skinslove<3
August-14th-2008, 10:03 AM
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20015210&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182120&rfi=6
08/13/2008Steelers come to Smith's defense By MARK KABOLY , Daily News Sports Editor
Thuggery. The word a Pittsburgh-based columnist used to describe safety Anthony Smith's action last week during a practice in which he clobbered receiver Hines Ward during non-contact drills has made several Steelers flaming mad, including the head coach.
.............Safety Ryan Clark also took exception.
"I don't think it's right to single out a person or use words like thuggery," he said. "You've never heard of Anthony Smith being in a bar brawl. You've never heard of him carrying a gun, things that you associate with thuggery. Bill Romanowski spit in a man's face on the field, one of his teammates, to the point he was sued and you never heard that used. Not to bring race into it, but is it because he is black that these acts are called thuggery? Because a man has tattoos or may play a certain way, it doesn't make him a thug. I'm more sensitive to this topic because in a lot of ways Sean (Taylor) was given a label he didn't deserve."
Taylor, the former Redskins safety who was murdered in his home last year, was one of Clark's close friends. "
It was an ignorant statement," Smith said. "It shouldn't have been made. I was just upset about it."
08/13/2008Steelers come to Smith's defense By MARK KABOLY , Daily News Sports Editor
Thuggery. The word a Pittsburgh-based columnist used to describe safety Anthony Smith's action last week during a practice in which he clobbered receiver Hines Ward during non-contact drills has made several Steelers flaming mad, including the head coach.
.............Safety Ryan Clark also took exception.
"I don't think it's right to single out a person or use words like thuggery," he said. "You've never heard of Anthony Smith being in a bar brawl. You've never heard of him carrying a gun, things that you associate with thuggery. Bill Romanowski spit in a man's face on the field, one of his teammates, to the point he was sued and you never heard that used. Not to bring race into it, but is it because he is black that these acts are called thuggery? Because a man has tattoos or may play a certain way, it doesn't make him a thug. I'm more sensitive to this topic because in a lot of ways Sean (Taylor) was given a label he didn't deserve."
Taylor, the former Redskins safety who was murdered in his home last year, was one of Clark's close friends. "
It was an ignorant statement," Smith said. "It shouldn't have been made. I was just upset about it."