Dan Rooney James Harrison vs. Cedrick Wilson What was the basis for Harrison vs Cedrick? March 19, 2008; Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend. Was Wilson arrested for this? March 8, Rooney failed to offer any type of discipline to linebacker James Harrison for slapping his girlfriend. Did the case go to court? When asked about the incident involving Wilson, Rooney stated that "the Steelers do not condone violence of any kind, especially against women,". How did either man respond to the allegations? Rooney said that the cases were different and stated that "I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept.
Who else responded or made a statement?
Who else responded or made a statement in addition to Rooney?
On March 19, 2008; Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend. However earlier that month, on March 8, Rooney failed to offer any type of discipline to linebacker James Harrison for slapping his girlfriend. When asked about the incident involving Wilson, Rooney stated that "the Steelers do not condone violence of any kind, especially against women,". However, he was then confronted about this by Ed Bouchette and Michael A. Fuoco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who asked why Harrison was not punished for committing the same crime.  Rooney said that the cases were different and stated that "I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept. The circumstances--I know of the incidents, they are completely different. In fact, when I say we don't condone these things, we don't, but we do have to look at the circumstances that are involved with other players and things like that, so they're not all the same. What James Harrison was doing and how the incident occurred, what he was trying to do was really well worth it. He was doing something that was good, wanted to take his son to get baptized where he lived and things like that. She said she didn't want to do it."  Rooney later said that Harrison had no intention of harming his girlfriend when he went to her house to pick up his son. "The situation angered him. He didn't go there with intent." Meanwhile, Rooney stated that the Wilson case was different. According to Rooney "[Wilson] knew what he was doing. He knew where his [former] girlfriend was and went to the bar looking for her. When he got there he punched her. That's different and I understand he expressed no regret.  Afterwards Rooney was criticized by the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh as a result of his comments. ESPN's Matt Mosley later wrote that Rooney's attempt to "explain that Harrison's heart was in the right place ... had to be one of the worst Public Relations moments in club history." CANNOTANSWER
Rooney was criticized by the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh as a result of his comments. ESPN's Matt Mosley later wrote that Rooney's attempt to "explain
Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 – April 13, 2017) was an American executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football team in the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers' founder, Art Rooney. He held various roles within the organization, most notably as president, owner and chairman.

Rooney implemented a philosophy and management style that emphasized open, practical and efficient management. The Steelers were very successful during his tenure, winning 15 division championships, eight AFC Championships, and an NFL record six Super Bowl Championships. In 2000, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game. He was also credited with spearheading a requirement that NFL teams with head coach and general manager vacancies interview at least one minority candidate, which has become known as the "Rooney Rule".

Outside of football, Rooney served as the United States Ambassador to Ireland, from July 2009 until his resignation in December 2012. He was also co-founder of the Ireland-related fundraising organization The Ireland Funds.

Early life and education
Daniel Milton Rooney was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Kathleen (née McNulty) and Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Art Rooney. In the Steelers organization, Rooney was involved in many aspects of the franchise from the time he was a young boy, often assisting his father at Pitt Stadium and Forbes Field. He grew up in the North Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh and attended North Catholic High School where he excelled as the team's quarterback. He was also the coach for the St. Peter's Elementary school football team, which was quarterbacked by future CIA Director and lifelong friend Michael Hayden. Rooney was mentored by Fran Fogerty, Joe Carr and Ed Kiely. These men assisted in teaching him the business of football. After graduating from Duquesne University, with his major in accounting, he knew football was what he wanted to pursue.

Career

In 1960, Rooney originally worked as director of personnel for the Steelers. By early 1969, Rooney was managing the day-to-day operations of the team and personally selected the coaching hire of Chuck Noll. Rooney was appointed team president in 1975 and was officially given full operational control of the franchise. His father remained Chairman and President Emeritus, as well as the public face of the franchise, until his death in 1988.

