About Dejan Kovacevic

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Dejan Kovacevic, a lifelong Pittsburgher, is an award-winning sports columnist who has covered the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and, recently, his fourth Olympics in Sochi, Russia. For 2011, he was named one of the country's top four columnists by the AP Sports Editors. For 2012, he was named one of the country's top three columnists by the National Headliners. For 2013, he was named the state's top columnist by the Keystone Press Awards and top columnist in Western Pennsylvania by the Golden Quills.

Posts by Dejan Kovacevic:

Exclusive: Orioles exec questions media on cap

by • News/views •

Orioles_Announce_Partnership_with_Baltimore_Schools

John Angelos has overseen the Orioles and their TV networks since 1999. — BALTIMORE ORIOLES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

John Angelos wears many caps with the Orioles in Baltimore, from executive VP to chief operating officer of the team’s network to the son of longtime owner Peter Angelos. He’s held these posts for more than a decade.

Upon reading today’s column about Russell Martin and Major League Baseball’s lack of a salary cap, Angelos reached out to me by email to call it “the best piece I’ve read on the topic in 20 years.” And remarkably, it’s entirely likely he didn’t mean it as a compliment.

“There’s just no one writing about this issue, no one talking about it,” Angelos said in a later phone conversation. “And I don’t understand it.”

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Interview: Alejandro Villanueva, Steelers

by • Videos •

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Alejandro Villanueva’s tale has been told many times since his arrival to the Steelers, including yesterday in an NFL Network segment and back to last year in an impeccably detailed ESPN.com feature. Short version: He’s a U.S. Army Ranger who served three tours of combat duty in Afghanistan and is now pursuing his dream of playing pro football as a 6-9, 330-pound offensive lineman on the Steelers’ practice squad.

Ben Roethlisberger opened his weekly meeting with us reporters by acknowledging Veterans Day and divulging that the players approached Mike Tomlin to request that Villanueva accompany the team to Nashville, something a practice-squad player would never do.

And it’s funny, but as a side note, we always take every minute we can with Roethlisberger until the 1 p.m. closing of the locker room. Not this time. A big group of us peeled away to go talk to Villanueva once he showed up. Kid looked genuinely stunned.

Column: A tip of the (salary) cap to Martin

by • Columns •

Pittsburgh Pirates v Atlanta Braves

Russell Martin is doused by champagne in Atlanta for the Pirates clinching a playoff berth. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Russell Martin will leave the Pirates someday soon, in all likelihood. My belief is that the Pirates will be true to their word and put forth their legitimately best effort, although, like everyone else, I’ll want solid proof. I’ll want the numbers. I’ll want them independently confirmed by Martin and/or his agent.

Still and all, he’ll be gone.

Bob Nutting will be blamed. Martin will be blamed. His agent will be blamed. Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington will be blamed. Nutting will be blamed some more.

And barely a soul will dare discuss the real reason Martin is leaving.

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Tuesday 12 Qs: Tomlin, Scuds, Russ, Pederson

by • Tuesday 10 Qs • , , ,

Rob Scuderi pokechecks the Jets' Blake Wheeler last Thursday in Winnipeg. -- GETTY IMAGES

Rob Scuderi pokechecks the Jets’ Blake Wheeler last Thursday in Winnipeg. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 1 p.m. — shortly after I cover Mike Tomlin’s press conference at Steelers headquarters on the South Side — and offers you a chance to dictate the discussion.

The format is simple: Use the comments section below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit it early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live.

All topics welcome, as always.

UPDATE 1:05 p.m.: Here we go …

Randall Alessi: I’ve heard Ben Roethlisberger and other players mention when asked about continually having issues beating obviously lesser teams how they pay no attention to that team’s current record and such. Do you buy that? If they didn’t know how bad the Jets were, they were the only ones that didn’t!

DK: They know. I think you’re blurring the line between being aware and what an opponent says publicly in the weekly run-up. Those have little in common.

That said, after asking Tomlin just now — for a second time in three days, something I usually don’t like to do — whether or not his history in losing to bad teams on the road might change anything about the preparation this week for the 2-7 Titans, I got still more about the minus-4 turnover differential. Stan Savran immediately followed up by asking if lack of preparation could have led to turnovers, and that got dismissed, too. Because, in Tomlin’s words, the offending parties were Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, who have no trouble getting ready for any game.

I get that turnovers were huge, but I also get that 53 players had a terrible game. As did the entire coaching staff. So laying it on Ben and A.B. is quite the straw man.

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iPhone, iPad apps are out!

by • Site stuff

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Photo-illustration / ALEX MESSMER

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

The iPhone and iPad app for this site are available right now in Apple’s iTunes Store. It’s free, and your subscription here carries over there. I’ve created a special page with instructions.

We already had, of course, our Android app on Google Play.

News/views: Liriano rejects qualifying offer

by • News/views •

Francisco Liriano went 7-10 with a 3.38 ERA in 29 starts for the Pirates in 2014. -- GETTY IMAGES

Francisco Liriano went 7-10 with a 3.38 ERA in 29 starts for the Pirates in 2014. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

News: Francisco Liriano rejects the Pirates’ qualifying offer at the mandated $15.3 million.

Views: Big whoop. Means next to nothing.

For those who don’t understand qualifying offers — and that apparently includes 100.1 percent of talk-show callers — these are made to help reimburse teams for losing star players to free agency. If a team qualifies a guy at the above price, it’s highly likely — though not guaranteed — to receive a compensation draft pick.

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Steelers PATs: Mike Mitchell, Mr. Zero

by • News/views •

Pittsburgh Steelers v New York Jets

The Jets’ Michael Vick throws to his right, away from Mike Mitchell in New York’s win Sunday. — GETTY IMAGES

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — One last look at the Steelers’ last game …

• Could anyone have guessed Mike Mitchell would have this little impact?

Yes, I know pretty much everyone involved was responsible for the Steelers’ 20-13 loss to the Jets, so this isn’t about singling anyone out. But at the same time, when Kevin Colbert and Mike Tomlin signed Mitchell to that five-year, $25 million contract this past spring, he was expected to be more than Ryan Clark’s replacement. He was thought to be a young player breaking out.

Well, to turn to my adjective of choice from the game column, Mitchell has been terrible.

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