Antonio Brown following Hines Ward's lead as record setting Steeler WR and TV dancer

[RuthlessBurgher]

Antonio Brown reportedly set to dance with Von Miller, other stars

Posted by Josh Alper on March 4, 2016, 10:32 AM EST

Broncos linebacker Von Miller will reportedly have some company from the football world on this season’s Dancing With the Stars.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown will also be turning in his cleats for dancing shoes on the long-running show. The show is scheduled to kick off it’s new season on March 21 and the full cast for the show will be announced on Tuesday’s Good Morning America.

The timing means that Brown could miss some of the offseason program if his moves earn him favor with the voting public. Others confirmed for the show or expected to be a part of it include actresses Jodie Sweetin, Kim Fields and Mischa Barton and Good Morning America meterologist Ginger Zee.

If Brown were to win the competition, he would join Hines Ward as Steelers wideouts to find success on the dance floor.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Are you ready...for some dancing?
Posted 7 hours ago


Teresa Varley
Steelers.com


Hines Ward is ready to see Antonio Brown hit the dance floor.

Steelers’ receiver Antonio Brown embarks on a unique journey when ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” kicks off it’s 22nd season.

Brown will be one of the shows celebrities, dancing with professional dance partner Sharna Burgess.

“I am really excited about the challenge of being on ‘Dancing With The Stars,’” said Brown. “I am excited about the process.”

It will definitely be a challenge for Brown. Just ask Hines Ward, who won “Dancing With The Stars” season 12 in 2011. Ward said he put in 12 hour days practicing, and that it wasn’t easy.

“One thing he has to understand is he can’t just show up with a smile on his face,” said Ward. “You have to put the work in to get it done. Knowing Antonio, his work ethic, he will apply all of the things he learned in football and know he can’t just smile and take it for granted. The practice schedule is grueling. It’s totally out of your element trying to choreograph a whole routine. If you step the wrong way, it can throw off the whole routine.

“He needs to rely on his dance partner to be his coach and get through it. Once you overcome the nerves of it all, being out of your element, you start to relax and enjoy. The fan voting can only take you so far. You still have to go out there and perform.”

Ward said football skills don’t translate to the ballroom, where it’s almost a case of having to do everything differently.

“It’s totally different,” said Ward. “Football, everything is about being low, low center of gravity. Ballroom is everything is upright, shoulders, lines. That is what it is all about. You are totally out of your element being on the ballroom floor. If you can show you can dance, you will win the crowd over.

“It’s a great opportunity for Antonio. Antonio is a dancer anyway. After he scores a touchdown he is always giving the fans a little taste of his dancing skills. My nickname was twinkle toes. I think he is a toe tap now. I am excited for him. I can’t wait to see him in those outfits and winning everyone over.”

Ward admitted that he is probably recognized more now for his appearance on the show than for his 14 seasons with the Steelers, but knows it will be those Steelers fans that make a difference in how far Brown advances on the show.

“Steelers Nation is family,” said Ward. “They are going to support him through thick and thin. A lot of the reason I won, I had to do my part dancing wise, but Steelers Nation, they voted. I am sure they are going to show Antonio the same support they showed me.”

[URL]http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Are-you-readyfor-some-dancing/13a8d33a-fbbb-441c-81e6-4a298f02c7ae[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

Brown dazzles on DWTS
Posted 16 hours ago


Teresa Varley
Steelers.com

Antonio Brown was dancing up a storm on Dancing With The Stars.

Business was boomin’ for wide receiver Antonio Brown who hit the dance floor during the season premiere of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” Season 22.

Performing alongside his partner and professional dancer Sharna Burgess, Brown dazzled as he danced the quick step. Brown scored 21 out of 30 for his performance.

Brown got plenty of support from his Steelers teammates who were on hand to cheer for him, including Lawrence Timmons, Rob Golden, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Cortez Allen and Cody Wallace.

Steelers Nation, now you can do your part to make sure Brown makes it all the way through to the show’s finale. To vote for Brown by phone, call 1-800-868-3401. To vote online, click on VOTE FOR AB. Vote early … and often as 12 phone calls are permitted from any phone line.

The judges take on Brown:

Bruno Tonioli: “You have so much talent, but you have to channel it correctly. Don’t pull forward on the frame. A bit cleaner with your feet. You are charging so much that we lose the definition. The amount of talent you have is out of this world. Can’t wait to see more.”

