AB's new contract

[Oviedo]

Personally, I'll have no problem accepting Le'Veon Bell back after he retires. That was a business decision. It happens.

However, Brown took a dump on his Steeler reputation and then set it on fire for good measure. Complete scorched Earth.

All I'll say about Brown is "Witch! Burn the Witch!!!!"

Brown is dead to me. Hope the Steelers give his number away immediately. Hope he has painful injury...if that makes me petty so be it.

The lying bastard gets nothing but animosity from me. Nothing he did in the past matters anymore

[RuthlessBurgher]

Brown is dead to me. Hope the Steelers give his number away immediately.

Should we also remove the "84 Lumber" sign from the Jumbotron at Heinz?

84 is now officially considered to be Jerame Tuman's old number until further notice.

[NorthCoast]

Question: when you designate a team to retire under, are you honoring the franchise or the player? Did Brown bring honor to the team?
If I was the owner these are the questions I would want answers to.

[hawaiiansteel]

Personally, I'll have no problem accepting Le'Veon Bell back after he retires. That was a business decision. It happens.

However, Brown took a dump on his Steeler reputation and then set it on fire for good measure. Complete scorched Earth.

sure, I would be willing to smoke a joint with Bell after he retires.

but never with AB...

[Northern_Blitz]

Question: when you designate a team to retire under, are you honoring the franchise or the player? Did Brown bring honor to the team?
If I was the owner these are the questions I would want answers to.

My understanding was that players in the NFL HoF don't "go in" as a member of a team, but as an individual. But, I could be wrong.

[Oh wow]

True for the HoF but what about retirement?

Usually a players signs a one day deal and has a presser when they retire.

but these days players also retire on Instagram and Twitter so who knows.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Usually a players signs a one day deal and has a presser when they retire.

This typically occurs when a mutual respect continues to exist between a player and the team he spent the majority of his career with.

Any remnant of the respect that was once there between the Steelers and Brown could not possibly have evaporated into oblivion any faster even if AB was wearing Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet at the time.

[Oh wow]

I still think he retires a Steeler. Our FO tends to be mature about disgruntled players once they retire.

Faneca called Colbert a liar and he was back in camp coaching a few years after retirement.

Colbert also took the photo with AB once they decided to part ways.

It’s business even though AB made it appear personal.

Fans will probably take longer but they aren’t in attendance for retirement press conferences.

Fans say a ton of means stuff online too but when they see the players they rarely say those things to a players face.

He can’t come back tomorrow but a few years from now I think most people will have moved on and have a new villain they hate on our team.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

His level of bridge -burning far exceeded anyone I can think of in modern sports.
I know I wouldn't pony up for a Brown retirement jersey.

The closest level of animosity and bridge burning that I can recall happened here with the Toronto Raptors with Vince Carter. Of course, it was before the world of social media, but he started doing similar things publicly to depreciate his value. He was eventually traded for a below value haul, and was booed mercilessly for several years every time he returned.

Amazingly, he is still playing (this was in 2004), and there always seems to be talk about him returning for one more season. There has been a reconciliation between Vince and the fanbase. There are several reasons why I don't see something similar occurring with Brown:

- The Raptors were not a good team at the time. Vince was bailing on a sinking ship and not as much of a spotlight.
- Although Vince was the biggest Raptor by that time, this was still a young, unsuccessful, franchise whose fanbase was still developing.
- The Steelers' fanbase is one the the most rabbid in all of North American sports. This will be a hard conversion to win back fans.
- Memories of Vince Carter bring fans back to what was the most successful time in franchise history (up until recently) and he was the man who brought the Raptors onto the NBA stage. As great a player as Antonio Brown was as a Steeler, he never took the team where he was expected to.

[Northern_Blitz]

The closest level of animosity and bridge burning that I can recall happened here with the Toronto Raptors with Vince Carter. Of course, it was before the world of social media, but he started doing similar things publicly to depreciate his value. He was eventually traded for a below value haul, and was booed mercilessly for several years every time he returned.

Amazingly, he is still playing (this was in 2004), and there always seems to be talk about him returning for one more season. There has been a reconciliation between Vince and the fanbase. There are several reasons why I don't see something similar occurring with Brown:

- The Raptors were not a good team at the time. Vince was bailing on a sinking ship and not as much of a spotlight.
- Although Vince was the biggest Raptor by that time, this was still a young, unsuccessful, franchise whose fanbase was still developing.
- The Steelers' fanbase is one the the most rabbid in all of North American sports. This will be a hard conversion to win back fans.
- Memories of Vince Carter bring fans back to what was the most successful time in franchise history (up until recently) and he was the man who brought the Raptors onto the NBA stage. As great a player as Antonio Brown was as a Steeler, he never took the team where he was expected to.

The Islander fans have some good hjate on for Tavares right now too.

I know it's OT, but I hope the Leafs can finally slay the dragon this year.