Dock Ellis would have been 67 today. The man died way too young, felled by cirrhosis of the liver in December 2008, but there's no question he lived his own life to the fullest and — despite his erratic behavior during his playing days — made a positive difference in a lot of other people's lives, both on and off the field.
Yes, he pitched a no-hitter on LSD (one of the most amazing feats in the history of sports, when you think about it), wore curlers in his hair in the bullpen, and once tried to bean the entire Reds lineup — to name the three things he's probably best known for — but Dock was no mere flake or fuck-up; there was an intense competitive streak and a pure cosmic embrace of existence lying behind so much of what he did. Dock's life was a huge inspiration to me, both as a writer and a person; I never had the opportunity to meet or interview him, but I tried to do him justice with this tribute I penned on my other blog, La Vie En Robe, in early 2009.
One of the interesting things that I wasn't really able to fit into Big Hair & Plastic Grass was Dock's relationship with Billy Martin. When the Pirates traded Dock to the Yankees in December '75 (pretty much as a throw-in on the deal that brought Ken Brett and Willie Randolph to New York in exchange for Doc Medich), most folks figured it was only a matter of time before the legendarily erratic hurler would clash with the legendarily volatile Yankee manager, but the two got on famously. Martin recognized and respected Dock's competitive fire, while Dock recognized and respected Martin's managerial savvy; Billy kept the New York press off Dock's back, and Dock responded by going 17-8 with a 3.19 ERA in 32 starts, despite only fanning 65 batters (as opposed to the 76 that he walked).
I spoke at length about Dock's time in pinstripes last month for No No: The Dockumentary, the forthcoming documentary on Dock's life and career; hopefully it'll make the final cut. But even if it doesn't, I've seen some of the other interviews and footage these guys have assembled for the project, and I can't wait to watch the whole thing. Dock may not have had Hall of Fame numbers, but he was definitely a Hall of Fame character, and someone infinitely worthy of an in-depth filmic salute.
He's also worthy of a truly awesome musical salute — and while I know some of you out there dig Todd Snider's "America's Favorite Pastime" and The S.F. Seals' "Dock Ellis," I don't think either song comes close to capturing his funky, firey spirit. To my mind, the perfect Dock Ellis tribute would involve hard-grooving Latin percussion (he grew up in LA, remember), some bad-ass wah-wah pedal action, and a screaming Eddie Hazel guitar lead, not to mention some lyrical bon mots from Dock himself, a la "We gonna get down. We gonna do the do. I'm going to hit these motherfuckers!"
Ah well, a man can dream, can't he? Until that comes to pass, I'm just gonna rock "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes, and sing "Dock!" in the chorus. He was a complicated man, after all... Rest in peace, Dock; you are truly missed in this country of baseball.
- Dan Epstein is an award-winning journalist who lives in Southern California. His first book, 20th Century Pop Culture, was published by Carlton Books in 1999. His latest book, Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging '70s, was published by Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press in May 2010. He does his best writing in his bathrobe.
PITTSBURGH -- Mario Lemieux truly is a larger-than-life figure -- always able to accomplish the seemingly unachievable feat, capture the unwinnable title, score the impossible goal.
Now, a player whose hockey career is unrivaled for the scope of his accomplishments on and off the ice has been immortalized in a statue that captures both the competitiveness and perseverance that made him special.
A 10 1/4-foot bronze statue that depicts Lemieux splitting through two defensemen to score a breakaway goal in a Dec. 20, 1988 game against the Islanders was unveiled Wednesday at Consol Energy Center, literally across the street from the arena known as The Igloo where the picture-perfect goal was scored.
"When they have a statue like this in your honor, it's something special for myself, my family and, of course, the fans who have followed my career," Lemieux said.
Lemieux confessed during a sun-splashed March day where the temperature fittingly neared 66 degrees that he did not remember the goal Penguins announcer Mike Lange said will be photographed "a billion times" by generations of hockey fans.
Lemieux fought through defensemen Rich Pilon and Jeff Norton, who collided as soon as Lemieux evaded them, to beat goaltender Kelly Hrudey with a wrist shot in a game Pittsburgh won 5-3.
Lemieux can be forgiven for the lapse of memory as he reflected on a career in which he was constantly dealt medical obstacles -- debilitating back pain, cancer and an end-of-career heart problem -- but still played at a level reached by only a few others in NHL history.
"I saw pictures while they were building it," Lemieux said of the 4,700-pound statue. "It's pretty impressive to see it up close."
Only 11 days following that now-immortalized goal, Lemieux played perhaps the most memorable of his 915 regular-season games, scoring five goals five different ways -- even-strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot and empty net -- against the Devils.
The statue is called Le Magnifique, or The Magnificent, and it took Penguins executives, civic leaders and his own friends years to convince Lemieux to allow it to be created by bronze sculptor Bruce Wolfe of Berkeley, Calif. The design and construction required 15 months, followed by a week-long trip to Pittsburgh on a flatbed truck.
