From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
The Steelers finally made their new
offensive coordinator available to the media Tuesday. But rather than
listen to Todd Haley talk about David Johnson’s blocking technique, I
opted for something a little deeper.
OK, a lot deeper.
I opted for a chat with Troy Polamalu.
I’ve spent nearly a quarter-century in this
business and hope to spend a quarter-century more, but I doubt I’ll find
an athlete as fascinating or as humble as this one.
Images of Polamalu’s first training camp, in
2003, remain vivid. He’d arrived late because of contract issues. He
said he felt sick to his stomach on the all-night flight from Los
Angeles and “ashamed” when he showed up.
Early on, he often sat alone in the Latrobe
dining room, ice packs strapped to his hamstrings. So clearly the new
guy. Painfully shy. Desperately wanting to contribute.
Now look.
The man turned 31 in April. Is it possible?
He is entering his 10th season, headed fast toward the twilight of a
magnificent career. If there is any justice, someone already has begun
to carve the hair into Polamalu’s Hall-of-Fame bust (a job, after all,
that could take years).
Polamalu broke personal tradition to attend
organized team activities this spring, working around his training
schedule with Marv Marinovich (Todd’s father) in California because he
sensed a calling.
He’s one of the old guys now. His wisdom and
guidance are needed. That is why you find him introducing himself to
anonymous recruits in the Steelers’ South Side dining room. As if they
don’t know who he is.
“More than any other year, the face of this franchise has changed,” Polamalu said. “We lost a lot of great leadership.”
Our conversation veered in various
directions. There was no rigid plan. Polamalu’s at his best, on and off
the field, when he is free to cover ground like only he can.
We talked about football, of course, but
mostly as a vehicle to propel us toward infinitely more important
topics. Like this little doozy: How does a man maintain his spiritual
life amid the trappings of NFL fame and fortune?
“I don’t know if I’m successful at that,”
Polamalu said. “But to me there is no greater arena to culture that. You
face so many passions. You’re fighting ego, pride, avarice. Obviously
this business is filled with a lot of temptations. But it’s the best
place, I feel, to overcome them.”
Polamalu has looked closely at the personal
struggles of transcendent athletes such as Michael Jordan, Walter
Payton, Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali.
“It takes a tremendous struggle to try to
stay together (as a family) in this sort of environment, especially when
you want to be at the peak of it,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a struggle
on my family. But my wife (Theodora) is so amazing in how she helps me
and just leads our family. I’m so blessed to have that.”
Other topics ...
• His initial trip, last summer, to his
ancestral home of American Samoa, where he plans to run a football camp
for years to come: “You know, we had 600 kids on a football field. Some
of them didn’t have shoes. Just to see the passion in these kids, it was
really, really awesome. The whole island is officially like a Steeler
island. All 600 kids had Terrible Towels.”
• The suicide of fellow Samoan and USC
alum Junior Seau, who was a friend, though not a close one: “The day
after (Seau’s death), my family sat down with his mother, his father,
his older brother, who he was really close with. We did the traditional
Samoan ceremonies, what’s proper after a death. I just felt so sorry for
the community that surrounded Junior. But it also should put things in
perspective, just to be thankful for what we have.”
• The aftermath of Seau’s death: “I felt
horrible for his mother. For the family’s sake, I hope they find
something wrong with his brain because I can imagine, as a parent that
has a child commit suicide, you would feel like you failed. I don’t
know.”
• The palpable fear that greets him every
game day: “People are paralyzed on a football field. People die ... You
just never know when it’s going to be your last moment. I was the kind
of guy who would never talk to my wife on game day.
Now I’m the guy
who’s like, ‘I love you.’ I want my children to know I love them because
I don’t know what’s going to happen out there. I’m not trying to play
the martyr here. I love football. It’s something we choose to do. We all
know how much of a gamble it is to play this game.”
Polamalu says people often ask how many more years he will play. His customary answer is short, but predictably deep:
“I’ve never thought about the end of my
career. I’ve had this growing motto in my life to live day to day — and
when you live day to day, it’s hard to talk years.”
