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Saturday, September 23, 2000
By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
It's a rarity that Bill Cowher would let a Tennesseean watch practice two days before his team played the Tennessee Titans.
Yesterday he made an exception.
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore took a detour on his way to a scheduled campaign event to visit the Steelers' South Side practice facility. The vice president stepped from his limousine to be greeted by Steelers President Dan Rooney and Dr. Freddie Fu, director of the University of Pittsburgh's sports medicine clinic that shares the site.
Gore doffed his blazer and walked onto the playing field to greet Cowher. Taking the ball and some brief instructions from the coach, he went two for three passing from the shotgun formation to Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward.
Then he asked, "Where's Tee?," referring to Tee Martin, the team's rookie quarterback who played at the University of Tennessee and led the Volunteers to the national championship two seasons ago.
Gore's brief photo-op trumped the Steelers exposure gained by Texas Gov. George W. Bush two weeks ago. At a rally in Mellon Square, the Republican nominee had to content himself with some warmup cheers from kicker Kris Brown, punter Josh Miller and long snapper Mike Schneck.
Gore's aides beamed all through the brief passing drill, knowing that the feel-good pictures of the candidate with the team would be irresistible to local papers and TV stations.
Bettis presented Gore with a Steelers cap and inside linebacker Levon Kirkland gave him a football autographed by the Steelers. Then Cowher had Gore line up in the shotgun formation, take a couple of snaps from center Dermontti Dawson and throw passes to Bettis and Ward.
"As long as I'm not throwing 'em," Bettis said, a reference to his intercepted halfback option pass against Cleveland six days ago.
"If you're going to pass rush," Gore said, looking at linebacker Joey Porter, who was standing 10 yards away, pounding his fists together in mock anticipation, "I need some blocking."
After he completed his first pass to Bettis, Gore said, "One more." So he tried a longer pass to Ward that was underthrown and missed the mark.
A chorus of groans rose from the players gathered on the sideline.
"I thought you were going to go inside," Gore said.
"One more," he said again. This time he hit Ward in stride, winning a lusty round of mock cheers from the Steelers.
"I knew he had football in his background when he missed the second one," Cowher said. "He said the receiver ran the wrong route."
Gore arrived at about 11:30 a.m., shortly after the Steelers went outside to practice but before they started working on their game package for the Titans. The vice president didn't conceal his loyalty to his home team but said he would wish the Steelers well for the balance of the season.
Cowher and the players appeared genuinely thrilled to meet the former senator from Tennessee and did not mind the practice interruption.
"When you have a chance to meet someone like that, it's pretty neat; it's not a distraction," Cowher said. "To have an opportunity to possibly meet the next president is an opportunity of a lifetime."
Gore made a point of greeting the players with roots in his home state. He shook hands with safety Brent Alexander and offensive tackle Larry Tharpe, who both played at Tennessee State; rookie safety Ainsley Battles, who played at Vanderbilt; and guard Tom Myslinski, who, like Martin, played at Tennessee.
"I was glad to see like five Tennesseans on the roster," Gore told reporters afterward.
"To me, he's the man," Alexander said.
Left tackle Wayne Gandy stepped forward and said, "Mr. Gore, I'd like to ask you a question: What are you going to do about taxes?"
Everybody laughed, including Gore.
Martin said he first got to meet Gore a couple of years ago when he came to a Tennessee practice. He saw him again last year when the Volunteers were invited to the White House in honor of their national championship.
"I spent a lot of time with him at the White House," Martin said. "He's a pretty nice guy, he and Bill [Clinton]."
Gore's visit, of course, had nothing to do with the Steelers playing the Titans tomorrow at Three Rivers Stadium. He was in town to speak at a town meeting in Beaver County yesterday afternoon. But coaches being coaches, Cowher wanted to make sure no secrets were being obtained by the presidential candidate.
"Am I going to get a look at the playbook for this week?" Gore playfully asked Cowher.
"We're going to start practicing when we see you pull out," the coach replied.
Vice President Al Gore lets loose a pass under the watchful eye of Steelers Coach Bill Cowher yesterday at the team’s training facility on the South Side. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette)