WARD READY FOR SUPER BOWL DESPITE KNEE INJURY

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward is accustomed to playing through pain and dishing it out (Just ask Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers), and will play in the Super Bowl today despite a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. “Me and the Super Bowl have had our battles,” Ward told the Kansas City Star. It’s a familiar scenario for Ward, who sprained a joint in his shoulder during the Friday practice prior to the Steelers’ Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks three years ago where he gutted it out to catch five passes for 123 yards and a touchdown to be named the game’s MVP. According to the article, Ward required a pain-killing injection to play in that game and couldn’t raise his arm above his head. In an effort to accelerate his right knee’s healing process, Ward brought a special hyperbaric chamber to Tampa to prepare for today’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Ward, who leads the Steelers with 81 receptions for 1,043 yards and seven touchdowns, will wear a protective brace. “The last Super Bowl, I was in a sling Friday and Saturday night,” Ward said. “With this injury, at least I had two weeks to heal. With that injury it was a day, maybe a day and a half, to get ready to play in the Super Bowl. Once your adrenaline gets going and after the shot kicked in, I didn’t even know I had an injury in the Super Bowl. I felt it the next day. “There was no question about that. It was all worth it … I have been training my butt off and rehabbing to go out there and give me an opportunity to play on Sunday. .. We have an opportunity to become the first organization in the NFL to win six (Super Bowls). As a player, you take pride in that and want to bring championships to the city of Pittsburgh.” Ward injured his knee in the first quarter of the Steelers’ AFC championship game vicory over the Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 18, but has practiced this week without any reported setbacks. Of course, Ward has reportedly been playing without an anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee for his entire football career due to a bicycle accident as a child.