"He said he didn't want it five times, so (Penguins co-owner) Ron Burkle finally told him we were going to do it anyway," said David Morehouse, the Penguins CEO and president.
Morehouse said a Sports Illustrated photo depicting the goal was chosen as the model for the statue because it captured how Lemieux overcame every obstacle in his path to achieve greatness.
"We considered a number of options, including one of Mario hoisting the Stanley Cup as a player, and one of him carrying the puck in full flight, but we decided this was the ultimate representation of what he did and what he was," Morehouse said. "On the ice, Mario powered his way past defensemen to score incredible goals. Off the ice, he overcame and broke through so many challenges."
Those on hand for the half-hour unveiling ceremony included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle, who flew overnight from Paris, and numerous former Lemieux teammates, including Bryan Trottier, Luc Robitaille and Pierre Larouche, as well as Lemieux's family -- including his mother, Pierrette; brothers Richard and Alain; wife Nathalie and their four children, Lauren, Stephanie, Austin and Alexa.
"It's a testament to him as a person and as much a testament to his commitment to Pittsburgh. ... It's just great to be here and to honor somebody as terrific as Mario," Bettman said in a post-ceremony interview with Root Sports.
Lemieux, during remarks in which he was constantly interrupted by thousands of cheering fans, recalled his first trip to Pittsburgh after being drafted No. 1 in 1984 and how he couldn't have envisioned becoming so tied to a city other than his native Montreal.
"He didn't save hockey in Pittsburgh once, he saved it three times," Morehouse said.
Lemieux lifted up a poor-drawing, couldn't-be-worse franchise in the 1980s and, with his talent and determination, carried what once was the NHL's worst team to two Stanley Cups and a record-setting 17-game winning streak in 1993.
As an active player Lemieux was rivaled only by Wayne Gretzky, scoring 690 goals and accumulating 1,033 assists for 1,723 points during a career interrupted by layoffs resulting from an early-in-his-career back injury, a 1993 bout with cancer and a 3 ½-year retirement.
Even while never truly healthy in any season past age 25, when his back problems worsened to the point they caused him to sit out more than half of the Penguins' 1990-91 championship season, Lemieux won six Art Ross Trophies and three Hart Trophies.
"I missed tons of games, tons of seasons over the years, and it would have been nice to see how points I could have gotten if I had played 1,500 games," Lemieux said. "Who knows where I would have ended up."
When he made his remarkable comeback in December 2000, Lemieux did so as the first and only owner-player in major American pro sports history, having bought the team, along with his partners, during a U.S. Bankruptcy Court sale the year before.
After he retired for the final time in January 2006 following a brief bout with a heart problem, he helped keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh again by spearheading the negotiations that led to the construction of Consol Energy Center. And in 2009, Lemieux lifted the Stanley Cup again, this time as an owner.
Lemieux becomes the only Pittsburgh athlete other than baseball Hall of Famers Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates to be portrayed in a statue. No Steelers player has been so recognized, although there is a statue of founder Art Rooney Sr. outside Heinz Field.
Numerous civic leaders, including Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said Lemieux has become so engrained in Pittsburgh -- his charitable foundation is one of the most generous and active in the city -- that it is only fitting that Lemieux now has a statue honoring him.
"It's why I decided to stay here; I love the people here," Lemieux said. "They give me my space -- I can go anywhere in town and people will say hello and respect my privacy, which is important to me. That's why I love living here."
Lemieux is greatly responsible for hockey's widespread popularity in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins have sold out every home game for more than five years. When Lemieux arrived in town, there were only six ice rinks in the vicinity; now there are 36. And more than 10,000 amateurs play the sport, some at such a high level that four Pittsburgh-area players were among the top 65 picks in the NHL Draft last spring.
"He played for the team, he bought the team, he owns the team, he IS the team," said Lange, the Penguins announcer and the ceremony host.
So, Rich Pilon, how does it feel to be immortalized in the bronze Mario Lemieux statue unveiled today in Pittsburgh, with Le Magnifique splitting the New York Islander defence pairing of Pilon and Jeff Norton for all eternity?
"To tell you the truth, it's very cool," Pilon told TSN, just minutes after the statue was unveiled in Pittsburgh. "I have no problem with it. If you're going to get beat on a play and it's there for everyone to see forever, it might as well be Mario. He did that to a lot of defencemen."
Pilon wasn't aware he was part of the statue until he got a text shortly after 12 noon today from his old buddy and former teammate Dean Chynoweth.
"I remember the play pretty well," Pilon said. "I have the photo, actually. Someone I know had a hockey calendar with that photo (taken by Sports Illustrated's Paul Bereswill) and they sent to me. It's right up there on my office wall. So I remember the play well. Mario scored a lot of his big goals against the Islanders.
"That was my rookie season (Dec. 20, 1988). No shame in a rookie getting beaten like that by Mario. It was a privilege just to play in the NHL and against players like Mario."
The Penguins say they chose that particular image as the basis for the statue because "it was a metaphor for everything Lemieux accomplished in his career and his life, breaking through defenders, overcoming obstacles, turning back challenges."
