124 Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 A nice article on Curtis..... **************************** Martin Quietly Leaves the Football Field By IAN O'CONNOR Inside the locker room or at the postgame podium, Martin was forever a study in dignity and grace. You grow up in this market hearing about Yankee values, about the heroic virtues of Joe D and the Mick, only to later discover that the reality never quite matched up with the myth. Curtis Martin? Now there's a guy who would've looked good in pinstripes, a star who would've honored all sides of the Yankee way. He's gone in case you haven't heard, and Martin would've been the last to tell you, too. The running back was seen at the Jets ' complex the other day, and the way Martin recalled it, "Someone said it was like spotting a ghost." The galloping ghost who somehow rushed for 14,101 NFL yards without being very big or very fast or very elusive. Across 11 seasons with the Patriots and Jets, Martin was anything but a video-game blur that zigged when the defense zagged. Reggie Bush delivered more jaw-dropping, eye-popping highlights on one possession at USC than Martin did in a pro career that leaves him as the game's fourth leading all-time rusher, behind Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders. He killed you softly, Curtis Martin did. And then he said goodbye the same way. "I did not want to do anything to distract away from this team," Martin said Wednesday, the day he effectively retired on a bum knee. "So I've stayed as undercover as possible...." In a sports culture overrun by shouters and preeners, Martin was a concert pianist never rattled by the heavy metal beat. He made 123 out of a possible 124 regular-season starts for the Jets before his right knee booked an appointment last December with a surgeon's blade. He took his carries, scored his touchdowns, and came back the next Sunday to do the same. Nobody ever had to interrupt a Martin celebration in the end zone to tell him to act like he'd been there before. He was a pro's pro even as a rookie under Bill Parcells , when he rushed for nearly 1,500 yards - as a third-round pick. The running backs taken before Martin? Ki-Jana Carter, Tyrone Wheatley, Napoleon Kaufman, James Stewart, Rashaan Salaam, Ray Zellars, Sherman Williams and Terrell Fletcher. In retrospect, the Jets wouldn't have made that one-for-eight trade. Running backs usually survive a few seasons in the NFL, and Martin's 5-11, 210-pound body all but quadrupled that. He played much of last year on a knee that was about as flexible as a Parcells curfew, and did it knowing the knee could blow at any time. If the Jets suspected how badly Martin was injured, hey, this is the NFL. They kept him in the game because the running back said he could stay in the game. They kept him in the game until the cartilage was shredded and the knee was listed as bone-on-bone. "From a logical standpoint," Martin said, "it might not make sense." Little makes sense in a blood sport where pain and suffering are guaranteed and the contracts are not. When the Jets moved to downsize Martin's deal, little fuss was made. Imagine the Yankees pressing a broken-down Derek Jeter to give back a considerable portion of his multimillion-dollar wage. Now you know why Tiki Barber wants to get out of the business before the business squeezes the last drops of blood, sweat and tears out of him. Football eats running backs for lunch. At 33, Martin found himself an asset no more. He didn't make the permanent farewell official, but he was smart enough to survey the line of scrimmage and see the holes all closed. Retirement, Martin said, "is probably the inevitable outcome." Five years from now, he wants to be able to chase his kids into the end zone. He walks away without a championship ring, but with a champion's legacy. An elegant dresser, Martin was just as refined in a jersey and shorts. He always gave thoughtful answers to plenty of questions that didn't deserve them, and if he had the kind of superiority complex many sports stars wield as a weapon, Martin kept it stashed in his locker. "I feel as though I came into this league with a goal," he told reporters, "and my goal has never really changed throughout my career. "Of course you guys know that I do have a spiritual background. There's one verse that says, 'A good name is better than riches and gold.'...I don't know how good my name is with everyone, but I know that I've tried my best to represent the intangible things, the character, the dependability, the integrity, and I've tried to build my entire career around those things." He thanked the news media for the fair treatment and positive portrayals, all richly deserved. Raised in a tough corner of Pittsburgh , Martin ultimately finished his career in New York as a fierce competitor with a poet's heart. It's a better legacy than any that can be shaped on fourth-and-goal. *** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
war ensemble Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 That's a great article, nice find. Very dramatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 I think O'Connor is a complete douchebag. His Sebastian Telefair book is so non-judgmental and value-free he should forced to eat it whole. When the NBA wonder why nobody gives a poop about their game, this will be Exhibit A1 why people don't care. But this jumped out at me- If the Jets suspected how badly Martin was injured, hey, this is the NFL. They kept him in the game because the running back said he could stay in the game. They kept him in the game until the cartilage was shredded and the knee was listed as bone-on-bone. Gee, who was THEY? Does this KC faggot have total immunity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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