As if the Pittsburgh Steelers needed more problems right now, USA Today reports: Santonio Holmes gets slapped with a civil suit for assault. True, it isn’t a criminal case, which could mean there was a lack of evidence to continue there, but it’s sufficient to get the blue collar fans of the Steel City displeased. Word is star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not be taking part in the team’s off-season workout program as he is facing possible criminal sexual assault charges; star wide receiver Santonio Holmes throwing his drink at Anshonoe Mills might seem minuscule by contrast, but there’s no doubt the Pittsburgh Steelers could do better without any of these distractions.
Santonio Holmes: pass catcher, drink thrower?
Anshonoe Mills alleges that Santonio Holmes “ordered her to get up” off a couch in the VIP area of the Rain Night Club in Orlando, Fla., on March 7. After what appeared to be a musical chairs-style scuffle, Santonio Holmes, according to Mills, then threw his drink right in her face and she received a cut from the broken glass. Whether she needed instant cash loans to pay an ER bill is unclear, but Mills does claim that Holmes and the Orlando PD tried to get her not to press charges. Santonio Holmes allegedly even offered her an undisclosed sum of money for her silence, which could have relieved the potential need to seek out the services of payday lenders.
A Super Bowl XLIII MVP to a man of trouble
This is not the first Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassment Santonio Holmes has caused, neither is this the first time he’s gotten in trouble with the law. The wide receiver has been charged with marijuana possession in the past, and the cherry on the sundae is the Santonio Holmes nude photographs that made the rounds online in 2008. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, of the latest alleged scuffle between Holmes and Anshonoe Mills, no comment has been released from the Holmes camp.
In the history of the Steelers – how will they be viewed?
We all know how the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Rooney family have a long, storied history of success. The Rooney family is one of character, and while the on-the-field, take-no-prisoners war conducted by players like Jack Lambert was tolerated, it’s players like Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes that brings quite an embarrassing and galling feeling concerning the team.
Obviously, the media spotlight during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ heyday of the 1970s is quite different than what it is currently. If Bleachers Report and TMZ were present then, maybe Pittsburgh fans would have a significantly different view of their sports heroes today. Neither Ben Roethlisberger nor Santonio Holmes has been convicted of late, but the air of bad decision-making obviously stinks.
