All Ike Needs is a Pacifier and Mama's Milk

[SteelCrazy]

LATROBE, PA. -- His entrance lacked subtlety and Ike Taylor owned it the way he once did wide receivers who lined up across from him.

Taylor, after reporting Friday afternoon for his 12th training camp at bucolic St. Vincent College, said he does not think the days of him shutting down wide receivers are bygone ones despite his struggles last season. And while he acknowledged that he is not getting any younger, Taylor said he wants to play beyond this season, which happens to be the last one on his Pittsburgh Steelers contract.


Taylor

“I feel like a newborn baby,” Taylor, who turned 34 in May, said in his own inimitable way. “All I need is a pacifier and mama’s milk.”

That Taylor arrived for camp in good spirits not to mention a star shaved into his head == “superstar,” he said with a smile -- is a good sign considering how ticked off he seemed last month when he went on the Jim Rome Show and sounded off about having to accept a pay cut to return to the Steelers.

Taylor shrugged off his comments as just venting and said his unhappiness over taking a pay cut won’t affect his preparation during camp or his play this season.

“You pout about it and you handle yourself on the field,” said Taylor, whose base salary this season was cut from $7 million to $2.5 million. “I can’t see myself nowhere else. I live and bleed Pittsburgh. I’m a yinzer. The only thing I don’t really do to be a yinzer is eat Primanti Brothers.”

(Note: Yinzer is a term often applied to hardcore Pittsburgh residents and Primanti Brothers’ most famous sandwich includes coleslaw and fries on a hamburger and is considered a Pittsburgh signature).

“Other than that I’m Pittsburgh all the way down. I wear my 412 clothing. I’ve got a 412 [area code), my nickname is ‘Lil Rooney.’ What else you want from me?”

Taylor said he hasn't felt this good physically in years and that renowned speed coach Tom Shaw, whom he works with during the offseason, actually had to tell him to ease up on his training.

If this is his last season with the Steelers -- the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder intends on playing somewhere in 2015 -- Taylor feels good about making a run at his third Super Bowl ring.

“This team as far as young guys and the energy it’s like the [2004-05] feeling,” Taylor said in reference to the seasons in which the Steelers made the AFC championship game and won the Super Bowl. “We talked about speed on defense and from OTAs through minicamp you saw the speed on defense and I think in ’04 and ’05 we were pretty speedy on defense.”

[url]http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-steelers/post/_/id/7707/ike-taylor-ready-to-roll-for-steelers?ex_cid=espnapi_public[/url]

[SteelCrazy]

Ike Taylor showed up at training camp with a video camera strapped to his chest and Google Glass attached to his sunglasses, recording his arrival for his 12th season with the Steelers for the team’s website.

Maybe that’s why Taylor, who has been a starting cornerback since 2005, softened some of the comments he made last month about having to take a $4.5 million pay cut to remain with the Steelers one final season.

Everything was being recorded, after all.

“I’m allowed to feel like that,” Taylor said. “That’s like asking you for a pay cut. You’re not going to like that. At the same time, you got to understand, it comes with the territory. You got 12 years in the game, it comes with the business. Regardless, I’m still here.”

Taylor, 34, was scheduled to make $7 million in base salary this season, the final year of his contract. But, after a season in which his role as a shutdown cornerback gradually diminished, the Steelers asked him to take a pay cut to $2.75 million — a reduction similar to the one offered Pro Bowl linebacker James Harrison after the 2012 season. Harrison refused to accept the deal and was released.

After dismissing the pay cut in interviews in the spring, Taylor offered an entirely different view during a national radio show after minicamp.

“I’m pissed off about it, still am pissed off about it and I’m going to be pissed off until the end of the season about it,” Taylor said on the Jim Rome Show. “Did it hurt me? Hell yeah it hurts, but, hopefully, I can go in and bounce back this year, do what I need to do on the field, and we will see what happens after.”

Taylor softened his stance Friday while standing outside the dormitory at Saint Vincent College.

“I live and bleed Pittsburgh, I’m a yinzer, I’m a Steeler,” Taylor said. “The only thing I don’t do to be a yinzer is eat Primanti Brothers. Other than that, I’m Pittsburgh all the way down. My nickname is ‘Little Rooney.’ What else do you want from me?”

Two years ago, Pro Bowl nose tackle Casey Hampton agreed to a $3 million pay cut to remain with the team for his final season in 2012. Harrison, though, refused to accept a significant pay cut after the 2012 season and ended up signing a two-year, $4.45 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals that was less than what the Steelers were offering.

Taylor didn’t want to make the same mistake, which is why he agreed to the salary cut.

“Man, I didn’t want to be nowhere else,” Taylor said. “I can’t see myself nowhere else. Now, after this year, then I don’t know. Me just being with another team, man, it’s going to be hard.

“It’s going to be hard telling Mr. [Dan] Rooney, it’s going to be hard calling Kevin Colbert, it’s going to be hard talking to coach [Mike Tomlin], it’s going to be hard talking to coach [Dick] LeBeau, it’s going to be hard talking to Troy [Polamalu].

Then he added: “I understand their side. I understand they have to make changes. But, if you leave it up to me, I ain’t going anywhere.”


Read more: [url]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2014/07/25/Being-a-Steeler-is-just-part-of-life-for-Ike-Taylor/stories/201407250188#ixzz38X5kznt8[/url]

[BradshawsHairdresser]

“I feel like a newborn baby,” Taylor, who turned 34 in May, said in his own inimitable way. “All I need is a pacifier and mama’s milk.”

His mama might feel differently.

Just sayin'.

[steelsnis]

Ike calling himself a Yinzer is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I love it!

Maybe he'll go dahntahn Lay-trobe and pick up some Isaly's chip-chop ham???

[The Man of Steel]

Ike calling himself a Yinzer is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I love it!

Maybe he'll go dahntahn Lay-trobe and pick up some Isaly's chip-chop ham???

Sorry Ike but as a proud lifelong Yinzer you don't meet the criteria to be in our elite club. In fact the only true Yinzer that I know of on the entire Steelers roster is Bruce Gradkowski. He's even got the great Yinzer last name too.

[feltdizz]

Ike calling himself a Yinzer is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I love it!

Maybe he'll go dahntahn Lay-trobe and pick up some Isaly's chip-chop ham???

Chip chop? Growing up we called it chipped ham... never knew the actual term was chip chop.

[steelsnis]

Chip chop? Growing up we called it chipped ham... never knew the actual term was chip chop.

Haha I don't know what the "actual" term is but my Mom always called it chip-chop ham and she was born in Clairton back in the day.

[The Man of Steel]

It's all about Jumbo at my house.

[skyhawk]

Most underrated Steelers players (especially by Steelers fans) of the past 20 years.

1. James Farrior
2. Ike
3. Big Ben
4. Levon Kirkland
5. John Jackson
6. Heath Miller

The first two anchored 2 of the best defenses of all time. And without Ben, Steelers would not have reached one of the 3 latest SBs.

[sick beats]

Ike calling himself a Yinzer is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I love it!

Maybe he'll go dahntahn Lay-trobe and pick up some Isaly's chip-chop ham???

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaha