"Men play professional football for many reasons. Some play just for money, some to satisfy their competitive drive, others because they cannot think of anything else to do with themselves. A few, like Miami's Ricky Williams, play because their talent is so vast that even though they would not have chosen the game themselves, it chose them. That list is a short one.

So, too, is the list Torry Holt is on. He plays because he loves football.

At 34 and with slowing but still remarkable legs, Holt could easily say he has nothing left to prove in this most hurtful game and no one could argue otherwise. He is the last cast member still running from an offense once called The Greatest Show on Turf. He has gained more receiving yards than all but nine men who ever played in the NFL and caught more passes than all but 10. He has been to the Pro Bowl seven times, the Super Bowl twice and owns a world champion's massive diamond ring.

If there is something he hasn't done in his 11-year NFL career it's difficult to think what that might be. Yet this summer, Holt is where his old St. Louis Rams teammates Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Orlando Pace and so many others from the old days are not. He's sweating it out at training camp, trying to make clear to a new set of coaches and teammates the one thing that has always been apparent."