Columnist gets threat from Rams executive

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."