Brown tweets his criticism of Steelers

Antonio Brown’s laundry list of issues with the Pittsburgh Steelers appears to include a problem with how head coach Mike Tomlin treated the Pro Bowl wide receiver during the regular-season finale against Cincinnati and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s leadership style.

Brown, who has requested a trade, took to Twitter on Saturday to vent in what amounted to his first expanded public comments since a falling out with the organization.

Asked by a Twitter user about the root of his conflict with Roethlisberger, Brown responded: “No conflict just a matter of respect! Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches. Players know but they can’t say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It’s a dirty game within a game. #truth.”

Brown also called out Tomlin for the way he handled Brown during the final week of the regular season. The team sent Brown home two days before the season finale and ordered him to get some rest and have his knee examined. Brown arrived at the stadium in time for the game but did not dress after the team made him inactive.

“After the coach tell the team I quit while nursing some bumps then invite me to watch the show with same guys thinking I quit,” Brown tweeted. “I can not stand with that!”

Obituary: Gene Littler, whose fluid swing carried him to 29 victories on the PGA Tour and a 1961 U.S. Open title at Oakland Hills, died Friday at 88.

Littler held his own among the golfing greats to emerge from San Diego with a tempo to his swing that made the game look easy. Gene Sarazen once said Littler had a perfect swing, like Sam Snead, “only better.”

Littler was known as “Gene the Machine,” and he won the first of his 29 tour titles in 1955 at the Los Angeles Open. His most productive year was in 1959 when he won five times, was runner-up three times and finished No. 2 on the PGA Tour money list behind Art Wall.

Track and field: Ethiopian teenager Samuel Tefera broke a 22-year-old indoor world record in the 1,500 meters, clocking 3 minutes, 31.04 seconds at the Birmingham (England) Indoor Grand Prix.

Tefera, 19, shaved 0.14 of a second off the mark of 3:31.18 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in February 1997. El Guerrouj holds the outdoor world record of 3:26.00, set in 1998.

from the fringe on No. 3 for a bogey to fall six shots behind. He also missed a 10-foot birdie on his final shot of the day. PGA Tour Champions: Ken Tanigawa had six back-nine birdies in a 5-under 66 for a share of the Chubb Classic lead at 11-under 131 with Glen Day (66) and Stephen Ames (68) in Naples, Fla.

Web.com Tour: San Jose State alum Mark Hubbard shot an 8-under 64 to take a two-stroke advantage at 21-under 195 at the LECOM Suncoast Classic at Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

Stanford alum Maverick McNealy is tied for second with Jimmy Stanger, two shots back. McNealy, who began the day tied for the lead, posted a 3under 69. McNealy is seeking his first Web.com Tour victory in his second season on Tour.