LATROBE, Pa. -- Our region's football silence was formally broken at 2:54 p.m. Sunday with a booming laugh from the big man, Ramon Foster, followed by his bellowing "What up Cam!" that drew an echo from the nearly 90 other Steelers stretching on the grass of Chuck Noll Field, all sweetly framed by the rolling green of the Laurel Highlands in the backdrop, relentlessly sunny skies and searing 91-degree heat.
And yeah, an overwhelming sense of optimism.
Foster was picking on, of course, Cam Heyward, recipient of a new $59.2 million extension this past week and now the recipient of some wickedly widespread peer abuse.
"What up Cam!" Foster would repeat, a bit louder, to yet another echo. "New money!"
Everyone loved it, it was easy to tell. The laughter from the players -- even from Mike Tomlin, who virtually buckled over as he paced through the outstretched calves and hammies -- might well have been heard at the top of the adjacent hillsides.
To continue reading, log into your account:
