Mentioning Ward heats up rivalry
January 16
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook
"There are any number of unpleasant incidents that define the Steelers' long, bitter, hateful rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens, but the most recent involving Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward and Ravens linebacker Bart Scott seems like the perfect place to start this morning.
When the teams last met Dec. 14 in Baltimore, Ward tried to throw a crackback on Scott during a scramble by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. At the last instant, Scott saw Ward coming and ducked. Ward missed him.
"They put a bounty on me and then he ducks," Ward said with just the right amount of disdain after the Steelers' last-minute, 13-9 win.
"He saw Hines coming and he was scared!" teammate Santonio Holmes piped in from two lockers down.
You're probably shocked to learn that someone asked Scott about that this week with the teams to meet again Sunday in the AFC championship game at Heinz Field.
Hey, I couldn't help myself.
"Yeah, I'm scared of a 200-pound man," Scott said. "I deal with the big guys every play, but I'm scared of him. Yeah, right. Put that down. I'm scared of him."
Scott's smirk matched Ward's best on any day.
"It's almost comical," he said.
Thing is, Scott wasn't laughing. He never laughs when Ward is the topic of the conversation. He refuses to even call him by name. The two have become the faces of the nasty rivalry, arguably the meanest in the NFL. It was Scott who threatened to "kill" Ward after Ward sent him flying with a block in the game at Pittsburgh last season, telling him "that payback is a [bleep]."
Scott stopped short of that this week.
Just short, actually.
"His time will come. He'll get his," Scott said of Ward. "He'll come across the middle one day and someone will hit him or take out his knee. The guy will be fined and [Ward] will be gone. No one will care. No one will even care. No one will send him any cards saying they're sorry. Not to that guy."
Link
Calendar
