By Charles Bricker

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI – Ozzie Newsome finally reached the Super Bowl, but it wasn’t the way he envisioned being part of the NFL’s greatest game, and there is a sadness in his voice when he talks about “the empty part of my career.”

Like hundreds of men before him, his focused ambition was to play in the championship game, and three times the Cleveland Browns were within a victory of reaching it. They failed each time, in the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons.

It wasn’t until 2000, 11 years after Newsome retired as one of football’s greatest tight ends, that he not only reached the big one, but won a ring as executive vice president and general manager of the Baltimore Ravens.

“That soothed me some,” he said. “I was there, in a winning locker room, so I knew what it was to win.

“But I never got to play, and because of that I feel my career is unfulfilled. I didn’t get a chance to run out of the tunnel, and that was one of the things I wanted to do all my life. I wanted to feel those butterflies. I would have been floating on air. You play sandlot games as a kid, pretending you’re in the Super Bowl. I played all those fantasies, but it never happened.”

He isn’t alone. You can fashion offensive and defensive lineups of the greatest players never to play in a Super Bowl, from quarterback Dan Fouts right down to punter Greg Montgomery.

And in between you can include Barry Sanders, one of the three greatest running backs ever, guard Mike Munchak, defensive linemen Deacon Jones and Merlin Olsen, middle linebacker Dick Butkus, cornerback Lem Barney and kicker Nick Lowery.

How easy it would be for these men, and dozens of others who didn’t reach the game, to watch Super Bowl Whatever on TV and think, “I’m 10 times better than that guy.”

But it’s a team game and being Fouts or Warren Moon doesn’t guarantee a crack at the championship. Dan Marino was fortunate to reach the game in his second season, though he didn’t win, and many consider him the most gifted quarterback ever.

Twice more Marino would come within a game of reaching another Super Bowl, but failed. At least he got there once and undoubtedly he hoped to get there again when he briefly took a job as senior vice president for the Dolphins.

That was Newsome’s path – through the front office. And when the Ravens defeated Oakland 16-3 to reach Super Bowl XXXV against the New York Giants, his game face probably was just as stern as it would have been as a player.

On the other sideline that day was Giants Vice President/General Manager Ernie Accorsi, who held the same job with the Browns when Newsome was a Cleveland player.

“I never spoke to him that day because I knew how badly we both wanted to win. So I was out on the field for about 10 minutes in pregame and my anxiety was so heavy … I wasn’t sure what I would say if I had gone over to shake his hand. I finally went upstairs, thinking I was better off doing nothing,” Newsome said.

It isn’t easy to select two wide receivers from the list of great ones who never reached the Super Bowl, but Cris Carter, along with Charley Taylor, rates a slight edge over Steve Largent.

Carter, who retired after the 2002 season and now lives in Boca Raton, doesn’t feel the emptiness felt by Newsome.

“Of course I mind not playing in the game. It’s the driving force in all the sacrifices you make,” Carter said. “But football is a team game, and I wouldn’t change my career for anything just to make a Super Bowl.

“I prepared myself for everything I did in the NFL. I just didn’t make it to the big game. It didn’t work out.”

Like Newsome and several others, he came close. In 1998, his Minnesota Vikings were 15-1 in the regular season. They thrashed Arizona 41-21 in their opening playoff game, but were shocked by Atlanta in overtime in the NFC title game.

Gary Anderson, 39 for 39 on field goals, missed his first kick of the season at a critic point and Atlanta rallied to win. “That’s football,” Carter said succinctly.

Disappointment was twice as bad for Newsome, whose Browns were beaten by Denver in close games that were deeply affected by a goal-line fumble in one game and by a 15-play, 98-yard fourth-quarter John Elway touchdown drive in another.

“I’d been around football long enough to know a lot of things have to go right on a 98-yard drive,” Newsome said. They did go right. And everything in three AFC Championship Games went wrong for Newsome.

DeVone Claybrooks once played in a Super Bowl, though you’ve probably never heard of him. So did Alundis Brice and Gene Mruczkowski. They reached the promised land that escaped Newsome, Carter and many other Hall of Fame players.

But, like the man said, “That’s football.”

