Don't call it a comeback
By: Jonathan Miller
Issue date: 3/8/10 Section: Sports
It's been a few weeks since the Jon has had an opportunity to vent a little bit of steam, and given how much has happened in the sporting world recently I figure it's high time I subject the few of you who read this here column to a bit of splendiferous wisdom.
It is a tad ironic that I begin my rant this week with Ben Roethlisberger when I had such nice things to say about the Steelers franchise in my last go-round. Big Ben was once again accused of sexually assaulting a woman over the weekend, and whether or not Pittsburgh's star quarterback is guilty, the entire situation poses a few glaring and highly debated questions.
One, how much public interaction should high-profile players expose themselves to? Let's not ignore the fact that Roethlisberger is a famous, wealthy and unmarried 28-year-old man who is well within his rights to go out on weekends and fraternize with the opposite sex. Let's also not forget that in recent years he has become the face of one of the most popular franchises in all of sports. So far in his young and glimmering career, Big Ben has been in a serious motorcycle accident (some aspects of which he lied about) while riding with an expired license and no helmet, been sued for allegedly raping an employee at a Nevada casino and now he's being investigated for an incident that may have occurred at a Georgia nightclub. And there's also the Rookie of the Year Award and the two Super Bowl rings, but no one's really paying attention to that right now.
His off-field antics are by no means the most tumultuous the NFL has seen over the past five years, but taking into account his recent legal troubles wouldn't it be better if Roethlisberger just stayed home on Saturday night's for a while? Is it even fair to suggest that he needs to stay home on weekends? After all, film and music celebrities hit the clubs in Los Angeles and New York every night of the week and seem to get into less trouble then Big Ben does in small towns like Lake Tahoe and Milledgeville.
It is a tad ironic that I begin my rant this week with Ben Roethlisberger when I had such nice things to say about the Steelers franchise in my last go-round. Big Ben was once again accused of sexually assaulting a woman over the weekend, and whether or not Pittsburgh's star quarterback is guilty, the entire situation poses a few glaring and highly debated questions.
One, how much public interaction should high-profile players expose themselves to? Let's not ignore the fact that Roethlisberger is a famous, wealthy and unmarried 28-year-old man who is well within his rights to go out on weekends and fraternize with the opposite sex. Let's also not forget that in recent years he has become the face of one of the most popular franchises in all of sports. So far in his young and glimmering career, Big Ben has been in a serious motorcycle accident (some aspects of which he lied about) while riding with an expired license and no helmet, been sued for allegedly raping an employee at a Nevada casino and now he's being investigated for an incident that may have occurred at a Georgia nightclub. And there's also the Rookie of the Year Award and the two Super Bowl rings, but no one's really paying attention to that right now.
His off-field antics are by no means the most tumultuous the NFL has seen over the past five years, but taking into account his recent legal troubles wouldn't it be better if Roethlisberger just stayed home on Saturday night's for a while? Is it even fair to suggest that he needs to stay home on weekends? After all, film and music celebrities hit the clubs in Los Angeles and New York every night of the week and seem to get into less trouble then Big Ben does in small towns like Lake Tahoe and Milledgeville.