Link: Holmes On His Attitude
As the Star-Ledger’s summer questionnaire begins to wind down, Jenny Vrentas had a chance to go one on one with Santonio Holmes. Within the article, Santonio has a chance to talk about his new life in New York and his attitude.
How have you assimilated into the Jets since being traded in April?
I’m not trying to come in here and steal anybody’s shine. I just want to work. I’m going to compete with you guys. I’m going to help you as much as possible. I’m going to talk to you about the things you’re doing wrong, and I’ll expect the same from you, talk to me about the things I’m doing wrong. … Those guys know ‘Tone’ is here; we can trust him now. He’s not a guy that’s coming here with an ego problem, taking somebody’s starting job. That’s what I’m here for, but that’s not the attitude I’m going to bring. I’m going to be a team-first guy. I know what it feels like to win a Super Bowl, and to bring that attitude here is what these guys need.
In spite of his off the field issues, I believe this speaks a lot to Holmes’ character on the field. He isn’t going to pull a Terrell Owens and boo-hoo if he doesn’t get all the catches he wants. He is here to help Sanchez in his development and bring the Jets one step closer to the Super Bowl.
61 Responses to Link: Holmes On His Attitude
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I agree. This also puts a damper on the critics concerns about the fact that Holmes and Edwards may not gel well.
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I hope you guys are right- but we haven’t even started camp yet- it’s easy to have a good attitude.
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I am thinking about going up to Buffalo for the Jets game. Anyone on here been there for a game? Anything I need to know?
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“In spite of his off the field issues”
How long is this going to be the disclaimer in every single Santonio Holmes article?!
Just because the guy smokes pot doesn’t make him a Ricky Williams. Jeez, if anything, a guy who smokes should get along BETTER with his new teammates than one who doesn’t…-
Well, if not for his attitude problems he wouldn’t be a Jet. I’m guessing that will be a stigma he has attached to him for a long time regardless of how he behaves.
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There were NEVER attitude problems. I HATE when people say that. The Steelers had to do something to show they wouldn’t just stand pat as the inmates ran the asylum. Big Ben was off “forcing girls to have sex but not raping them” so when Holmes got into his bar incident (a girl called him an N-word and he threw a glass, or his friend did, I honestly don’t care if he did it himself that’s just scumbag behavior by the woman) the team had to act. His contract situation (1 year left) had something to do with it, but the team, by the fan/player/coach accounts, shipped out a great player, friend, teammate and person.
Never has attitude been mentioned outside of idiotic “journalists” who don’t do any research.
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If throwing a glass at a woman doesn’t reflect an attitude problem than I don’t know what does. Was she in the wrong, absolutely, do you throw a glass at her? Absolutely not.
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Name another one.
And the police report said he threw the glass at the wall, in her “general area”. A scare tactic. I’m not black, nor do I pretend to understand the hurt that word brings to a black person, but I have many black friends and they all agree that is the filthiest word you can utter to a person of that race.
I don’t blame him for it.
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Holmes has acknowledged selling drugs on the street corner of his hometown of Belle Glade, Florida as a teenager; he says that his mother’s influence and a desire to play professional football made him decide to stop.[10]
Holmes was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida on May 27, 2006 for disorderly conduct.[11] Charges were subsequently dropped after Holmes paid a fine. Holmes was arrested for a second time on June 18, 2006 for domestic violence and assault in Columbus, Ohio.[12]
On July 7, 2006, Holmes appeared in Franklin County Court in Columbus, Ohio for both a pre-trial regarding the domestic case and hearing regarding the traffic ticket. He plead no contest to the traffic ticket and agreed to pay a fine. While Lashae Boone, the mother of Holmes’ daughter and the victim in the assault case, requested that the domestic violence and assault charges be dropped, the prosecutor refused. Boone and their daughter accompanied Holmes to court. The charges were later dropped.[13]
On October 23, 2008, Holmes was arrested in Pittsburgh and cited by officers for possession of marijuana.[14][15] He released an apology after missing a game, stating that he wished to “focus all of [his] efforts on helping our team win on the field and achieve its ultimate goal.”[16]
On March 24, 2010, Anshonae Mills filed a lawsuit against Holmes over a March 7 incident in which she alleges Holmes threw a glass at her in an Orlando nightclub, resulting in a cut above her eye. Initially, Mills did not pursue charges, claiming Holmes and the police intimidated her into it, but the case has been reopened. Subsequently, after a Twitter comment criticizing the nightclub incident, Holmes told the follower to “kill urself.” He later Tweeted it was time to “wake n bake,” a reference to marijuana.[17] Holmes alleges his account was hacked and it was not him making the comments.[18]
On April 29th, according to a report filed by authorities at Pittsburgh International Airport, a flight attendant told police that Holmes wouldn’t turn off his iPod when requested and asked that officers speak to him. Holmes got off the Colgan Air flight and spoke to the officers, who reminded him to comply with regulations, but did not charge the wide receiver with anything. Holmes later talked to Jets head coach Rex Ryan about the incident.