Carrie Ann Inaba: “Boomin’. You are like a beast. There is something fantastic about you. You are magic. You know what expression to put with what move. You came right out of the gate with the touchdown dance and turned it into a little dance for the night. I love this season. You are fantastic.”

Len Goodman: “This is a tough dance. You have to get those elbows out, flat back. You have to try and work on the footwork. For a dance that is so difficult I thought you did well.”

[URL]http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Brown-dazzles-on-DWTS/ad5104b6-a3d8-41ee-a99a-77fc0d2b1c87[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

By Mike Florio
May 11, 2016, 6:10 PM EDT
Steelers expect Antonio Brown to honor contract “without any issue”

Last year, Steelers receiver Antonio Brown agitated (sort of) for a new contract. Ultimately, after missing a minor aspect of Phase One of the offseason program, Brown showed up and adopted the Sam Bradford pretend-nothing-happened posture.

The Steelers eventually shuffled around some money, moving $2 million from 2016 to 2015. Of course, he’s now facing $2 million less in 2016 than he was supposed to make under the six-year, $43 million deal signed before the 2012 season.

This year, Brown isn’t taking a direct stand. But by participating in ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, Brown necessarily has reduced his participation in the offseason program. The Steelers, however, have no issue with his decision.

“There is physical risk, but you know in all honesty I’d much rather worry about that than worry about the guys doing something off the field,” G.M. Kevin Colbert said on Wednesday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio. “It’s a positive kind of activity. It’s fun for him. It’s fun for our fans. He knows what he has to do from a conditioning standpoint. In fact, I think it was two weeks ago he danced on Monday night and he was here Tuesday morning for the workouts. So Antonio is not somebody we ever worry about working, being in condition. In fact it’s probably the opposite; we worry about him over conditioning. I’m sure whenever that ends and we hope he goes all the way and wins the thing because it’ll be exciting for him and really for our fans. But he’ll be here and we have no concerns at all about Antonio Brown showing up in shape.”

The bigger question is whether the Steelers have anything in the works this year to adjust Brown’s deal, which runs through 2017.

“He does have two years left and we expect that to be honored without any issue,” Colbert said, after declining to address whether further adjustments will be made, citing the team’s habit of not publicly discussing player contracts. “Again, Antonio’s a unique player. We understand that and he understands our policies. I don’t ever see that changing as long as we still have the mindset that it’s been good for the organization. Again we understand that he’s a special player and we’re glad we have him for two more years anyway.”

The Steelers typically won’t extend a contract that has more than two years remaining, with the exception of the quarterback position. Arguably, an exception to the exception could be made as to Brown, given his importance to the team.

He becomes even more important to the team now that Martavis Bryant is gone for a full year due to multiple violations of the substance-abuse policy. For now, though, Brown will likely have to wait to get the kind of deal that reflects his value relative to other receives in the NFL.

[SteelCrazy]

Steelers receiver Antonio Brown has been eliminated from "Dancing With the Stars"

Mr. Brown and Ms. Burgess consistently had the lowest scores among those who reached the semifinals.

This time, business was not “Boomin’” for Antonio Brown.

The Steelers receiver and “Dancing With the Stars” partner Sharna Burgess will not be in next week’s final, tripped up in a double-elimination Monday night. Also falling short were Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris and Lindsay Arnold.

“It’s been an awesome experience and I’m ready to transition ... play football again,” Mr. Brown said in a post-show ABC.com interview. He thanked Steelers Nation for its support, adding that his end zone dances will really be noteworthy this season.

With former ”DWTS” winner and Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward waving a Terrible Towel in the audience, the show began with a parade of trios; each team chose another professional to join the dance. In the case of Mr. Brown, “DWTS” troupe member Haley Erbert and Ms. Burgess provided double coverage as they swept through an Argentine tango (“Mi Confesion).

Dressed in a dark grey suit, suspenders, fedora and burgundy, open shirt, Mr. Brown seemed comfortable in what is essentially a dance of precise, refined movements. He showed off his athleticism in flashy style, however, at one point lifting Ms. Erbert straight into an overhead press.

The judges were enthusiastic, but held back the perfect “10s.” Mr. Brown and Ms. Burgess consistently had the lowest scores among those who reached the semifinals. The enthusiasm of Steelers National helped keep them on the playing field.

The second part of the show delved into the celeb dancers’ personal lives, or, in reality show-speak, their “journeys.” Mr. Brown, who grew up in Miami, explained in a pre-taped bit that his childhood world took a hit when his parents divorced.

