Cleveland Browns: 10 Pittsburgh Steelers we love to hate

4. Hines Ward was so mean the NFL passed a rule against him

Hines Ward is hands down the world’s greatest blocking receiver of all time, and also the greatest Korean-American football player of all time. This was of special significance to your humble correspondent who shares a similar background.

My Mom came to Baldwin Wallace University from Korea as an exchange student after World War II, and got stuck here when the Korean War started. For much of America, the war was fought on a black-and-white TV in the living room.

But for us, it was fought with live ammunition in our relatives’ living rooms, and many of them were killed. It’s a bit disturbing to realize while growing up that there are millions of people in a faraway land who want you and your parents to be dead.

Ward grew up in a similar insane world with a military father and Korean mother and prejudice all around. The intense feelings of apartness and loneliness were constant companions, and sports became an outlet for him. He grew up to be the most explosive wide receiver in history.

Not in the sense of getting lots of yards in one play, but exploding on people as a blocker. This isn’t offered as justification for some of the cheap shots he delivered on the field, not at all, but there’s a difference between justification and understanding the forces that shaped him.

While a wide receiver who is a good blocker is a tremendous asset to a football team, Ward is also known for sometimes blindsiding players who were not involved in the play and not expecting to get hit. At the time, many of those shots were legal hits, but still, some of them were totally unsportsmanlike and totally uncalled for. Some of them were just cheap shots, it’s as simple as that.

Eventually, the NFL passed the so-called “Hines Ward rule” to create a 15-yard penalty if a player delivers a blindside block to the head of a defender. Later, the NFL tightened up even more on player safety to try to protect against concussions. This is the right thing to do.

Ward is another fellow who is so charming off the field, but the issue of cheap shots is a perfectly fine reason to dislike him. He’s the guy that broke the jaw of Keith Rivers of the Bengals, on a blindsided block. But overall, he was a very underrated player. If I were a GM, I would want him on my team.

Tell you what, it was wicked when they had Kordell Stewart pull the pull-down and run with running back Jerome Bettis, tight end Mark Bruener and Hines Ward available as blockers.

Hines Ward will probably never make the Hall of Fame. I don’t think I would vote for him, but I will say that there are a few receivers already in the Hall who were not as good.