“You Know What I Heard About Kordell Stewart???”
February 5, 2021 11:01 AM Subscribe
Well, what always happens in the horror movies when it’s all going too good, and everybody’s chillin’ in the house? THE TELEPHONE RINGS. (Some people reading this are already screaming, “Kordell, runnnnn!!!! Get out of the house, bro!!!!”)In his own words, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart addresses a rumor that plagued his career.
Very good read, I never knew the story behind the rumors, or made the (retrospectively obvious) connection that it was someone trying to pull him down after he had dared to usurp the qb position as a black athlete.
I also remember at the time thinking "why doesn't he want to be one of the top receivers in the game when he's an average QB?" That was the narrative as I remember it. But he was 46-29 as a starter, meaning that he was pretty good even if he was never the best. And being QB means being the leader, being on top of the pecking order. In today's NFL, a quarterback that can win games at that rate for that many years is in for $200,000,000+ in lifetime earnings, a lot more than a WR.
posted by skewed at 11:50 AM on February 5, 2021
I also remember at the time thinking "why doesn't he want to be one of the top receivers in the game when he's an average QB?" That was the narrative as I remember it. But he was 46-29 as a starter, meaning that he was pretty good even if he was never the best. And being QB means being the leader, being on top of the pecking order. In today's NFL, a quarterback that can win games at that rate for that many years is in for $200,000,000+ in lifetime earnings, a lot more than a WR.
posted by skewed at 11:50 AM on February 5, 2021
I like this part
I remember when I was young, [Kordell's dad received] these golf clubs as a gift. This was the late ’70s and they were those old-school Browning clubs — the utility clubs. So my dad brings them home and then one day I see him outside with the lawn mower, doing all kinds of crazy loops around the grass.posted by otherchaz at 11:51 AM on February 5, 2021 [10 favorites]
"He says, “Kordell, come on outside, look what I made for us.”
Man, he cut the grass in a perfect circle and made a golf green.
So I went into the garage and I got my bicycle flag. Remember them? The red triangle flags from the back of the ’70s bikes?
Stuck it in a hole in the ground, and we had our pin. Got some wiffle balls out my baseball bag, and now we got a whole pitch-and-putt course and we ain’t even gotta break the windows.
We used to spend hours in the backyard, just learning the game, messing around, making up games. No fancy clubs. No private lessons. No country club.
Nahhh, bro. DIYDS. Do it ya damn self.
He was teaching me a lesson without teaching me a lesson. He didn’t have to sit me down and give me a speech. He lived it.
Life is whatever you make it. It’s limitless.
I always felt like Pittsburgh wanted to love me.posted by trig at 11:54 AM on February 5, 2021 [4 favorites]
But they wanted to love me on their terms.
2 AFC Championships is definitely something to be proud of even with no Super Bowls. Hell, Drew Brees holds all kinds of NFL records and was paired up with an offensive genius as his head coach and he's only played in 3 NFC Championships. Dan Marino is the winningest QB without a Super Bowl. The NFL is tough.
posted by narancia at 12:47 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by narancia at 12:47 PM on February 5, 2021
I feel like some Bengals fan definitely missed the entire point of this article.
posted by TwoStride at 12:49 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by TwoStride at 12:49 PM on February 5, 2021 [3 favorites]
I was in a Fantasy Football league with some friends for a couple of years and was able to pick up Kordell Stewart for next to nothing. The man can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:54 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:54 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
I feel like some Bengals fan definitely missed the entire point of this article.
LOL, fair shot but just for the record I'm among the natives who hate the Bengals, a number far larger than many might imagine. Hard not to admire the Steelers - and actually watched Ben play at Miami.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 1:15 PM on February 5, 2021
LOL, fair shot but just for the record I'm among the natives who hate the Bengals, a number far larger than many might imagine. Hard not to admire the Steelers - and actually watched Ben play at Miami.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 1:15 PM on February 5, 2021
Most of the Player's Tribune articles are really good. I'm sure there are editors involved but most/all pro athletes have had communications/media training for the interviews they have to give so they'd be more than capable of writing something engaging themselves.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:29 PM on February 5, 2021
Mod note: One comment deleted. This is a retrospective from a black athlete about how he performed despite racist sabotage; please take that context into account if you want to engage, or just skip this entirely.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:32 PM on February 5, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:32 PM on February 5, 2021 [5 favorites]
I always felt like Pittsburgh wanted to love me.
But they wanted to love me on their terms.
Kordell is dead on here. And as a guy living in a working class neighborhood in the 'burgh when this shit went on in the 90s, it was completely a race thing about keeping a young black man in his place. I distinctly remember a classmate telling me the rumor en route to school.
Steelers fans are rabid, but they're also the most fairweather group of children out there. The second a QB loses more than one game, it's time to bench him and bring in the backup. The amount of armchair pros that know everything based on their Pop Warner glory days is astounding. Compound that with the racism that's endemic to the deep red Pennsyltucky that surrounds the city and you have a toxic cocktail.
