As if the Pittsburgh Steelers needed more troubles right now, Santonio Holmes gets slapped with a civil suit for assault, according to USA Today. Although it isn’t a criminal case, which could mean there was a lack of evidence to go by, it’s definitely enough to cause distress among the fans of the Steel City. Word is star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will not be participating 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 may seem insignificant by contrast, but there’s no doubt the Pittsburgh Steelers could do better without any of these distractions.
Santonio Holmes: pass catcher, drink thrower?
According to Anshonoe Mills, on March 7, in the VIP area of the Rain Night Club in Orlando, Florida, Santonio Holmes “ordered her to get up” off couch. Apparently the two had a musical chairs-style tussle, and according to Mills, Santonio Holmes then threw his full drink in her face and the broken glass cut her. Whether or not she needed instant cash loans to pay her ER bill is yet to be known, but Mills is claiming that Holmes and the Orlando PD attempted 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 was charged with marijuana possession in the past, plus the cherry on the sundae is the Santonio Holmes nude photographs that made the rounds online in 2008. There are no comments thus far from the Holmes camp on the latest alleged dust up between Holmes and Anshonoe Mills, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
How will these men be viewed in Steelers history?
Everyone knows that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Rooney family have an considerable, storied history of achievement. 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 the kind of embarrassment that players like Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes have brought to the team that’s especially exasperating.
Of course, the media spotlight is much brighter now than it was during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ heyday of the 1970s. If Bleachers Report and TMZ were present then, maybe Pittsburgh fans would have a very 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 plainly stinks.
