PFT Link: Ben had x-ray on his back

[RussBII]

[url]http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/01/29/roethlisberger-wont-comment-on-report-of-x-ray[/url]

I think its just the media blowing crap up... Unfortunately its fuel to the fire for the "drama queen" folks.

[SidSmythe]

Re: PFT Link: Ben had x-ray on his back

Who cares??? He's got one more game to go and a long off season.

[JAR]

Re: PFT Link: Ben had x-ray on his back

PFT is FOS, Florio is a tool.

TAMPA, Fla. — Steelers coach Mike Tomlin denied a report that Ben Roethlisberger had X-rays on his back this week, but the Steelers quarterback appeared to be trying to stretch his mid-torso region today during the team's second full practice for Super Bowl XLIII.

Access to players at pre-Super Bowl practices is restricted to the Pro Football Writers of America's pool reporter, Sports Illustrated's Peter King. Tomlin denied a Profootballtalk.com report that Roethlisberger had X-rays on his back last week after being speared in the ribs and back in the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens Jan. 18 at Heinz Field.

"Not that I heard," Tomlin said. "Ben's health is often the subject of inaccurate reports. He's fine."

King reported that Roethlisberger threw the ball well on short and deep routes in today's practice, including a "40-yard bullet up the right seam to receiver Santonio Holmes." The one hour, 55-minute practice at the University of South Florida was disrupted by a rainstorm.

In other Steelers news, receiver Hines Ward practiced for the first time since suffering a strained right knee ligament in the AFC title game. Tomlin said Ward looked "awesome," and reiterated that Ward would play against the Arizona Cardinals Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.

"He is where I thought he would be today," Tomlin said.

[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_609395.html"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 09395.html[/url]

[Iron Shiek]

Re: PFT Link: Ben had x-ray on his back

Here is a follow up. I don't really care about the article so much as I am confident Ben is fine. But take a look at the bolded part regarding John Clayton. He sounds like a complete whiny douche because he didn't break the story or something. Is this how the media is...he sounded bitter or something. What gives?

[url]http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/01/30/espn-confirms-ben-x-ray-report/[/url]

ESPN CONFIRMS BEN X-RAY REPORT
Posted by Mike Florio on January 30, 2009, 11:02 a.m. EST
Though we’ve yet to find a report to this effect on the recently-streamlined alphabet junkyard known as ESPN.com, our friends at Rotoworld.com report that the ESPN bottom-of-the-screen crawl has been proclaiming that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a second X-ray on his back/ribs earlier this week.

Since all of the monitors in the media workroom are displaying only NFL Network (and we’re just fine with that), we sought and received confirmation from ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer regarding the content of the official crawl. (Not that we don’t trust our friends at Rotoworld — we’re just trying to be responsible this week. For a change.)

But the crawl doesn’t cite an internal ESPN reporter or any external sports news organization (such as, you know, the one that originally reported the news). The crawl doesn’t even include any version of the term “confirm,” a magic word that allows the ESPNs of the world to ignore that someone else initially reported the thing about which the organization in question is now reporting.

Making this whole thing even more interesting to us is the fact that, late Thursday afternoon, ESPN’s John Clayton mocked our report via a voice message he left for Omar Khan of the Steelers (or, possibly, Omar Sharif of Hollywood).

And Clayton made the call while sitting only five feet away from me.

In a sarcastic, smarmy tone, Clayton asked Omar to let him know about Ben’s condition, since it looks like Ben might not be able to play on Sunday.

I just smiled and continued to go about the business of typing whatever I was typing, knowing full well that at some point I’d be typing about this particular incident.

Look, I’ve got no problem with someone looking down his nose at one of our reports. But we all know that if Clayton or anyone else at ESPN had broken the news of a secret Wednesday X-ray on a Super Bowl starting quarterback — news that ESPN is now implicitly pawning off as its own — it would have been plugged into the continuous loop of updates on every ESPN video, audio, and Internet platform.

[stlrz d]

Re: PFT Link: Ben had x-ray on his back

In his presser this morning Tomlin said again there was no x-ray.