Messenger-Inquirer from Owensboro, Kentucky • 26

4D Sports MESSENGER-INQUIRER, Friday, January 26, 1996 Super Bowl XXX: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Dallas Cowboys Players closing ranks as game slowly nears The players acknowledged that earlier this week. But now, as the big game approaches all too slowly to suit them, they are closing ranks rather than opening their arms to the thousands of fans that follow them every cant action. No NFL player ever has come back in the same season from such an injury. Woodson is likely to play in Pittsburgh's dime packages, although coach Bill Cowher has been noncommittal.

"It's too valuable a game to "I'm ready to play and I'm tired of talking about it." Emmitt Smith Dallas running back where they go. And the thousands more seeking autographs. And the millions who make their merchandise the best selling in the NFL. The Cowboys are ticked off. Nobody makes their case better than the articulate, classy Smith, who needs 115 yards Sunday to become the career rushing leader in Super play games in," free safety Myron Bell said.

"You have to be careful not to mess up the chemistry we have back there," strong safety Darren Perry said. "We're just starting to jell back there. If you're going to throw Rod in when he hasn't been in there, you've got to be careful how By Barry Wilner Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. The Cowboys say leave us alone. The Steelers say leave our lineup alone.

Clearly, it's time for some football. When players met with the media Thursday for the final time before Sunday's Super Bowl, they seemed to do so with a contentious edge. And an agenda. "People want problems to occur," Dallas star running back Emmitt Smith said. "When you've been on top so long, people don't want you there anymore.

So they are trying hard to get at us, get us to turn our backs against one another and get us at the internal side. "They tried it with our owner, our coach and now the players. You can keep trying all the time, I won't let it affect me in the way I play. "I'm ready to play and I'm tired of talking about it." America's Team apparently has a 50-state-size Complex. Sure, the Cowboys are the most popular sports team in the land.

go out there and play, I wouldn't suit up," Woodson said. "I wouldn't go out there and embarrass myself, first of all, and hurt our football team." Although Pittsburgh players, nearly all at their first Super Bowl, say they've enjoyed the week, they seemed anxious to get on with it. "We've had fun this week, but now it's time to just practice, practice, practice, then play the game," running back Bam Morris said. "No more of this outside stuff." The Cowboys had to deal with some more outside stuff Thursday when a newspaper reported former assistant coach John Blake now the head coach at Oklahoma complained to coach Barry Switzer that Troy Aikman "regularly singles out black players as targets for his angry outbursts." Aikman dismissed it as old news. He was vigorously defended by Charles Haley and Michael Irvin, who called Aikman "a great friend." "I will take that to the grave," Irvin said.

"I am as black as anybody you could ever see. And I know this man loves me." Steelers fined $25,000 Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. The Pittsburgh Steelers were fined $25,000 by the NFL on Thursday after an estimated 20-25 players skipped a mandatory Super Bowl news conference. Numerous Steelers, including Rod Woodson and Greg Lloyd, and several coaches were no-shows Wednesday. The mandatory news conference is the only daily contact with the media because practices are closed.

Steelers director of football operations Tom Donahoe and coach Bill Cowher both blamed a communications breakdown for the no-shows. Individual players were not fined because it appeared the team and not the players were responsible for the foul-up, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. Bowls. "We have to try to tune out all the negative stuff and not fall into traps people have set," he said. "I try not to let it bother me mentally." What's bothering some of the Steelers is the likelihood Rod Woodson, their star cor-nerback who tore right knee ligaments in the season opener, is going to see signifi- you use Rod." Woodson, a perennial All-Pro, insists he won't endanger the Steelers' chances by going on the field when he can't contribute.

He and his teammates also remember the 1994 AFC championship game, when Tim McKyer's mistake cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. "If Bill or myself thought that I couldn't Jackson fed up with questions about Haley Komheiser FromPaaelD From Page 1 Haley's other rings collect dust as he goes for his fifth By Alan Robinson Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. John Jackson is all that stands between Neil O'Donnell's blind side and the Dallas Cowboys and, perhaps, a Super Bowl disaster. i Jackson knows all about disasters against Dallas, too. By his own count, he has been reminded of his last calamitous run-in against the Cowboys only "two million and two times" since Monday.

"Yeah, I'll admit it, I had a bad day," said the Pittsburgh Steelers' sometimes contradic By Denne H. Freeman aTT. vii i if Ma vfiS a v- SsS 1,4 P. tory left tackle. "What do people want me to say? I've had better days in my career.

People act like every day in my career has been like that day." If it had, Jackson would be long gone from football and Cowboys defensive end Charles Haley's bust already would be on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jackson, who has abundant physical tools but a John Jackson Steelers lineman Associated Press Dallas defensive end Charles Haley, who already has four Super Bowl rings, wants to win a fifth one Sunday against Pittsburgh. Haley has missed several practices in the last few days with flu symptoms, but he's listed as probable for Sunday's game. Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. Unlike some members of the glitzy Dallas Cowboys, Charles Haley isn't a jewelry freak.

