew things were better when there was a chance for Michael Jordan to rejoin the team. So when I learned there was an opportunity for Jeff to get back here at BTSC, I was not going to let it pass by.

Hopefully this new setup (minus Coral, obviously) is for the benefit of everyone. We should be able to continue to turn out as much Steelers content as we can while the pressure is not falling strictly on one person’s shoulders.

I am so excited for the future of BTSC! It’s a shame things like Covid and Coral (which is much like BTSC’s own version of Covid) have to throw a wrench in everything. But as Jeff said, we’re just going to continue to bring it. The only thing we have control over is the content you receive here at BTSC, so we’re focused on making it the best you can find.

Of course, this State of BTSC Address could only be concluded in one way…

GO STEELERS!