Later, he was not considered a frontrunner on the football field. Mr. Brown was a smallish receiver who starred at Central Michigan University but wasn’t taken in the NFL draft until the sixth round.

“I went from underdog to top dog,” Mr. Brown said. Then he paraphrased rapper Drake: “I started from bottom, now I’m here.”

Against a backdrop of images from the player’s career, Mr. Brown and Ms. Burgess performed a contemporary number to “Hall of Fame.” They scored a 28, including their first 10 of of the season, to general praise (judge Carrie Ann Inaba more or less said he wasn’t a great dancer, but had “presence.”)

The contemporary dance also featured some great lifts; judge Len Goodman noted his were “the most spectacular lifts I have ever seen on this show.”

The May 23 finale features one athlete (mixed martial arts fighter Paige VanZant with Mark Ballas), a network meteorologist (Ginger Zee with Val Chmerkovskiy) and a deaf model (Nyle DiMarco with Peta Murgatroyd).

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Sorry to say, I'm not all that unhappy about this news. Now AB can concentrate on football.

Maybe he'll go from DWTS elimination to Super Bowl MVP. That would be awesome.

[squidkid]

she shoulda showed her nipple again.

[RuthlessBurgher]

she shoulda showed her nipple again.

What?!? Maybe I should have considered actually watching this show...

[SteelCrazy]

I like nipples too...

[ikestops85]

I like nipples too...

I heard Antonio was showing his nipples

[RuthlessBurgher]

I heard Antonio was showing his nipples

There ya go again...take something beautiful and ruin it...

[fordfixer]

Thank goodness that's over

[RuthlessBurgher]

Brown: 'I wanted to be a Steeler'
Posted 5 hours ago


Teresa Varley
Steelers.com


Antonio Brown reflects on a time that changed his life.

Back in 2010, Antonio Brown’s dream was to be selected in the first, maybe second round of the NFL Draft. A dream similar to the one those selected in the NFL Draft this year had.

That dream was exactly what he told Zach Azzanni, the assistant head coach/receivers coach while Brown was at Central Michigan, on the day he decided to leave school after his junior year to enter the draft.

His hopes were high, not because he was cocky, but because he was confident in his ability. After all, this was a player who came to Central Michigan as a quarterback, having never played wide receiver, and grew into a game-changer at the receiver position.

“I felt like I had grown so much,” said Brown of his time at Central Michigan. “I knew it was the right thing for me to do at the time, to leave school early. It was the right time to make the decision.

“I always believed I was going to be in the NFL and I was going to make it. The fight was already won, you are already prepared.”

His coach warned him, though. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get selected where you think you should.

“I said understand now you’re coming from a smaller program, you’re a little bit undersized, you’ve only been playing the position three years now, don’t expect to be going in the first or second round,” said Azzanni, now the receivers coach/passing game coordinator at the University of Tennessee. “That was about the last thing he wanted to hear. He said coach, I’m going in the first or second round and I said man I love you, but you’re not. I said you’ll make it wherever you go, you’re going to make it, I have no doubt. But don’t be disappointed if someone overlooks you or you don’t go high or maybe someone doesn’t draft you at all. I said I don’t think that’s going to make a difference, you’ll be fine, you’ll make a team. But don’t get upset if you get passed over a bit and if you do use it as motivation. Obviously he did.”

Brown wasn’t drafted in the first round. Nor the second. It wasn’t until the sixth round that Brown got the phone call from the Steelers, the 195th player selected, with 21 receivers and even two punters going ahead of him. He wasn’t even the first receiver the Steelers selected that year, that being Emmanuel Sanders who was taken in the third round.

For him, though, it didn’t matter. He was getting his shot, his chance to make an NFL team, and he was going to make the most of it.

“I visited the Steelers and I got a positive vibe that they were interested in me,” said Brown of his pre-draft visit with the team. “I visited a lot of different teams, but coming to Pittsburgh, everything I knew it was a nice feeling. I wanted to be a Steeler.”

Brown had the same feeling many of this year’s Steelers draft picks had when they were recently selected. Whether it was a first round pick, or a seventh round pick, they all had confidence that they would be drafted and like Brown can control what happens to them now.

“You have the power to create it in your mind,” said Brown. “You can help control how you want to be looked upon, and what you want to be. You can make sure how you want it to be. I have been able to do that thanks to hard work.”


