interview
Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu: Put Pride Aside
By Shawn Brown
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is one of the fiercest defensive players in the NFL. His combination of speed, anticipation, and toughness make him ideal for the position. In the 2008 season alone, he made over 432 tackles, 7 sacks, and 17 interceptions. And once again, this 3-time pro bowler helped his team win a trip to compete for their second Super Bowl Championship in three years. When Troy is on the field he’s a lion!
“I try to be passionate about every aspect of my life," Troy said, "how I love my wife, how I serve my wife, how I serve God. In the same way I try to be passionate about football. I try to serve my coaches with passion. I try to serve my teammates with passion. I try to serve God, through football, with passion.”
Troy has been a Christian since college. After he entered the NFL in 2003, he’s worked hard to maintain good character and not allow fame to get the best of him.
“Pride is tough. You go to high school and its pride, courage; it's all these types of words that we use to motivate us," Troy said. "I don’t think there’s anywhere in the Scriptures through the saints lives where pride was ever a positive characteristic of anybody. That kind of egotism is a really tough struggle, especially in this business and this entertainment business that we have. It’s a big struggle of mine.”
Although pride can be a struggle for any athlete, Troy says that it’s not the obvious things that are the hardest to deal with.
“It’s like the big things that are the easiest to turn away from," Troy said. "It’s like the accumulation of small things [that are hard]. You know, people know adultery’s bad and murder’s bad. I’m not going to go out and sleep with the first girl I see. But when your eyes start wandering, and your eyes start wandering a little bit more, and your eyes start becoming a little more jealous and envious, and these passions start rising up inside of you - that’s when it gets really dangerous. Because the devil doesn’t work that way. His strategy’s always to be very subtle and continue to build on top of that evil seed that he planted."
With all of the struggles and temptation that Troy faces, he says that prayer keeps him rooted.
“Prayer is a foundation. It’s your communication with God. It's constant prayer - constant, constant, constant prayer," Troy said. "As you prayer life becomes more and more fine tuned and your conscience becomes more and more fine tuned, you’re able to start plucking away at these things; like, 'Wow, you know, this is not good.' I think that’s a struggle of every Christian, to be able to get to that point where they’re in constant prayer with God - so that everything they do, in thought, in speech, in work, is praising God and worshipping God.”
Troy is approaching his seventh season with the Steelers and shows no signs of slowing down. Whether he’s making an interception, diving into a play for a tackle, or sacking a quarterback, troy makes sure he keeps things in perspective.
“I don’t love the sport in general. I don’t wake up every day and say, 'Yeah football - contact time!' No, I don’t. I love the atmosphere football brings, I love being around my teammates, I love the struggle in football," Troy said. "I love the fact that it is a part of my life. I don’t look at it as any more important or less important as any other part of my life. But, the fact that God has brought me here and has made this a part of my life, I do love that about football.”
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