View topic - ward & fitz

[steelmoney Profile]

sorry for spamming the board, but i like this article too

Tale of two wide receivers Story Highlights
For now, Super Bowl centers around Hines Ward and Larry Fitzgerald
Unique upbringing shaped Ward into the passionate player he is
Profound loss was part of the fuel that drove Fitzgerald to greatness

All eyes are on receivers Hines Ward (left) and Larry Fitzgerald this week in Tampa.

For now, the Super Bowl comes down to Hines Ward and Larry Fitzgerald. (And Kurt Warner surviving the Steelers' pass rush and Edgerrin James making some yards on first down and Big Ben playing steady, and the kicking game and turnovers). Until the game is actually played, that is, because you can't field a softball team with all the people who last year had David Tyree in the play-of-the-game pool.

So, just for now. Ward, with his bad knee. Fitzgerald, with his ungodly hands. They are the centerpieces. They are worthy of the roles. Ward has been here before, as MVP of the Super Bowl four years ago. Fitzgerald seems destined to play on this stage. And they have stories to tell. You will hear them this week, tales centering on the roles played in their lives by mothers. I have heard them both before.

Picture a diner near the Pittsburgh campus six years ago. This is where Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh sports information director E.J. Borghetti meet visiting journalists. Fitzgerald is in the midst of a remarkable final college season, where he simply cannot be covered by defensive backs. He shows the same qualities that he shows now in the NFL and that he showed many years earlier, when he was a ball boy for the Minnesota Vikings, and would participate in pass-catching workouts. "We had ball boys every year,'' said former Vikings receiver Cris Carter back then. "But very few of them could jump into a drill like Fitz could.''

He did remarkable things at Pitt. Big things. And little things, never seen, like when, during practice, an assistant coach would throw fastballs from 15 yards away and Fitzgerald would snatch the ball, one-handed, on the point, without the point reached the palm of his hand. Here is what I wrote about that drill six years ago: "Try it sometime.'' It's unfathomable.

As a college receiver he won every ball in the air, no matter how contested. "I like to decline pass interference,'' he said that morning.

Back then his passion was fired by a deep pain. There was no split in the Fitzgerald household. His father, Larry Sr., a former offensive tackle at Indiana State (1975-77) and a longtime journalist who is expected to cover this Super Bowl this week, was happily married to his wife, Carol. But in April 2002, Carol died after a long battle with cancer.

That alone would have been painful enough for Larry Jr. But it was worse. On his last visit home before his mom's passing, Larry and his mother had argued and the son had gone back to Pittsburgh without speaking. They never spoke again, which is nothing to wish on any child. Larry came home when his mom lay on her deathbed, but she had simply become too sick.

Fitzgerald's hurt became at least part of the fuel that drove him to greatness as a college player. That greatness has translated fluently to the NFL, where you just have to wonder what mind-boggling play he will make on Sunday. And you know he will make one.

Now picture Ward sitting in a conference room at the University of Georgia 12 years ago, as a senior wide receiver for the Bulldogs. It is raining outside -- a muggy, miserable fall afternoon in Athens. Ward is in the homestretch of a wild college career, in which he played not only wide receiver, but also running back and quarterback in his first three seasons under struggling head coach Ray Goff. And he resented the desperate shuffling. "I felt like he was trying to save his butt from getting fired,'' Ward said that day. "He didn't care about me.''

Fortunately, Hines Ward was uniquely suited to the trials he endured during his first three seasons in Athens.

Picture a small, spotlessly neat home in suburban Atlanta. A tiny Korean woman named Kim Young lives here. Years ago she had been involved in a brief relationship in her home country with a U.S. serviceman named Hines Ward. On March 8, 1976, she bore a son named after his father. They were together briefly and then little Hines lived with his mother, before his father took him away. He was 10 years old before he moved back to Atlanta and back in with his mother.

Kim had worked tirelessly, sometimes at three jobs, to create a life for her son in the United States. She scarcely spoke the language and Ward fought often with her. "I back-talked her something terrible,'' Ward said in '96. "One day when she drove me to school in fourth grade, I ducked down in the back seat so the other kids wouldn't see me because I didn't want them to know she was my mom. I got out, and when I looked back in the car, she was crying.''

The story between mother and son ends happily. They are close when he becomes a high school football star and turns aside Florida State, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Tennessee (when all four were annual national championship contenders). They are even closer when Ward goes to Korea after winning the Super Bowl.

It is breathtaking to watch Ward play football. Even when measured against the standards of one of the most violent sports on the planet, Ward has the abiding respect of his peers for his relentless physicality. He plays in the slot -- where George coach Jim Donnan first moved him after Goff left in '96 -- and he catches passes in traffic. He blocks like defenders are trying to take food off his table.

And when you know his story, if helps to understand his passion.

They know each other well, Fitzgerald and Ward. Pitt and the Steelers famously share a training facility and a practice field. Fitzgerald and Ward will probably share some words before the game on Sunday, and afterward as well. And during it, of course, they will share a great deal more, deep inside.

[dracula in cleats Profile]

I read that Hines texted Fitzgerald early in the morning to let him know the 'old man' was working out...the article said ward was messing with fitz...Hines will try any good natured way to get in the cards head...and I hope he can be a big presence in the game...at the least...he is making the cards game plan as if he will be a big presence...Hines is truly inspirational!

Go Stillers!