04/25/24
September 14, 2005
On August 28, St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote a column titled Martz has made repairs, so go easy on the criticism, in which he concluded: "But remember, Martz isn't alone at Rams Park. The infighting and politics continue in Earth City. That's disturbing. The executives being paid so handsomely by the franchise owe any Rams head coach their full support. John Shaw, Jay Zygmunt, Charley Armey, Bob Wallace and Samir Suleiman work for the Rams, and their job is to do everything possible to help this organization win. Be it Martz or another man, I don't care who sits in the head coach's office at Rams Park. The head coach should be backed, not back-stabbed, by associates."
Apparently Samir Suleiman, Director of Football Administration for the Rams, took a bit of offense to being called out by name and left Miklasz a voicemail telling him as much. The voicemail that Suleiman allegedly left Miklasz contained the following phrase: "tell your source that I'm not a back-stabber, I'm a (expletive) throat slasher, and he'll know the difference before it's all said and done." Today, the St. Louis Rams have announced that Suleiman has been reprimanded.
posted by Ufez Jones to football at 02:58 PM - 9 comments
I'd say one has a better chance of surviving a back stabbing than a throat slashing. Not that I ponder asassination methods day and night, or anything.
posted by garfield at 04:13 PM on September 14, 2005
The source for the Miklasz column has got to be Martz, right? Local columnists often take the side of the source who feeds them the best inside information. When I was at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the early '90s, our paper had an unnamed source who always seemed to release information sympathetic to Jerry Jones, and the Dallas Morning News had an unnamed source who always seemed to release stuff sympathetic to Jimmy Johnson. I'll give you two guesses as to who the sources were.
posted by rcade at 04:23 PM on September 14, 2005
Tom Landry and Fidel Castro.
posted by yerfatma at 04:45 PM on September 14, 2005
The source for the Miklasz column has got to be Martz, right? You'd almost have to think so, wouldn't you? Miklasz's piece read like a Martz PR Machine Press Release, so I can understand why some of the Rams higher-ups would be upset (and the fans, especially after Sunday's (lack of) performance, ahh, blessed blessed hindsight). That far from excuses the bizarre behavior of an executive that has been with the team for six years, though (not to imply that you or anyone here is excusing the voicemail).
posted by Ufez Jones at 05:09 PM on September 14, 2005
Apparently Suleiman is a freakin' moron, leaving those comments on a guys machine, of all things. Why not post the comments (threats) on a billboard in the middle of St. Louis. As for Martz, regular season winning percentage aside, he is a poor coach, overall. He's been blessed with fine offensive talent, but his ego and need to look like a genius causes the team to fall short in big games. I had a feeling this column was (obviously) written before last weekend's pitiful opening day loss the Rams suffered to the 49ers. When a coach can't take a team that's a heavy favorite and go in and routinely defeat one of the worst squads in football, then that speaks volumes to Martz' ability as a head coach. He took over a team Dick Vermeil built and has proven nothing, really, since.
posted by dyams at 07:15 AM on September 15, 2005
Isn't throat-slashing an automatic fifteen yards?
posted by fabulon7 at 07:54 AM on September 15, 2005
Not if it is aimed at a member of the media. There's really no penalty associated with that. This is according to Kenny Rogers (The pitcher, not The Gambler).
posted by dyams at 09:23 AM on September 15, 2005
Bernie Miklasz has not exactly been a big booster of Martz in the past, but I'd have to agree -- the guy supplying the info that makes Martz sound like a sympathetic genius would most likely be Martz himself.
posted by wfrazerjr at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2005
Not to be a moron, but how is a "back-stabber" any less violent than a "throat slasher"? Shouldn't Miklasz be reprimanded for using such a violent term? Oh, and as someone who has watched Martz from the stands, I think the fact the Rams had three world-class performers (Faulk, Holt and Bruce) and one phenomenon (Warner) meant a hell of a lot more to the offense's performance than Martz's genius. This guy absolutely wasted Faulk's final two good years.