Ty Law, man of bronze
AP Photo/Kathy Willens |
Defense wins championships. Well that and Tom Brady. Ty Law was born with a hunger inside, like many of the poverty stricken kids from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, including Mike Ditka and Derelle Revis. Born and bred in steel country, Law was always looking towards the next level, pushing himself to be better than the other talented kids in Aliquippa. It also doesn't hurt when your uncle is Tony Dorsett.
Law would go stay at uncle Tony's house and realize that dreams can come true, staring at Dorsett's Heisman trophy. Law realized that if his uncle (yeah, Tony Dorsett), could get to where he was, why couldn't he. He took his determination to the University if Michigan, then the first-round pick of the Patriots. It was early on that he saw himself as a Hall of Famer. He always set the bar high for himself. He was a great fit in the Patriots defense early on, then his talent was on full display under Bilichick. In 10 seasons won 3 Super Bowls, went to 4 Pro Bowls, had 53 interceptions and SEVEN touchdowns. Law will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame this Saturday.
If you're around my age, you'll remember the transition from crap to contender to dynasty. Law was drafted by Bill Parcells when we were in the contender period. It gave you a tickle in your bits to watch because now they had a chance. Then the lost years as I call them, or Pete Carroll era. Not that Pete was a bad coach, doesn't matter, never mind. The pick 6 from the picture above was that time in Super Bowl XXXVI when we realized, this could really happen, and it did, again and again. The best was when he picked off Peyton Manning 3 times in the 2004 AFC championship. The look on that country bumpkin face was priceless. He looked like Junior from Smokey And The Bandit. Anyone else wonder why Tony Massarotti sounds like he's always in the middle of eating a bowl of soup? Just busting stones Mazz, I'm built like a ziplock bag of soup.
Pissa,
TC
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