by Peter King:

So here's the picture of a Super Bowl MVP in this rabid Football America era, the real picture, not the glossy one where everything is pretty and touched up. An hour or so after the game, Ward was at his locker, still in his game pants, ankles taped and with an ace bandage, the kind you'd buy at Walgreens to wrap your ankle to play pickup basketball, holding an icebag to his left shoulder. He sprained the AC joint in the shoulder during practice on Friday, and had to get it shot up to play. He sat, elbows on knees, head looking at the ground.

"I'm in pain,'' he said. "My shoulder's on fire right now.'' A smile. "At this point, it's good pain.''

"I threw up today,'' Ward said. "I never get sick before a game. Never. I can honestly say I've never gotten sick before a game, but my stomach was so nauseous and I was a little nervous. I went back in the bathroom, so my teammates wouldn't see me. I didn't want them to see me like that. When I went out on the field, I saw all the former MVPs, and I went to talk to Ray Lewis. I said, 'Ray, is it all right to be nervous before this game?' He said, 'Man, we all get nervous before the Super Bowl.' And I'm thinking, Well, if Ray was nervous before a game like this, I guess it's OK that I'm nervous. I think that's why I dropped a couple of balls.''

I asked him what it was like to be an MVP of the biggest game on the planet. Starr, Staubach, Bradshaw, Rice, Montana, Elway, Brady.

Ward.

"You picture what something like that will be like,'' he said, smiling, "but you just can't imagine. Really, you can't imagine. I can't believe it. I can't believe for one day I was one of them.''

He paused.

"Ward, Swann, Stallworth. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?''

For Steeler Nation, it'll have a nice ring. Forever.

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I can't even imagine what it would be like to play in the Superbowl. I couldn't sleep or eat before the game, and all I had to do was watch it. But Hines was so awesome! I definitely can't think of anybody more deserving than him to win MVP. Keep on smiling!