Troy Polamalu Pens Letter to Steeler Nation

By Justin McGonigle
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: September 28, 2020

Getty Images

By Justin McGonigle
www.SteelerNation.com

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Troy Polamalu among others to be forever honored in the teams Hall of Honor over the weekend.

Today the safety released a touching tribute to the Steelers and his time with the team.

You can read it below via his personal Instagram page.

View this post on Instagram

A Pittsburgh Steeler People find it hard to believe that the first NFL game I actually watched, was the first NFL game I played in. I was not a fan so much of the fandom that surrounds the game, the NFL, college football, or football in general. I truly enjoyed playing the game. I enjoyed practicing more than playing on Sundays. Practices reminded me of turkey bowl games against friends in elementary. They reminded me of playing one on one tackle football against my older brother Kaio on our lawn in Southern California. He would turn on the sprinklers to resemble muddy Soldier Field, me being Walter Payton, jumping over him, the opposing defense. I would emulate Sweetness jumping over the goal line and my brother would launch me even further into the air reaching heights even coach Lebeau wouldn’t approve. Practices for me at St Vincent and Southside were similar, fun and stress free. When first accepting the call from 412 area code, my excitement lead me to the auto mall hoping to purchase a Range Rover. My agent, Marvin Demoff, explained that when you go to Pittsburgh, you don’t show up in a BMW, you show up in a pick up truck. I’ll further explain my ignorance when one of my best friends Aaron had to explain to me that I wasn’t playing at Three Rivers stadium but Heinz Field, that Jerome Bettis is a future HOFer and to watch out for Hines Ward who is the baddest man in the NFL. Which I found out at our first full padded practice when I tried to sneak a shot at him on a run play, only for Hines to snatch me up when my legs loosened while giving his classic grin and saying, “I’m not like everyone else”, no doubt! These guys and many other were not teammates to me, truly brothers. When I had a night out with the guys, like the Secret Service, I was so protected, nobody would dare approach me. I was everyone’s little brother, protected in every way. (Full post at link in bio)

A post shared by Troy Polamalu (@tpolamalu) on Sep 28, 2020 at 11:57am PDT