ST. LOUIS -- An executive with the St. Louis Rams will be
reprimanded for leaving a threatening phone message on the voice
mail of a St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist.
The Rams told the Post-Dispatch that team executive Samir
Suleiman faces discipline, but declined to say what it would be. A
call to the Rams on Wednesday was not returned.
"It's shocking that he would leave a message like that," Rams
president John Shaw told the Post-Dispatch. "It's the type of
behavior that we don't condone at any level. He will be
reprimanded, and it will be handled internally."
On Aug. 28, sports columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote that he was
disturbed by "infighting and politics" within the Rams
organization, and said executives owe any head coach their support.
"Be it (Mike) Martz or another man, I don't care who sits in
the head coach's office at Rams Park. The head coach should be
backed, not back-stabbed, by associates," Miklasz wrote.
Suleiman left a message on Miklasz's voice mail, stating, in
part, "tell your source that I'm not a back-stabber, I'm a
(expletive) throat slasher, and he'll know the difference before
it's all said and done."
Suleiman, director of football administration, has worked for
the Rams for six years. He assists president of football operations
Jay Zygmunt on salary cap issues and contract negotiations.
Shaw said the phone message showed "a lack of judgment. I
really don't understand it, to be honest with you."