DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Idiots. Both of them. Just idiots.
All kinds of justification is sure to follow the dual arrest of the Steelers’ two running backs, Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount, by Ross Township police Wednesday, with both facing charges of marijuana possession and, in Bell’s case, driving under the influence. The news was broken by Colin Dunlap of 93.7 The Fan.
I don’t want to hear any of that justification.
I don’t want to hear that Blount was some bad influence on Bell, even though he comes with a checkered past that included this infamous punch thrown during a college game. Because I’ve gotten to know Bell and, as such, I know he’s plenty smart enough to be capable of thinking for himself. Instead of being an idiot. He didn’t need to get all buddy-buddy, as was described in our Friday Insider feature here last week, with a guy who could get him in trouble.
I don’t want to hear that marijuana is legal in Colorado or how, if this had happened to one of the Broncos, police wouldn’t have done anything. Because that’s bunk. Pot usage isn’t within NFL regulations anywhere. And DUI is a crime in Colorado, as it does in in the other 49 states.
I don’t want to hear that Roger Goodell will be unfairly tougher on Bell and Blount than he was — unconscionably so — with that pathetic two-game suspension of the Ravens’ Ray Rice for assaulting his wife. Because the Rice decision should be the outlier. And because, in all candor, the NFL’s punishment for DUI must be stiff.
I don’t even want to hear about the impact on the Steelers’ offense.
Not right now, anyway.
What I want to hear is what these idiots — and both are eminently deserving of that description for this alleged act alone, presuming the police didn’t just concoct it from thin air — could possibly have been thinking.
The arrest, according to authorities, occurred at 1:30 p.m. That was shortly before the Steelers’ charter flight to Philadelphia for the preseason game Thursday with the Eagles. That would mean these two were driving on the way to Pittsburgh International Airport to meet with their teammates and coaches with at least one of them, Bell, legally under the influence.
It also would mean these two were going right down McKnight Road, the main drag through the North Hills, with smoke and a smell emerging from their black Camaro’s tinted windows, the sign that alerted the arresting officer on a nearby motorcycle, and they thought they were somehow above being touched.
It also would mean that these two were just fine with risking throwing away their reputations — with more to lose in Bell’s case — over 20 stinking grams of pot, 10 below the misdemeanor max. It also would mean that, in that setting, these two don’t care about the Steelers, their fans, their family, their friends or anything other than being, what, the Doobie Brothers?
What the hell?
Seriously, why do professional athletes work relentlessly year-round to prepare for competition and then do insanely stupid stuff like this?
For that matter, why is this problem so much more prevalent in the NFL?
Racial connotations always will arise in topics like these, and Bell and Blount both being African-American obviously won’t change that. If anything, some truly ugly stereotypes will be brought up by that still-existent, still-ugly segment of our city and country that’s outright racist. At the same time, I’m not one of those people that pulls down my cap and pretends not to see that different racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds come with genuine commonalities, including when I look at the list of the NFL’s longest marijuana suspensions. They do exist, and to ignore them is to pass on addressing real societal problems.
But sorry, I still can’t get past sheer idiocy here. That’s all I see right now.
That, and my own really nasty predisposition regarding people who drive while drunk or stoned.
Driving a vehicle while impaired is akin to waving a loaded weapon in public. More than 10,000 people are killed in the United States each year because of DUI-related incidents, according to the good folks at M.A.D.D. More than 345,000 are injured. Families are destroyed. Children are lost.
My family could be destroyed. Yours, too.
They have a fittingly grisly term for that: Vehicular homicide.
The next hot topic — assuming it wasn’t the first in our football-mad town — will be how many games these two miss for the Steelers. The NFL’s drug policy doesn’t call for a league suspension for first-time offenders, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk details. Neither Bell nor Blount has a prior in this regard. What’s more, it’s highly unlikely the league will take action until after the legal procedures, and both are expected to be hit with misdemeanors.
Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Art Rooney II will have to mete out their own justice. There’s no suppressing this one. Already, there’s been some separation made between Bell and Blount in that Bell was told to stay home while Blount accompanied the team to Philly. We’ll see what that’s about. The Steelers blew it big-time with Alameda Ta’amu, and that was just to save face with a spare-part nose tackle. More eyes will be on this, especially since Bell’s charges include the DUI.
Burt Lauten, the Steelers’ spokesman, said Wednesday night: “We are aware of the reports and still gathering information. We will have no further comment at this time.”
We’ll see what comes of it. Something will. Something must.
Honestly, at the moment, I’m much more interested in hearing the thought processes — assuming any were in play — that led to this indefensible, selfish, petulant show of sheer idiocy. Preferably from the authors themselves rather than agents or lawyers.
