Dunlap: Antonio Brown Fighting Wrong Battle
AB will get KO'd in all of this.
He won't win. He won't come close to winning.
No, Antonio Brown will get knocked out in this fight by a family of old-school, North Side Irish street brawlers.
If there's one thing you learn in Pittsburgh it is this: Don't pick a fight (or even what appears to be the semblance of a fight) with the Rooney Family.
They are Pittsburgh's version of the Kennedy Family and old-school Irish people don't lose (m)any standoffs --- especially when money is at the root of all of it.
News hit on Monday that Brown, the Steelers' dynamic wide receiver and perhaps the finest in the NFL, was attempting a power play with the Steelers.
Brown is not in attendance at the first day of the team's voluntary offseason workouts, as he is looking for a new contract, even as he has three years remaining on a five-year $40+ million extension he inked in 2012.
Bad move, AB.
Again, you are walking straight into a KO.
You see, it isn't in the cards for the Steelers to re-sign players --- who aren't quarterbacks --- until they are going into the final season of their contracts.
If there's one thing the Rooney Family dislikes more than losing, it is being publicly embarrassed. Brown's small show of defiance on Monday as he missed a workout doesn't rise to the level of defiance yet, but if this stalemate is to linger on into camp ---- and Brown becomes a holdout ---- believe me, the Rooneys won't take kindly to this matter being played out in public.
And, after all, this is a tactical error by Brown because it simply cannot work.
Want proof?
Ask Hines Ward.
Then, when you are done with Ward, go and ask Alan Faneca about such an approach with the Rooney Family.
Both Ward and Faneca hit the canvas after sustaining crushing blows from the Rooneys when they tried to stomp and shout about a new contract.
Ward held out in 2005 and the Steelers held their ground, refusing to have communication with the fan favorite until he showed up in camp at St. Vincent.
It is my opinion that the Steelers --- with Art Rooney II dictating things --- would have sat back and let Ward rot in street clothes; the organization would have never had begged him to come back.
Begrudgingly, and with tail firmly between legs, Ward finally rolled into Latrobe.
The game was played the Rooney Way --- as it always is in Pittsburgh.
It was not going to be dictated by Ward, the Rooneys were not going to have their hand forced and Ward was eventually going to have to show up before the two sides would do any talking.
In the end, Ward came under heavy public criticism, missed a few weeks of camp and the sides agreed to a four-year extension.
When Faneca tried to pull his power play, the Rooneys didn't buy that, either.
In 2007, Faneca was seeking a long-term deal to remain in Pittsburgh and missed most of the offseason itinerary in a show of insolence.
Perhaps learning from Ward, Faneca showed up at camp, played his contract out and moved on to the New York Jets.
When it was go-time, Faneca seemed to know better than to pick a true fight with the Rooney Family.
Who knows, perhaps Antonio Brown will learn the easy way, or it might take the hard way for him to learn.
But I know something as this has all started to play out, I don't need to see the end of the fight to tell you how it's going to end: Brown will get KO'd by the Rooney Family.
They are undefeated in such matters.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