Rooney generally avoided the spotlight, but he was a very active owner behind the scenes. Rooney helped lead the negotiations of the collective bargaining agreement of 1982, and is largely credited both by owners and players of having ended a strike that lasted half of the season. He was also one of the main architects of the salary cap, which was implemented in 1993. Rooney became the patriarch and controlling owner of the team, following the death of his father. In 2003, Rooney followed in his father's footsteps by slowly ceding day-to-day operations of the franchise to the next generation of the family. While Rooney was still chairman, and to many fans, the public face of the team, his son Art Rooney II assumed full operational control of the Steelers.

In 1995, Rooney was influential in trying to stop the Steelers' biggest rival, the Cleveland Browns, from moving to Baltimore. Along with Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson, he was the only owner to vote against the move and was a driving force in ensuring the Browns return to Cleveland in 1999.

Sale of the Steelers
On July 7, 2008, Rooney and his son, team president Art Rooney II, announced that they were seeking to buy out his brothers' shares in the team. The team initially said that some of Rooney's four brothers want to "get out of the NFL and focus their business efforts on their racetracks and other interests." The Wall Street Journal reported that the Steelers had "been secretly shopped to potential buyers amid continuing divisions among the five sons of the team's founder, Art Rooney Sr." This forced the Steelers to announce that prolonged, ongoing negotiations were under way concerning the "restructuring" of ownership, which could have resulted in the sale of the franchise or a consolidation of control within the Rooney family. Discussions had supposedly been taking place for the last two years. The use of the phrase "ensure compliance with NFL ownership policies" referred to the family's gambling operation. At the time of publication, they owned Yonkers Raceway, a harness racing track outside of New York City, and Palm Beach Kennel Club, a greyhound racetrack in West Palm Beach. The New York racetrack had been owned by the family since 1972, and the Florida racetrack had been owned since 1970. The team said "these facilities have added forms of gaming that are inconsistent with NFL gambling policy.", relating to the then-recent installation of slot machines. According to league policy, no NFL owner may own, directly or indirectly, any interests in a gambling casino. The NFL defines any facility with slot machines as a casino.

The Steelers' statement said that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asked former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue to "serve as a league representative in discussions with the family in order to reach an agreement on the separation of the gambling interests and on a restructuring of ownership if the team is sold." Any sale involving an NFL team is subject to a league review and must be approved by 75% of member clubs. The Steelers were valued at $929 million by Forbes magazine in September 2007. However, Rooney's brothers: Art Jr., Tim, Patrick and John released a statement confirming that they retained Goldman, Sachs & Co. to put a price tag on the franchise, and analysts in New York placed its value between $800 million and $1.2 billion. Their shares were likely worth more than Dan and Art II had offered in the initial buyout, and it could have raised even higher and still remain under the NFL's ceiling of $150 million in ownership debt. Each Rooney brothers' stake was worth about $160 million, or less than Dan was believed to be offering. Art Jr. was the brother who might have determined if the majority of the team remains in the Rooney family. He was formerly a Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee for his drafting skills, and was fired by Dan in 1987. The brothers likely would not have retained Goldman Sachs if they felt they could soon work out a deal with Dan. The move also reflected on their fears that selling to Dan, coupled with the ensuing taxes, could leave their children and grandchildren with far less money than their shares are worth. There was also concern if any of the brothers were to die without a change in ownership, their heirs would face estate taxes of up to 45% of the shares' value. Rooney worked with Morgan Stanley and PNC Financial Services to attempt to bring in additional investors who might prop up his buyout attempt.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Duquesne Capital Management chairman Stanley Druckenmiller was apparently interested in acquiring the team. On July 8, The Associated Press reported that a deal could be reached within days to sell a majority interest in the Steelers to Druckenmiller, taking control of the franchise away from the Rooney family. However Rooney, stopped short of guaranteeing that he and his son, would be able to stay at the helm of a team. He hinted that "many people," not just Druckenmiller, might be interested in the NFL franchise. Later, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello stated that the NFL would continue to support the Rooneys in their efforts to retain control of the Steelers, and maintained the franchise would not relocate to another city, only that the ownership will either change or be consolidated.
 
On November 21, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Tim and Pat planned to sell each of their 16% stake in the Steelers, so they could remain involved in racetracks and casinos in Yonkers and West Palm Beach. John and Art Jr. each planned to keep a little less than half of their 16% stake, and Dan and Art II, were trying to acquire 30% of the team to abide by NFL policy and compiled a list of investors who, in essence, would become their new partners in the franchise.

