Troy and Steelers Estranged

One of the conversations the front office should have with a numer 1 draft pick on day one, so that they're under no illusions, is to tell them that one day, you'll be too old, too slow, and we won't want you anymore! Between the start of your career and the end of your career, then we'll pay you millions of dollars to give us your best years of your life. We'll also compensate you for all the injuries, pain and hurt and time away from your family in terms of salary.

Every player knows that they have a window of anywhere between 1-13 seasons, to make enough money to never need to work again. Steeler nation need to spend an average of 45 years, doing a shitty job, just to buy a ticket to watch our beloved black and gold.....and we never quit on our team!

TP will never need to work again as he had a long solid and financially rewarding career with the Steelers. It was time for home to retire and even if he thought he could play one more season. The front office made the right decision. The "LEGEND" that is #75 knew when he couldn't give his best anymore that it was time to go and if he couldn't play like the mean Joe we all knew him as, then he wouldn't play at all. That's what makes him the legend he is. I love TP but he needs to realise that football is a business and decisions are made for business reasons. His last game wasn't his best and coming back from injury there should've been a reason to keep him on the bench. We sucked in that playoff game and maybe one of the reasons that Dick Le'beau had to go as well. His time was up too!

Troy should man up once the hurt subsides. He is and always will be idolised by the Steelers and Steeler nation. Let's hope that "when" and not "if" he gets into the hof that he at least recognises what the Steelers meant to him!

It's impossible to know the whole story without being in Troy's shoes. There's obviously a little bit of hurt feelings, and my guess is along the lines of what others have been saying on here. Time will curb things over. Troy has to know that despite his differences with the front office, or the coaching staff, that Steeler Nation has always been here supporting him. He is loved and adored by Steelers fans the world over. The NFL and the Steelers organization are businesses, they have to make big boy decisions sometimes... Sometimes that means your future Hall of Famers have to be let go when their level of play is subpar. Troy hadn't been himself in a long time, and they let him stay even longer than they should have IMO. Troy was/is one of my favorite players of all time, and will continue to be, but he's gotta move past whatever differences there are between him and the Steelers.

BornaSteelersfan wrote:

He'll get over it.  Hines Ward felt the same way and there he was this Super Bowl weekend waving his terrible towel again (like on Dancing With The Stars).  I don't think there is much to it.

I hope so... but as we know, Troy is a different cat...The situation is what it is, but I hope the Rooney family has made a gesture of reconciliation. If they have, then it's on Troy to do as he wants.

That said, it would've been better money spent than Cortez Allen.

Chuck Noll treated Bradshaw like a dish rag. What do you want from Bradshaw? To be fake and go an act like he cares. Too many people stick their nose in people's business when they don't know shit about what was going on other than hearing it through the scum piss media.

OX1947 wrote:

Chuck Noll treated Bradshaw like a dish rag. What do you want from Bradshaw? To be fake and go an act like he cares.

Bradshaw's estrangement from the Steelers (not just Noll) and their fans went far beyond his issues with Noll, although Bradshaw made a big (and probably fake) point about having reconciled with Noll before his death - as long as the check for the appearance fee cleared I suppose Bradshaw figured it was worth saying it

"If I could reach down in my heart, I would say I'm sorry for every unkind word and thought I ever had. I mean that. I'm ashamed about that. It was ... my wrong, my childness, my selfishness. Having said that, it kind of cleanses me. I miss my coach. I love my coach. I miss Chuck Noll."...

Bradshaw added that few knew the entire story, such as the time Noll offered Bradshaw -- amid his second divorce -- the opportunity to live in the coach's house until he got back on his feet.

"This is my home," he said of Pittsburgh. "I'm glad that I'm back. You don't have to ask any more questions."

"No more 'When will Bradshaw come back to town? When will he come back to the Steelers' embrace? When will he make up with Noll?'

"It's dead from this time on."



http://old.post-gazette.com/sports/other/20030210dapper0210p3.asp

I guess he quit loving and missing him when he was in Pittsburgh at the time of the viewing.

