Menudo Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06130/688814-66.stm Steelers' Hines Ward still basking in the MVP glow Wednesday, May 10, 2006 By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Chung Sung-Jun, Getty Images In Seoul, South Korea, on April 8, Hines Ward, center, poses for a photograph with children of mixed racial origins. Click photo for larger image. It's tough being Hines Ward, Super Bowl MVP, these days. "I'm sick of these Super Bowl commercials you see for Sports Illustrated," Ward said yesterday, smiling widely for a man so ill from seeing himself on TV. "Everywhere I go, in a bar, people look up, they look at me, they look up, they look at me: 'Hey, that's Hines!' "They have the camera phone. They're right here in your face. I'm like oh, geez, I can't do anything." Then, the thought hits him. "Hey, Peyton Manning isn't doing that now." There's a price to pay for winning the Super Bowl and the game's MVP award, and Ward is delighted to pony up. If he's dreaming, don't pinch him, even though he's had little time for sleep. People say, 'What's it like?' I can't even describe it because it's been that phenomenal. It's been amazing, just everything. "This is fun. I love the treatment. When you can walk in and see all the players from other teams, there's nothing they can say to you. You're on top that whole offseason. I've been all over, to L.A., to Vegas, to Miami and seen all the players from all over. Hey, Peyton Manning, I know you're great and all, but you don't have a ring. You can be all this, all world, but you don't have a ring. I have a ring. There's nothing you can say to me right now." There were four golf tournaments, the trip to South Korea with his mom, the parade at Disney World, ESPN's Battle of the Gridiron Stars, Regis & Kelly, judging Miss USA, magazine covers and television interviews. Ward is featured in a Sports Illustrated story this week. His home town of Forest Park, Ga., honored him with a parade and named a street after him, Hines Ward Pass. He will return to South Korea, this time with his whole family, on Memorial Day Weekend to help organize his The Helping Hands Foundation to benefit biracial children in his native Korea and the United States. There also are many endorsement offers from companies in both this country and overseas. "It's been wonderful, it's truly been," Ward said. "I'm really capitalizing on my opportunities as much as I can because it's truly a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It's a great experience. I'm going to enjoy it all I can. But once I get that ring, my season starts then." The Super Bowl rings come June 2, the same day Ward and the rest of the Steelers visit the White House. He arrived in Pittsburgh last week to begin workouts with his teammates that become more formal with the start of a three-day minicamp Saturday, followed by 14 coaching sessions through June 8. It feels good, Ward said, to get back to the game itself. "I want to enjoy being with my teammates and reflecting on the year, and what a great year, and what are we going to do this year? Working out with your teammates, going through battles together, the camaraderie with teammates, that's what you need to be successful. That's why I'm here early." In his wildest dreams, back to his days as a schoolboy, Ward never thought it would feel so good to win a Super Bowl. He also never dreamed he could use the game and his newfound celebrity as a platform to promote societal change in an entire country. His April visit to South Korea, scheduled long before the Super Bowl, was to be a quiet trip where his mother could introduce him to the land where he was born. Then came the Steelers victory against Seattle and Ward's Super Bowl MVP award, and he became Korea's rock star. There, he discovered disturbing racism. He wants to seize the moment to help kids like himself, biracial, who are shunned, often officially, in that country. "Because of the way the society views biracial kids, you can't get a job, nobody's going to accept you," said Ward, the son of a Korean mother and an African-American father who was stationed there. "If you do play athletics, your teammates treat you like [dirt]. For kids, me being over there helped provide a sense of hope. If I can do anything, as far as using my status, my accolades to help give them an opportunity, hopefully society will change its views." Ward asked South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun to work on changing some laws and rules that affect biracial people. "You can't even get into the military if you're biracial," Ward said. "That is their rule, 100 percent pure, you have to be pure Korean, it's the only way to be in the military. Korea's a great country, but it would be even a greater country if we could do things to help biracial kids because you may have the next Hines Ward, the next Tiger Woods waiting there, but he's never given an opportunity to do anything." Ward said he saw such racism in effect. "I met a young soccer player. By word of mouth, he was a pretty good soccer player. But his teammates treated him like crap, called him 'nappy-haired boy.' Coaches tell him he'll never have a chance, don't want to play him because he's biracial. Well, maybe you guys would win if he played. That's just their views and ways. That's the negative side of our culture that my mother hid from me so much. She still had animosity toward it and didn't want me to know." Instead of getting angry, though, Ward became energized to help. He hopes it will be a lifelong crusade for him in honor of his Korean mother, Young He Ward, that elicits real change in Korea. "It was a tribute to her, that's what I made the trip to Korea about, using the MVP award as a tribute to opening up opportunities and giving her something. I need to do something to help those biracial kids out and provide them with a sense of hope." