Following the recent sexual assault accusation levied against him, Pittsburgh Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger currently finds himself in full damage control mode. And he should be. His NFL future depends on it.
Although not formally charged at this stage, Big Ben has pulled out the heavy artillery in an attempt to clear his name following the allegations earlier this month that he sexually assaulted a 20-year old college student in a bar bathroom in the town of Milledgeville, Georgia.
Will This Latest Misstep Cost Ben His Career?
Roethlisberger is accustomed to having “big guys” protecting him – only this time its not 300-pound tackles on the Steelers offensive line coming to his rescue. Forced to scramble out of the pocket and make a big play to help salvage his image, Roethlisberger has turned to high-profile defense attorney Ed Garland (the same lawyer who defended Ray Lewis in his murder trial) and famous celebrity private investigator Charles Mittelstadt to help prove his innocence.
While the police probe continues, not surprisingly, Garland’s first order of business was to publicly declare that ‘Ben is completely innocent of any crime.’ Mittelstadt has undoubtedly been brought on board to try and dig up as much dirt against the 20-year old woman as possible. The gloves are officially off.
Roethlisberger better hope his new team can adequately protect him from the ensuing rush of media looking to deface the 2-time Super Bowl champion. Beyond just the current allegations, Ben’s reputation continues to take a public beating, including this disparaging blog post by a former KDKA sports anchor in Pittsburgh:
“A couple of years ago I heard from a woman who said that Roethlisberger blew off a Make-A-Wish kid. When KDKA-TVs News Director, John Verrilli, was shown the email, he made it clear that it was a story that his news department would not be pursuing. I eventually got in contact with the parents of the little girl who the jackass snubbed. They said the story was true but they didn’t want to go public with it for their daughter’s sake. The little girl had cystic fibrosis.”
Big Ben Has Struggled With His Off-Field Image
Compounding Ben’s problems were other irresponsible actions not befitting of a 100-million dollar NFL quarterback. There was the helmet-less motorcycle accident that almost took his life in 2006, and the civil suit for sexual assault filed against him by a 31-year woman after an alleged hotel room tryst in Lake Tahoe last summer.
I’m not here to pass judgment whether Ben’s guilty or not. Let’s allow the courts to decide that, should the day come when/if he’s charged for the Milledgeville incident. But the bigger issue right now is the poor judgment Ben continues to exude during the offseason, his obvious inability to learn from past mistakes and the negative publicity he’s bringing to the NFL. To the point where it’s time for Commissioner Roger Goodell to not only take notice, but to take a stand.
While monitoring the situation closely, it appears that the NFL is reserving comment or judgment until the police decide whether or not to charge Roethlisberger. But if Michael Vick taught us anything, it’s that Goodell has a zero tolerancy for this kind of stuff and isn’t afraid to come down hard against league superstars who’ve gotten themselves into trouble with the law. If Ben does get charged with sexual assault, Goodell will have no choice but to suspend the star quarterback for at least 8 games, if not the entire year. And that could be just for starters.
Super Bowls Aside, The Steelers May Be Forced to Replace Big Ben
Meanwhile, the Steelers are worried, and rightfully so. Following Ben’s irresponsible off-field exploits, they could very easily find themselves without their starting quarterback heading into the 2010 season.
“All of us in the Steelers family are concerned about the recent incident involving Ben Roethlisberger,” Steelers President Art Rooney said in a written statement prepared last Monday. “We cannot comment on any of the specifics until law enforcement’s investigation is concluded.”
With the NFL Draft just a month away, it will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles their quarterback situation moving forward. Despite TSJ’s concerns over Tim Tebow and his NFL stock, bleacherreport.com makes a compelling case for the Steelers to hedge their bets by selecting the 2-time National Champion in the first round as their possible QB of the future. Personally, I think selecting Tebow would be a huge mistake, but desperate times can often lead to desperate measures.
Still, it almost seems unreal that the Steelers might actually be facing the real prospect of having to draft or trade for a quarterback for the 2010 season. But it appears that Big Ben’s reckless behavior might have finally caught up with him – and the Steelers too.
So what should the Steelers and the NFL do in response to Roethlisberger’s situation?
Your comments are encouraged and, of course, always welcomed.
When any employer demonstrates tolerance for any of these behaviours, it sends a very clear message, and the message reads loud and clear:
“You can get away with it”.
Until people begin to see that there are REAL consequences to certain behaviours (i.e. being suspended or terminated from your position),only then will individuals act differently.
DSBR
These guys are 20 something millionaires. I’m surprised more of them don’t get nailed drunk and “touching”. For every women out there that really wants to be touched by guys like Rothlisbugger there are 10 more that want to get a settlement in court for something he did or did not do. That part doesn’t matter. What matters is he is rich and stupid and gets drunk. That makes him a mark. Twice in less than a year eh’ Ben. Won’t be the last one either me thinks. Maybe Roth-LESS-burger needs the Michael Vick treatment to truly understand how much he has to lose.
Can we just add Big Roth to the Boneheadlessbergers bunch. Hard to believe this is a 2 time Super Bowl champion. But I guess the juice can get to any of us when we binge. If you are a millionaire though Ben binge in private with paid for help.