Mike Tomlin bans ping pong, billiards in the locker room following 0-4 start
By Ross Jones, FOXSports.com The NFL locker room is the players’ sanctuary. It’s a place to get away from the coaches, media, agents, owner(s), trainers and front-office personnel. Players, typically, like to blast music at very high levels, kick back on lounge chairs or unwind by playing some games such as billiards or Ping-Pong. Yeah, that’s no longer happening in Pittsburgh. Head coach Mike Tomlin has banned all games in the wake of the team’s 0-4 start, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Look, nobody likes losing. But stripping players of the right to partake in such activities could lead to a Schiano-like locker room. Well, fortunately for Tomlin the veterans have bought in. "It makes everything focus on football right now," left guard Ramon Foster said, "which is A-OK with me." Steelers free safety Ryan Clark has been in the league for 12 seasons, and he’s cool with it, too. "Nobody is really tripping about it," he said. "We understand the spirit in which it's done in, and we're just playing football." In fact, the edict initially came from the players. A group of veterans, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and defensive end Brett Keisel, reportedly prohibited younger players from participating in these types of activities. "It divided the team in a way since one set of people couldn't do a certain thing," said Clark, one the Steelers' captains. "[Tomlin] just wanted everybody to be together because we're all in the losses together. We're all in the business of fixing this problem together, and we didn't want anything to divide us." Anyone else eager to see if less ping pong equals more rushing yards for Le’Veon Bell? We’ll see Sunday against the Jets. Questions? Comments? Send them to lacesoutmail@gmail.com and we might respond in our weekly mailbag!