… sounds like someone with an attitude problem to me.
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So…
He was a troubled teenager, poor, and sold drugs to get by, hold that against him now. That’s fair.
Disorderly Conduct. I have one of those. It’s for being drunk in public when you’re too young to handle it. Holmes was 22 when he got that and the domestic violence charge (also dropped, probably a heated argument where the mother of his kid got scared; she accompanied him to the court and petitioned the case to be dropped, which it eventually was).
So, all attitude transgressions were 22 and younger.
Weed isn’t an attitude problem. The ipod thing was beat to death. He had his headphones on, but the ipod was off. The flight attendant didn’t listen to him so he got made that she was ignoring what he was saying.
When you actually research, none are real attitude problems. He was immature for most, and the last was a misunderstanding.
Not a problem child in the least.
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Well, to be fair, charges were dropped on the domestic abuse issue, even his wife requesting so. The Ipod incident is overblown, so thats a non-issue. The rest is weed-related. Teenage drug use is not a big deal. NFL use during the season is a big deal. That should not be happening. But NFL players ruin their bodies for the entertainment and profit of others, toking some weed is a non-issue as far as I’m concerned. Just don’t get caught. And don’t let it affect your performance. Missing one game is a big deal because of it, no question, but he would go on to have an awesome season and even better Super Bowl so again, non-issue.
That said, you bring up good points and the above is my opinion. But Holmes has never been criticized for being a poor teammate, or not putting in the effort, or failing to be accountable. His problems have been outside of football. Inside of football, he hasn’t cause any problems. Besides, to be make in the NFL you need an attitude of some sort. /big generalization
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I think he is the player I am most excited to see coming into the season. He is a real play maker and I think his addition will be a huge boost to the offense. We never should’ve traded Santana Moss…
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Brendan – you seem like a good guy but I don’t understand your comment about “you don’t blame him”. If that were your mother/sister/wife/daughter I’m SURE you would blame him regardless of what was spoken.
You don’t assault women, bottom line. The dude is a scumbag, but hopefully he can help the Jets win.
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I get it. Poor Santonio Holmes is just a victim of the press. Let’s all turn our heads and pretend like he’s an angel.
I’m out.
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If that was my mother/sister/wife/daughter I would be embarrassed and appalled that they used that word.
And, again, according to reports he didn’t throw it AT her. He threw it against a wall and was loud because, you know, she used a slave word to refer to him by. Sounds like a real victim herself.
And I didn’t say Holmes is an angel. But when you have a few slip-ups when you’re 22 and under it is unfair for people (media, fans, you) to assume that’s how he will be/is as an adult.
Have you ever heard an interview, or watched him speak? He’s soft-spoken and calm. He’s not a hot head. But everyone has their breaking points, and the N-word happens to be his.
Again, weed isn’t an attitude problem.
And again, the iPod thing has been talked about a ton here, mainly it happened about 2 seconds after the Jets traded for him. He wasn’t Ben Stiller in Meet The Parents, he was talking to the human equivalent of a tree stump and she refused to listen to what he was saying.
“You headphones are on your head, your iPod MUST be on!”
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I agree with Brendan. We’re not talking about “forcing girls to have sex but not raping them”, dogfighting or shooting yourself with your own gun in a nightclub. Im not saying the guys a saint, but to call him a scumbag?
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yes, if you used that word maliciously and you were my sister/mother/wife/daughter, i’d beat you myself. i added the word maliciously, cause i love them racist jokes. and before you judge me, i’m asian, i hear racist jokes against me all the time, and they make me crack the f up. RUSSELL PETERS IS A FUNNY DUDE!
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A ticket, posession, minor incident in a bar, airline major takedown, pretty minor stuff in my estimation. Certainly not scumbag-worthy. Let the man play. That’s what we’re paying for, not his social life.
