Frank Coonelly

By now, I am all sure that you are aware of the news of Frank Coonelly and his DUI citation from December that broke yesterday.

I come at this from an admittedly biased viewpoint, because I consider Frank a personal friend. that said, I make no excuses, none, for what he did. Driving while impaired is absolutely one of the worst things that a person can do, and it is most fortunate that no one was injured or worse when this event occurred. Frank certainly owned up to what he did, apologized, and I am sure that he will bear whatever punishment the justice system metes out to him.

I just want to say that I consider myself fortunate to know Frank, and I know that he is a good and decent person. One bad decision and a single aberration doesn't change who a person is, not in my mind, anyway.

I find it interesting that the news broke on the same day that, buried deep on page 5 or 6 of the sports pages, was the news of Hines Ward's plea deal on his DUI, which Pittsburgh seemed to conveniently "forget" all football season, of last summer. I am bothered by the fact that in the last 24 hours I have read and heard more righteous indignation from people over Coonelly's transgression that was heard for the last six months over Ward's.

Not that there is a double standard where the Steelers are concerned, of course.