Controversies

James Harrison vs. Cedrick Wilson
On March 19, 2008, Rooney released wide receiver Cedrick Wilson from the Steelers, after he was arrested for punching his former girlfriend. However earlier that month, on March 8, Rooney failed to offer any type of discipline to linebacker James Harrison for slapping his girlfriend. When asked about the incident involving Wilson, Rooney stated that "the Steelers do not condone violence of any kind, especially against women". However, he was then confronted about this by Ed Bouchette and Michael A. Fuoco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who asked why Harrison was not punished for committing the same crime. Rooney said that the cases were different and stated that "I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept. The circumstances—I know of the incidents, they are completely different. In fact, when I say we don't condone these things, we don't, but we do have to look at the circumstances that are involved with other players and things like that, so they're not all the same. What James Harrison was doing and how the incident occurred, what he was trying to do was really well worth it. He was doing something that was good, wanted to take his son to get baptized where he lived and things like that. She said she didn't want to do it."

Rooney later said that Harrison had no intention of harming his girlfriend when he went to her house to pick up his son. "The situation angered him. He didn't go there with intent." Meanwhile, Rooney stated that the Wilson case was different. According to Rooney "[Wilson] knew what he was doing. He knew where his [former] girlfriend was and went to the bar looking for her. When he got there he punched her. That's different and I understand he expressed no regret.

Afterwards, Rooney was criticized by the Women's Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh as a result of his comments. ESPN's Matt Mosley later wrote that Rooney's attempt to "explain that Harrison's heart was in the right place ... had to be one of the worst Public Relations moments in club history."

Steelers taxes and taxpayer funding
In August 2004, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writer Bill Steigerwald reported that Rooney's team received $5 million in state funds for a new, $12 million amphitheater. This was in addition to the $158 million in public subsidies the organization received to build Heinz Field. Steigerwald wrote that: Since the Steelers don't own any taxable property, the Rooneys dodge city and county real estate taxes. Heinz Field, which the Steelers operate and profit from in myriad ways, is owned by taxpayers through the Sports and Exhibition Authority. The team offices, practice field and workout facilities are leased from UPMC's tax-exempt Sports Performance Complex. Steelers players pay payroll and occupation taxes like everyone else. Fans pay the 5 percent city amusement tax on each ticket. But the Steelers - like a few other profit-making corporations - aren't exempt from paying both a city mercantile tax (3 mills on concessions, etc.) and a city business privilege tax (6 mills on gross receipts). Tax officials say these taxes are highly complicated to compute – and the final amounts the Steelers pay are top secret.

Ambassador to Ireland

On March 17, 2009, President Obama announced he had nominated Rooney to become the next U.S. ambassador to Ireland, citing the owner's longstanding support for Irish-American charitable causes. In 2008, Rooney gave $30,000 to a Democratic Party committee that aided Obama's campaign, according to CQ MoneyLine, a non-partisan group that tracks political contributions. According to David Lewis, a Vanderbilt University political scientist and the author of The Politics of Presidential Appointments, "giving coveted ambassadorships to political supporters is a relatively low-risk way for presidents to repay campaign debts."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swore him in as the new ambassador to Ireland on July 1, 2009. Rooney presented his credentials to Irish President Mary McAleese on July 3, before making his first official speaking engagement at a lunch hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.

In an April 2011 interview with The Irish Times, Rooney mentioned that he would consider resigning his ambassadorship in order to campaign for Obama's re-election. In a prepared statement released after that interview was published. Rooney stated, "I was asked what I could do to help [Obama] in the next election and I responded that the best thing I could do would be to help him campaign. Were I to do so, it would require my resignation as ambassador to Ireland. However, I am very pleased with my accomplishments to date and I intend to continue to carry out my duties." On December 14, 2012, he resigned as ambassador to Ireland and returned to Pittsburgh. He would eventually be replaced in June 2014 by Kevin O'Malley.

