The year was 2014 — mere months after Troy Polamalu was urged to retire by the Steelers. The way it went was either the best safety in the history of the organization call it quits, or the Steelers would release him.
But that’s not what this story is about. This is about my favorite Troy Polamalu story of all time.
Advertisement
I was fortunate enough to start covering the Steelers on a full-time basis the year Polamalu was drafted No. 16 overall in 2003. I covered every one of his 173 games played, watched thousands of his practices, talked to him countless times and instantly concluded that Polamalu did stuff on the field that was rarely, if ever, seen before.
It would take about 10 seconds to rattle off 10 plays that he made over his career that you (and me) would say to yourself, “well, I never saw that before.” I am sure you’ve seen or read about every single one of them over the past week.
Polamalu will find out Saturday night in Miami, the night before Super Bowl LIV, if he’s selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot. While it seems like a no-brainer, I’ve spoken with voters who told me they think he will “eventually” get in.
That’s ludicrous to me, but I digress.
Getting back to those hundreds of conversations with Polamalu over the years, I want to share one that I’ve told 100 times before and will tell 100 more times.
It was late in the 2014 season and the Steelers were well on their way to the AFC North title. But this team was different, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
The guys on defense who were together for the 2005 Super Bowl team, the 2008 one and even the team that lost in 2010 to the Packers were mostly gone.
Well, either gone or just about out the door. James Farrior, Casey Hampton, Aaron Smith, Larry Foote, Ryan Clark and Joey Porter were gone. Ike Taylor lost his job early in the season, Brett Keisel got hurt late in the season, and James Harrison returned from a year in Cincinnati and was a part-time player.
All of a sudden, Polamalu was anywhere between 5-12 years older than every player on the defense. That might not seem like much, but a 33-year-old with two kids has little in common with a 21-year-old fresh out of college.
Advertisement
That brings me to my story.
It was late in the week, and I approached Polamalu along with veteran scribe Mike Prisuta. We were likely trying to get some insight on either that week’s opponent or potentially an update on Polamalu’s health. He did miss a couple of games with a knee sprain. I don’t recall what the exact situation was. It may have been just because it was Troy.
One thing you could always count on Polamalu is he would never turn down your interview request, but he also never divulged much football information. If you wanted to talk about Cover 2 and zone blitzes, he wasn’t going there often. If you wanted to talk about him going to St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church’s food festival in Monessen, you couldn’t shut him up.
Ask him about if he was healthy and playing and he would say, “God willing.” Ask him about his “Uncle” Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and he would tell you the family history of how his “sister” and current WWE wrestler Tamina Snuka came to live with him and that her father, Jimmy, was a little strange.
Ask him about Dick LeBeau and he would never stop talking. Ask him about the state of football/Roger Goodell and he would never stop talking. Always in-depth and thoughtful answers that made you think.
Ask him about the time he had a baseball tryout with the Los Angeles Dodgers (he was a speedy center fielder who also committed to play baseball at USC) with Shane Victorino and you would be fascinated.
I can go on and on — his appearance on “Sesame Street” and why he delayed the release of it, the reason he crossed himself after every play and why he always pestered Mike Tomlin to get a carry in a game.
Fun stuff, you know.
But this Polamalu on this late-season day in 2014 was different.
Not far from Polamalu’s locker was rookie first-round pick Ryan Shazier’s stall. At the time, Shazier was having a tough time getting back on the field after an early season injury. He may have just came back to practice and playing part-time, but I can’t recall.
Advertisement
But, for some reason, Shazier decided to blast music at his locker. And if you know anything about the Steelers’ locker room, music isn’t being played after practice. It’s something that Ben Roethlisberger monitors now, but it was passed down from the guys before him, including Polamalu.
Either Shazier didn’t know or wanted to push the envelope with the music. Who knows?
Polamalu was in mid-sentence when the music started to blare. He stopped, said, “excuse me,” and walked over to Shazier’s locker and shut it off. Polamalu didn’t say a word. He pushed the off button, then walked the 10 steps back to the two of us and gave that patented Polamalu giggle and said, “where were we?”
A stunned Shazier looked around in disbelief and said loudly, “he just shut down the club.” Nobody said a word and no music was ever played again, at least from Shazier.
I didn’t know how to take it, but then I just laughed. It was damn funny.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago and defensive end Cam Thomas was playing music in the locker room when Roethlisberger walked over and just shut it off and walked away. Thomas was stunned. Shazier, witnessing the entire thing, said, “I had the club shut down on me before.”
I do believe it was the same interview when Polamalu “shut down he club” that he glanced at the middle of the locker room where he saw a group of players with their shirts off posing for a picture. Polamalu looked during a pause in the interview, shook his head and said, “excuse me, I have to go take my shirt off and go pose for a picture.”
He didn’t go shut that down, but he did give me that Polamalu giggle.
That was Troy — a different guy. A funny guy.
Now, was it a glimpse of how Polamalu felt like an outsider? Who knows? He was gone a few months later and there has been a lot of talk about how he couldn’t mesh with the younger players anymore. That’s all conjecture, but maybe there is some truth. I would say there was some.
Advertisement
I looked at is as Troy — the mild-mannered, God-loving, quiet, superstar football player — being Troy. Being a complicated guy who loved football but loved the process and doing things the right way more than anything.
Polamalu may or may not get into the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
It matters not.
There has never been a safety like Polamalu in the NFL before or since. He was a playmaking, game-changing, big-game player with the stats and awards to back it up, not to mention having an impeccable reputation off the field. He is the epitome of a first-ballot Hall of Famer to me.
And maybe most important, he will always be the guy to me who once “shut down the club.”
(Photo: George Gojkovich / Getty Images)
