If you cover sports for a long time, you build up an impressive list of favorites, great, wonderful people whom you are thankful to know or have known. I think of Art Rooney, Sr. and Jr., Mel Blount and Jack Ham. Jerome Bettis, James Farrior, Larry Foote and Hines Ward. Herb Brooks, Brooks Orpik and Mike Rupp. Jim Leyland, Chuck Tanner and Carl Barger. Johnny Majors and Joe Paterno.
But I'm not sure I wouldn't rank Aaron Smith No. 1, all time.
"If I could be like him and live my life like he lives his, I'd die a happy man," Steelers teammate Brett Keisel once said of Smith.
I reminded Keisel of that comment after the Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals Sunday, a day after news broke that the team had placed Smith on injured reserve because of a neck injury, ending his season and his superb career.
"I meant it then and I mean it now," Keisel said. "He is everything to me. It's hard for me to put it into words."
Keisel really didn't have to say more.
That he had to reach into his locker for a towel to wipe his eyes said it all.
I'm guessing a lot of other Steelers felt like crying when they heard that Smith was done at 35 after 12 1/2 NFL seasons. Team neurosurgeon Joe Maroon examined Smith and couldn't promise him that he wouldn't have a catastrophic neck injury if he played again. Instead, Smith will have surgery that will allow him to continue to lead a normal life.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11298...#ixzz1blVzhOA3
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