Pilon certainly recovered from that Lemieux goal. He went on to play 631 regular season games over 14 NHL seasons, mostly with the Islanders but also the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.
The 43-year-old is now living in Saskatoon with his wife and two children. He notes he's been sober for seven years and life is good, working with Cameco, the uranium mining company.
"I'm doing a project called Dream and Believe," Pilon said. "It's aimed at kids eight to 14 years old in northern Saskatchewan communities and we're using hockey to help them stay away from (substance abuse). So I'm at a good place right now and doing well."
And that's even with Mario beating him and Norton for all eternity.
Those who had always wanted to see Mario Lemieux perform with the arena roof open got their wish Wednesday afternoon.
There he was, literally 10 feet tall, splitting the New York Islanders' defense on his way to a mind-blowing goal. It wasn't happening real-time, of course, but rather on a mammoth statue unveiled outside Consol Energy Center on the day of the Penguins' 66th game of the season.
The old Igloo provided a symbolic backdrop, half-open (half-mutilated, actually) and featuring the giant credit-card ad on the ceiling that reads, "Carry The Pens Tradition."
Some will complain that no one other than Le Magnifique himself should have appeared on the statue, let alone a couple of New York Islanders (Rich Pilon and Jeff Norton). Others will wonder why Norton's rear end is displayed so prominently.
Easy, people.
The butt, er, bust reflects not only a classic Mario move but also what he was all about: sheer dominance. Men who played against him share tales of his ridiculous height, reach, vision, skill and power the way others swap tales of UFO sightings.
Basically, Lemieux embarrassed people for a living.
His monument needed a couple of props.
Team president David Morehouse explained that the play — from a Dec. 20, 1988, game — portrayed Lemieux's brilliance on the ice and determination off it.
Let's stay with the on-ice Lemieux, because I fear the new generation of Penguins fans only know him as the regal-looking man in the suit. To me, this day was about celebrating Lemieux the player.
Everybody has a Mario Moment. Mine was his goal against Philly's Garth Snow in the 1997 playoffs. It came late in Game 4, just when it looked as if Lemieux might leave the sport without delivering a parting gift on home ice.
We should have known better. Sprung in on now-Islanders GM Snow, he scored and raised his hands — palms up — to the heavens, as if to thank the Hockey Gods for his wondrous powers. The roof nearly blew off, 15 years before its time.
With that in mind, other Mario Moments ...
>> Penguins television analyst Bob Errey — who assisted on the statue goal — hearkened back to No. 66 carving up the Minnesota North Stars on his legendary goal in the '91 Cup Final:
"I was on the bench," Errey said. "I looked at Trots (Bryan Trottier) and said, 'Oh my God.' "
>> Penguins coach Dan Bylsma recalled a game in which himself, Ray Ferraro and Eddie Olczyk were assigned to "mirror" Lemieux at the old L.A. Forum. They're lucky they didn't wind up on a statue.
"I believe before 30 minutes were up, we were minus-3," Bylsma said. "That experiment didn't go so well."
>> Penguins broadcaster Paul Steigerwald, the man who picked up Mario at the airport upon the latter's arrival in 1984, went way back:
"First shot, first goal, first game, that's what I remember," Steigerwald said of the undressing of Raymond Bourque. "I was watching it on the USA Network, in (ex-Penguins coach) Lou Angotti's living room with my dad."
>> Sidney Crosby picked Mario's comeback game in 2000. He was home watching with his family.
"I remember the anticipation," Crosby said.
>> Regina Kealey, who has been working the dining rooms at Penguins games since 1986, shared Crosby's choice.
"Dec. 27, 2000," she said. "I was plating up pies in the kitchen when some reporter asked what the day meant. I said, 'It's like bringing home a new baby.' "
>> Penguins radio analyst Phil Bourque chose Lemieux's short-handed goal against the Bruins in the 1992 playoffs (Raymond Bourque naked again).
"I was in the penalty box, and I remember the attendant -- who had a Bruins jacket on — giving me a little fist pound," Bourque said. "If (then Bruins-GM) Harry Sinden had seen it, that guy would have been fired on the spot."
>> Mike "Doc" Emrick, in town to call last night's game, remembered Lemieux coming back from cancer treatments to play a game in Philadelphia.
"He took a commercial flight, arrived late afternoon and skated onto Spectrum ice," Emrick said. "The fans who would (later) boo Sid and booed Mario, saluted Mario with a nice ovation. He had a goal, I remember. That told me as much about him as anything."
>> One of Mario's two older brothers, ex-Penguin Alain Lemieux, picked a random game against the Rangers, one of many Mario played when nobody thought he would.
"He called me that day and said, 'There's no way I'm playing; the back's not good,'" Alain Lemieux recalled. "Well, I turn on the TV that night, and he's sitting on the bench."
One can't help but wonder what Mario might have done if his body hadn't been wracked with injury and illness.
"It would have been nice," he said, "to see how many points I could have gotten playing 1,500 games (as opposed to 915)."
Going by his career points-per-game average of 1.89, he would have finished with precisely 2,824 points, only 33 behind Wayne Gretzky.