He doesn't even wear any of his four diamond-encrusted Super Bowl rings, two from Dallas and two from San Francisco. "I have them in a safety deposit box," Haley said. "If I wear them, then it might make me comfortable with what I have accomplished. I still have another one the fifth one to go. If I win that one, then I might wear it." The defensive end can set a record for Super Bowl rings on Sunday if the Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"I really want another one," Haley said. "The only way I won't play on Sunday is if I die before then. There is a lot of history involved here." He's lucky to even get another shot at a ring. Haley missed seven weeks this season because of surgery for a ruptured disk in his back and thought his playing days were over. He even said so.

"My career is over. I'm through," he said. The next day, Haley recanted, saying he didn't want to give up on the Cowboys' season. "I just had to try to come back in case the team made it to the Super Bowl," he said. "I worked hard in rehab.

I'll be out there Sunday hoping the AFC losing streak can be extended to 12." Haley could play again next year, but a lot depends on Sunday. Notice that O'Donnell used the plural, not the singular. That's just another aggravation to Jackson, whose future with the team may be in doubt regardless of how he plays. Reasons: his salary cap-straining contract and the unsigned status of star right tackle Leon Searcy. Jackson had missed only two games in eight seasons before injuring a knee at mid- sometimes fragile psyche, had just signed a $7 million contract when Haley punished him for four sacks in Dallas' season-opening rout in 1994.

It was a humbling and potentially confidence-wrecking day for the man who had just become the highest-paid offensive lineman in Steelers history. The game clearly haunts him. Worse, it seems every question Jackson hears is about Haley: Haley's big game. Haley's injury. Haley's status.

Haley's confidence. "I'll take full responsibility for what happened that day. I'm not ducking any questions and I'll admit I had a bad day," said Jackson, whose teammates have taken to calling him Mad Jax because that game and the reaction it provokes. "You have to face up to your wrongs. But I've had much better days in my career, and people seem to forget that." The Steelers recovered from that Cowboys Haley had great success against Pittsburgh the last time he faced the Steelers.

He got four sacks and created havoc with the Steelers offensive line and John Jackson. "It was a humbling experience," Jackson said. "But I think I'm a better player now." Said Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O'Donnell: "You've got to be aware of him all the time." Before he was hurt, Haley had 1 0 sacks this year, and he is just three sacks short of becoming the 12th NFL player with a career 100 sacks. "I know I'll really miss the game if I have to retire after the Super Bowl," he said. "Maybe I can get more money out of Jerry Jones if I retire again and come back." Jones lured Haley out of retirement with a $3 million bonus and a four-year, $12 million contract.

"Maybe I'll be back," Haley said. "There were times it didn't look like either me or the team would be here." ing about what he called "bonehead questions." He returned to a dissertation about why he thought Bill Cowher was a great coach, saying, "He gets in your face. He spits at you. He slobbers," making Cowher sound like a Saint Bernard. Then the intrepid journalist from "Extra" asked, "Do you think the Cowboys have an advantage because of their cheerleaders?" At that point I called for the check.

I decided to go over to the Cowboys' hotel and see what pearls of wisdom I might pick up there. Maybe Michael Irvin would curse. Or Deion would announce he was buying Belgium with the money Jerry Jones gave him. Or I could listen to Barry Switzer grunt and groan because as everybody knows, Switzer is an imbecile; he's in way over his head. At least that's what people have been writing all year.

Even Jones, who put Switzer in this job, felt obliged to defend Switzer's intellect Wednesday. Jones pointed out that "Switzer's brother graduated from Dartmouth." Hello? Might I add that if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a bicycle. Switzer knows his critics are lying in wait for him to screw up this game, like they think he screwed up against the 49ers last year, and in the fourth-and-1 Eagles game earlier this season. The thing that people conveniently forget about Switzer is that he won national championships at Oklahoma much like Jimmy Johnson won one at Miami before he coached the Cowboys. Yet everyone acts as if Switzer should be awed by being in a Super Bowl.

"The game's still gonna be blocking and tackling," he said. "The game is the same." Somebody then observed that Switzer rarely disguised his coaching strategy, and asked Switzer if he relied on his players' talents more than other coaches did. "Who the hell do you think wins football games?" Switzer shouted in a mock rage. "You think guys standing on the sideline win football games?" For all his bluster, for all his outrage, the smile is never far from Switzer's lips, the twinkle never far from his eye. He was always good at laughing at himself, and he still is.

Wednesday he talked of how happy he was that his children were coming to the Super he said his happiest games at Oklahoma were those that his children attended. Waving a hand at the reporters, Switzer said with a chuckle: "You guys make people into geniuses. If anybody believes that, it's your fault. I've always been secure about myself. I haven't had to look any of you up and tell you how good a coach I am." Yeah, everybody knows Barry Switzer's an imbecile.

Funny, isn't it, how 28 geniuses will be sitting home watching the Super Bowl this Sunday, watching Barry Switzer coach. catastrophe to lead the NFL in rushing last season. And, despite a high number of injury-related lineup switches, the offensive line afforded O'Donnell enough protection to break most of the Steelers' single-season passing records this season. "That game was a long, long time ago," O'Donnell said. "It doesn't have any bearing on what will happen Sunday.

