Many sides of Shockey paint Super Bowl atmosphere

MIAMI -- Jeremy Shockey, life coach.

Shockey didn't ask for the role. Imagine that.

'I'm going to play this game as if it's my last game,' Shockey says. (US Presswire)

It's one of the Shockey oxymorons and contradictions that drew the media (who Shockey affectionately termed as cockroaches last week during an interview) to his podium during Super Bowl XLIV media day on Tuesday and why the media fired questions at him through the entire hour.

Are you going to get the guy that called former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells a homosexual slur? Or are you going to get the guy who claimed he's traveled to Colombia to deliver thousands of soccer balls to needy children in the offseason?

What about the guy who suffered from "dehydration" at a Las Vegas pool party while the Saints held their organized team activities this past summer? Maybe he's the guy that reportedly sparred verbally with Saints coach Sean Payton about whether or not Shockey would play in Week 16 vs. Tampa, pushing the Saints to withhold his game check because they deemed his injury non-football related since he hurt his toe kicking a vending machine after the argument?

What Shockey ultimately portrayed was a Gardetto's mixed bag of emotions for the past week, including his Tuesday dagger-dodging session.

Shockey played nice.

He gushed over his devotion for Miami and New Orleans. He credited former Miami teammate Ed Reed and several former assistant Hurricane coaches for guiding him to the NFL.

Shockey played the sympathetic figure.

The last thing Shockey wants is to miss his second Super Bowl opportunity because of injury. A broken leg sidelined Shockey for Super Bowl XLII and he's determined not to allow a bum knee to keep him off the field for Super Bowl XLIV.

"I think about things like that [possibly missing another Super Bowl due to injury] all the time," Shockey said last week. "You've just got to let it play out. I think we were smart with how many reps I got in the game and this week and how many I got in practice. We're going to continue to be smart going into the game and in the Super Bowl. And after that, there's no holding reins back because no matter what happens to me after that, I do everything that I can and everything that it's going to take to win the game. I can spend a lot of time to rehab and things of that nature in the offseason."

The injury was serious enough for Shockey to jet off to Birmingham, Ala. last week to have his bruised knee checked out by Dr. James Andrews. According to a source, Shockey said he planned on staying in Birmingham for a couple of days. The checkup went well enough that Shockey returned to the team on the same day, meaning no procedure was necessary.

It's almost a determination to be admired and it's why he proclaimed Tuesday he would play this Sunday.

"You can expect everything in my position and myself that I'm going to play this game as if it's my last game," Shockey said Tuesday.

Then the rosy Shockey drifted away as Shockey started playing the victim.

He scolded the media for their villainous portrayal of him leading up to Super Bowl XLII. I guess the sole reason the Giants dealt him the following summer was because Kevin Boss played leaps and bounds better than Shockey.

"Working that hard from seventh grade all the way to the injury that I had and not being able to play in the game," Shockey said Tuesday. "I think the media pointed it out and really made it out to be a me being upset at my team because I did something. I don't know. I was just upset that I wasn't able to play in the game and that nature for all the hard work I put in."

Shockey played bitter.

"Again the experience and the overall of just being there, with your team, and flying there and staying in the same hotel, with your team, it's going to be a completely different atmosphere," Shockey said last week. "I'm looking forward to this moment and my family is looking forward to this moment."

Then an emotion that I didn't expect, Shockey played jealous.

"It was a tough, tough, depressing couple of months that passed and rehab and watching every commercial with David Tyree's catch and winning it," Shockey said Tuesday. "It's God's will and I had no control over it."

Love him, despise him, feel sorry for him or simply wonder what in the hell is wrong with the guy, the Saints offense is seemingly better off with him on the field.

He knows it, and Payton knows it.

Shockey played on one leg and one pogo stick against the Cardinals and the Vikings. He didn't look healthy at all and yet he still gutted it out to catch a touchdown in the romp over Arizona. Shockey also played sparingly against Minnesota despite not practicing at all leading up to the NFC Championship Game. A healthy Shockey opens up the offense in both facets as he becomes a threat up the middle and has been a solid run blocker combined with David Thomas.

So here's my life coach lesson to you, Jeremy.

Leave the bitterness and vendettas behind and play like you preach you'll play.

It may not make your dehydration problems in Las Vegas vanish, but it might make cockroaches like me lay off you maybe a day or two.