In other words, Mario might have set himself up to become most prolific point producer in hockey history. He'll have to settle for being the most physically dominant -- a dominance depicted expertly on a 4,700-pound monument that deserves praise, not nitpicking.
They'll unveil Mario Lemieux's statue Wednesday, staged just outside Consol Energy Center and fittingly facing what's left of the Civic Arena. If you haven't seen those model pics leaked on social media, the sculpture will offer an electric action pose of No. 66 slicing through a defense pairing in his glorious prime, old Cooper helmet and all.
It's rare to sculpt extra characters in an individual monument, but this will work magnificently.
If we're lucky, someday the Penguins will carve one for Sidney Crosby, too. And his supporting cast won't be a conditioning coach and a battery of concussion experts.
The captain took another sizable stride toward that end Tuesday, as the hockey world heard around noon, by being cleared for contact in practices. He took a couple of bumps from teammates in a light optional at Consol, he'll take a few more Wednesday, and he wasn't ruling out a return as soon as Sunday.
It probably won't be that quick, from what I heard, but who's complaining, right?
"I don't want to get ahead of anything, but it's a good step," Crosby said, still gasping a bit after the latest in a series of breathless workouts. "Hopefully, I can keep the momentum and get out there soon. That's what I'm shooting for."
It's great news, an applause line no more how often it's heard.
But let's make this clear, too: Crosby's return isn't optional if the Penguins expect to raise the Stanley Cup.
It's an absolute must.
Yes, somehow, against the odds, it's been another terrific run for this team without Crosby and other key contributors. They'll go for their 40th win — and seventh in a row — Wednesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Evgeni Malkin has pulled off the impossible in replacing the best player in the world with the best player in the world. Marc-Andre Fleury has been so good that we're taking his nightly gems for granted. And Dan Bylsma and his staff, as was the case last year, have done a fine job of maintaining the focus.
But playoffs are unkind to teams with glaring shortcomings, and these Penguins, to me, look eminently vulnerable without Crosby.
The "Firing Line" of Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz has gotten some support from other lines, notably from a burgeoning Jordan Staal. But those three still generate the bulk of the offense and, in the playoffs, they'd face checking lines unlike anything they're seeing now if there's no solid secondary threat. That might even come in the form of a shadow aimed solely at Malkin, as the Sabres tried last month in Buffalo with Paul Gaustad.
Crosby changes that.
Moreover, the great unspoken over the past month is that Neal, while still highly visible, has just three goals in the past 16 games. It's hardly a fluke, either. He has 84 career goals before the All-Star break, 19 after. And you might recall his two goals in two months after arriving last season.
Crosby can change that, too, if his return peels away any pressure that might be piling up on Neal.
Overall, Crosby's return transforms a weakness to a towering strength, especially if Bylsma and staff assemble the second line suggested in this space last week with Staal shifted to Crosby's left wing and Pascal Dupuis flanking his right. Just like that, all those clear-cut matchups become a muddle.
Think about it: Is any opposing coach bold enough to assign his checkers to someone other than Crosby?
Or confident enough in his job security?
No one with the Penguins is forecasting how lines might look after Crosby's return, but you're probably free to discern that Crosby has no interest in poaching from the Malkin trio based on his reply to my question about that unit's effectiveness: "They've been unbelievable. When you look at their line, they really do have a perfect mix of guys there to create stuff every shift. They really carry the load."
It also would help, obviously, to have Kris Letang back, and there was encouraging word on his concussion front Tuesday with Bylsma disclosing that he's already doing light exercises.
That's terrific, too, but I wouldn't place Letang's return in the same paramount category as Crosby's. The Penguins' ability to defend as a team is predicated far more on the system than any individual, even a star. And Crosby's presence will more than make up for any offense lost.
Crosby changes everything.
And that should have the rest of the NHL petrified.
Owner Bob Nutting made a bold move in upgrading the Pirates' talent portfolio by locking up one of their core young pieces. The question is, was it a sound strategy?
BRADENTON, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Outfielder Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates poses for a photo during photo day at Pirate City on February 26, 2012 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
Go back to November 2000. The Pirates, on the verge of moving into beautiful new PNC Park, lived up to their promise to keep their star player by signing catcher Jason Kendall to a six-year, $60 million contract extension. "If I didn't believe we were going to win here, I wouldn't sign here, no matter how much money they gave me," Kendall said at the time. "It's going to happen here. I've just got that feeling."
The Kendall contract crippled the Pirates and set them back for years. You might have heard they still haven't won.
Go back to November 2005. The Pirates bought out the arbitration years of slugging left fielder Jason Bay with a four-year, $18.5 million contract. "This is one of the best days of my life," Bay said.
The Pirates traded Bay to the Boston Red Sox in July 2008 for what has amounted to, at least to this point, next to nothing.
And we're supposed to be excited about the Andrew McCutchen deal?
Yes, actually.
You should love the deal.