I admit I am biased after reading about how many who covered or worked with him think Bradshaw is a fraud

OX1947 wrote:

Chuck Noll treated Bradshaw like a dish rag. What do you want from Bradshaw? To be fake and go an act like he cares. Too many people stick their nose in people's business when they don't know shit about what was going on other than hearing it through the scum piss media.

...and really, does how Bradshaw or Noll acted 35 years ago have any effect on your or my life today? Nope. Its just a game.

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

OX1947 wrote:

Chuck Noll treated Bradshaw like a dish rag. What do you want from Bradshaw? To be fake and go an act like he cares. Too many people stick their nose in people's business when they don't know shit about what was going on other than hearing it through the scum piss media.

...and really, does how Bradshaw or Noll acted 35 years ago have any effect on your or my life today?  Nope.  Its just a game.

Agreed - my rant on Bradshaw was just to note time does not heal all wounds

Bradshaw remains an irritating presence for me only because he intrudes on my football Sundays when I am watching halftime highlights on Fox - like Phil Simms I hope his run is about done

Atlanta Dan wrote:

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

OX1947 wrote:

Chuck Noll treated Bradshaw like a dish rag. What do you want from Bradshaw? To be fake and go an act like he cares. Too many people stick their nose in people's business when they don't know shit about what was going on other than hearing it through the scum piss media.

...and really, does how Bradshaw or Noll acted 35 years ago have any effect on your or my life today?  Nope.  Its just a game.

Agreed - my rant on Bradshaw was just to note time does not heal all wounds

Bradshaw remains an irritating presence for me only because he intrudes on my football Sundays when I am watching halftime highlights on Fox - like Phil Simms I hope his run is about done

Sure, its whatever works for us. I remember Bradshaw as that clutch QB from my childhood that is a goofy clown. I like him on Fox, but honestly don't watch much Fox pregame. Phil Simms I think is one of the more insightful analysts on TV and a guy that realizes both he and Parcells were A-holes to each other, but that is what made it work. Sure Phil has an ego and I know a guy doesn't achieve what he did without one.

The guys I can really do without are Bart Scott (brings nothing really to the broadcast IMO) and Dan Fouts. I really liked Fouts as a player, but he must have a Steeler hate on, as he seems to point out every close call and analyze it in a anti-Steeler way, yet when the same thing happens to the opposition, he just stays quiet and moves onto the next play. I think Tony Gonzales has a good future in broadcasting.

Troy Polamalu’s avoidance of most things Steelers might ease tonight, along with perhaps some hurt feelings that spawned it, when he is expected to attend the 80th Dapper Dan Dinner & Sports Auction that will honor former teammate Antonio Brown as Sportsman of the Year....

“I don’t think that there’s any bad feelings on his part,” Marvin Demoff, his longtime agent, told the Post-Gazette. “I really don’t. I think that in his own way he just had to step away from football — ESPN, the NFL Network, anything involved in football.’’...

He wanted to play again in 2015, but only with the Steelers. He had offers from other teams, including the Tennessee Titans, a staff that Dick LeBeau had just joined after his mutual parting with the Steelers as their defensive coordinator.

“I think that’s true, that he was disappointed,” Demoff said of the Steelers’ decision to cut ties with Polamalu. “But he didn’t want to pursue anything else other than the Steelers. He had other opportunities in broadcasting and playing. The answer was always no.”

Demoff said hearing the news from the Steelers came as a blow to Polamalu because he had not thought about not playing in 2015.

“I don’t think he gave it much thought about leaving as he probably should have,” Demoff said.

Keeping his distance from the Steelers over the past year has “nothing to do with anything about the Steelers,” Demoff insisted. “It’s just his way to try to separate himself from the game.”

That was the same sentiment a Steelers source expressed to the Post-Gazette about Polamalu ultimately embracing the organization again and his stature among the best players in its history.

“Sometimes, it just takes some time,” he said.

Link to full article

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/02/17/Polamalu-has-kept-his-distance-after-forced-Steelers-retirement/stories/201602170022