By RON COOK, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

If it has been said once, it has been said hundreds of times. The Pittsburgh Steelers owe Hines Ward. They owe him a job. They owe him an immediate answer about his future. They owe him respect, as if they always haven't given it to him.

I can't say this strongly enough.

The Steelers owe Ward nothing.

This goes back to late November 2007, only days before Penn State coach Joe Paterno's enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. During a revealing 90-minute session with journalists, he was asked how he would like to go out. He did not hesitate.

Pittsburgh Steelers MVP Antonio Brown grasped the significance of teammate Hines Ward's 1,000th career catch Sunday almost as easily as Ward latched onto quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's shovel pass.

"Hopefully, it gets him to the Hall of Fame," Brown said. "He's a big-timer. He deserves it."

Is there anyone out there willing to argue?

Public sentiment appears to be turning against Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, slowly but surely. Those who are preaching patience as he battles concussion-like symptoms for a second time this year remain the overwhelming majority.

It's easy to predict the Pittsburgh Steelers' week as they prepare to play a big game against the playoff-bound San Francisco 49ers Dec. 19 at Candlestick Park.

You watched the players emerge from the tunnel and the warmth of the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room. One by one, they returned to the Heinz Field lawn. It was almost time for the second half against the Cleveland Browns Thursday night. You looked up and down the sideline, thinking you might have missed him. But, no, he wasn't there.

That was New York Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald whom Sidney Crosby blew by Monday night on his way to scoring his first goal in 328 days. Is it so hard to imagine Crosby doing it to Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith in June?

The news out of Houston is not good. Quarterback Matt Schaub has a fractured right foot and will miss the rest of the season. The Texans, who would be the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs if they started today, are left with Matt Leinart -- a first-round draft bust in 2006 -- to guide their team down the stretch.

Mike McQueary won't be on the Penn State sideline Saturday when the No. 12 Nittany Lions play No. 19 Nebraska. He won't be in the coaches box high above the field. He won't be anywhere close to Beaver Stadium.

That is as it should be.

But it's also for a very sad, very wrong reason.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Penn State graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary burst into Joe Paterno's office to tell him the World Trade Center had been attacked by terrorists. Paterno told him to stop horsing around and shooed him away. It wasn't until moments later that Paterno realized the horrible truth.