Busy week for LeGarrette Blount. On Monday night, he decided to leave the Steelers-Titans game early. The Steelers released him hours later.
On Thursday, he was practicing with the Patriots after signing a two-year contract with them.
There was much consternation in the Steelers Nation over the Patriots' decision to welcome back Blount, but why? It was just sports business as usual.
The first rule of sports is winning. If an organization thinks an individual can help achieve that goal, his history doesn't really matter that much.
Back in 2000, the Penguins employed a player, Billy Tibbetts, who had spent more than three years in prison on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a BB gun), disorderly conduct and witness intimidation. Those charges came while he was on probation for statutory rape. He was required to register as a sex offender. When the Penguins signed Tibbetts, co-owner Mario Lemieux called him "a great story."
Long after the Penguins traded him, Tibbetts got into more trouble that involved leading police on a high-speed car chase. By then, Tibbetts had no value as a hockey player, so he ran out of chances.
But the exploits of an outlaw hockey player pale in comparison to the level of tolerance shown by institutions of higher learning.
Bobby Petrino is the head football coach at Louisville. He had been there before, but left to join the Atlanta Falcons. When the Falcons were 3-10 in the 2007 season, Petrino left. He made the announcement with a four-sentence statement that was left in each player's locker.
It was then on to Arkansas, where things got really interesting. Petrino was involved in a motorcycle accident. He would later admit a female employee of the athletic department was a passenger on the bike. At some point he acknowledged that he was involved in a romantic relationship with the woman, which certainly must have disappointed Mrs. Petrino.
Arkansas fired him, so he went to Western Kentucky, where he signed a four-year contract and stayed one year. That's when Louisville brought him back.
So after he'd walked out on several jobs and led a double life, Louisville decided Petrino was the guy for them. Why? Because the university believes he can win games.
Space limitations prevent the full recap of Todd Graham's career. But Arizona State had no problem hiring him after he walked out on Pitt without notice and had an aide forward a goodbye text message to the team.
Winning isn't the only thing. But it's clearly No. 1. Other considerations, like character, are much lower -- if they're even on the list.
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--TAKING A BREAK
Eleven games down, five to go, the open week is a good chance for the Steelers to do some evaluation and to light some candles in the hope that Le'Veon Bell stays healthy.
Their playoff chances probably hinge on winning the AFC North, so the games against the Bengals (there on Dec. 7, here on the 28th) loom large.
The Steelers' wobbly defense will probably determine how much success they have. The offense is good enough (provided Ben Roethlisberger and Bell stay healthy), but the defense has to step up.
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--MIX IT UP
Remember when people thought the Steelers needed to switch full-time to a no-huddle offense?
They didn't use it once in Tennessee on Monday. The huge numbers they piled up recently came while using the no-huddle much less than they had earlier in the season.
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--NO NEUTRAL SITE
The NFL gave some consideration to moving the snowed-out Jets-Bills game from Buffalo to Heinz Field.
It's going to Detroit instead. It could have been fun. Presumably there would have been discounted tickets and tutorials on the names of the respective offensive coordinators for the traditional in-game cursing.
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--IMPULSE BUY
Does anything in MLB make sense?
The Blue Jays committed five years and $82 million to Russell Martin, and they didn't even really need a catcher.
After spending that amount of money, they're now looking to fill their real needs at second base, left field and the bullpen.
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--MOVING ON
So long, Ike Davis.
Those endless discussions with the umpires over called third strikes will be missed.
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