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“Steelers’ LB Accuses Titan Coach of Pouring Coffee on Him”


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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/2003/playoffs/news/2003/01/08/steelers_coffee_ap/

Feel the burn

Steelers' Porter says Titans assistant poured coffee on him

Posted: Wednesday January 08, 2003 11:16 PM

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- NFL coaches are accustomed to being drenched in Gatorade. Dousing players with a hot beverage isn't customary, but Steelers linebacker Joey Porter is accusing a Tennessee assistant coach of doing that to him.

The All-Pro linebacker remains angry that Titans strength and conditioning coach Steve Watterson spilled the beverage on him as he tumbled out of bounds during Tennessee's 31-23 victory Nov. 17.

The Steelers and Titans will play in an NFL divisional playoff game Saturday, and Porter plans to use the incident as motivation.

"I tackled [steve] McNair and we went out of bounds, and a little baldheaded guy came over and threw some coffee on me," Porter said. "He thought he was slick about it. He handed the cup to his player. I saw the whole thing on tape.

"I was hoping we'd get to play them again."

Porter said one of the cameras used by coaches to record plays from different angles caught the act.

"I could have gone to the league and tried to make him lose his job over that because he tried to burn me," Porter said. "But I'm not going to worry about that. Coffee is not going to kill me ... it was just coffee. It was cold that day, anyway."

Several Steelers teammates said Porter later related the incident to them.

"Joey told us what happened and a lot of guys were in disbelief," safety Lee Flowers said. "Personally, I can't believe the NFL would let a coach get away with that. If that was a player who did that, we would be suspended. It's just uncalled for for a coach to do that to a player. We're all supposed to be family in the NFL. What if the coffee was scalding hot?"

The Titans say it was chicken broth, not coffee, and that it accidentally spilled onto Porter as players piled into the bench area.

Titans publicist Robbie Bohren said as players, coaches and others working along the sidelines moved swiftly to get out of the way, the chicken broth accidentally spilled from Watterson's cup.

Watterson was apparently trying to move others out of the way at the time.

"It wasn't done maliciously," Bohren said. "There was a lot of stuff going on and it spilled out."

Steelers publicist Ron Wahl isn't certain if the team reported the incident to the NFL.

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