[URL]http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Brown-I-wanted-to-be-a-Steeler/1ee55b37-0d18-493f-b831-04da9c1f3573[/URL]

[fordfixer]

Brown: 'I wanted to be a Steeler'
Posted 5 hours ago


Teresa Varley
Steelers.com


Antonio Brown reflects on a time that changed his life.

Back in 2010, Antonio Brown’s dream was to be selected in the first, maybe second round of the NFL Draft. A dream similar to the one those selected in the NFL Draft this year had.

That dream was exactly what he told Zach Azzanni, the assistant head coach/receivers coach while Brown was at Central Michigan, on the day he decided to leave school after his junior year to enter the draft.

His hopes were high, not because he was cocky, but because he was confident in his ability. After all, this was a player who came to Central Michigan as a quarterback, having never played wide receiver, and grew into a game-changer at the receiver position.

“I felt like I had grown so much,” said Brown of his time at Central Michigan. “I knew it was the right thing for me to do at the time, to leave school early. It was the right time to make the decision.

“I always believed I was going to be in the NFL and I was going to make it. The fight was already won, you are already prepared.”

His coach warned him, though. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get selected where you think you should.

“I said understand now you’re coming from a smaller program, you’re a little bit undersized, you’ve only been playing the position three years now, don’t expect to be going in the first or second round,” said Azzanni, now the receivers coach/passing game coordinator at the University of Tennessee. “That was about the last thing he wanted to hear. He said coach, I’m going in the first or second round and I said man I love you, but you’re not. I said you’ll make it wherever you go, you’re going to make it, I have no doubt. But don’t be disappointed if someone overlooks you or you don’t go high or maybe someone doesn’t draft you at all. I said I don’t think that’s going to make a difference, you’ll be fine, you’ll make a team. But don’t get upset if you get passed over a bit and if you do use it as motivation. Obviously he did.”

Brown wasn’t drafted in the first round. Nor the second. It wasn’t until the sixth round that Brown got the phone call from the Steelers, the 195th player selected, with 21 receivers and even two punters going ahead of him. He wasn’t even the first receiver the Steelers selected that year, that being Emmanuel Sanders who was taken in the third round.

For him, though, it didn’t matter. He was getting his shot, his chance to make an NFL team, and he was going to make the most of it.

“I visited the Steelers and I got a positive vibe that they were interested in me,” said Brown of his pre-draft visit with the team. “I visited a lot of different teams, but coming to Pittsburgh, everything I knew it was a nice feeling. I wanted to be a Steeler.”

Brown had the same feeling many of this year’s Steelers draft picks had when they were recently selected. Whether it was a first round pick, or a seventh round pick, they all had confidence that they would be drafted and like Brown can control what happens to them now.

“You have the power to create it in your mind,” said Brown. “You can help control how you want to be looked upon, and what you want to be. You can make sure how you want it to be. I have been able to do that thanks to hard work.”


[URL]http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Brown-I-wanted-to-be-a-Steeler/1ee55b37-0d18-493f-b831-04da9c1f3573[/URL]

Thank goodness that got started

[RuthlessBurgher]

Antonio Brown back with Steelers next week

Posted by Josh Alper on May 19, 2016, 6:47 AM EDT

Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown won’t be the champion of the dancing world this year after being eliminated from Dancing With the Stars this week and he also won’t be extending his absence from the Steelers’ offseason program for too much longer.

The Steelers start OTAs next week and Brown will be in Pittsburgh to take part in them with the rest of the team. Brown said he’s “excited to see how we gel together” and thinks his dancing adventure sends him back to the field with an edge.

“[Dance training] can definitely help me with football, change of direction, fluidly, constantly being ready for the next move,” Brown said, via ESPN.com. “Dancing is all about the next move, being prepared for the next move in the midst of any move. It will definitely help with ankle strength, pushing off, change of direction.”

Brown also said that he’d like to continue using those stronger ankles as a member of the Steelers for as long as possible. Brown has two years left on a contract that the Steelers tweaked last season after Brown briefly stayed away from workouts and General Manager Kevin Colbert said recently that the team expects them to be honored “without any issue.” Brown wants a new deal, but sounds like he’ll take a no-drama approach to getting it.

“I always want to be a Steeler for life. We will let those things take its course,” Brown said. “I’m excited to get back on the field. … My focus right now is to show up and become the best player.”

With 375 catches over the last three seasons, Brown’s been one of the best players in the league. That might not get him an immediate extension with the Steelers, but more of the same in 2016 will make it likelier that he’s staying in town one way or another.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/05/19/antonio-brown-back-with-steelers-next-week/[/URL]