Bus' New Autobiography Reportedly Full of Surprises

In today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Ed Bouchette writes that the forthcoming Jerome Bettis autobiography "Bus: My Life in and Out of a Helmet" (Doubleday) is full of big surprises. Among other things, Bettis claims that the Steelers wanted to release him in the summer of 2000, and that he faked injuring his knee during practice to keep that from happening. Reading Bouchette's piece, it sounds like Bettis' book is of the tell-all variety, at least in terms of players and coaches who are currently out of the NFL. But some of the juicy bits sound a little un-Steelerlike. Click here to check out Bouchette's piece and judge for yourself.

Steelers Sign Timmons

On Sunday the Steelers signed first-round draft pick Lawrence Timmons to a five-year contract. As a result, the team has all its 2007 draft choices under contract in time for training camp. According to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the contract "is worth slightly less than $12 million in base salary and could be worth as much as $15 million with the incentives."

Unhappy Camper?

Today, Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that LG Alan Faneca plans to report to training camp on time and promises not to create a distraction for the team. Steelers fans should expect no less. After all, Faneca has a contract, one that pays him rather well, I might note. As I previously opined on this blog, Faneca should not expect sympathy from fans just because the front office doesn't feel it's in the team's best interest to give a 30-something guard a $50 million extension. If you disagree, feel free to post a comment below.