It's not a race issue; it's a replaceability issue

[Gnutella]

I briefly worked for a group of local radio stations as a remote technician. I was the guy who assisted the on-air personalities whenever one of our stations would broadcast live on location from somewhere. I also made sure that all the equipment was set up and functioning properly. Essentially I was like a concert roadie, except I didn't need to set up nearly as much stuff. In terms of technical proficiency, I was vastly inferior to the station engineer. The station engineer is the guy who literally keeps all the radio stations on the air, and broadcasting properly. For example, if a transmitter gets hit by a bolt of lightning, he's the guy climbing up the antenna to fix it. Now let's assume for a moment that both he and I get arrested for DUI. Guess who keeps his job, and guess who gets fired? He keeps his job, and I get fired. Because his technical skills are far superior to mine, he has far more job security than I do.

As it pertains to football, a franchise QB is the hardest position to replace in the NFL by far. Being a QB involves a set of skills that few football players possess. This is why their salaries are the highest of anybody on the team: it's simply an issue of supply and demand. It's also why they have more job security than any other position. On the other hand, only RBs are easier to replace than WRs. They're not quite "a dime a dozen," but losing a good WR won't necessarily cripple a team, especially if they have an elite QB. (The Steelers let Plaxico Burress go, and they won the Super Bowl the following season.) If a QB is elite, then his WRs don't have to be in order for the team to be a contender.

Basically, anybody who thinks that the Steelers are being racist by keeping Ben Roethlisberger and trading Santonio Holmes fails to see the bigger picture here. This has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with replaceability. Plain and simple, Santonio Holmes is much more easily replaceable than Ben Roethlisberger is, regardless of the colors of their skin.

[SteelGhost]

Nice read Gnutella

[RoethlisBURGHer]

Anyone who sees this as a race issue is a complete racist moron.

The Rooneys are not racist. The rule that requires teams to interview at least one person of minority for head coach and upper level front office positions is called the "Rooney Rule" because Dan Rooney pushed for it. When Bill Cowher resigned as head coach, they hired Mike Tomlin, a black head coach....one of very few in the National Football League.

This trade had to do with the fact that Santonio Holmes broke a big promise to Tomlin and the Rooneys by failing or not showing up for a drug test. He's been in trouble with drugs before and the Steelers decided to get rid of him.

[AllD]

Ba-ba- booey.

[Godfather]

Santonio has been arrested three times. Ben hasn't had a run-in with the law (the motorcycle incident was a traffic violation).

After the wacky weed bust, they told Santonio "this is your last chance." Don't be surprised if they told Ben the same thing with this incident.

[CaliStillersFan]

It's not a race issue nor is it a replaceability issue

It has to do with convictions vs no convictions. 2 drug violations equals bye bye. Everyone's trying to make this more complicated than it is.

[Set-Man]

Convictions= Kicked off Team
Warnings=Warnings

[steeldawg]

Lets be real here it has to do with santonio holme's contract. It's up after this year and it was doubtful we were going to resign plus with the 4 game suspension he would of only played 12 games this season. A fifth round pick was the best offer we got for him because he has been an expensive inconsistent number 1 at best with off field issues. A team is not gonna take a flyer on a guy for one year who will be suspended and give up more than a fifth.

[KeiselPower99]

Holmes was gone after this year. We got an extra pick for him and we have a respectable WR core without him and we get to see more of Wallace.

[CaliStillersFan]

I'm glad we got ARE back. I missed his smiling face. He always reminded me of a mini-Hines. My hope is that Sweed finally makes a breakthrough, but it's good knowing we got ARE if Limas turns back into stone hands after the pre-season like last year.