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What Is Philly.com Trying To Prove? E-mail
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Written by tecmo   
Wednesday, 12 August 2009 09:43

Thanks to Steely McStupid for pointing this out to me.

Apparently, Philly.com is up in arms (sure...pun intended) about some really old photos of the Steelers shooting guns. You know, the ones I found back in January (at the old blogspot page here). The ones that made it to such esteemed blogs like Deadspin and Bob's Blitz. Hell, I even used a closeup of Silverback in the above picture as my Twitter picture for about 4-5 months until I got a totally sweeter picture of Reducto.

I don't claim to know the NFL's policy on guns. Dan Levy reprinted some of it here, but does that pertain to photos from 3+ years ago?

Mostly, I'm amazed that it can take a situation like this to see how far print and mainstream media is behind the times. My website isn't huge, but when these images make it to places like Deadspin, the word gets out. Why wasn't the "shooting party" under investigation right after it happened? Is there that much of a miscommunication with our state police? That in itself is quite scary, that a questionable practice involving our state police was able to go unnoticed for 3 years. Why wasn't there an inquiry when the photos I found made it around the web back in January? If Philly.com was taking advantage of the spotlight, which is pretty big on the defending champs in the middle of training camp, why didn't they do so when the team was getting ready for the big game? ESPN.com had no problem taking that route.

So the end game is unclear to me. Is Phily.com trying to tarnish the crown on the defending champs? Are they merely pointing out the failures of the state police? Yes, I'm asking way too many questions, but this is too confusing to just let slide. Because as Philly.com chastises the police, they include this quote:

"Most disturbing is a group portrait of the athletes and troopers, in which two players adopt gangster poses and point their firearms at their comrades' heads."

Gangster poses? Please...elaborate. Do you mean black men? Thugs, perhaps? Because when I think "gangsters," I'm thinking of Dick Tracy hiding from a tommy-gun-toting Flattop or Big Boy Al Caprice. And what I see in the picture is a black guy, as pointed out by their article, the second guy from our right, their left, pointing a pistol at the picture-taker.

All in all , this is a very confusing situation, and one that Phily.com failed at in several instances. I'm sure there will be more on this as it develops, so stay tuned, or the "gangsters" on the Steelers will shoot you.

Comments (9)Add Comment
Gun Culture
written by PintofStout, August 12, 2009
Why does everyone soil their drawers when they see someone with a gun? There is a very definitive gun culture with a history as old (older?) than this country. Is their range safety lacking? Are they holstering their pieces in a pair of sweatpants? Sure, maybe their poses would demonstrate a lack of concern for safety if the guns were indeed loaded (who knows?), but the only people the pants-wetters in the media condone having weapons are the same folks who can shoot themselves in a safety demonstration (a.k.a. a state trooper somewhere on YouTube, I believe).

So some Steelers posed in a picture with guns. Wow. I suppose they were terrorizing the old white ladies there, too, right?
...
written by Reeg, August 12, 2009
Some of the Steelers there were *gasp* white, so you can put the race card away for now, thank you. The target of the investigative report is not your beloved Steelers, it's the derelict PA State Police, so calm down.
Relax
written by heyguy, August 12, 2009
I think it's pretty clear from the tone of the philly.com article that the real problem here is with the police violating protocol and possibly the law, and less so the fact that it's the Steelers. I'm not sure about how you came across them when you used the originally, but from the old pages you linked to, there's no context. There's no indication that the guns used were state property or taken from evidence, as they apparently were. There's also the issue of why the cops were allowing them to shoot with no eye and ear protection in some of the photos. And under no circumstances should the supervising officers have been allowing a player to point a gun at the cameraman. "Gangster poses," whatever, it's semantics and maybe a dumb choice of words, but I don't think you'd have to strain to hard to find someone doing it on a rap album cover.

And as someone who's lived in both cities, I can say with absolutely certainty there's no interest on the part of the Philly papers in "tarnishing the crown" of the Steelers. There's no interest in taking down the Steelers among the Eagles fans. When the Pens play the Flyers, sure, but that's the beginning and the end of the rivalry between the cities. This story is about the police, and that they appear to have abused power and privilege. Maybe they did it for a chance to hang out with some football heroes, and that's about the extent of how much this story is really about the Steelers.
sgdhsdghn
written by tec at psamp, August 12, 2009
Some of the Steelers there were *gasp* white, so you can put the race card away for now, thank you. The target of the investigative report is not your beloved Steelers, it's the derelict PA State Police, so calm down.


Philly.com directly points out the guy "second from right." Keisel was there, but he's not the "second from the right." In fact, Keisel wasn't even in the picture that they used.

