Frank Deford on Roethlisberger

[fordfixer]

[url="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10120/1054423-66.stm"]http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10120/1054423-66.stm[/url]

Frank Deford on Roethlisberger

By Bob Smizik | Thursday, 8 p.m.

It might not be correct to call Frank Deford the Babe Ruth of sports writers, but he’d be in the discussion -- at the very top.

Deford, who spent most of his career at Sports Illustrated, was beyond brilliant as a writer. He recently published a long article in the magazine about his career, proving once again he is in a class with few others.

He has written several book. Most notable are one about his daughter who died of cystic fibrois, ``Alex: The Life of a Child,'' and a fictional football novel, ``Everybody's All-American.'' The first will make you cry; the second will make you laugh out loud.

In recent years, he has moved beyond print. He is a correspondent for ``Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,‘’ on HBO, where he continues to earn the highest of journalistic accolades. He also does commentary on NPR.

It was there that he tackled the Ben Roethlisberger controversy. Of the suspended Steelers quarterback, Deford said:

``To what earthly benefit is it to suspend Roethlisberger? Does it teach little, impressionable children a lesson? Is it going to make other football players pause and think about being a role model late at night when they are on the cusp of committing mayhem? I mean, let's give Roethlisberger credit. At least he wasn't packing a firearm like so many of his athletic brethren do when they are out taking the air these evenings.’’

Before you consider Deford a champion of Roethlisberger read the rest of the story
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[steelblood]

Hey Smizik,

Step one for being a brilliant sports writer....PROOF YOUR ARTICLES! The typos and grammatical errors are coming at an astounding rate.

[feltdizz]

Good article. It is odd how we hold a football player to such a high standard. I think it's because if we watched Congress or Wall Street like we watch sports we would riot in the streets.

[Notleadpoisoned]

I'm just amazed that there are people out there like Deford and others who still have something to say about Ben. I guess that beating dead horses has become our new national pasttime.

[aggiebones]

I think the article is fine and very true. With the way media gets into everyone's business, we can not prop up athletes as role models. NEVER EVER EVER. There's a good chance that something will come out, however minor and will be blown out of proportion.
And why would an pro athlete be a role model. They've TYPICALLY been given an extra set of physical tools than the rest of us. And play a game for a living. Ward and Welker, maybe role models due to effort to stay in the league, but why a 6'5" 250lb QB? Applaud him for his effort to win and exceed on the field, but for little kids that is not a useful role model. That's an opportunity to avoid doing real life work and survive in a tough world. People doing service for others are the role models, but overpaid football players.
Mother Teresa or Ben Roethlisberger?
Hmm tough choice.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Unfortunately, these guys will ALWAYS be role models whether they or we like it or not - I can't imagine a world where 6-12 year old boys don't dream they could be super-duper player XYZ. Kids that age have a hard time with the "l love him as a ball player, but despise him as a person" dichotomy/distinction written about in these posts.