Lloyd Funnels Anger Against His Opponents

Somewhere in Miami there are two people Greg Lloyd cannot forgive.

Lloyd oozes hostility when he talks about his parents. Every time he plays football, he carries the burden of what they did to him many years ago. It drives him. It is the reason the Steelers’ linebacker is perhaps the angriest man in the NFL.

“You have to be angry to play this game,” Lloyd said this week as Sunday’s Super Bowl between Dallas and Pittsburgh loomed.

Football trained Lloyd to tackle people. Tae kwon do, which he has mastered with a second-degree black belt, fine-tuned his football training.

There are people who say there is only a dark side to Lloyd. That there is no joy in this man, no sympathy, no kindness. No peace.

Perhaps they don’t know the private Lloyd - the husband and father of three. They only know the Lloyd who was abandoned by his father before he was born in Miami on May 26, 1965. Maybe they only know the Lloyd who was cast aside by his mother when he was 2.

“I’m the youngest of nine kids,” Lloyd said. “When I was 2, my mom took me and four other brothers and sisters to Fort Valley, Ga., and just dropped us off at her sister’s house.”

Lloyd’s aunt, Bertha Mae, raised the children as her own. They attended school during the week and church on Sunday. Lloyd graduated 28th in a high school class of 250. He was also a boy scout.

“One day (at age 9 or 10) I’m playing in the yard and this lady comes up to me and says, ‘I’m your mother,”’ Lloyd said. “How do you do that to a kid? I never met my dad, and my mom just shows up one day. In both situations I’ve had to overcome the bitterness, and I’m still struggling to do it. It gets away from me sometimes.”

Lloyd’s aunt was a disciplinarian. She didn’t tolerate back-talk or “misbehavin’,” as Lloyd says. He suppressed his bitterness at home. But on the football field there was no penalty for being angry.

In fact, it was an asset.

“In high school I’d be playing against kids whose parents would be in the stands cheering for them,” Lloyd said. “I would get mad because I didn’t have a father or mother. I’d try to just kill the kid with parents and then look in the stands for his parents to see how they were reacting. It was the best way I could deal with my anger then.”

Lloyd played with such fury that one of his hits broke a quarterback’s leg in high school. The hit was legal, but Lloyd was ejected.

In his first NFL game in 1988, Lloyd hit Denver’s Gary Kubiak so hard, the quarterback was forced to the sideline. Lloyd was ejected.

A few years ago, he tackled Al Toon so hard, the Jets receiver lost consciousness. Lloyd laughed. While shocked teammates watched, Lloyd made like a wrestling referee and counted Toon out.

This preseason, Lloyd hit Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre in the helmet and knocked him out. The NFL fined Lloyd $12,500.

Five weeks later he made good on a pledge to knock Miami quarterback Dan Marino “into next week.”

Lloyd has privately told teammates that Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith are his targets Sunday.

“To get Emmitt Smith, to get Troy Aikman out of the ballgame is definitely going to help the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Lloyd said. “Not that I go out there with that intention of hurting them. But to get them out of the ballgame, that’s part of what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Woodson gets interception

Steelers cornerback Rod Woodson, coming off knee surgery, had an interception in the team’s workout Friday. He is expected to be used 12-15 plays Sunday.

Haley improves

Charles Haley practiced with the Cowboys’ first team, and coach Barry Switzer said there’s a chance the Dallas defensive end could be in for up to 35 plays on Sunday. Haley has been slowed by the flu and hasn’t played since Dec. 6 back surgery.

Final cuts

The teams announced their inactive players. For Dallas, it’s Edward Hervey, Darryl Hardy and Michael Baptiste. For Pittsburgh, it’s Oliver Gibson, Eric Ravotti, Steve Avery and Alvoid Mays.