It may take awhile before we know who truly will wind up owning the Steelers in the long run, but one thing is certain: Changes will occur.

Everything is relative, but Dan Rooney has tried to keep ticket prices low at Heinz Field, compared to others around the league. He often hears from owners who tell him he should raise prices much higher, especially with the long waiting list to buy Steelers season tickets.

He also has resisted some of the rash marketing techniques others use to squeeze every last drop of revenue out of the franchise. Even a big-bucks owner does not guarantee that ticket prices and other methods to generate higher revenue won't be used -- check out the ticket prices of the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins, for example. Washington's Daniel Snyder once charged admission to training camp practices. He eliminated the practice the following year because he discovered that, when you charge admission to training camp practices, the NFL allows other team's scouts to attend. No admission, and team scouts are banned from those practices.

Yet, if the Rooneys ultimately remain in control, they will do so with other investors and likely more debt, which will compel them to seek other ways to generate more revenue to keep those signing bonuses coming and satisfy the debt.

Steelers guard Kendall Simmons made it clear the past week that if his wife, Celesta, were to give birth to their third daughter today, he would be in Pittsburgh by her side and not play against the Eagles in Philadelphia.

It's a decision many pro athletes have faced in recent years, and it's a more difficult one for football players. Baseball has 162 games and to miss a game or two to witness the birth of a child is routine. In baseball, they skip games for high school graduations.

But football's a different animal.

They play 16 games, and each takes on more importance for a team trying to make the playoffs or to earn a playoff seed and homefield advantage, which can have a bearing on a Super Bowl berth.

Some make the choice to play; many get lucky because the baby arrives during the week.

The Houston Oilers once docked player David Williams a week's salary because he missed a game to be with his wife and child the day after the birth.

Years ago, there was little choice because players rarely missed games for anything. Former Pirates shortstop Dick Groat tells stories how players in the 1960s would not even miss a few days of spring training for a birth.

Times are different.

Back then, they would not allow fathers in the delivery room. He waited outside until a nurse walked in and introduced him to his new son or daughter.

With the Browns' 0-2 start, naturally Bill Cowher's name has surfaced again in Cleveland as a possible candidate to take over as coach next season.

Cowher, though, is enjoying the good life of coaching retirement in Raleigh, N.C. and his job in the CBS studio on Sundays.

"Right now, I have no intention of returning,'' Cowher told me a few days ago.

This is his second season on the sideline. He flies to New York on Saturday and flies home Sunday night. During that time, he has dinner with his daughter, Meghan, who teaches and lives in the city.

Cowher might be able to name his job and his price if he wants to return to coaching in the NFL, and some day he might do it. Dick Vermeil and Joe Gibbs are good examples of coaches who retired only to return years later. He's also young enough at 51 to be able to wait awhile. His youngest daughter is a senior in high school and considering two college basketball scholarship offers.

The helmet radio receivers worked perfectly in Cleveland last Sunday, unlike in previous years when Steelers quarterbacks could not at times hear the signals from the sideline in their helmets.

That's because the NFL has taken complaints about the problems with the system seriously and done something about it this year. After an item here last week detailing the problems the Steelers had in the past with the system going out in Cleveland, Tim Davie, the NFL's game operations director, called to say there were no issues with the helmet device in Cleveland last Sunday and there have been few issues around the league this year.

When the league this year approved a second communicator helmet to be used by one player on defense, the NFL contracted with the communicator's inventor, Harvey Shuhart of Control Dynamics near Philadelphia, to monitor its operation.

Steelers nose tackle Casey Hampton believes he and the defense will be better served late in this season because coach Mike Tomlin took it easier on the players in training camp.

"We were the No. 1 defense in the league last year," Hampton said. "We didn't finish good but I think we got tired toward the end. I think we got worn down."

Tomlin did not run as harsh a camp as he did his first season, and he gave veterans time off in practices.

"I think he took better care of us during training camp and things like that this year, no question about it," Hampton said.

The Pro Bowler disagreed with his coach when he placed him on the physically unable to perform list for the first two weeks of camp because Tomlin said he reported to Saint Vincent overweight and out of shape. While his teammates practiced, Hampton ran on the side, rode a stationary bike and tried to lose weight.

Hampton believes that ultimately will help keep him fresher this season but did not like how it occurred.

"No, he went about it in a bad way," Hampton said. "We talked about it, got over it. We're both men. I said what I had to say ... He thought he was being [mean]."

The Steelers' defense ranks fourth in the league in total yards allowed (221.0) and third against the run (64.0). Hampton said you've seen nothing yet.

"I think when we're fresh and ready to go we'll be hard to score against."