McCutchen, just 25, is one of baseball's most dynamic young players. He's much more than a singles hitter, as Kendall was, and much more of a complete player than Bay. He has a wonderful combination of speed and power, the best this city has seen in a player other than Barry Bonds in the past quarter-century. He can hit home runs and drive in runs; he had 23 homers and 89 RBIs last season. He should be able to hit for average; his .216 limp to the finish line after the All-Star break last season was an aberration. He should steal at least 30 bases, if not 40. He covers acres in center field.
It is worth repeating:
You should love this contract.
Pirates owner Bob Nutting -- much-maligned and deservedly so for his hesitancy to spend money to field a competitive team -- showed something by buying out not just McCutchen's three arbitration years but also his first two years of free agency through the 2017 season. The six-year deal, first reported Monday morning by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is worth $51.5 million. The team also has an option on McCutchen for $14.75 million in '18.
When Hines Ward decides to call it quits -- and he should definitely consider retiring as a Pittsburgh Steeler after the team announced it will release him -- he will have completed a Hall of Fame career.
Whether Ward sees his bust immortalized in Canton is up for debate. He is certainly far from a slam dunk to get voted into the Hall of Fame, and the odds are currently against him from getting inducted. But he deserves to be there.
Ward should get in for his productivity. He is one of eight players in NFL history to reach 1,000 career receptions.
Ward should get in for his consistency. He averaged 85.6 catches during a nine-year period (2001 to '09).
Ward should get in for his toughness. He is the only wide receiver who will be remembered as much for his bone-jarring hits as his clutch catches.
Perhaps the best argument for Ward's enshrinement is that there are only two players in NFL history to catch 1,000 passes and win multiple Super Bowls: Ward and Jerry Rice. That's elite status, which is what the Hall of Fame represents. It's the best of the best.
The reality is Ward will have trouble making the Hall of Fame. Just ask Cris Carter, Tim Brown and Andre Reed. They've been waiting for years, even though their credentials say they should get in. Brown ranks fourth on the NFL's all-time receiving yards list and sixth in touchdown catches. Carter is eighth in yards and fourth in touchdowns.
One theory is that voters are split among those three receivers, so Carter, Brown and Reed cancel one another out. Another theory is Hall of Fame voters don't value wide receivers, which is something Carter believes.
Only seven receivers in the Hall of Fame started their careers after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger: Michael Irvin, Steve Largent, James Lofton, Art Monk, Rice, John Stallworth and Lynn Swann. That's fewer than quarterbacks, running backs, offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and defensive backs.
The struggles of Carter and Brown to get into the Hall work against Ward. He has significantly fewer catches, receiving yards and touchdowns than each of them. Ward also has been to half as many Pro Bowls. In many ways, getting into the Hall of Fame is a numbers game, and that's not what Ward wants to hear.
Ward's best shot at reaching the Hall of Fame is his entire body of work. He wasn't the best deep threat. He wasn't the receiver with the most touchdowns. But he was the most complete wide receiver of his generation. No wide receiver blocked like Ward, and he fearlessly made catches over the middle. His reputation will stand the test of time.
Receivers are often considered divas. Ward is ruthless. He's an old-school player who stood out because of his physical play.
"Is there another receiver in the past 12 years who has a tougher reputation than Hines?" Swann said.
Once the Hall of Fame voters resolve this current logjam with wide receivers, Ward could be faced with another one once he is eligible. (A player becomes a candidate five years after his final game.) He could be going against the likes of Terrell Owens (No. 2 on the all-time receiving yards list), Randy Moss (No. 5) and Marvin Harrison (No. 6). This could mean a long wait for Ward, who is 18th on that list.
From my perspective, Ward has strong enough numbers to put himself in the Hall of Fame conversation. It's his other credentials -- violent blocker, Super Bowl MVP and great leader -- that put him over the top.
Hall of Fame-Worthy?
How Hines Ward compares to the three wide receivers who are having trouble making the Hall of Fame:
It's just business. It isn't personal. It's business.
Keep telling yourself that.
It will help you deal with the Steelers terminating team legends Hines Ward, Aaron Smith and James Farrior last week.
There probably isn't an uglier phrase in sports than, "The team has terminated the contract of ... " One day, a player is a valuable member of an organization, maybe even among its all-time greats. The next day, he is gone. Terminated. It's an awful word.
Legend has a much nicer ring to it even if the word never should be used lightly. With Ward, Smith and Farrior, it applies. They might not join the 18 Steelers players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- Ward is the only one with a realistic chance -- but they will be remembered forever as football legends in this town.
It's just business ...
From a football standpoint, it's hard to argue with the release of Ward, Smith and Farrior. Ward was barely an afterthought in the Steelers' offense during the second half of last season. Smith had major injuries in each of the past three seasons and four of the past five. Farrior shared inside linebacker duties last season with inseparable pal Larry Foote, who must be having a brutal time sorting through his mixed feelings about the team deciding to keep him instead of Farrior.
Termination day comes for even the greatest of the great legends.
It's the harsh reality of sports.
"We're all on deck," Farrior said late last season.
