[awesome image via troy’s official site. full-size here]
Congratulations to Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, as he was named AP 2010 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Usually when a player gets one of the weekly awards, I MS Paint an old or rare pic of the player with some female friends. Troy got the treatment twice back in December (see?). But when Silverback won top defensive player of the year for the 2008 season, I went another route with those gun pics. Long before they were the infamous gun pics. I have no clue how I’d top something like that. So I’ll just use this space to show my appreciation instead.
I want to personally thank Troy for another amazing season. I have 2 yearly rituals. One, prior to Pirates season, I yell as loud as I can that the Pirates are doing it big this year. Every year. They’ve humiliated my grandiose proclamation annually, and yet I keep it up. The other ritual, which obviously has not happened for nearly as many years, is to state that Troy will be defensive player of the year before each season. I made the claim jokingly after he was drafted. The Steelers were 6-10 in his first season, and a young Troy was one of the only bright spots. I was at the game where he was presented with the Joe Greene award as the team’s top rookie, and continued my habit of championing Troy as an eventual DPOY as he shone through a bleak season.
And now the Steelers have 2 guys with this award. Which will make me hate Ed Reed even more, cos if he didn’t have 9 interceptions and like a trillion interception return yards in 2004 then James Farrior wins this award, too, and the Steelers Super Bowl XLV defense has 3 DPOYs. I know I’ve probably mentioned that 1,000 times before, but I still consider Farrior the rightful winner that year. You can’t make me think of Ravens willingly.
Go Troy.
Go Steelers.
