When Ben Roethlisberger won Super Bowl XL he was on an emotional high. Everything he ever dreamed of basically came true at such a young age and so far left to go in his professional career. First he was drafted in the 1st round of the NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the greatest football franchise of all time. He then won a Super Bowl. Something players play their whole careers for but never achieve and he accomplished that dream.
Not only did he accomplish it he became the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl. Wow! It really is hard to take in all at once what he did in such a short amount of time in the NFL.
That was the emotional high. The emotional low came first in the offseason of 2006. The offseason after his first Super Bowl win, he had a very unfortunate motorcycle accident. He truly could have got killed. Reports have stated he was minutes from dying. He was also criticized for not wearing a helmet. He ended up being fine but still everything came crashing down after that.
That was the first wakeup call to him that maybe this lifestyle he is living, the things he was doing outside of football were not right. Something needed to change but he just kept plowing along living the way he wanted too.
He ended up winning his second super bowl in the 08 -09 season. That was a great game and that throw to Santonio was just as great as the catch.
Then again in the offseason after his second Super Bowl ring came a big blow. He was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Lake Tahoe.
Yes he was not proven guilty but he was in the wrong place to begin with and something happened, whether what the accuser said really did happen or not we will never know.
He got away from that pretty much unscathed. He was never proven guilty and he was never charged. I’m sure the Rooney’s gave him a pep talk stating they will not put up with anymore of nonsense. Not only is it an embarrassment to the Rooney’s this is also an embarrassment to Steelers Nation. We pride our self of not having any idiots on the team. If anyone has any off the field issues we want them gone.
Ben is an exception though. He has so much talent and potential to be one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. He also helped bring 2 Lombardi Trophy’s to Pittsburgh, something that will give you a free pass even when you have accusations like he had on his hands.
The Rooney’s let it go. They did not suspend him, they did not trade him and they did not get rid of him.
In the 2010 offseason the unthinkable happened again. Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Georgia.
I’m sure when we all think back to last year, how could he have done that again? Did he not realize all the hatred, all the criticism after he was accused a year earlier? Apparently he did not. It must have just slipped his mind.
This time was far worse. First off it was his 2nd time he was being accused of sexually assaulting someone. Okay the 1st time, maybe there was a mix up, maybe someone planted the woman, or the woman did it on purpose by herself. More than likely not, but we don’t know.
But to be accused of sexually assaulting a woman twice is uncalled for!
After that instance Roger Goodell suspended Ben 6 games that eventually went down to 4 for doing everything that was asked of him. I’m sure Roger said something to Roethlisberger that if he is accused again that he will be out a year or even longer.
It has also been widely spread that during the time period when all this off the field stuff was happening that when Ben went out into the public he was an idiot. He didn’t tip at restaurants, he was rude to people who tried to talk to him, he didn’t sign autographs among other things. He was basically an ego maniac that didn’t care about anyone but himself and he thought since he had some national spotlight winning a couple Super Bowls that he was better than everyone. He thought everyone should bow down and worship him like he was some kind of god.
No matter what you do in life. You can save the world from being overtaken by aliens or apes for all I care! You are not better than anyone and have no right to treat people like that.
He has not gotten into any other kind of off the field trouble since the suspension. It has been reported numerously that he is a whole lot nicer to fans, like a whole different person. It has been said that he has been at Christian concerts. He also said himself that he did not live with his fiancée before they were married because of his “religious beliefs”. And finally at his wedding he had 2 of the top Christian artists singing.
If that is not someone that has taken a whole 360 degree turn in his life, I do not know what it.
But of course there are some people that still want Roethlisberger gone. They can’t stand the image he put on Steelers Nation and the whole city of Pittsburgh. They will never forgive him no matter what he does.
People need to move on. What he did is in the past. We all mess up, we all make mistakes, I forgive Ben and moved on like everything never happened, and everyone else should too!
Ben Roethlisberger is saved, he is a whole different person, and I am glad because he will end up being one of the top 5 quarterbacks to ever play the game and he will do that his whole career apart of the Steelers!
Written By Michael Healy
You can follow me on twitter: @mjhjesusfreak
No comments:
Post a Comment