Personal life

Rooney was married to his wife Patricia Regan for sixty-five years. They first met in the office of the Steelers where she was working, and got married soon after. The couple had nine children together, although he was predeceased by two of his daughters. Rooney was also the maternal great-uncle of actresses Kate Mara and her sister Rooney Mara.

In 2008, he surprised many with his public endorsement of Barack Obama for president. The family had traditionally been very private on politics, even being rumored to have a Republican bent. Rooney responded to his public endorsement with: "When I think of Barack Obama's America I have great hope. I support his candidacy and look forward to his Presidency."

Rooney was the benefactor of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and Vice-Chairman of The American Ireland Fund. He was also a Founding Chairman of The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. He was named to the PoliticsPA list of most influential individuals in Pennsylvania politics in 2002. In 2008, Rooney became an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He won the 2009 Jack Horrigan Memorial Award, presented by the Pro Football Writers Association to honor a league or club official "for his or her qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their job." He was recognized in 2016 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

Death
Rooney died at the age of 84 on April 13, 2017. Attendees at his funeral in Pittsburgh included former president Barack Obama and former secretary of state John Kerry. His burial was in Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery, Ross Township, Pennsylvania.

See also
List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines

References

External links

 
 Biography for Ambassador Daniel M. Rooney – via archive.org

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1932 births
2017 deaths
Ireland Funds
Ambassadors of the United States to Ireland
National Football League team presidents
Pittsburgh Steelers executives
Pittsburgh Steelers owners
Honorary Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Duquesne University alumni
Pennsylvania Republicans
Sportspeople from Pittsburgh
Rooney family
American people of Irish descent
American Roman Catholics
The dangling else is a problem in programming of parser generators in which an optional else clause in an if–then(–else) statement results in nested conditionals being ambiguous. Formally, the reference context-free grammar of the language is ambiguous, meaning there is more than one correct parse tree.

In many programming languages one may write conditionally executed code in two forms: the if-then form, and the if-then-else form – the else clause is optional:
 if a then s
 if b then s1 else s2

This gives rise to an ambiguity in interpretation when there are nested statements, specifically whenever an if-then form appears as s1 in an if-then-else form:

 if a then if b then s else s2
In this example, s is unambiguously executed when a is true and b is true, but one may interpret s2 as being executed when a is false (thus attaching the else to the first if) or when a is true and b is false (thus attaching the else to the second if). In other words, one may see the previous statement as either of the following expressions:
 if a then (if b then s) else s2
 if a then (if b then s else s2)

The dangling else problem dates to ALGOL 60, and has been resolved in various ways in subsequent languages. In LR parsers, the dangling else is the archetypal example of a shift-reduce conflict.

Avoiding ambiguity while keeping the syntax

This is a problem that often comes up in compiler construction, especially scannerless parsing. The convention when dealing with the dangling else is to attach the else to the nearby if statement, allowing for unambiguous context-free grammars, in particular. Programming languages like Pascal, C and Java follow this convention, so there is no ambiguity in the semantics of the language, though the use of a parser generator may lead to ambiguous grammars. In these cases alternative grouping is accomplished by explicit blocks, such as begin...end in Pascal and {...} in C.

Depending on the compiler construction approach, one may take different corrective actions to avoid ambiguity:

If the parser is produced by an SLR, LR(1) or LALR LR parser generator, the programmer will often rely on the generated parser feature of preferring shift over reduce whenever there is a conflict. Alternatively, the grammar can be rewritten to remove the conflict, at the expense of an increase in grammar size (see below).
If the parser is hand written, the programmer may use a non-ambiguous context-free grammar. Alternatively, one may rely on a non-context-free grammar or a parsing expression grammar.

Avoiding ambiguity by changing the syntax
The problem can also be solved by making explicit the link between an else and its if, within the syntax. This usually helps avoid human errors.