I have a lot of faith in my left tackles." So when he was benched in the first half Dec. 10 at Oakland, Jackson blew up, and demanded an on-field explanation seconds after the game ended. His discussion with coach Bill Cowher grew animated at times. "Bill and I talked about it, but what we talked about is between him and me," Jackson said. "But I have played well (since) and I am still playing well." If he doesn't on Sunday, Jackson knows he will be yanked, especially if Haley returns to play on third-down passing situations after missing five games with a lower back injury.

"I think he is getting a real bad rap for what happened a couple of years ago," said Haley fill-in Shante Carver, who has fewer career sacks (2V2) than Haley had in that one game. "He's on an offensive line that's given up only 14 sacks you have to figure he's a pretty good player." season, only to find himself sharing the position with Justin Strzelczyk upon his return. Blue-collar Steelers a reflection of steel-mill town -J By Alan Robinson Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. What gives with the Steelers? Do they issue quirky personalties when they hand out numbers each season? Why are they always so colorful, so rough, so tumble, so blue collar, so well, Pittsburgh? "We're just a bunch of over-achievers from a little town in western Pennsylvania," coach Bill Cowher said with the franchise one victory away from a fifth Super Bowl championship. Cowher is a hometown boy who grew up barely a Terry Bradshaw spiral away from Three Rivers Stadium.

He personifies the grit and re siliency of his team. As a player, Cowher clung to a NFL job for five years mostly on his persistence and attitude. As a coach, according to defensive lineman Brentson Buckner, Cowher can be "a guy who's like your best buddy in high school, or a guy you wish you could hit right in the jaw." Cowher does not expect perfection, but a player better not give less than a full day's worth of perspiration. They may not hear about it from Cowher, but they'll hear about it "In Pittsburgh, the coaches don't have to tell you if you're not giving your best because the fans will tell you first," said linebacker Jerry 01- savsky, who grew up in nearby Youngstown, Ohio, and played at Pitt. "When players come from other teams, they sometimes change and the fans have something to do with it." Maybe that's why some players seem destined to wear Steelers' black.

Neil O'Donnell, with his coal miner's beard and lunch bucket mentality, wouldn't seem right playing quarterback for the turquoise-and-teal Dolphins. Greg Lloyd is a 1990s version of Jack Lambert with teeth. Yancey Thigpen was a special teams player in San Diego, but became a Pro Bowl receiver in Pittsburgh, mostly through patience and work ethic. It's the honest-day's-work-for-an-honest-day's-pay mentality that existed when Pittsburgh was a steel mill town, rather than one whose economy is driven by software firms and high technology. "The mills may be gone, but it's still a blue-collar town," Olsavsky said.

The fans are knowledgeable. A lot of them are peewee football coaches themselves, and they know the game. It's not like it was in Los Angeles, where the players were craning their necks to see the 20 movie stars in the tunnel. In Pittsburgh, it's just football and you've got to go out and play for the people. You've got to." Associated Press Steeler receiver Yancey Thigpen embodies the spirit of blue-collar Pittsburgh with his work ethic.

A special teams player with San Diego, Thigpen made the Pro Bowl as a receiver with the Steelers Auto Racing: Indy Racing League New series starts practice for inaugural race life 4w 3 C-vl His dream was unfolding in front of him with the opening practice session for Saturday's Indy 200, the first of five IRL events scheduled this season. "I'm just really happy to be at this point," said George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "Two years ago, we didn't know how we were going to get this series up and going, but it evolved over time." After nearly two months of preseason testing on the new asphalt oval in the shadow of Disney Magic Kingdom, rookie Richie Hearn and journeyman Buddy Lazier led the way with Hearn at 181.827 rnph and Lazier at 181.607. "It's something I really didn't expect," said Heam, last year's Toyota-Atlantic Series champion. "I expected to be fast, but not the fastest out of the blocks like that" Roberto Guerrero was the fastest of the handful of big-name drivers entered here, turning a lap of 179.292.

He was followed by rookie Buzz Calkins at 178.421, Scott Sharp and rookie Tony Stewart, both at 176.246, Eliseo Salazar at 176.151 and former Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk at 175.996. The IRL, which includes the Indy 500, is being rejected by all of the top teams and drivers of the PPG series. They plan to run the U.S. 500 on May 26, the same day as Indy. Despite the opposition, George says he isn't discouraged.

This is a major league sport and all major league sports have gone through things like this," he said By Mike Harris Associated Press LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. Tony George stood in the pits at Walt Disney World Speedway on Thursday, surveying the main straight of the new 1-mile oval as Indy cars streaked past at up to 190 rnph. George, who has been vilified by some and praised by few for founding the Indy Racing League, a new Indy-car series that will compete head-on with the established PPG Indy Car World Series, smiled happily. I Vc Have a Wide Variety of 4x4's Over 200 Vehicles in Stock! 5079 S. Frederica St.

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