The agent for Steelers kicker Jeff Reed says his client will contest multiple citations issued to Mr. Reed after he was forced to the ground and arrested during a confrontation with police outside a North Side bar. Columnist Ron Cook calls this incident an embarrassment to the Steelers. What do you think? [Read P-G story.]

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 C'mon,

This is a mild incident in the National Felon's League (NFL.) This team better pull it together fast. With Ben's pending rape trial and Reed's alcoholism Donn Rooney needs to call his underboss Mike Tomlin and git things organized!

 So what! A guy has a couple of beers and acts silly....you would think the world was coming to an end. He'll learn from it. Let him pay his debt and move on. Really, get a life.

 Well, since this is the second time Jeff Reed has been arrested while under the influence, we can at least infer that he has a drinking problem.

As far as his interaction with the police on Sunday night, there may or may not be a little exaggeration on both sides, but it is most likely that something was going on or the police wouldn't have been involved in the first place. 

 It's a good thing for Jeff Reed that the G-20 is over!  With all those out of town thugs policing our city, had a couple of them come upon Jeff Reed and his urinating friend I'm sure they probably would have bashed their skulls in!

The police are being more aggressive with the populace these days. I don't condone what Matt Spaeth was doing but I strongly doubt the incident went down as the police described. These days, if you question a police officer you're likely to get cited for assault - even if you are in the right. This is backed up by the bar manager mentioning that several people had been tased outside the bar by police and nothing was reported. It appears that police are being trained to view those who pay their salaries as slaves they are justified in assaulting and battering with impunity. I say arrest Spaeth, let Reed go home with his parents and have Spaeth sleep it off overnight. Its likely he won't put himself in that same situation again.

I also encourage all to totally abstain from alcohol and drugs including the deadly pharmaceuticals drugs the doctors push. This way you give the police no reason to react against you -  justified or not.

 I thought that I heard somewhere that you were innocent until proven guilty.  Jeff Reed went out for drinks after his work week.  If you work a normal Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 type of job, I'd say that it's highly probable that at some point, you've gone to Happy Hour downtown on a Friday after work.  That is what Jeff Reed did.  He wasn't driving.  He wasn't even the one who drew attention to the police.  I'm sure that he got out and tried to play the "do you know who we are" card.  Perhaps that's the extent of it.  Maybe they happened to be a couple of Tackleberry-type cops who are way too hard core.  I'm sure you realize that police brutality occurs.  Is it unreasonable to believe it could have happened here.  Mr. Cook, I'm disappointed in the fact that you've chosen to present this story prior to obtaining the facts and letting the legal system play out.  I'm tired of your articles and the negativity you portray.  I believe I've read the last Ron Cook article ever, perhaps even the last post gazette article.  Kudos to you Mr. Cook, you've done well for the Tribune readership!

Only people as thoughtless as Jeff Reed would disagree with Ron Cook on this one.  But why give Matt Spaeth a bye in the article?  Urinating Matt was the reason Jeff got in trouble in the first place.  Tomlin needs to re-explain to these guys, "Time to grow up.  You're not in high school any more."  At the very least, Reed needs substance abuse counseling.

On top of the well-publicized legal troubles of Roethlisberger this season and of Holmes last season, the Steelers are in danger of getting the kind of reputation for off-field adolescent behavior that tarnished the Oakland Raiders a few years back.  The Rooney family will not tolerate this nonsense.  I'll bet K. Colbert's speed dial already holds the phone number of Piotr Chezh. 

 I hope after he trys to snake out of this one he finds a less public place to party and celebrate. Alot of people look up to Jeff Reed and admire and appreciate things he's done. He needs to keep the disorderly conduct behind closed doors. I've heard from his friends he like to party, so he needs to do that less publicly.   My only Steeler Jersey is a #3 Original Jeff Reed. He's a great guy!  Lets keep him on the Steelers and be positive that he'll be a bit more restrained.  LOVE YA JEFF !

 First, it is an embarassment to himself and his family.  Second, to the Steelers.  Apparently, this has been an ongoing problem with "I can't handle my drinking" and Mr. Reed.  I hope he gets the help he needs and remains with the Steelers.  He is a role model to children, which comes along with being a professional in the limelight.  These kinds of actions are magnified because of who he plays for--The Steelers.  Right now, he is not doing a good job.  I wish nothing but the best for him.

 Hell with the embarassment stuff for the steelers. I see a lot more on the field embarassment and the future looks worse with the antics and bravado of a culture in football.

Lets get real here. He could cost us a game and his career. Bottomline. Thats the concern. 

Open letter to Jeff Reed. Jeff, I have been there done that. You are simply drinking too much, and your body is changing. Instead of being a happy go lucky drinker after your 8th cocktail, the pressures of the world, who knows, you are getting more angry and noticed. Trust me, its a bummer. I was older, fatter, balder, and making a lot less money than you when it finally hit me. I did though save my potential marriage, and now its 18 years later, career is strong. I am though fatter and balder...LOL..

You have harmed nobody, you have made no major life errors yet. If you are blaming others for this incident, I simply rest my case. Ya gotta grow up, I know its a ***, ain't college frat house no more. I still sip sometimes the devils brew, but in my back yard, gate locked, in the california sun. You just have to pick your location very carefully and who you are hanging with. Its easier said than done I can assure you. This will take effort and strong mental decision making on your part. Go Steelers, Go Jeff Reed, hope the sincerity and humor of experience helps. David   Experience, that's what ya get when you don't get what you wanted....

 This is a non-story. Reed wasn't drinking and driving. He just got out of the vehicle to assist Spaeth who was being cited for taking a pee in a parking lot (which I'm sure most of us have done). I'm sure this is a case of the Pgh cops escalating the situation. They have a habit of doing this don't they? Either way this is no big deal.

Some of Ron Cook's columns are also an embarrassment to the Steelers and to all of us.  He likes to stir the pot but I hope he doesn't quit his day job whatever that may be because writing columns like this shouldn't be it.

Let's face the facts the Steeler players are high profile and whatever they do it's going to get blown out of proportion.  The cops on the other side are underpaid and under appreciated so what do they do when they get an opportunity.  They make it hard on some unsuspecting citizen like Reed especially when they should be chasing the real criminals of which every city has or protecting the Innocent citizens.  Like the shooting and the stabbings that exist every day.  So let's calm down and worry about the Vikings not Reed. 

 Certainly Reed's antics don't rise to the level of many other NFL bad boys' but nonetheless he is acting badly and it does cast a bad tone on our team.  It is possible that the cops over-reacted but Reed put himself in the line of fire and did it in front of his parents.  That part is the most shocking to me, that he'd show his tail in front of his own mother.   I think our kicker has some anger issues that he needs to deal with.  If not, he's likely going to short-circuit his career with the Steelers if he hasn't already forfeited a contract extension.  

Grow up. Get married. Have a family. That'll straighten him out.

Talented kicker with an eternal frat boy mentality.