As you probably know by now, Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator and current fan whipping boy Todd Haley was grabbing an adult beverage or two at local hotel bar.
Haley’s timing was ‘great’ as it was approximately 12 hours before the team kicked off its’ 2013 season and we know how that went.
Now under most circumstances this is a complete non-issue. What a coach or player is doing on his own personal time should be his business. The problem is that in the world we live in today, half-drunk wedding attendees find it necessary to badger people they deem as ‘celebrities.’
Such was the case in point when said ‘attendee’ decided to chat up Haley, snap a hidden cell phone photo and then send it to the mother of all sports-related tabloids, deadspin.com.
I know it sounds like I’m defending Haley, but I’m not. He was reported to have use a homophobic slur directed at some of the people gathering around him. Whether it’s true or not is nothing more than ‘he said, he said’ in my mind. It’s an allegation plain and simple.
Haley signed an autograph on a napkin that also read ‘Go Steelers’ and ‘Chiefs Suck.’
Really Todd? “Chiefs suck?” What are you? 12?
With that said, people are way too sensitive in this day and age and it drives me nuts but this wouldn’t even be a story except for one thing. Haley is coaching a loser right now.
Winning can cure pretty much everything and Haley has done little of it since becoming the team’s offensive coordinator. If this team were winning consistently and Ben Roethlisberger had all-pro numbers again then none of this matters.
Regardless of whether that is right or wrong, it’s the way it is these days. The majority of fans and journalists don’t care what you’re doing at 12am the night before a game if you are putting a winning product on the field.
I don’t know if everything that transpired Saturday evening is 100% accurate and frankly I don’t care. Should Todd Haley be a little more cautious than he apparently was? Probably, but no one would have even cared if this team were winning.
Perhaps drawing plays on his napkin would have been a better option.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 4pm ET talking Steelers.
2 comments
No wonder Haley is not able to make quick adjustments during the game. If a player was caught doing this 12 hours before a game, it would be a problem. Drinking 12 hours before a game effects the player physically and the coach mentally. The standard is the standard. Think it’s very troubling that Coach Haley feels the need to be doing this so close to game time!! Come on MT!!!
Thanks for writing Maggie. I’m no fan of Haley. I don’t like that he’s drinking in public the night before a game or that he possibly used a homophobic slur. All that said, I still believe this hire wasn’t Mike Tomlin’s idea no matter what Art II says. If his offense were better, this wouldn’t be news.