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I think I would do something a lot worse to my mother/sister/wife/daughter than throw a drink at them if I heard them say the N word, especially directly to a person of color
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the point with Santonio for me at least, is that his transgressions may be minor in nature but they present an overall pattern of immaturity and bad decision making – and it is pretty hard to dispute that. im not saying he is a boyscout but domestic voilence, disorderly conduct, assault…not great things to have on your rap sheet. and i dont think smoking weed is the worst thing in the world, but when it causes the guy to forfeit 1/4th his 2010 salary as punishment, and he continues to make comments like “wake and bake” on twitter, it just paints the picture that he is immature and a borderline idiot. it makes it look like he does not take his job seriously.
i still love the move from the jets perspective and will be rooting for this guy to succeed. but there is a reason we got a former superbowl MVP for a 5th round pick. there are a number of red flags with this guy, as highlighted above.
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Domestic violence isn’t on his rap sheet. It was dropped. Same with assault.
Disorderly Conduct is lawyer-speak for “the town wants money, pay a fine and go home” meaning it was a joke of a transgression. Most likely being drunk or something of that nature.
I understand the worry people have about the weed. But realistically, it’ll be legalized in the not-too-distant future and I think it’s just people holding on to an old world ideal to think of it as evil or something.
Brian,
You make great points, but the only thing I’d have to say is that a teammate or coach has never said Holmes doesn’t bust his rear to get ready for every single game. He loves football, and is a student of the game. As long as he can stay off the green stuff in-season, I doubt we’ll ever hear his name on Sportscenter for anything other than highlights.
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the thing about weed is that while most of the pulblic do not consider it to be a big deal (and count me as one), the NFL does and it has landed him in the substance abuse program. as a result, his 2nd strike will be a much longer suspension. that is a big reason why the steelers cut ties with him – they didnt want to give a guy like him a big extension and then have him miss huge chunks of football because he isnt diciplined enough to stop smoking
and i dont think anything he has done in the past off the field is that earth shattering. but for better or worse, he now has a bulls eye on his back and he needs to be on his best behavior….he cant be making idiotic twitter comments, acting up on an airplane, etc, because the media will be on him like flies to sht. i hope he gets this
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NY Smoke – To me for you to defend that lady for using a degoratory word and expecting him not to react to me says alot about your character bro. Is that how we justify stuff now? I mean him throwing glass doesnt help the situation but Im pretty sure if he turned the other cheek this story wouldnt have made the news at all. So yeah Brendan you have a point media has their way of putting a spin on a story to gain the audience’s attention and he happens to be story (the price of being an athlete) but I guess the media is right for doing that as well right?
Now if anyone of you are saints and havent smoked weed or gotten in any type of trouble before the age of 22 then hey more power to you but for the majority of us who got in some kinda of trouble it’s an learning experience and I’m pretty sure he has learned from them because it isn’t like he got arrested six times, and kept staying in trouble with the law, and got call the commish’s office on more than one occasion, got suspended for a year, and now play for the bengals!!!
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Where on earth did I defend her? I said what she did was wrong. It doesn’t matter what a woman SAYS to you, you don’t assault her! Have some god damn self control.
There is nothing a woman can say that should make assaulting her OK.
The POINT I’m trying to make about Santonio, is that based on his history their seems to be sufficient evidence to suggest he has some kind of attitude problem. Go ahead and attempt to dismiss every bad thing against him, you sound silly. At some point you have to point the finger at him when ALLLLL these things keep going against him.
What do you think he just has really bad luck?
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And if you honestly believe something a woman says makes it OK to assault her then you’re a scumbag too! Listen to yourself!
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Bent says: Okay, let’s not start throwing names about.
He didn’t say it was okay to assault her, just that he can understand why he reacted.
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Well his reaction was to throw a glass at her so apparently he’s condoning that activity.
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Bent says:
I’d like to think that although he threw a glass in her general direction, he had no intention of physically causing her harm. I expect Ron feels the same and would never condone deliberate violence in such a situation.
Of course, doing that is still very wrong and none of us know his true intentions in that moment. I expect he deeply regrets reacting in such a way but Ron is right to point out that in an equivalent situation, many other people would react emotionally, although most would hopefully restrain themselves so their reaction fell short of throwing a glass or whatever (which was your point).
Ultimately, I don’t want an argument between posters about this issue, because it isn’t going to end well. Hope you understand why.
I can see both your points and don’t think anyone is fully excusing his actions, just trying to understand them.
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Brendan – I always respect your opinion on this blog and generally agree with you but it seems to me that for every situation that Holmes has been in you look at it as if he was in the right and dismiss any possibility that he was in the wrong. I can understand “innocent until proven guilty”, but when someone has a history of troubled behavior it’s very likely that they were in the wrong at least part of the time.
