In locker rooms around the NHL, it’s common to see a the team’s logo printed on the carpet. It’s also an understood etiquette for hockey players to avoid stepping on the logo. To do so is a sign of disrespect.
Well, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick is apparently embracing the hockey player mentality because he went out of his way to protect the Steelers logo on the locker room floor.
In a recent feature from ESPN’s Brooke Pryor, she detailed how Fitzpatrick got tired of seeing footprints on the white logo. And rather than making some sort of announcement about the logo, he went to the team’s equipment staff, had stanchions ordered and roped off the logo himself.
Minkah Fitzpatrick was tired of seeing the footprints on the Steelers’ locker room logo, so he did something about it.
Without fanfare, he added stanchions to rope it off.
“Something as small as keeping our logo clean, it's simple, but it means a lot.”https://t.co/tz8FaSmWs3 pic.twitter.com/LYqZMkT8cS
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) September 7, 2023
Of course, it would have been easier for the Steelers to not have the logo on the floor to begin with. But Fitzpatrick wanted to set an example for the whole team about taking pride in being a member of the Steelers. He said via ESPN:
“I’m very, very big on the details. I think that something as small as keeping our logo clean, it’s simple, but it means a lot at the end of the day.”
That is leadership, technically. However, it didn’t stop fans from making jokes about a roped-off logo. It’s on the floor after all. People are going to walk on it.