The Steelers needed the salary-cap space, presumably to sign, among others, wide receiver Mike Wallace. They need to get younger and had to clear roster spots to do it. The moves to release Ward, Smith and Farrior -- tough as they were -- had to be made.
It's not personal ...
The Steelers' locker room will have a much different feel next season.
Ward, Smith and Farrior held prominent spots, as did popular Chris Hoke, who retired in January.
Ward was respected, not just for his catches and touchdowns but for his toughness, which rivaled any player's in the NFL.
Smith, like Hall of Famer Jack Ham from the Super Steelers of the 1970s, never made a mistake and never was out of position, according to teammates. Those same teammates drew much strength from him and the way he handled his young son Elijah's diagnosis of leukemia in 2008.
It’s a car that came into the league in 1998 and has taken me all the way around Steeler Nation and still runs pretty well today.
Well, sometimes.
It does break down every once in a while, and when I bring it to the shop the mechanic asks me, “How old is this thing?”
And I say, “How old is Hines Ward?”
And then we have a good laugh.
But the ride is over. Ward, who also came into the league in 1998, is leaving. At least he’s leaving Pittsburgh. So I may need a new car, just like the Steelers need a new beast.
Sure, it’s a clunker of an analogy, but it's hard saying goodbye to something so reliable. So all I can say to Hines is what Neil Young once said in a song about his old car: “Long May You Run.”
* I met Hines Ward at minicamp in “the ghetto” of the Three Rivers Stadium locker room in 1998. It was an annex of the locker room where the Steelers put all of their rookies, except for their first three draft picks. Ward was the fourth that year, but regardless of his status Hines was ebullient that day. You could tell right then that he had found his new home.
* What a champ, I thought. “Rookie of the Year,” I wrote.
* Ward didn’t win any awards that season, but who will ever forget the tackles he made on special teams that first preseason? Or his number 15?
* I remember the Monday night game in Kansas City in 1998, when Ward came out of the huddle trying to get the glove off his right hand, and I remember thinking that something was up just before he got the ball and threw a 17-yard pass back to Kordell Stewart on third-and-10.
* Ward’s friend Bobby Shaw once told me to ask Ward about the “target board.” It was something Ward had put up in the wide receivers’ meeting room. “If there’s a DB who wants to play dirty, trying to punk somebody out, we’ll put him on there,” Ward explained. “Once he’s on there, somebody has to go after him on every play.”
* The “target board” came to symbolize the rest of Ward’s career. It was born out of a response to a cheap shot Bills safety Kurt Schultz had put on Troy Edwards during a preseason game.
This is the era when just about everything accomplished on a football field is framed as an act of defiance: a football is spiked viciously; a breastbone is beaten repeatedly in thumping self-aggrandizement; a standard touchdown comes replete with posturing and screaming.
So let's remember this today: That is not how Hines Ward played football.
At the completion of perhaps the prettiest play in Super Bowl history, with Hines racing under an exquisite rollout pass from Antwaan Randle El to drown the Seattle Seahawks, the enduring emblem of Ward's career flashed blindingly into the annals of sports photography.
That smile.
Oh my word, look at that beaming enamel as he carries the ball like a newborn into the Ford Field end zone. The NFL put it on a raft of official publications the next year; it was that iconic, that unusual.
Here's a guy playing football ... joyously!
Apparently it was still legal then.
So really, that's the era that ended Wednesday just short of dinner time, the era when football excellence could be conveyed as unrestrained fun rather than some dutiful execution of grim responsibility, some soulless quest for vengeance.
None of this will say the Steelers erred in any way when they released Ward after 14 seasons, but neither will it avoid the truth that they did indeed wipe the smile off their face.
"I gave my heart and soul to you every down," Ward said to Steelers fans in a statement that swiftly followed Art Rooney II's announcement that No. 86 won't be back. "And I will always bleed black and gold."
Put a face on the Steelers' modern history, one that represents not only the franchise's glorious achievement but also its attitude and aura.
Art Rooney and his stogie would be an obvious choice, as would Jack Lambert and his toothless, raging scowl.
Mean Joe Greene's glare or Chuck Noll's pensive stare would work, as well.
But there is at least one more mug that deserves special mention: Hines Ward's.
In a smiling pose, of course. Was there any other?
The topic arises in the wake of the Steelers announcing they will release Hines — it doesn't seem right to refer to him as "Ward," does it? — before March 13.
It is the right move, even though Hines made it clear he'd be willing to play for allowance money. One of the reasons the Steelers perpetually reload, as opposed to rebuild, is that they remove emotion when making business decisions.
They do not believe Hines merits a spot on their roster. Therefore, he is finished as a Steeler after 14 incredible seasons.
In some 40 years of watching football, I can't say I've seen a more complete player. By complete, I mean productive, consistent, tough — a factor on nearly every snap.
I don't know that I've seen many wide receivers crack down on defensive ends. Haven't seen any break a linebacker's jaw. Never saw one besides Hines light up Ed Reed and Bart Scott in the same game.
Come to think of it, I never saw one lose a shoe and outrun DeAngelo Hall, either.