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loaf Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 god I hate when I click on threads without looking at who posted them first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menudo Posted May 10, 2006 Author Share Posted May 10, 2006 god I hate when I click on threads without looking at who posted them first 1459809[/snapback] Browns Fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 god I hate when I click on threads without looking at who posted them first 1459809[/snapback] I'll feel the same way when the Vikings win the Super Bowl. Naaah. What was I thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Men In Tights Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 I'll feel the same way when the Vikings win the Super Bowl. Naaah. What was I thinking. 1459821[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikesVikes Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 I'll feel the same way when the Vikings win the Super Bowl this year. 1459821[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpholmes Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Was just about to post this, then I saw a Menudo topic, so I figured I'd just put it here instead. Ed Bouchette, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reports Pittsburgh Steelers WR Santonio Holmes made a good first impression on WR Hines Ward when they met last week. Ward would like to help assimilate him into the team's offense, but learned from two past wide receivers about offering such help. Ward said, "If he wants to be helped and asks, I'm more than willing. But for me to go out of the way to try to help somebody, I'm not going to do it. I did that before, and it didn't work." Ward said he was rebuffed by free agent WR Troy Edwards (Lions) and WR Plaxico Burress, currently with the New York Giants, when they were with the team. Ward claimed both first-round draft picks did not respect him because he was drafted in the third-round. He said he took WR Antwaan Randle El, now with the Washington Redskins, under his wing because he asked for help. Edited May 11, 2006 by kpholmes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedroz13 Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 I'll feel the same way when the Vikings win the Super Bowl. Naaah. What was I thinking. 1459821[/snapback] If the Vikings do ever win a Super Bowl (big IF anywhere in the near future, I know), I'm not going to pull a Menudo and send out Vikings articles about worthless topics every other day. Good lord, did anyone actually read anything past the first line of the article? Who gives a ****? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menudo Posted May 11, 2006 Author Share Posted May 11, 2006 Who gives a ****? 1461403[/snapback] Thanks....I'll keep your thoughts in mind before I post from now on... Who gives a ****? My fellow Steeler fans at the Huddle.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSab Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Homer Alert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 If the Vikings do ever win a Super Bowl (big IF anywhere in the near future, I know), I'm not going to pull a Menudo and send out Vikings articles about worthless topics every other day. Good lord, did anyone actually read anything past the first line of the article? Who gives a ****? 1461403[/snapback] Anything's possible. Last year the Steelers chances were not good either, so bad in fact Menudo didn't pick Steelers players in the SmackBowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menudo Posted May 11, 2006 Author Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Anything's possible. Last year the Steelers chances were not good either, so bad in fact Menudo didn't pick Steelers players in the SmackBowl. 1461471[/snapback] I RARELY take Steelers players in any type of contest like that. I'm a bit superstitious about them. That said, I predicted at the beginning of the season that they would be champs (of course, I almost always do), I predicted they would beat Cincinatti. I honestly gave them about a 5% chance to beat the Colts.......I've never been happier to have been wrong !!!! I KNEW they would beat the Broncos.....and as for the Super Bowl.....I KNEW they would win that game as well. [Cue the 's] Edited May 11, 2006 by Menudo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Gigantes Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 I am not a steelers fan. But I am a Hines Ward fan. Great article Menudo. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goopster24 Posted May 11, 2006 Share Posted May 11, 2006 Awesome article Menudo; don't worry as some people appreciate feel good stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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