Bart Scott vs. Hines Ward

[.GR]

Plenty of bad blood circulating around NFL

The image played out on a highlight film as Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott watched in rage, grinding his teeth into a fine powder. He knew what was coming. He saw Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Hines Ward peel back on the television screen. He saw Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers running in a full sprint, head turned away from an artillery shell headed in his direction. As Ward’s helmet connected with Rivers’ jaw – breaking it into three pieces – a sports anchor squealed gleefully.

Scott muttered an expletive. He looked at the hit, and saw only a coward.

“The media was like ‘Oh, Hines is tough,’ ” Scott said of the Oct. 19 hit. “No he’s not. He’s a cheap-shot artist.”

Of all the feuds raging in the NFL, this is as good as it gets. You talk to Scott, and he has no qualms about admitting his hatred for Ward and the Steelers. You talk to Ward, and he feels a certain satisfaction that he’s got linebackers hearing footsteps.

While the influx of money and fame has mellowed the warrior souls of some players, Scott has some news for the NFL suits: Legitimate hatred still exists in this league. Blood still boils. It might not be a selling point anymore on Park Avenue, but there are marked men. There are bounties.

So we called a few guys with axes to grind. And when Scott answered the phone, he didn’t waste any time airing his feelings:

“I hate everybody on every other team than mine. I don’t give a [expletive] about anybody on any other team – period. I don’t speak to them during the game. I’m not high-fiving guys. And I’m talking about guys who have been here and left, too. It doesn’t matter. You’re trying to take something away from me that I deem important. Why should I care about you? Why should I like you? You don’t have to like me, and I don’t have to like you.

“Ask me who I’m rooting for in the Super Bowl. If I’m not in it, I hope they cancel the damn thing.”

With those thoughts in mind, we came up with our top five feuds of 2008. And Scott’s beef took No. 1 with a bullet.

1. Bart Scott vs. Hines Ward

There is a special dark spot in Scott’s heart, and it’s filled with every nasty thing he wants to unleash on Ward. He never liked the Steelers receiver, but his furor intensified Nov. 2007, when Ward blew up Scott and safety Ed Reed on a pair of running plays. Both plays were legal by the letter of the NFL law, but both lit a fuse under Scott, who threatened to kill Ward late in that Ravens loss.

Since then – and despite various warnings from the NFL – Scott has continued a slow burn. He’s watched Ward light up several other players, including the jaw-shattering shot on Cincinnati’s Rivers, and dreamt of a day he could return the favor without a fine from the NFL.

“There’s nothing mano y mano about that,” Scott said of Ward’s penchant for peeling back and leveling defenders who aren’t looking. “You put him in a phone booth with half those guys that he’s taking those shots at, he’d get his ass whupped.

“If we’re going to play that way, let’s play that way. Let’s not play that way just when it benefits you, let’s play that way all the time. That means when Keith Rivers is defenseless and you take a shot and break his jaw, that means when you come across the middle and you’re defenseless, I get to take that shot. … That’s not man on man. That’s a cheap-shot artist. If you’re going to take a shot, that’s cool. But allow me to take mine without a $35,000 fine.”

Scott’s anger has added intensity to an already white-hot disdain between the two teams. A disgust that included linebacker Terrell Suggs at one point suggesting the team had a bounty on Ward and running back Rashard Mendenhall. The Ravens knocked out Mendenhall with a season-ending shoulder injury when the teams met in September. Suggs later recanted the notion of a bounty, but only after an NFL official met with him about it in Baltimore.

Asked about Suggs’ talk of a bounty, Scott replied, “Whatever Suggs said about Mendenhall or Hines or whoever, everything was done cleanly on our side. Mendenhall got put out the game legally. What he said about a bounty, I don’t understand why people deem that as something dirty.”

When you talk to Ward about it all, he gives only a Cheshire grin. It seems there is a certain sense of satisfaction to be gotten when other players are out there thinking about you.

“I’d be mad too if a 200-pound wideout knocked me out,” Ward said. “I’d get upset at that, too. He has every right to be upset. But a cheap shot? If that’s what he wants to call it, then I’m a cheap shot.

“Maybe they feel like their defense wants to bully everybody, and we’re not bullied by them. We know they’re going to hit us in the mouth and we’re going to hit back. And they don’t particularly like that.”

Hypocrite?

Said Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott: “Sometimes people get hurt. Sometimes people have helmet-to-helmet contact. That’s football.”

 

[House of Steel]

That the Raisins for ya. I can't stand the Purplemore Raisins and I wish they would fall off the Earth anymore. Their fans and that stupid house of their is nothing more than a Purple Porta Potty. Trust me, the Steelers are going to eat their asses alive when we get em in Purplemore. I hope Hines Ward breaks Scott's F-----g Jaws wide open.

 

[555666]

That the Raisins for ya. I can't stand the Purplemore Raisins and I wish they would fall off the Earth anymore. Their fans and that stupid house of their is nothing more than a Purple Porta Potty. Trust me, the Steelers are going to eat their asses alive when we get em in Purplemore. I hope Hines Ward breaks Scott's F-----g Jaws wide open.

That's always a nice thing to say. I don't think it's likely to happen though...

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Bart Scott > Hines War.Regardless, I hope to see a lot of physicality next Sunday.

 

[.GR]

Bart Scott > Hines War.Regardless, I hope to see a lot of physicality next Sunday.

Except Hines Ward has a Super Bowl MVP and is going to be a Hall of Famer, Scott is neither.

 

[PiStoL31PeTe]

Be a good game to watch but Pittsburgh sha'll be victorious.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Except Hines Ward has a Super Bowl MVP and is going to be a Hall of Famer, Scott is neither.

That's not the point, Bart Scott has more right to talk trash than Hines Ward does, and I'd much rather run into Hines in a dark alley.

 

[.GR]

He doesnt have more right to talk trash. He is the one who got lit up by Ward in the first place.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Who would you rather run into in a dark alley...

 

[.GR]

It's not even about that.
What does that have to do with football?

 

[House of Steel]

Instant, please, stay on the topic. I mean come on is it necessary to really bring that out about a dark alley? Thread Hijacking drives me crazy.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIXQzY-TEw

 

[.GR]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uM3d42b6M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFuFTwLaufE...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hme86yacIKc...feature=related

 

[CameronCrazy06]

The first two weren't even legal hits...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBJXTRPU_30...feature=related

 

[.GR]

How? They weren't clips...

 

[Kyle0591]

Ward > Scott

I'd rather run into Scott, Ward is part Korean and got some martial arts in him yahhh!!

Lol, i don't know about that, and Hines usually makes legal hits and is a underrated at receiver.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

He gets manicures, enough said...

 

[Lake Louise]

I`m excited for this matchup. Not sure who is going ot win it, but I might give the edge to Hines Ward on this one. As much as I dislike him, I`m not necessarily that impressed with Bart Scotts` abilities.