You want to defend him because he’s a Jet and I understand that, but I think you’re being naive in this case if you truly believe that he’s just falsely being portrayed in a negative light.
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Bent says:
I think it’s pretty obvious he needs to grow up, but hopefully the fresh start/clean slate is just what he needs.
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I don’t think he is an angel. I think you’re holding minor incidents when he was young (selling drugs as a minor, minor arrests when he was 22) against him. The iPod thing was stupid and the glass throwing could have been much worse. That’s an extremely heated situation and he didn’t handle it well, but he could have handled it worse.
As long as he doesn’t smoke in season (and I don’t think he would risk passing one his numerous drug tests) I don’t see him causing any kind of problems. He has growing up to do, but he isn’t a scumbag or a bad person by any means.
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I think Holmes will stay out of trouble for this year at least. Him and Edwards are both playing for a contract and with Revis, Mangold, and Harris still needing deals, there’s no way both Holmes AND Edwards will be on the team in 2011. Therefore, Edwards and Holmes will both be on their best behavior and competing at their highest level. I personally hope Edwards wins the battle, as a U of M fan I have been a huge Edwards fan since his college days. Hopefully he performs the way he did for the Browns in ’07 and he wins the battle. But as of right now, Sanchez has a lot of options to go to whether it’s Cotchery, Holmes, Edwards, Keller, Joe McKnight or LT out of the backfield.
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Zartan says:
Weed will never be legal. As long as the powers that be, are spending money on movies,games etc… To keep you from paying attention to what’s going on in the world. Weed is powerfull against inception.
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Weed is legal in multiple states. “Medical” weed but my friend has clearance and he is about as sick as Big Jenks is small. Its coming, trust me.
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brenden-
I think the real issue is the weed. Not in a “hey weed is bad way”, but in the holly s**t, please don’t let this guy get suspended again.
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It’s taking long enough. What’s worse for society weed or booz? I’d rather people smoke. At least they are too busy staring at the tv to get in their cars or start fights!
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I cannot believe some of you think it’s OK to assault a woman if she says the wrong thing. That says quite a bit about what kind of person you are.
(I responded to a bunch of other things above)
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Nobody thinks it OK. But you called him a scumbag and that’s what we’re reacting to. We have a more tolerant view of not-OK versus going straight to scumbag as you did.
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Ehh – sorry, guys who assault women are scumbags in my eyes. You guys can look at the “innocent until proven guilty” angle all you want but when someone is repeatedly reported as being involved in these types of things it’s usually because they are.
And there are a number of comments where people are saying they “don’t blame him” for throwing a glass at a woman because of something she said, so don’t tell me no one thinks it’s OK.
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Smoker,
I just want to make clear I don’t condone hitting a woman. I never have and never will hit a woman, and I think men who raise their hands to females are cowards and get their rightful place at the bottom of the Prison Totem Pole (just above rapists and child molesters).
That being said, Holmes didn’t assault the woman in question. He threw a glass against the wall and yelled at her. This isn’t the same as trying to hurt her or hit her. That’s what I’ve been trying to say over the course of my posts.
Hitting a woman is always wrong. I just don’t think Holmes intended to hurt the woman, just scare her out of using that filthy word.
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Show me the report that says he threw the glass against the wall and I’ll show you 5 that say the glass hit her in the face, cutting her above the eye.
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That was her initial claim. If that was the case Holmes would be in jail. There’s a reason she dropped the case, because she didn’t have one.
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And she would be in jail for making a false police report if she really did. These guys have money, great publicists and an entourage available at their disposal.
It seems awfully fishy that the story just ended, does it not?
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Come on, Smoker.
How many people file reports then don’t follow through with them? Happens ALL the time. Not saying it’s never fishy, but it literally happens multiple times a season.
“Player X did (insert stupid/immoral/illegal act here), but charges were never filed”
I feel like it’s a weekly occurrence in the NFL now.
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You and I will never agree on this subject. There are a list of incidents Holmes was reported to have been involved in. Your opinion is that in every one of those cases, Holmes was innocent. I disagree.
Agree to disagree.
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Fair enough.
For the record: I don’t think he’s innocent in each case. I think most can be dismissed as youthful immaturity, and the glass throwing incident isn’t as bad as it was initially portrayed.
Either way, the guy has said and done all the right thing since getting here so let’s just hope it stays that way.
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The more and more I hear about this kid the more I like him. If push comes to shove and the Jets can only afford to keep either Holmes or Edwards… I see them keeping Holmes.
Love reading quotes like that. I can’t wait to see what he brings us Week 4!