In sports, everybody’s star eventually fades.

As well as things are going for the Steelers in 2010, one must wonder if Hines Ward’s star has dimmed.

Now in his 13th season, Ward has built himself a Hall of Fame career in Pittsburgh. His 925 receptions for 11,322 yards and 82 touchdowns are Steelers receiving records by a mile — and that’s saying something since Lynn Swann and John Stallworth played here.

Ward has been a Super Bowl MVP and carries a streak of 186 consecutive games of catching a pass — third longest in NFL history — into Sunday night’s game with New England.

The guy has punched his ticket to Canton. Count on it.

But through eight games this season, Ward’s numbers are pretty ordinary: 30 catches for 375 yards and four touchdowns. He caught 93 passes for 1,167 yards only last year.

While Ward enjoyed 100-yard receiving days against Atlanta and Miami this season — one of those games with Ben Roethlisberger, one without — he has been an afterthought in the Steelers attack on most other game days.

Consider these numbers: Three catches for 10 yards vs. Cincinnati, three for 15 vs. New Orleans, two for 14 vs. Baltimore, one for nine vs. Tennessee and three for 34 vs. Tampa Bay.

When Santonio Holmes was shipped off to the Jets, most observers felt Ward would become an even greater factor in the Steelers’ air attack.

But Roethlisberger and Mike Wallace have turned into a deep-threat tandem over the past couple of years, and Emmanuel Sanders is a young receiver showing a lot of promise.

Ward is 34 years old and making $5.8 million this season.

The Steelers have jettisoned longtime productive players in the past — Joey Porter and Alan Faneca come to mind — for financial reasons as well as projected production down the road.

Ward seems to fit into that category.

While his fumble Monday night in Cincinnati helped keep that game within reach for the Bengals, it also was a rarity.

During his 925 catches and 57 rushing attempts in a Steelers uniform, Ward has lost only six fumbles. Monday night’s lost fumble was his second in the last four seasons.

Whether it’s making a clutch catch for a first down or laying out a defender with a crunching block, Ward personifies what the Steelers are all about.

With all due respect to Jack Lambert, Jerome Bettis and Troy Polamalu, Ward might be the most popular player ever to don the Black and Gold.

Reality might set in at the end of this season, and whether there’s NFL football in 2011 or not, Hines Ward might not be here.

If he’s not, I hope he retires.

Watching him wear another uniform would be painful, indeed.