Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) and offensive coordinator Todd Haley during the NFL football practice on Thursday, May 30, 2013 in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

by Will Graves 

AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's surgically repaired right knee is on its way to a full recovery.

So too, it seems, is Roethlisberger's relationship with offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Following a somewhat rocky year in which the two couldn't seem to warm to the idea of the other, the admittedly headstrong men behind Pittsburgh's offense appear focused on moving forward after the Steelers slumped to an 8-8 finish.

Haley approached Roethlisberger and several other players during the offseason asking them about changes they'd like to see made, and the result is an attack they hope is a little more streamlined than it was in 2012.

San Antonio Spurs' Danny Green, left, reacts with Gary Neal after scoring during the first half at Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the Miami Heat, Tuesday, June 11, 2013, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

by Jon Krawczynski
AP Basketball Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The NBA Finals opened as such a juicy matchup of A-list stars.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for the defending champion Miami Heat against Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili for the old guard San Antonio Spurs making one last run at one more championship.

Big 3 vs. Big 3. Winner take all.

Once the series actually started, a group of D-listers crashed the party.

Pittsburgh Pirates' Gerrit Cole throws against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of the baseball game on Tuesday, June 11, 2013, in Pittsburgh. It was Cole's major league debut. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Having won the World Series two of the last three seasons, the San Francisco Giants have rarely been an afterthought.

They were role players, however, when Gerrit Cole made his major league debut Tuesday night, taking a shutout into the seventh inning and hitting a two-run single in his first at-bat to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-2 victory over San Francisco.

The top pick in the 2011 draft, the right-hander allowed two runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings after being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day. He began his highly touted career with a three-pitch strikeout — all 96 mph fastballs — of Gregor Blanco and struck out two overall. He did not walk a batter.

KAREN HALL WITH SEAN GILBERT

Sean Gilbert, Kurt Wolfe and Karen Hall were among 16 people inducted June 7 into the WPIAL Hall of Fame at Double Tree Hotel in Greentree.

Sean Gilbert, a 1989 graduate of Aliquippa, was a 6-5, 280-pound linebacker who in 1988 was named USA Today’s national Defensive Player of the Year. He won two WPIAL championships at Aliquippa.

“When I went to college at Pitt I was moved from linebacker to the defensive line,” said Gilbert. “I should have stayed at linebacker. That’s the position that I loved to play.”