Possible solutions are:
Having an "end if" symbol delimiting the end of the if construct. Examples of such languages are ALGOL 68, Ada, Eiffel, PL/SQL, Visual Basic, Modula-2, and AppleScript.
Disallowing the statement following a "then" to be an "if" itself (it may however be a pair of statement brackets containing only an if-then-clause). This approach is followed by ALGOL 60.
Requiring braces (parenthesize) when an "else" follows an "if".
Requiring every "if" to be paired with an "else". To avoid a similar problem concerning semantics rather than syntax, Racket deviates from Scheme by considering an if without a fallback clause to be an error, effectively distinguishing conditional expressions (i.e if) from conditional statements (i.e when and unless, which do not have fallback clauses).
Using different keywords for the one-alternative and two-alternative "if" statements. S-algol uses if e do s for the one-alternative case and if e1 then e2 else e3 for the general case.
 Requiring braces unconditionally, like Swift. This is effectively true in Python as its indentation rules delimit every block, not just those in "if" statements.

Examples
Concrete examples follow.

C
In C, the grammar reads, in part:
 statement = ...
    | selection-statement

 selection-statement = ...
    | IF ( expression ) statement
    | IF ( expression ) statement ELSE statement

Thus, without further rules, the statement
if (a) if (b) s; else s2;
could ambiguously be parsed as if it were either:
if (a)
{
  if (b)
    s;
  else
    s2;
}
or:
if (a)
{
  if (b)
    s;
}
else
  s2;
In practice in C the first tree is chosen, by associating the else with the nearest if.

Avoiding the conflict in LR parsers
The above example could be rewritten in the following way to remove the ambiguity :
statement: open_statement
         | closed_statement
         ;

open_statement: IF '(' expression ')' statement
              | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE open_statement
              ;

closed_statement: non_if_statement
                | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE closed_statement
                ;

non_if_statement: ...
                ;

Any other statement-related grammar rules may also have to be duplicated in this way if they may directly or indirectly end with a statement or selection-statement non-terminal.

However, we give grammar that includes both of if and while statements.

statement: open_statement
         | closed_statement
         ;

open_statement: IF '(' expression ')' statement
              | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE open_statement
              | WHILE '(' expression ')' open_statement
              ;

closed_statement: simple_statement
                | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE closed_statement
                | WHILE '(' expression ')' closed_statement
                ;

simple_statement: ...
                ;

Finally, we give the grammar that forbids ambiguous IF statements.

statement: open_statement
         | closed_statement
         ;

open_statement: IF '(' expression ')' simple_statement
              | IF '(' expression ')' open_statement
              | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE open_statement
              | WHILE '(' expression ')' open_statement
              ;

closed_statement: simple_statement
                | IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE closed_statement
                | WHILE '(' expression ')' closed_statement
                ;

simple_statement: ...
                ;

With this grammar parsing of "if (a) if (b) c else d" fails:

statement
open_statement
IF '(' expression ')' closed_statement ELSE open_statement
'if' '(' 'a' ')' closed_statement 'else' 'd'

and then the parsing fails trying to match closed_statement to "if (b) c". An attempt with closed_statement fails in the same way.

See also
The lexer hack
Most vexing parse

References

Parsing
Computer programming
Ambiguity
Conditional constructs In United States law, a statement against interest is a statement made by a person which places them in a less advantageous position than if they had not made the statement and is, as a consequence, deemed credible as evidence (usually within a legal trial).  For example, if a driver in an automobile accident boasts publicly that they were speeding, it may represent a legal admission of liability. It is analogous to the criminal equivalent, the statement against penal interest which is a statement that puts the person making the statement at risk of prosecution. In the United States federal court system and many state courts, statements against interest by individuals who are not available to be called at trial (but not other persons) may be admitted as evidence where in other circumstances they would be excluded as hearsay.

Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, Rule 804(b)(3) provides:

"A statement that:
 
(A) a reasonable person in the declarant's position would have made only if the person believed it to be true because, when made, it was so contrary to the declarant’s proprietary or pecuniary interest or had so great a tendency to invalidate the declarant’s claim against someone else or to expose the declarant to civil or criminal liability; and

(B) is supported by corroborating circumstances that clearly indicate its trustworthiness, if it is offered in a criminal case as one that tends to expose the declarant to criminal liability."  See Fed. R. Evid. 804(b)(3).  The rule was last amended on December 1, 2010.  See Legislative History (with links to key documents).

See also
 Criterion of embarrassment

Against interest
United States law
Civil law (common law)
Evidence law