Through running this site and personal interactions, pro athletes have become about as bottom of the barrel to me as possible, when you’re talking about their general human decency. Social media is probably the worst when it comes to wishing the only thing you knew about players is what you see while they’re competing during games. The mix of socials media and living in/frequenting the city exposes you to crossing paths with these guys and more often than not, results in losing respect for them as people.
The NFL seems to be in the spotlight the most, by far, for crime and other general misconducts. That’s only because they get caught. Its not that the other leagues have a bunch of angels, they just don’t get caught. I know more messed up things about players in this town than I care to acknowledge. Not to say that there aren’t good guys in the world of pro sports, they just happen to be a HUGE minority, despite what you might like to believe.
If you’re not familiar with Alameda Ta’amu, he’s the genius rookie for the Steelers that sprained his foot walking to Walmart during spring training this year. If you want the in-depth story, google it. It’s easy to find. Here’s the short version. As a sort of rookie initiation, the team told him to walk to Walmart to get some items. He claims his phone said, the distance from camp to the Walmart was 1 mile, but in reality is closer to 3 miles than his projected 1. FYI- If you google maps the Walmart from the Steelers training camp, its 2.2 miles. Somehow he hurt his foot on his 4.5 mile trek. That was the first time I ever really heard of him… until this classy stunt.
By now I’m sure you know, Alameda Ta’amu went on a driving rampage through Pittsburgh, speeding, blowing red lights, swerving to hit cops, smashing into cars, then taking off on foot. I happen to live about 50 yards from where his SUV destroyed its last car, along with itself, before Ta’amu taking off on foot. I was out on my back porch smoking a late-night stogie (I like cigars if you guys haven’t caught onto that yet) and saw about 10-15 cops running all around my block with flashlights, scanning feverishly, looking for Alemeda. It all ended just out of eye-shot, but definitely not out of earshot from me, with a number of officers repeatedly screaming “Get the %$#& on the ground with your hands behind your head!!!” Because I have a tendency to amuse myself almost constantly, I leaned back in my chair and said to myself, “Keep the change you filthy animal.” The quote didn’t really fit the situation, I’m not a witty action movie hero with taglines waiting to be tossed out at any moment, but like I said… I amuse myself a lot.
Below are pictures taken last night by myself and my friend (you might notice I’m in some of the pictures), of the aftermath still left over from Saturday night. Five cars were hit, but only two that I could find were still left in the area. The rest were either drive-able and moved or towed away. One in particular had seen better days, which most of the pictures below, are of. I actually was able to see the owner of the mangled car as he was being interviewed by WPXI and somehow he had a smile on his face. I can assume it was more of a smile of disbelief, absurdity, and “WTF man” than anything.
Then here’s me on my back porch, smoking my stogie, leaning back in my chair, representing ‘Merica, right after justice was served, and me saying to myself “Keep the change you filthy animal.”
