There's a First Time for Everything

     I've never rooted for the Steelers in my life.  Never.  Until college, I was really just indifferent about them.  After all, I'm an NFC kind of guy, and they are an AFC team, which isn't as big of a deal as it is in baseball, but you don't think about competing against them to get in the playoffs, just when your team plays against them every once in a while.  In college, one of my roommates freshman year was a big Steelers fan.  You know how that goes, having a friend who likes a team makes you hate them.  The worst part about it is that the Steelers were really good that year, and he wouldn't even brag about it.  The silence was terrible, but I knew he was just loving it.

     Anyway, there is a first time for everything, and this weekend I will be rooting for the Steelers.  It's not because I'm anti-Tebow either.  I'm actually a big fan of Tim Tebow, which I have proof of, in the form of a previous post if you care to go back a few pages and check it out.  I'm rooting for the Steelers this week because of a decision head coach Mike Tomlin made about his starting lineup this week.  Tomlin announced that starting safety Ryan Clark would not be traveling with the team to Denver, and he's not hurt, and he's not in any trouble.  Ryan Clark suffers from sickle cell trait, which is a condition that gives him problems if he exercises heavily, and is worse in high altitudes.  So the combination of this trait and the fact that the Steelers are going to Denver this weekend led Tomlin to decide that Ryan Clark would not be going.  He has held Clark out of games at Denver before, but those have been preseason games or regular season with little playoff implications, and this is the playoffs.

     Tomlin actually told Clark he was not permitted to come to this game, and the reason was that if were his own kids, he wouldn't feel comfortable with them playing.  Maybe this was an easy decision for Tomlin, but I get the feeling not every coach would be so sure about going to a playoff game without one of their star defenders.  I think it's very refreshing to see a coach put the well-being of his players before the team.  They could lose the game, but in the end, it's just a game, and it's not worth risking Ryan Clark's health over.  It's especially refreshing to me because of all the players who know the secrets to pass a concussion test so they don't have to sit out of a game.  Tomlin has downplayed this decision and acted like he's not doing anything major, but I think it's what truly makes Tomlin a great person, as well as a great coach.