That was the big lie about Hines — that he wasn't real athletic. True, he was no blazer. But the man played multiple positions at an SEC school (Georgia), including quarterback, and even in his final decrepit season was leaping over Titans safety Michael Griffin to score.
Off the field, Hines spoke his mind. He was a self-promoter, for sure, but at the same time the ultimate team player. You could ask any of the team's younger receivers about how Hines mentored them even as his playing time shrunk.
Hines told us so many times, in so many settings, that "nobody thought I could do it." The saying became a punch line.
But you know what? It was true. When Hines walked into Steelers headquarters in 1998, a third-round pick without an ACL in his left knee, barely 6 feet tall, I'm guessing nobody looked at him and said, "That guy's going to put up better numbers than Swann and Stallworth."
Hines Ward catches a pass in front of Johnathan Wade #26 of the Cincinnati Bengals during the game on December 12, 2010 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
The Steelers took Hines Ward after 14 other wide receivers were taken in the 1998 NFL draft, and they selected him with a compensatory pick, one of four they were awarded because of free-agent losses the previous offseason. Most notably, the Steelers lost OLB Chad Brown to Seattle, which inked him to a six-year, $24 million deal.
Ward played a minor role in his first season, catching 15 passes. But by 1999, he was a starter, and he was a fixture in the Steelers' lineup for much of the next 11 seasons, thriving no matter what personality the Pittsburgh offense had taken.
Ward's career in Pittsburgh ended Wednesday, with the club announcing his impending release. Perhaps Ward, who turns 36 on March 8, will sign elsewhere. In a statement released Wednesday, Ward, according to NFL.com, said he was "looking forward to playing in the NFL, again, this upcoming season."
Smart and tough, perhaps Ward still can be effective against zone coverage. Teams looking for a possession receiver could do worse.
And he will block. Yes, he will block. It says it all about Ward that it is necessary to mention his blocking this high in the story, for if I didn't, you would say, "Well, all these numbers are nice … but what about all the times he LEVELED defensive players?"
In a 2009 game at Cincinnati, Ward famously clobbered Bengals OLB Keith Rivers with a helmet-to-helmet block. The play broke Rivers' jaw and ended his season, and the league later outlawed similar blocks.
The 6-foot, 205-pound Ward did more than his part to contribute to the Steelers' collective physicality, but his pass-catching skill and productivity ultimately will be what puts him in the Hall of Fame discussion. He caught 1,000 passes in his 14 seasons, becoming only the eighth player to reach quadruple digits in receptions. He exceeded 90 catches four times, and as recently as 2009. He was a standout in his first Super Bowl, garnering game MVP honors with five receptions, 123 yards and a TD catch. When the Steelers captured another NFL title three years later, Ward again was a key contributor, hauling in one reception of at least 38 yards in all three of Pittsburgh's postseason wins.
Those moments comprise part of Ward's legacy in Pittsburgh. The little things, though, are essential to his story. Grinding his way forward on a screen pass, working his way open for Ben Roethlisberger time-and-again in key situations — that was the essence of Hines Ward. A little more than 84 percent of his receptions went for less than 20 yards.
Ward's release is not a total surprise. His role had diminished last season, with Antonio Brown taking his starting spot. If Ward had returned to Pittsburgh, he might have been the fourth or fifth option at his position.
Whatever is next for Ward, we know this much: the Steelers were rather well-compensated for their free-agency troubles of 1997. And few have ever done more with their NFL shots than Hines Ward.
The job of an agent is diametrically opposed to that of a general manager. The agents' job, of course, is to make the players they represent look as valuable as possible. That doesn't necessarily mean wildly distorting a player's abilities — nobody's going to buy that Marion Barber is worth $40 million — but it does involve creating the best possible context for their player. A good agent not only creates demand, he creates doubt in the heads of general managers by convincing them that the player they're trying to sign is worth more than the GM's valuation.
As part of our preview of this year's free agency period, we're going to approach the market from an agent's perspective. You may be familiar with the "books" that baseball mega-agent Scott Boras prepares for his top free agents, binders with page after page of arguments detailing why Alex Rodriguez or Prince Fielder deserves a $200 million contract. Football agents, as you might expect, prepare similar sorts of packets for their players.
Well, all this week, we're going to step into the shoes of those agents. We don't have the time, staff, or obvious financial motivations of someone like Boras to prepare a 72-page document for a player, but we're going to prepare abbreviated "books" for five of the NFL's most interesting restricted and unrestricted free agents. While we often use statistics to try to get accurate gauges of a player's value or performance, that's not going to be our goal here. Instead, these books will attempt to make each player look as valuable as possible, even if we don't truly believe that the player is actually worth as much as the books suggest.
Today, we start with explosive Steelers wideout Mike Wallace. See? We've already started talking these guys up. We're basically agents already. And where did these six cell phones come from?
