Larry Johnson had quite a day for a guy whose team got the stuffing kicked out of it. He not only made the tackle of the year, but managed to follow it with the quote of the year.
The takedown ensured Johnson a featured spot on YouTube.com for months to come. The quote should at least get him honorable mention to the sportswriters' hall of fame.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu's flowing locks got him tackled from behind following an interception Sunday against the Chiefs. (Tom E. Puskar / Associated Press)
"The dude had hair," Johnson said. "What do you want me to do?"
The dude does have hair.
Troy Polamalu's mane spills out of his helmet like a wild sagebrush scattering to the desert wind. If he seems to be everywhere on the football field, so does his hair.
Don King's got nothing on this guy. King's hair merely sticks straight up as if he just stuck a finger in an electrical socket. Polamalu's goes every which way, sometimes all at once.
Steeler fans have been so inspired by the mop that they've written songs about it. Television cameras embrace Polamalu like he's Tom Cruise in pads.
And the fans in the upper decks who barely can tell which team is which know instantly when he's on the field.
Not since Jimmy Johnson was pacing the sidelines for the Dallas Cowboys has so much attention been paid in the NFL to a head of hair.
Still, it was only a matter of time before it came into play. There was just too much of it not to. This is, after all, football.
Which means hair pulling is fair game.
Polamalu understands that better than most. That's why he seemed almost embarrassed by the attention Sunday when Johnson yanked him down from behind by the hair while the All-Pro safety was on his way to a meaningless touchdown after an interception in a 45-7 blowout.
Imagine what might have transpired if Terrell Owens had been dragged down by his wagging tongue instead. Football never would have been the same.
But Polamalu grows his hair long for far different reasons than Owens runs his mouth. It's a tribute to his Samoan heritage, and he's been letting it grow for about five years now without anyone trying to pull it.
One bad hair day wasn't enough to make him head to a barber.
"I'm glad it happened," Polamalu said. "It means I've got the ball in my hands."
That's true because Polamalu, like most NFL players with hair sticking out of their helmets, is a defensive player. Guys on offense who try to avoid tackles for a living don't need to give defenders one more way to bring them down.
Sure, you have an occasional Ricky Williams - whose dreadlocks a few years ago prompted the NFL to clarify its rule that, yes, hair can be used to tackle - but in most cases when you see a big head of hair, it flows on defense.
One of those belongs to Packers cornerback Al Harris, who seemed a bit worried Monday that the dreadlocks that tumble below his shoulders might become a target.
"You can't grab a guy by the shoulder pads, but you can grab a guy by the hair? That's a little wishy-washy," Harris said.
Actually, the NFL does prohibit things like horse-collar tackles and bringing a player down by his face mask. Even though a tug on the locks might be more painful than one on the face mask, the league considers hair the same way it considers a player's arm - just another body part.
The founding fathers of the NFL wouldn't have dreamed of this problem when they began making up the rules years ago.
When guys wore leather helmets and had names like Biff and Rock, they considered it daring to go more than two weeks between crew cuts.
Underneath all the hair, Polamalu is a bit old school himself. He's an offensive coordinator's nightmare, seldom lining up twice in the same place, and attacks the ball better than any defender in the league. When he really starts flying around the field, the hair might as well be a superhero's cape.
Before Sunday, his hair had escaped through three-plus seasons unscathed. He's not about to change his 'do or his style just because he got yanked down once.
"If I've got the ball in my hands, they can tackle me all day like that," Polamalu said. "He can tackle me by my hair or my ankles. It doesn't matter. I understand that the nature of the game is that things like that can happen, and there's no bad blood at all."
That should make Steeler fans happy. One Pittsburgh television station ran an online poll, and 65 percent of those responding said Polamalu's locks shouldn't be cut. Only 7 percent said they thought the hair should go.
Johnson wasn't polled, but he might have mixed emotions. He did save a touchdown with the tackle, but he had a bit of a bad hair day himself.
"Trying to get my hands out of it was the hardest part," Johnson said.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6024878
It was a clean tackle, but come on...dragging him down by it is one thing, but holding it on the ground, then getting up while pulling him up by it and taunting at the same time....thats messed up.
Polamalus hair
Polamalus hair
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