As if the Pittsburgh Steelers needed more troubles right now, Santonio Holmes gets slapped with a civil suit for assault, according to USA Today. Of course, it is not a criminal case, which could probably mean there was inadequate evidence to proceed there, but it is certainly enough to get the Steel City blue collar fans upset. There’s already talk that star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will miss the team’s off-season workout program as a possible criminal sexual assault case against him is impending; star wide receiver Santonio Holmes throwing his drink at Anshonoe Mills might be minor by comparison, but the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t need these kinds of distractions.
Santonio Holmes passes catcher, becomes a drink thrower
Anshonoe Mills is alleging that on March 7, Santonio Holmes “ordered her to get up” off a couch in the Rain Night Club in Orlando, Florida in the VIP area. According to Mills, Santonio Holmes threw his full drink in her face after what appeared to be a musical chairs-style tussle, and a piece of broken glass cut her. 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. Evidently, the famed wide receiver also tried to give her an undisclosed sum of money in exchange for her silence, which could very much have alleviated the have to seek help from payday lenders.
A trouble man, from Super Bowl XLIII MVP
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 photos that made the rounds online in 2008. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, of the latest alleged incident 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?
Everyone knows the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Rooney family have an considerable, 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 regarding the team.
It’s clear that the media spotlight today is much brighter than it was throughout the Pittsburgh Steelers’ heyday of the 1970s. If TMZ and Bleacher Report had existed then, Pittsburgh fans would likely have a very different view of their sports heroes today. Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes have not yet been convicted for anything, but that does not alter the fact they are drowning in deep waters of poor decisions.