The Book on Mike Wallace
At 25, Mike Wallace is the most promising young receiver in all of football. He's accomplished more during his first three years in the league than any other wide receiver in recent memory, despite unfavorable conditions, regular absences from his starting quarterback, and the presence of two of the league's most decorated wide receivers ahead of him on the depth chart when he entered the league. Any team lucky enough to have Mike Wallace on its roster can expect to have the best wideout in football in its uniform for the next several seasons.
An Auspicious Debut
No active receiver has put together a more impressive résumé during his first three seasons as a pro than has Mike Wallace. If you compare what Wallace has done during that time to every other active wideout over the first three years of their respective careers, Wallace's statistical record is staggering. Consider:
• Among active wideouts, Wallace's 3,206 receiving yards are the second-most accrued during a player's first three seasons, behind only Anquan Boldin.
• Among receivers with a total of 60 receptions or more during their first three seasons, Wallace has averaged more yards per catch.
• He's scored 24 touchdowns in his first three seasons, more than any other receiver in football besides Braylon Edwards.
Wallace's performance during his first three seasons compares favorably to stars like Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson, and Roddy White over the first three years in their respective careers. The table below lists the three-year totals for Wallace, those receivers, and other notable players, ranked by receiving yards:
Could He Be Better Elsewhere?
In addition to his impressive performance, there are reasons to think that Wallace's statistics might understate his true level of performance. While Wallace has made it through every contest in his 48-game career without missing a game and has yet to be placed on the injury report with an ailment that classified him as "Questionable" or "Doubtful," that hasn't always been true of his quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger missed one game during the 2009 season and another during the 2011 season thanks to injury; beyond those absences, Roethlisberger was a dramatically limited player during two other 2011 games because of his high ankle sprain, and was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season.
Together, those injuries mean that Wallace has had to play just under 17 percent of his career with a backup quarterback under center. When Roethlisberger's been in the lineup and (relatively) healthy, Wallace has been a far better player. In fact, if we prorate each set of numbers to a 16-game season, Wallace has been about twice as good with Roethlisberger in the lineup as he has been when Roethlisberger's been injured and/or unable to play:
During Wallace's tenure with the Steelers, he's also been part of a team that's played at a very slow pace. In fact, last year, Pittsburgh's offense only ran 165 possessions, the lowest total in football.
Fewer possessions, of course, mean fewer chances to rack up totals. Compare that to the Jets, who had 198 possessions to work with over the course of their season; receivers on the Jets got 33 more possessions to work with, or nearly 20 percent of Pittsburgh's entire total. If you take Wallace's statistics from 2011 and adjust them for a 198-possession rate, he finishes with 1,431 receiving yards, improving his total from 11th in the league to fourth.
In addition, while other players get to pad their statistics by making plays and picking up meaningless yardage in garbage time, Wallace has rarely enjoyed such a luxury during his time with the Steelers. Over his first three seasons, just 7 percent of Wallace's receptions have come while his team trailed by 14 or more points. The league average for receivers is just under 16 percent, and similarly skilled players on subpar teams get even higher; Larry Fitzgerald has accrued nearly 19 percent of his receptions in those scenarios. Wallace's production has come when it's mattered most to his team, to an extent that virtually no other player in football can match.
If Wallace plays on a team with a healthier quarterback that moves the ball up and down the field at even a league-average pace, his performance will improve beyond his already impressive rates.
Wallace vs. Holmes
When Mike Wallace entered the league in 2009, he had little claim to regular playing time. The Steelers were coming off a win in Super Bowl XLIII, and their starting receivers were a pair of Super Bowl MVPs: Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes. Wallace was also behind Limas Sweed, whom the Steelers had chosen in the second round of the previous year's draft. Wallace quickly beat out Sweed for the third wideout job in training camp, and less than two years later, he was Pittsburgh's no. 1 receiver in the Super Bowl.
In the process, the Steelers elected to trade Holmes to the New York Jets in a decision that was clearly motivated by aspects beyond football. Wallace, regarded as a model teammate and without any embarrassing off-field incidents on his résumé, took over and allowed the Steelers to proceed without missing a beat. In fact, since Holmes went to the Jets and signed a five-year, $45 million contract, Wallace has very clearly been the better player:
The disparity between their performances is obvious, but it stretches even further when you remember the difference in possessions between the two teams; even though Holmes missed four games of the 2010 campaign because of a suspension, he's still seen action on more drives than Wallace has over the past two years. And Wallace is also playing at this superior level of performance while he's two years younger than Holmes. Wallace has clearly been the superior player to last year's free agent catch, and he should only continue to get better over the next several seasons.
Conclusion
Very simply, the chance to acquire a 25-year-old receiver with this sort of electric skills and proven track record of production does not come around frequently, if ever. Imagine that your organization could have signed Jerry Rice or Randy Moss to a contract three years into their careers while merely sacrificing a first-round pick. On the rare occasions when players of this ilk become available, they usually have baggage of some nature attached and require far more than a first-round pick. There is no such baggage surrounding Wallace, and because of Pittsburgh's salary cap situation, the league has been presented with a chance to acquire him for a price far below his true market value.
Mike Wallace isn't just a free agent. He's a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