I think it's pretty clear from the tone of the philly.com article that the real problem here is with the police violating protocol and possibly the law, and less so the fact that it's the Steelers. I'm not sure about how you came across them when you used the originally, but from the old pages you linked to, there's no context. There's no indication that the guns used were state property or taken from evidence, as they apparently were. There's also the issue of why the cops were allowing them to shoot with no eye and ear protection in some of the photos. And under no circumstances should the supervising officers have been allowing a player to point a gun at the cameraman. "Gangster poses," whatever, it's semantics and maybe a dumb choice of words, but I don't think you'd have to strain to hard to find someone doing it on a rap album cover.


I already stated that the issue is primarily with the police. But re-read the Deadspin story on this today. They have a clarification from Philly.com. They said they struggled with deciding to run the story because it was so old. They ran it now, when the spotlight is the brightest on the defending champs...a day before their first preseason game. You're blind if you believe MSM sources don't release certain stories at certain times to capitalize on public interest. Guess who is going to be on national tv tomorrow? Guess what now has a chance at being brought up during the game?
...
written by heyguy, August 12, 2009
Guess who is going to be on national tv tomorrow? Guess what now has a chance at being brought up during the game?


What are they going to say? "Tackle by James Harrison, who, in case you haven't heard, was shooting guns with state police at the invitation of the state police. Three years ago." He's had bigger problems.

The only thing anyone could say about any of the Steelers is that they shouldn't be photographed pointing guns at other people. Because they shouldn't. But it's the police who are going to be under fire here, not the players. The author told Deadspin there was debate about running the story because the photos were old. If the previously available photos have only now been put into context of the police breaking the law, it's now a story. And I'm of the belief that police breaking the law should always see the light of day. If it happens that Steelers were there, so be it. They'll see no problems from this.
dtujmktgukc
written by tec at psamp, August 12, 2009
What are they going to say? "Tackle by James Harrison, who, in case you haven't heard, was shooting guns with state police at the invitation of the state police. Three years ago." He's had bigger problems.


It's a preseason game. 3/4ths of it is going to be boring as hell, with a ton of dead air. Not saying it is going to be brought up, but the announcers have a better chance now that the story came out the day before the game. Plus, it's ESPN MNF crew.

I totally agree with the second part of your comment. If the police are in the wrong, they need to be punished. The timing is my main problem (aside from the gangsters comment). I'm a blogger...so excuse me if I immediately question the motives of an MSM source when something like this happens to pop up the day before the Steelers open play...after the photos were a part of the public knowledge for 7 months. Maybe they only made the connection to the police range recently, but that's still giving them a huge benefit of the doubt.
...
written by heyguy, August 12, 2009
Plus, it's ESPN MNF crew.


Given the way they've been (NOT) covering allegations of far more serious things, like Ben and now Rick Pitino, I'd be shocked if the MNF crew brought it up. What could they even say aside from bashing the state police? I understand where you're coming from, but I think with this story, there's no there there when it comes to the Steelers.
dhmhjm
written by tec at psamp, August 12, 2009
It's just needless distractions. After the Super Bowl XL win, Ben and the team had too many distractions, and it haunted them through a terrible 06 season. This offseason, the team was incredibly proactive about limiting off-field distractions following a SB, but now third-parties have created distractions that wouldn't, or shouldn't have even been brought up in the first place.

The assault charges, to this point, seem incredibly shady and fabricated, but now that cloud hangs over the team. To this point as well, it seems like a media blitz that was timed exactly as the Steelers opened camp to generate as much buzz as possible.

Now, here's another distraction, brought about by a third-party, that may or may not have any merit as it pertains to the team. And again, the timing is questionable. It's exactly what ESPN did in the story I linked up in the post...they waited for the AFC Championship Game to publish a story that has no real implications against the Steelers, but is enough of a media smear against a team going into a high-profile event.

Yes, this most likely won't affect the Steelers, but this was published immediately after I first found out that there was even a stink about it...and when the Dan Levy link in the post first posted the NFL's guidlines regarding guns. At that point, no one knew if there could be any negative implications against the team.
...
written by badvibesdude, August 13, 2009
"The only people the pants-wetters in the media condone having weapons are the same folks who can shoot themselves in a safety demonstration (a.k.a. a state trooper somewhere on YouTube, I believe)."

Right on, dude. It was the same after the Stanton Heights shooting. People hem and haw about gun control, but they never ask why our society is so violent in the first place. I can do as much, if not more, damage with an automobile if I really want to kill people. The same people that complain about private citizens having guns never question the increasing militarization of the police or the use of war rhetoric in crime control.

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