What Troy’s retirement means to the Steelers
The media feeding frenzy has ended and it鈥檚 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鈥檚 鈥淗arvest Moon.鈥� Check.
n Bob Dylan鈥檚 鈥淭ime Out Of Mind.鈥� Check.
n Gregg Allman鈥檚 鈥淟aid Back.鈥� Check.
n Chuck Prophet鈥檚 鈥淣o Other Love.鈥� Check.
n And Beck鈥檚 鈥淥delay.鈥� Check, check, check.
And there鈥檚 little wonder I鈥檓 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鈥檚 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, 鈥淪o, yes, we鈥檒l take your entire draft series, thank you.鈥�
That was after I had finished a whirlwind tour of media interviews. Troy wasn鈥檛 available to the masses, and won鈥檛 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鈥檚 north suburbs, I imagine Troy chuckling at the frenzy from afar. It鈥檚 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鈥檚 terms.
Baumann marveled at the detail, but I didn鈥檛 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.
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry,鈥� he said with a gracious smile, 鈥渂ut my heart belongs to another.鈥�
Now that impressed me. I mean, I forget my wife鈥檚 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鈥檝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鈥檝e gotten off without the press conference that he鈥檚 avoiding anyway.
But Troy, I like to think, wanted to make sure this story was told the right way. For one, he didn鈥檛 want anything in that story about his disappointment with the Steelers. He couldn鈥檛 lie, and he told me he was disappointed. But he didn鈥檛 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 a tough call.
鈥淭his IS a business. That鈥檚 what it all comes down to. It is a business,鈥� Polamalu told me that night.
He understands as much. Yet he had his own wisdom to add.
鈥淏ut this is a business based on relationships, and you cultivate relationships,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he product of your relationships is winning.鈥�
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鈥檛 know how to win, that it didn鈥檛 know how to play for each other. It wasn鈥檛 until the next season 鈥� when Dick LeBeau joined the group and told those same players the same thing 鈥� that the Steelers began to play for each other. And win.
LeBeau鈥檚 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, 鈥淟et鈥檚 talk about heroes.鈥�
But they鈥檙e gone. A new culture is in. Tomlin鈥檚 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鈥檚 three units.
And the rest of the talent? The new culture?
鈥淧art of the reason I wanted to come back was they鈥檙e talented. They鈥檙e really talented,鈥� Polamalu told me Thursday night. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 an exciting time to be a Steeler.鈥�
Was he just saying that to leave Steelers fans with a happy ending?
No.
鈥淭alent doesn鈥檛 win Super Bowls,鈥� he added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 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.鈥�
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鈥檚 what the Steelers have lost this off-season. That鈥檚 what they now have to find.
As the man on the old-school music machine is saying, It鈥檚 not dark yet, but it鈥檚 gettin鈥� there.