Ahead of Sunday’s AFC Championship meeting between the Steelers and Ravens, the Baltimore Sun’s Bill Ordine describes Steelers WR Hines Ward as a smirking, cheap-shot artist in the eyes of Charm City fans, a characterization Ward calls “a big honor, I guess.”
“But I love Baltimore, why would they dislike me?” Ward said, smiling and/or smirking, yesterday. “I love the crab cakes there.
“I’m just playing football; I don’t know why a whole city would dislike me. Maybe I smile too much and they don’t like that I’m happy all the time.
“For me, I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to win a ballgame, and Baltimore has been our rival for years. There’s just something about Baltimore where you want to get up and give it all you’ve got. And if the city of Baltimore is mad at me for doing that, then I’m sorry to the city of Baltimore.”
“Me and Ray Lewis won’t go out and eat together after the games; you can count on that,” Ward said.
Just to be on the safe side, that’s probably a good idea.