Steelers' Roethlisberger back from the brink

[fordfixer]

Steelers' Roethlisberger back from the brink

[url]http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/1977462-85/roethlisberger-ben-steelers-behavior-colon-family-quarterback-2010-2012-april[/url]




By Mark Kaboly

Published: Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 12:26 a.m.


Making the cover of Sports Illustrated is usually reserved for athletes at or near the pinnacle of their sport.

For Ben Roethlisberger, it proved to be the instance he hit rock bottom.

The cover depicting an unshaven Roethlisberger entitled, “The Hangover: Ben Roethlisberger — An NFL superstar’s repulsive behavior, the ultimate expression of athletic entitlement run amok, has forced even the most diehard fans to question their team and their football faith,” hit news stands two weeks after Roethlisberger was suspended six games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for repeated boorish behavior.

Two sexual assault accusations in an eight-month span along with stories of a combative and entitled Roethlisberger in public were synonymous with the Steelers’ $100 million quarterback.

Fast-forward two years, and the stories about Roethlisberger are still there, but have a less abrasive context.

“I don’t think there is anything better than having your family on the field with you holding that trophy and confetti falling,” Roethlisberger said after practice Tuesday about his soon-to-be-born son.

A lot has changed in Roethlisberger’s life over the past 26 months. He’s gotten married, been awarded his undergraduate degree at Miami (Ohio) and now is expecting his first kid at the end of the year.

And maybe more importantly, Roethlisberger, 30, has turned his life around.

“Just from when I met him to now, it has been a total 180,” guard and good friend Willie Colon said. “I am extremely proud of him, and I am glad where he is at.”

Colon feels it is time Roethlisberger gets credit for how he has come back from the brink of self-destruction and transformed himself into a humble, family-first guy.

“People love to talk about when you are down and doing wrong,” Colon said. “But they don’t say anything when you are a married man, not cheating on your wife, having a kid, being an example in the community — they don’t want to talk about that. When you are on the straight and narrow, getting your life together and doing the right things, nobody wants to talk about you.”

Roethlisberger has kept his name out of the news. Other than his first sexual assault charges being dropped in January, Roethlisberger’s name has been synonymous with marriage, academia and family instead of booze and bad behavior.

“I am not surprised at all about the transformation he’s gone through,” veteran lineman Trai Essex said. “I don’t think it was that drastic of a change from the person he was to the person he is now. I don’t think he has strayed too far from what he has always been. But he has made an effort to become a little more vocal and be a little more transparent just so people can see who he is.”

Brett Keisel has been best friends with Roethlisberger since his rookie year and has seen the good and bad.

“He’s been though a lot,” Keisel said. “He’s done a great job rising up out of it.”

Roethlisberger points toward maturity and family but credits his renewed faith as the biggest reason he’s turned his life around.

Still, there is a faction of people who believe the “Big Ben” persona will make a return and that this recent behavior is intended to do nothing more than to repair his public image.

“You are always going to have the (jerks), so to speak, that will say some negative about what he’s doing,” Colon said. “For the people who know him and love him, we know where he is at. People have to start clapping on how his progression has been and forget about all the things he has been through.”

Added Essex: “He’s the same Benjamin he’s always been to me.”

[Crash]

Other than his first sexual assault charges being dropped in January,

What charges?

Two YEARS later, and media still can't report BASIC FACTS with accuracy.

But Betty the blue hair picks up her paper in between bingo games and thinks Ben was actually charged with sexual assault of a woman.

[papillon]

What charges?

Two YEARS later, and media still can't report BASIC FACTS with accuracy.

But Betty the blue hair picks up her paper in between bingo games and thinks Ben was actually charged with sexual assault of a woman.

Yea, that's pretty bad reporting right there, although, there was a civil case.

Pappy

[Eich]

Yea, that's pretty bad reporting right there, although, there was a civil case.

Pappy

I do feel for Ben. Although his actions were incredibly immature and stupid, it's unfair that he had to suffer that amount of damage to his reputation. I run into people often who still maintain that he definitely raped these girls. Even die hard Steelers fans. And it's all because of the way the media convicted him and refused to highlight the facts. Most people never heard of any of the texts that were sent by McNutty.

If I actually fully believed that Ben raped any girl, I couldn't root for him ever.

[hawaiiansteel]

The Transformation of Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

by Neal Coolong on Jun 13, 2012



Gone is the six-game (reduced to four, in classic Goodellian style) suspension for uncharged accusations of sexual assault for Steelers 30-year-old QB Ben Roethlisberger.

Here is a marriage, a degree from Miami University and a child due sometime probably during the season.

It almost seems as of Roethlisberger is following a different kind of playbook now. One aimed at restoring his image, once tainted and possibly irrevocably altered.

Do we buy it?

It's a valid question, considering, as Tribune-Review writer Mark Kaboly points out, it wasn't long ago Roethlisberger graced the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "The Hangover: Ben Roethlisberger - An NFL superstar's repulsive behavior, the ultimate expression of athletic entitlement run amok, has forced even the most diehard fans to question their team and their football faith." It drove a permanent wedge between naive idol-worship and cold reality of human nature for an entire generation of Steelers fans.

Even the reminder of the story suggests it's still fresh in the collective mind of Steeler Nation. While certainly one can see optimism in his decision to finish his degree (now that he has, he'll be inducted into Miami's athletic Hall of Fame) and start a family, does this somehow make Roethlisberger a better person, in our eyes? Is it even our place to judge?

It's fair to say no one would suggest doing the things he's accused of doing are within his rights in any way, but should his apparent pursuit of the picket-fenced house with family lifestyle a la Norman Rockwell make people like him more?

Ben Roethlisberger is as famous as he is because of his ability to play a game. I'll never be one to suggest that kind of fame does not have its place in society, nor will I rail against American culture's need to place people doing what he does on a pedestal. The struggle between class differentiation will never go away, we have decades upon decades of entertainers to prove that.

I wish the Roethlisbergers well with their child, their marriage, their health and their happiness. It's tough for me to feel his ability (desire?) to achieve that makes him any more of a hero than his football accomplishments do. It seems mutually exclusive. While some married people may argue keeping a healthy, honest marriage alive is harder than throwing a football with Justin Smith draped on his back, I'd just as soon leave them in the separate worlds where they currently reside.

[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2012/6/13/3082447/the-transformation-of-steelers-qb-ben-roethlisberger#storyjump[/URL]

[flippy]

Ben will always be Ben. He's always known how to say the perfect thing at the perfect time. He's got a vested interest in cleaning up his public perception.