What Troy’s retirement means to the Steelers
The media feeding frenzy has ended and it无毛视频檚 time to sit down in the early morning quiet, pick out some of the best music from my massive collection, and reflect on the retirement of Troy Polamalu.
So I need the best minds I know to help bring this all into focus:
n Neil Young无毛视频檚 无毛视频淗arvest Moon.无毛视频� Check.
n Bob Dylan无毛视频檚 无毛视频淭ime Out Of Mind.无毛视频� Check.
n Gregg Allman无毛视频檚 无毛视频淟aid Back.无毛视频� Check.
n Chuck Prophet无毛视频檚 无毛视频淣o Other Love.无毛视频� Check.
n And Beck无毛视频檚 无毛视频淥delay.无毛视频� Check, check, check.
And there无毛视频檚 little wonder I无毛视频檓 getting nothing done as these classic CDs spin through my brand new player.
Oh, yeah, in this advanced technological age, as I continue to fail to understand the simplicity of an iPod, it无毛视频檚 my loving wife who was able to pick up this fancy new five-disc player that someone was trying to kick to the curb.
And so the Hall of Famers are in rotation on this early morn.
Polamalu had called me yesterday. Or Thursday. Whenever. The last couple of days have been a melded blur.
Someone else called me last night and said click counts are expected to run into eight figures, 无毛视频淪o, yes, we无毛视频檒l take your entire draft series, thank you.无毛视频�
That was after I had finished a whirlwind tour of media interviews. Troy wasn无毛视频檛 available to the masses, and won无毛视频檛 be available, so I guess I was the one left to talk about this stuff. This Steelers stuff.
How this must amuse Polamalu.
Somewhere up in Pittsburgh无毛视频檚 north suburbs, I imagine Troy chuckling at the frenzy from afar. It无毛视频檚 just a slice of what he experiences every day, everywhere he goes.
Randy Baumann told me during a WDVE interview that he remembered us at the post-Super Bowl party in 2009 when Polamalu walked up to say hello and pose for a picture.
Randy remembered me asking Troy about the touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald and how Troy broke it down for us in layman无毛视频檚 terms.
Baumann marveled at the detail, but I didn无毛视频檛 even remember it. What I remember is that the sweetest, prettiest, classiest, best-dressed young woman in the entire room walked up to Troy and asked him, begged him, for a hug. Just a simple, sweet, hug.
Troy said no.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 sorry,无毛视频� he said with a gracious smile, 无毛视频渂ut my heart belongs to another.无毛视频�
Now that impressed me. I mean, I forget my wife无毛视频檚 name just thinking about that story.
Sorry, dear.
But those are moments of strength by truly great men. They happened on the field and off it with Troy.
Like him calling me with his retirement story. He could无毛视频檝e just mailed this one in to Dan Rooney, let the PR guys announce it via Twitter the next morning, let the front-office guys leak it to the hounds at the game, and Troy still could无毛视频檝e gotten off without the press conference that he无毛视频檚 avoiding anyway.
But Troy, I like to think, wanted to make sure this story was told the right way. For one, he didn无毛视频檛 want anything in that story about his disappointment with the Steelers. He couldn无毛视频檛 lie, and he told me he was disappointed. But he didn无毛视频檛 want that to become the overriding theme, because, as we saw during the frenzy, people re-write and re-purpose stories to suit their own click bosses.
But Troy is disappointed in the Steelers, and why not? It无毛视频檚 understandable for a guy who even on one leg can still play better than three-fourths of the strong safeties in the league.
So he无毛视频檚 allowed to feel a little raw about the guys who called him into a meeting to tell him he was no longer wanted. No one wants to hear something like that. But you have to give Kevin Colbert, Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II points for doing this men-to-man.
But do they get points for wisdom? That无毛视频檚 a tough call.
无毛视频淭his IS a business. That无毛视频檚 what it all comes down to. It is a business,无毛视频� Polamalu told me that night.
He understands as much. Yet he had his own wisdom to add.
无毛视频淏ut this is a business based on relationships, and you cultivate relationships,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淭he product of your relationships is winning.无毛视频�
In a slice of self-awareness to which Polamalu likely would never admit, he realizes that his character will be missed. I mean, this is a guy who as a rookie told the team in a meeting that it didn无毛视频檛 know how to win, that it didn无毛视频檛 know how to play for each other. It wasn无毛视频檛 until the next season 无毛视频� when Dick LeBeau joined the group and told those same players the same thing 无毛视频� that the Steelers began to play for each other. And win.
LeBeau无毛视频檚 gone now. So is Troy. And Brett Keisel. And on Tuesday Ike Taylor will presumably call it a career as well.
As the song on my fancy CD player is telling me right now, 无毛视频淟et无毛视频檚 talk about heroes.无毛视频�
But they无毛视频檙e gone. A new culture is in. Tomlin无毛视频檚 culture. That new culture has been mixed with the last four players to own two Super Bowl rings: Ben Roethlisberger, Heath Miller, James Harrison, Greg Warren.
Those are some powerful and massively respected players for each of the team无毛视频檚 three units.
And the rest of the talent? The new culture?
无毛视频淧art of the reason I wanted to come back was they无毛视频檙e talented. They无毛视频檙e really talented,无毛视频� Polamalu told me Thursday night. 无毛视频淚 think it无毛视频檚 an exciting time to be a Steeler.无毛视频�
Was he just saying that to leave Steelers fans with a happy ending?
No.
无毛视频淭alent doesn无毛视频檛 win Super Bowls,无毛视频� he added. 无毛视频淭here无毛视频檚 got to be another component there. The personality of a team changes from year to year. I do think the team next year can be really successful. How successful, only time will tell.无毛视频�
Time will tell if the team can find that other component, that component of strength and character and people who desire to play for each other and not for the money or the fame or the hug from the sweetest princess at the ball.
That无毛视频檚 what the Steelers have lost this off-season. That无毛视频檚 what they now have to find.
As the man on the old-school music machine is saying, It无毛视频檚 not dark yet, but it无毛视频檚 gettin无毛视频� there.