Where was Terry?

[Bart]

I heard that Bradshaw missed the SB celebration because of a scheduled surgery on his neck. Talk show hosts wonder if he he still has an axe to grind with Pittsburgh. I would have thought he'd be there. Don?

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers concerning Aikman, but the TD-INT ratio ranks high on my list when evaluating QB's especially during the last couple decades. If you take his numbers and reduce them to the lowest common denominator it was something like 7 picks for every 8 touchdowns. But he always outplayed Favre head to head in big games it seems and 3 Super Bowls can't be sneezed at.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Bradshaw said on Jay Leno the other night that he never goes anywhere on Sundays when he is off except to take his daughter to church and spends time with her, because he is divorced. He said he told the Steelers people ahead of time he wouldn't be there and why, so taking him at his word, it doesn't have anything to do with an old axe.

 

[Don Wassall]

I've heard three different reasons about Bradshaw not being there -- surgery, wanting to be with his family, and wanting money. I believe wanting to be with his family was the one he cited in a statement on the matter.

I don't buy it, nor do I buy the same excuse from Joe Montana. Think about it -- what would the families of these two men want more than for them to be front and center at America's greatest spectacle, being honored for their heroics in past Super Bowls.

Bradshaw snubbed the Steelers organization and the city of Pittsburgh for many years after he retired as a player due to perceived slights from Chuck Noll and the team's fans. A couple of years ago he finally matured and made amends, admitting he was wrong in his attitude. Now it seems like he's back at square one again, as it wasn't only the Steelers in the Super Bowl, but it was almost a home game, as a huge portion of the crowd made the trip from Pittsburgh to be there.

Montana grew up in Pittsburgh, so his absence doesn't look much better.

 

[Cassiodorus]

I lived in the Ohio Valley area when Bradshaw was a rookie. The fans and press really hated him, partly because he played badly and partly because they wanted local boy Terry Hanratty to be the Steelers' QB.

 

[sport historian]

Ten years ago, at Super Bowl XXX, they had the past MVP's for a pre-game ceremony. Terry Bradshaw wasn't present for that one, either. About that time, I saw Bradshaw interviewed on a TV talk show. He said that he didn't show up because of less than positive feelings toward the Steeler organization and fans.

 

[Bart]

I have a link for a 6 minute interview with steve Sabol and Terry that was made during the season. You get the sense that he was very deeply hurt and perhaps still bitter about his time in Pittsburgh. Included are some clips of a youthful Bradshaw. Just paste the link into your browswer or Real Player , then click the prompt line. I just noticed all I need to do is click the link and it takes me to Real Player.


[url]http://mailafriend.guide.real.com/index.html?link=http%3a%2f %2fplay.rbn.com%2f%3furl%3dnfl%2fnfl%2fopen%2fnflfilms%2fdem and%2fs2005%2fnfln-presents%2fw20%2fbradshaw_2_300k.rm [/url]Edited by: Bart

 

[Don Wassall]

Bradshaw is sensitive to a fault. I can remember just one time that he was booed after he finally developed. I know he thought Chuck Noll was too hard on him, but Noll had a cold fish personality, reminiscent of Scottie Bowman. Noll and Bowman were winners but were never friendly toward their players.

The Steeler fans in Pittsburgh idolize Bradshaw. They have been notoriously hard on quarterbacks in the post-Bradshaw era, one reason being that they always compare them to Terry, which is an impossible act to live up to. It's silly for him to harbor hurt feelings over a Hall of Fame career and four Super Bowl rings.

 

[Don Wassall]

Bradshaw played from '70 to '82, but he is full of self-pity about how he was treated in his first five seasons, when he wasn't very good. He was the first pick of the 1970 draft, so it's understandable that his head coach and the fans were impatient with him at times, because he was very inconsistent and slow to harness his incredible talent.

He ought to focus on his career from 1974 onward, when the Steelers won four Super Bowls. He was the weak link of the first two championship teams, which were built around a strong running game and a great defense, but he was the key player in the third and fourth teams, when Franco Harris wasn't as effective and the defense wasn't as dominating. To still complain about his early years is immature in my opinion.

BTW, I'm not sure how old that clip is, Bart. Bradshaw came to Pittsburgh for a tribute dinner to Chuck Noll a couple of years ago and told Noll how much he respected him and how he was wrong to be estranged from the Steelers organization for so long. He also went to some team functions. He was the only member of the Super Bowl teams of the '70s who became bitter later on, but that seemed to finally be over. But who knows now.