Fast Willie Wants Back In

Yeah that’s right, Fast Willie Parker wants back in the Black and Gold. In a weird “I don’t regret going to the Redskins, but I regret going to the Redskins” comment in an interview last weekend, Willie confirmed that he’s been working out and is in great shape, and that he wants to come back to Pittsburgh.

In a bizarre twist, a (former) Steelers running back is using Twitter for something good, and has started the trending hash-tag #resign39. There are millions of Steelers fans on Twitter jumping on board (millions may be an exaggeration, I’m just guestamating here) re-tweeting the hash-tag. Unfortunately most of them don’t know how the hash tag works and are putting a dash after “re” making the hash-tag look like this: #re-sign39, which is effectively the same thing as typing “#re” and leaving it at that. How ridiculous!

Anyways, Willie acknowledged that Rashard is the man (of course, that remains to be seen because of his Twitter antics) and that he is willing to get back in there and fight for a spot. He has been active on twitter uploading videos of himself working out, playing basketball, selling t-shirts and the whole bit. It’s been nice to see because he has been openly communicating with many fans (including myself), unlike other active Steelers Hines, Troy and others who never actually respond directly to anyone that isn’t another Steeler.

Obviously, when I got a response from FWP I freeeeeked out, but is Fast Willie really ready to come back to football after being cut in Washington?

Short answer? Yes.

I like FWP. I always have. He gave so much to this organization and had a tough road to get to where he got. A beautiful story. Undrafted FA who rushed for over 1,200 yards several times. That’s just amazing. He left for Washington believing that he would be the starter, only to find that he was fighting with LJ and Clinton Portis for the job. He said the coached worked all three of them so hard in practices that it was like they were rookies. He felt like he was continually injuring himself in that environment, and he could see how the organization was in shambles from the top down, a clear difference from his time in Pittsburgh.

Here are the facts: We need more talent at RB. For all we know, Rashard may be gone this season due to his words a few short weeks ago, and Redman is developing, but Moore isn’t half the back FWP would be, and Dwyer isn’t even in the conversation yet. People have been talking about how Pittsburgh could potentially go out and get a free agent, well….why not FWP? He knows the system, he loves it in Pittsburgh, and we could probably get him for cheap. And who knows? Maybe he’s been away from the game long enough to really get healthy after that nasty broken leg.

As you know, FWP was plagued with injuries over the last couple of seasons he was in Pittsburgh. After that broken leg he was never really the same. He dealt with a sprained knee, and turf toe most recently after his broken leg.

Maybe I’m too optimistic. Traditionally speaking, once your play deteriorates, that’s it. Especially at RB. I just feel like he had such a short career, and he’s still young enough to contribute (30), why not give it a shot? What do we have to lose? If nothing else it will light a fire under Rashard’s ass to work harder and get better.

So you see, social media isn’t always a bad thing. I must admit, when I saw #resign39 I thought, “yeah, I’m in to that,” and immediately re-tweeted his plea to get FWP back in Pittsburgh. I don’t know, maybe we should re-think the nick name and call him something like “used to be so fast he has the longest run in SB history, might still be fast but definitely not as fast as he was Willie Parker.”

Yeah, that has a ring to it.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see if I’ll be breaking out my #39 jersey this season. Sure would be a fun blast from the past.