Intersting how this subject wasn't brought up here LOL....

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steelers linebacker Joey Porter should have stuck with "Huckleberry."

That's what he called Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.
after the teams played Nov. 19. It was not a term of endearment by any
interpretation. But it was a thousand times better than what Porter
called Winslow after Winslow took a cheap shot at Steelers linebacker
James Farrior late in Steelers' 27-7 victory Thursday night.

"I have no respect for that guy. He's a [slur]," Porter said into the
television cameras, using an insulting term that describes a person's
sexual orientation.

"He's soft, man, he's soft."

Even for Porter, that was way over the edge.

He didn't just embarrass himself.

He embarrassed the Steelers.

Bill Cowher is expected to meet with Porter today to discuss exactly
that when the players report back to work at the team's South Side
headquarters. He called Porter's comments "inappropriate" during his
weekly news conference yesterday.

Porter is expected to apologize today or tomorrow when he meets with the
local media, if not at Cowher's urging, then at his agents'. His
representatives figure to go into full damage control mode over this.
They have Porter's image to rescue. There are potential marketing
opportunities at stake. Even the NFL's most-feared man -- as some have
called Porter -- has to be careful about what lines he crosses.

The NFL could weigh in later in the week with a fine for Porter. It
should be a whopper.

Forget that we live in a P.C. world. That's not the point here, although
Porter's slur was just as offensive to a certain group of people as the
use of the n-word would be to another group.

This is more about business. Porter has made millions from the Steelers
and the NFL. He, like any player, coach, team official or league
official, has to realize who makes all that jack possible. People from
every race, religion, ethnic background and sexual orientation buy NFL
tickets and merchandise. It's pretty stupid to use a derogatory term
that's insulting to any group.

Actually, Porter used it twice the other night.
Shame on him.

This isn't the first time Porter and Winslow have had words. Before the
first game in Cleveland this season, the two exchanged trash talk as the
teams warmed up. "It was good. I need that. It got my rage going,"
Porter said afterward. "I know I've got my Huckleberry now."

Everyone laughed.

Probably even Winslow.

Winslow took a different approach with Porter last week. He tried to
shake his hand before the game only to be rebuffed. Porter wanted
nothing to do with him.

Then, Winslow took a 15-yard personal foul penalty for knocking Farrior
down after a fourth-quarter play, prompting outrage from many of the
Steelers. Linebacker Larry Foote was among the most vocal, calling
Winslow and the Browns "wannabes and never-will-bes." Porter just took
it too far.

Hardly anyone laughed this time.

Certainly not Winslow.

"If he wants to be a tough guy or whatever, that's fine," Winslow told
the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "But that's a classless act. I see what type
of guy he is now and just lost a little respect for him."

In a sense, Porter is one of the Steelers' all-time most fascinating
characters.

There probably isn't a guy with a bigger heart on the team. That showed
before the final regular-season game against the Detroit Lions last
season when he organized a tribute to Steelers defensive coordinator
Dick LeBeau and moved LeBeau to tears by having the players wear
LeBeau's retro No. 44 Lions jersey to the game. "The last thing you want
to do is let him down," Porter said of his enormous respect for LeBeau.
It also showed before Super Bowl XL when he held back the other players
so Jerome Bettis could lead the team on to the field in Detroit, his
hometown. "I wanted the cameras to shine on him alone," Porter said.

Those were amazing acts of kindness.
But Porter has another side. He occasionally gets caught up in the
macho, most-feared-man nonsense. His trash talking is usually more
humorous than annoying. "Joey will talk about your mother. He'll get
personal with you and say anything," Foote has said. But, occasionally,
Porter loses his grip. It happened after a game against the Baltimore
Ravens in 2003 when he chased Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis to the
Ravens' team bus, presumably to fight. It also happened before a game in
Cleveland in '04 when he was involved in a skirmish with Browns running
back William Green and was ejected.

Most regrettably, it happened last week.
This was worst of all.