The fallout from Rashard Mendenhall's explosive Osama bin Laden comments last month is continuing. Now it's Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin who has spoken up with a rebuke of the team's running back. Tomlin told KDKA-TV that Mendenhall was wrong in his comments, where he questioned the celebratory reaction to bin Laden's death. "He shouldn't have said it," Tomlin told KDKA. "Yes, it is a freedom of speech issue. Yes, he is a young man, and he has a right to his opinion. "But sometimes these young men got to understand the positions that they hold and the influence that they have and to be highly sensitive to that. Source: USAToday
Tomlin said it multiple times earlier then this. Everything he says here is true. I think it's pretty much what we've all been saying...ya gotta think before you open your trap or let your fingers do the "walking."
Good job, Omar..err Mike. We knew it was dumb when he said it, it's always going to be dumb especially after the fake butt apology he gave.
Not sure it wasn't the best dumb athlete Twit of the NFL off-season... Was there one more dumb/better?
I'm sorry, he wasn't wrong. This is absolutely a freedom of speech issue. He didn't go out saying "Screw white people, heck spics, heck gays." He stated his opinion on the matter. That is ABSOLUTELY his right. Him being crucified for it is asinine and complete bullcrap. He's entitled to his opinion and stating it in a public forum, just as you and I are. I don't give a crap what his job or influence is. He had the right, and people need to heck off.
Easy for a butcher to say. When you represent a multi million dollar organization and your opinions can reach and possibly offend millions you need to be smarter
It's not about Freedom of Speech. It's about being smart enough to know that some things should be kept to yourself. Bring that you are a public figure and have the ability to reach the masses. In this case it's also a sensitivity issue. He can say whatever the heck he wants, but then he has to deal with the consequences...
my god you really are this stupid. here i thought it was just an act. freedom of speech only protects you from prosecution for your words, not the fallout that comes from them. get a clue, if you need a few bucks to buy one give me your paypal account i'll gladly contribute.
Free money? I'm down. I'll PM you my info. He's being publicly prosecuted. Not legally. Realistically, he's being crucified by the media and idiotic fans. He has a right to say what he wants to, period. Never said he should be protected. I said people talking mad crap is goobered.
You HAVE the RIGHT to yell fire in a crowded place, and your consequences are you go to jail. He has the RIGHT to say what ever he wants but as a public figure and like those up there said a "face of a franchise" he has to deal with the backlash from it. As for him being crucified by the media and idiotic fans, I guess I'm an idiot. This is an extreme but what if your president said he planned to reinstate slavery? Backlash from his Freedom of Speech?
Let me explain a simple concept to you Rich Like Whoa. If you say something stupid on this message board, like for instance me claiming Chris Bosh is better than Shaq, you will be crucified for it by everyone else on this message board. You have the right to say it sure, but if its a goobered comment you are going to get destroyed. Thats what this is too, he made a goobered comment and he is getting destroyed for it. Nobody is attacking him or hurting him so there is no "freedom of speech" issue, he said it, and he wasn't censored or thrown in jail for it. But he said something goobered. So if I, or any memeber of the media feel like saying hes a freaking moron that is our right to do so because we have Freedom of Speech too. Oh, and we are right this guy's comments on Bin Laden were freaking stupid.
First of all, saying Bosh is better than Shaq is grounds for decapitation. You guys are taking my words too literal. Prosecution via the written word is still prosecution, even if it's not on a legall front. Simple point is, everyone is making too big of a deal over it. All of the "he shouldn't have said this" bullcrap is just that: bullcrap. He had every right to. He's right in saying it. And anyone who doesn't like it can purely blow him. Fact is, people can snitch about it. That's their right. Fact also is, everyone who has a problem with it is a freaking idiot.