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THE BEST WHO NEVER PLAYED THE BIG GAME

OFFENSE

QB DAN FOUTS

College: Oregon

Years pro: 1973-87 (San Diego Chargers)

How close: AFC title game, 1980-81

RB BARRY SANDERS

College: Oklahoma State

Years pro: 1989-99 (Detroit Lions)

How close: NFC title game, 1991

RB EARL CAMPBELL

College: Texas

Years pro: 1978-84 (Houston Oilers); 1984-85 (New Orleans Saints)

How close: AFC title game, 1978-79

WR CRIS CARTER

College: Ohio State

Years pro: 1987-89 (Philadelphia Eagles; 1990-2001 Minnesota Vikings; 2002, Dolphins)

How close: NFC title game, 1998

WR STEVE LARGENT

College: Tulsa

Years pro: 1976-89, Seattle Seahawks

How close: AFC title game, 1983

T DAN DIERDORF

College: Michigan

Years pro: 1971-83 (St. Louis Cardinals)

How close: NFC divisional playoffs, 1974-75

G MIKE MUNCHAK

College: Penn State

Years pro: 1982-93 (Houston Oilers)

How close: AFC divisional playoffs, 1987-88, 1991, 1993

C JEFF VAN NOTE

College: Kentucky

Years pro: 1969-86 (Atlanta Falcons)

How close: NFC divisional playoffs, 1978, 1980

G JOE DELAMIELLEURE

College: Michigan State

Years pro: 1973-1979, 1985 (Buffalo Bills); 1980-84 (Cleveland Browns)

How close: AFC divisional playoffs, 1974, 1980

T WILLIE ROAF

College: Louisiana Tech

Years pro: 1993-01 (New Orleans Saints); 2002-05 (Kansas City)

How close: NFC divisional playoffs, 2000

TE OZZIE NEWSOME

College: Alabama

Years pro: 1978-91 (Cleveland Browns)

How close: AFC title game, 1986-87, 1989

DEFENSE

DE ELVIN BETHEA

College: North Carolina A&T

Years pro: 1968-83 (Houston Oilers)

How close: AFC title game, 1978-79

DT MERLIN OLSEN

College: Utah State

Years pro: 1962-76 (Los Angeles Rams)

How close: NFC title game, 1974-76

DT JOE KLECKO

College: Temple

Years pro: 1977-87 (N.Y. Jets); 1988 (Colts)

How close: AFC title game, 1982

DE DEACON JONES

College: South Carolina State

Years pro: 1961-71 (Rams); 1972-73 (Chargers); 1974 (Redskins)

How close: NFC divisional playoffs, 1967, 1969, 1974

OLB DERRICK THOMAS

College: Alabama

Years pro: 1989-99 (Kansas City Chiefs)

How close: AFC title game, 1993

MLB DICK BUTKUS

College: Illinois

Years pro: 1965-73 (Chicago Bears)

How close: Never in a playoff game

OLB CLAY MATTHEWS

College: Southern California

Years pro: 1978-93 (Cleveland Browns); 1994-96 (Atlanta Falcons)

How close: AFC title game, 1986-87, 1989

CB LEM BARNEY

College: Jackson State

Years pro: 1967-77 (Detroit Lions)

How close: NFC divisional playoffs, 1970

CB JIMMY JOHNSON

College: UCLA

Years pro: 1961-76 (San Francisco 49ers)

How close: NFC title game, 1970-71

FS LARRY WILSON

College: Utah

Years pro: 1960-72 (St. Louis Cardinals)

How close: Never in a Super Bowl playoff game

SS KENNY HOUSTON

College: Prairie View

Years pro: 1967-72 (Houston Oilers); 1973-80 (Washington Redskins)

How close: AFL title game, 1967

KICKERS

K NICK LOWERY

College: Dartmouth

Years pro: 1980-93 (Kansas City Chiefs); 1994-96 (New York Jets)

How close: AFC title game, 1993

P GREG MONTGOMERY

College: Penn State/Michigan State

Years pro: 1988-93 (Houston Oilers); 1994 (Lions); 1996-97 (Baltimore Ravens)

How close: AFC divisional playoffs, 1988, 1991, 1993

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(c) 2007 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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AP-NY-02-04-07 0601EST