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Super without the Bowl Carter doesn't think career will be tainted without ring
Updated: Wednesday January 10, 2001 12:06 AM
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- One goal remains in Cris Carter's illustrious career. But a puzzled look crossed the likely Hall of Famer's face when he was asked whether that 14-year career will be unfulfilled if the Minnesota Vikings, who play the New York Giants in the NFC championship game Sunday, don't play in the Super Bowl. "My career's been great," said Carter, who has decided but not revealed whether he will retire after this season. "There is that one goal, but it has nothing to do with my career." The distinction is critical to Carter, whose career has encompassed far more good than bad. He became the second receiver in NFL history to catch 1,000 passes. He will play in his eighth consecutive Pro Bowl. He turned his life around after nearly squandering his pro football opportunity during his first few seasons, which were marred by drug and alcohol abuse. After last season, he was selected the NFL's Man of the Year for his charitable contributions. A Super Bowl appearance would polish off such a career, but he argues that his absence from football's greatest showcase should not detract from it. "You're not going to tell me that what I've done ... because my team didn't ... is any less," Carter said. "No. I've done all I can do. It's a team sport. It's not golf. It's a team sport. It's not tennis. If it was an individual sport, then yeah. But it's a team sport. You're trying to get 52 people in one year to be focused. That's tough to do." Carter and 41-year-old teammate Gary Anderson, the NFL's career scoring leader, are two of the league's most accomplished players never to play in a Super Bowl. To Carter, they are no more deserving than any first-year player in the league. "I think that's selfish to think that way,' he said. 'That's a crazy way to think." Carter came within a game of the Super Bowl once before, two years ago, but was denied by the Vikings' gut-wrenching 30-27 overtime loss to Atlanta in the NFC championship game. "What happened two years ago, a lot of guys never even got that opportunity," Carter said. "Everything I've done supersedes one game. It's far beyond that. "I've done enough in my 14-year career. Was it a bad day in '99? Yeah, but the sun still came up the next day. I still moved on. I've still got a beautiful family, and I've still got a lot of things to be thankful for." He replayed that game in his mind for a few days, but was fine by the time he played in the Pro Bowl three weeks later. He will be fine again after Sunday's game, no matter what happens. So he can handle all the emotions welling up inside or the pressure that can build with the finality of a title game. "My goal is to play as hard as I can, block, make all the plays," Carter said. "I don't worry about anything else. Everything else will be fine."
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