August 20, 2014
Column: Bell, Blount already guilty … of idiocy
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Steelers
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
Idiots. Both of them. Just idiots.
All kinds of justification is sure to follow the dual arrest of the Steelers’ two running backs, Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount, by Ross Township police Wednesday, with both facing charges of marijuana possession and, in Bell’s case, driving under the influence. The news was broken by Colin Dunlap of 93.7 The Fan.
I don’t want to hear any of that justification.
I don’t want to hear that Blount was some bad influence on Bell, even though he comes with a checkered past that included this infamous punch thrown during a college game. Because I’ve gotten to know Bell and, as such, I know he’s plenty smart enough to be capable of thinking for himself. Instead of being an idiot. He didn’t need to get all buddy-buddy, as was described in our Friday Insider feature here last week, with a guy who could get him in trouble.
I don’t want to hear that marijuana is legal in Colorado or how, if this had happened to one of the Broncos, police wouldn’t have done anything. Because that’s bunk. Pot usage isn’t within NFL regulations anywhere. And DUI is a crime in Colorado, as it does in in the other 49 states.
I don’t want to hear that Roger Goodell will be unfairly tougher on Bell and Blount than he was — unconscionably so — with that pathetic two-game suspension of the Ravens’ Ray Rice for assaulting his wife. Because the Rice decision should be the outlier. And because, in all candor, the NFL’s punishment for DUI must be stiff.
I don’t even want to hear about the impact on the Steelers’ offense.
Not right now, anyway.
What I want to hear is what these idiots — and both are eminently deserving of that description for this alleged act alone, presuming the police didn’t just concoct it from thin air — could possibly have been thinking.
The arrest, according to authorities, occurred at 1:30 p.m. That was shortly before the Steelers’ charter flight to Philadelphia for the preseason game Thursday with the Eagles. That would mean these two were driving on the way to Pittsburgh International Airport to meet with their teammates and coaches with at least one of them, Bell, legally under the influence.
It also would mean these two were going right down McKnight Road, the main drag through the North Hills, with smoke and a smell emerging from their black Camaro’s tinted windows, the sign that alerted the arresting officer on a nearby motorcycle, and they thought they were somehow above being touched.
It also would mean that these two were just fine with risking throwing away their reputations — with more to lose in Bell’s case — over 20 stinking grams of pot, 10 below the misdemeanor max. It also would mean that, in that setting, these two don’t care about the Steelers, their fans, their family, their friends or anything other than being, what, the Doobie Brothers?
What the hell?
Seriously, why do professional athletes work relentlessly year-round to prepare for competition and then do insanely stupid stuff like this?
For that matter, why is this problem so much more prevalent in the NFL?
Racial connotations always will arise in topics like these, and Bell and Blount both being African-American obviously won’t change that. If anything, some truly ugly stereotypes will be brought up by that still-existent, still-ugly segment of our city and country that’s outright racist. At the same time, I’m not one of those people that pulls down my cap and pretends not to see that different racial, ethnic or religious backgrounds come with genuine commonalities, including when I look at the list of the NFL’s longest marijuana suspensions. They do exist, and to ignore them is to pass on addressing real societal problems.
But sorry, I still can’t get past sheer idiocy here. That’s all I see right now.
That, and my own really nasty predisposition regarding people who drive while drunk or stoned.
Driving a vehicle while impaired is akin to waving a loaded weapon in public. More than 10,000 people are killed in the United States each year because of DUI-related incidents, according to the good folks at M.A.D.D. More than 345,000 are injured. Families are destroyed. Children are lost.
My family could be destroyed. Yours, too.
They have a fittingly grisly term for that: Vehicular homicide.
The next hot topic — assuming it wasn’t the first in our football-mad town — will be how many games these two miss for the Steelers. The NFL’s drug policy doesn’t call for a league suspension for first-time offenders, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk details. Neither Bell nor Blount has a prior in this regard. What’s more, it’s highly unlikely the league will take action until after the legal procedures, and both are expected to be hit with misdemeanors.
Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and Art Rooney II will have to mete out their own justice. There’s no suppressing this one. Already, there’s been some separation made between Bell and Blount in that Bell was told to stay home while Blount accompanied the team to Philly. We’ll see what that’s about. The Steelers blew it big-time with Alameda Ta’amu, and that was just to save face with a spare-part nose tackle. More eyes will be on this, especially since Bell’s charges include the DUI.
Burt Lauten, the Steelers’ spokesman, said Wednesday night: “We are aware of the reports and still gathering information. We will have no further comment at this time.”
We’ll see what comes of it. Something will. Something must.
Honestly, at the moment, I’m much more interested in hearing the thought processes — assuming any were in play — that led to this indefensible, selfish, petulant show of sheer idiocy. Preferably from the authors themselves rather than agents or lawyers.