The State of Steel Curtain Network Address
It is hard to believe, but here we are again getting ready for another Pittsburgh Steelers season with the team heading to Saint Vincent College for another training camp. With this is also another year of the Training Camp Confidential.
For those who don’t know, the Training Camp Confidential has a rich history which dates back to our time at Behind the Steel Curtain (BTSC). The full story is when I first joined BTSC and was working under then-editor Neal Coolong, he decided to do a ramp-up feature for the website which he called “The Renegade”. Neal wanted it to be 24 hours of continuous content leading up to training camp.
As you can imagine, there was some proverbial heavy lifting involved.
When Neal chose to leave BTSC, and I was given the reigns, I asked Neal if he wanted to keep “The Renegade” for his new home. After some deliberation he chose to keep the feature. That was fine by me, but I wanted to still do a ramp-up feature before training camp…just do it my way.
That was when the Training Camp Confidential was born, and the biggest change was I wanted to make sure the content we provided wasn’t just washed away without anyone noticing. So, instead of doing 24 hours of continuous stories, I chose to break it up over the 2-3 days to start training camp to get fans ready for those first real practices. To give fans something they can truly sink their teeth into when players are just arriving and the news ends there.
This year is not our first Training Camp Confidential here at FFSN, but it is the first with our new website design. We are extremely proud of the new-look website, and continue to make sure it is the very best it can be before the regular season rolls around.
The comment section now has more capabilities, but not all the capabilities many are looking for. In that regard, let me know how we might be able to make it better, and I’ll be happy to see what we can do. In the meantime, I hope it is a space where everyone can come and communicate in a respectful way regarding our favorite football team.
With the new website also comes some changes in the writing staff. Sadly, we’ve seen a lot of familiar faces choose to not contribute to the website anymore, but with that comes some new names who I hope you get acclimated to seeing on a regular basis. The goal here is always to have unique and differing perspectives surrounding the Steelers, and that is what I’m trying to build on a daily basis.
On the podcast side of SCN, things have remained relatively the same over the course of last season. We continue to try and provide the very best in both quality and quantity for the die hard fan who love nothing but Steelers talk on a daily basis. We will continue to offer three shows a day, with one being a live show, Monday thru Friday, and even weekend content for those who still can’t get enough Steelers talk in their lives.
With both entities, we’re not naive enough to believe you’ll love everything we do. There will be some writers you’ll enjoy more than others, and some podcasts which you might not add to your library regularly. It’s okay, and it is part of the process. We want to reach as many Steelers fans as possible, and I’ve learned over the years the writer some people despise is someone else’s favorite byline when they go to the website.
I can’t stress enough how proud I am of the core group of individuals who trusted us in this new venture, and stuck it out through some difficult times. We always thought the loyal followers would follow us, but that hasn’t necessarily happened on the website side of things. However, what has happened is a new core of followers have come on board and it has been a breath of fresh air. Everyone is welcome, that will always be the case with anything I am somewhat apart of, but the community we are building is one of respectful conversation about the Steelers. That is something I am also strongly in favor of as we continue to grow.
Growth is key in 2025, and everyone who tells a friend or relative about Steel Curtain Network in some way is helping the cause. Helping to make us a stop on someone’s daily Steelers news search/podcast list. For that I am grateful, and hopeful for the future.
As I always say, “Onward and Upward” for us here at SCN. Let the 2025 Training Camp Confidential begin!
Time to get on Mike Tomlin’s proverbial moving train…
Steady as she goes, Captain Hartman!
Thankful to be on board the USS Steelers for another season of great content!
#RideOrDieCrew
Happy to have you on board Corey!!
I’ll be at training camp next Wednesday, probably rocking FFSN gear. If you see me, give us a shout out!
I think that will be a padded practice!
Give us a Hi from Pat McFee show that will be live next wednesday there
SCN has gotten better every single day. I know it may not look like it with the small number of comments made, but know that you have some hardcore followers who will always support y’all!
Keep up the average work (😂sorry, I had to).
In all seriousness though, you guys are doing phenomenal work and I’m so glad this platform was created.
If my marriage survives this training camp period with a lot of reads and podcasts…..I would state that is already a winning season for me.
#HereWeGoSteelers
I will admit to being surprised that more commenters from BTSC don’t contribute to this site along with that one. It’s not like they have to make a choice. While BTSC is no longer my thing, it’s not like a choice has to be made. It’s ok to visit and participate in multiple sites.
I maintain that the content on SCN is too good to be ignored. It’s only a matter of time before there are more commenters here.
I concur.
The articles over at BTSC are just beyond trash. For the life of me I can’t understand why anyone still hangs around over there. I guess the status quo has a lot of inertia that people find hard to pull away from. Their current editors: one seems to never be around, and the other is rage bait poster; just terrible.
I do wish the comment software was better here. I can’t seem to edit my account at all (no avatard, can’t see what I posted, who replied to me, etc.)
Long live FFSN, SCN, our current editors, contributors and readers!
I think the big hurdle is the way this comment section works, vs BtSC. Plus, people tend to naturally resist change.
The one so-called writer over there just floods the site with “stories” that are merely parroting baseless rumors from numerous sources. The open threads are pretty much the only reason I still go there – I refuse to give the trash clicks and got sanctioned for saying so. Not by the in-house mods, but by the new owners of the network.
I’d like to thank you and all the writers for contributing to this site. I understand that when you write a piece it takes effort, but it’s also a peek into you personally and it takes some cojones to put yourself out there in that way – I respect that. So, I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know I’m aware of this and appreciate it….even when I disagree with you.
Keep the content coming, I’ll keep digesting it!
JoeB, if we all thought the same, it would be a really boring place. Glad you keep coming back, because we aren’t going anywhere!
I have enjoyed the new site but…
There is always a nit to pick. The black color of the comment background does cause some issues with links, edit feature, and follow. These could be made more friendly to the user.
Content is mostly top notch.