It doesn't help that Kordell ended up going to division rival Baltimore Ravens two years after he was released. The locals were able to view him as a traitor to the cause and never had to examine that somehow they thought Tommy Maddox was star material.
The same shit happened when the Rooneys hired Tomlin. Sure, we had mostly gotten past the homophobia at that point. The racism was still there, though. The Rooneys were great people because of the Rooney rule and it's great for other teams -- Marv Lewis seems like a great guy -- but now we're hiring a black man here? And the Steelers keep their coaches forever? There were a lot of bullshit reasons why Tomlin was not the right guy on call-in radio, and they were absolutely transparent.
It didn't even end when Tomlin won a Super Bowl. He did that with Cowher's team! It wasn't until '09 that it was somewhat put to rest with the second win, once enough pieces had retired.
posted by bfranklin at 2:07 PM on February 5, 2021 [12 favorites]
But they wanted to love me on their terms.
Kordell is dead on here. And as a guy living in a working class neighborhood in the 'burgh when this shit went on in the 90s, it was completely a race thing about keeping a young black man in his place. I distinctly remember a classmate telling me the rumor en route to school.
Steelers fans are rabid, but they're also the most fairweather group of children out there. The second a QB loses more than one game, it's time to bench him and bring in the backup. The amount of armchair pros that know everything based on their Pop Warner glory days is astounding. Compound that with the racism that's endemic to the deep red Pennsyltucky that surrounds the city and you have a toxic cocktail.
It doesn't help that Kordell ended up going to division rival Baltimore Ravens two years after he was released. The locals were able to view him as a traitor to the cause and never had to examine that somehow they thought Tommy Maddox was star material.
The same shit happened when the Rooneys hired Tomlin. Sure, we had mostly gotten past the homophobia at that point. The racism was still there, though. The Rooneys were great people because of the Rooney rule and it's great for other teams -- Marv Lewis seems like a great guy -- but now we're hiring a black man here? And the Steelers keep their coaches forever? There were a lot of bullshit reasons why Tomlin was not the right guy on call-in radio, and they were absolutely transparent.
It didn't even end when Tomlin won a Super Bowl. He did that with Cowher's team! It wasn't until '09 that it was somewhat put to rest with the second win, once enough pieces had retired.
posted by bfranklin at 2:07 PM on February 5, 2021 [12 favorites]
I mean, hell, Kordell got run out on a rail for an unsubstantiated rumor, but Big Ben can allegedly sexually assault three young girls and HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO.
There's a reason I stopped watching this team when Troy Polamalu retired.
posted by bfranklin at 2:22 PM on February 5, 2021 [9 favorites]
There's a reason I stopped watching this team when Troy Polamalu retired.
posted by bfranklin at 2:22 PM on February 5, 2021 [9 favorites]
I went on vacation to Colorado in 1992 and afterwards became a fan of the CU football team as a way to relive that trip. Good time to follow CU football, but man, some tragic stuff there. Rashaan Salaam, Rae Carruth. So when I saw that headline, I got a little nervous. Glad it turned out well. He seems like a good dude.
posted by kevinbelt at 3:34 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by kevinbelt at 3:34 PM on February 5, 2021
> It didn't even end when Tomlin won a Super Bowl. He did that with Cowher's team! It wasn't until '09 that it was somewhat put to rest with the second win, once enough pieces had retired.
Yup. I've only lived here since 2005, but went to school with a lot of Yinzers in the late 1990s during Kordell's heyday, so this essay struck a chord. It's been fascinating as a non-native to see the veil of the Steelers' reputation as a class organization pierced by so many examples of a for-profit enterprise doing things for profit, and very saddening to see the depths to which "Steeler nation" will go to protect the organization, often at the expense of the actual human beings who constitute that organization.
posted by tonycpsu at 3:39 PM on February 5, 2021
Yup. I've only lived here since 2005, but went to school with a lot of Yinzers in the late 1990s during Kordell's heyday, so this essay struck a chord. It's been fascinating as a non-native to see the veil of the Steelers' reputation as a class organization pierced by so many examples of a for-profit enterprise doing things for profit, and very saddening to see the depths to which "Steeler nation" will go to protect the organization, often at the expense of the actual human beings who constitute that organization.
posted by tonycpsu at 3:39 PM on February 5, 2021
Steelers' reputation as a class organization
I'm very glad Pittsburgh has a hockey team to root for.
posted by bfranklin at 6:32 PM on February 6, 2021
I'm very glad Pittsburgh has a hockey team to root for.
posted by bfranklin at 6:32 PM on February 6, 2021
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I'm also really happy to see the forth right acknowledgement of the changes in attitudes and what he did as opposed to what he'd do in modern times.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:32 AM on February 5, 2021 [4 favorites]