Milledgeville?...Really?...

Ben's Friend - "What you doing this weekend?"
Ben - "Road Trip"
Ben's Friend - "Dude where you going to this time? Miami? Vegas? Hawaii? San Diego?"
Ben - "No way...I'm going to Milledgeville."
Ben's Friend - "Really, where you going?"
Ben - "Seriously dude I'm leaving in the morning for Milledgeville, Ga."
Ben's Friend - "Uh OK, have fun in uh wherever it is you're going."

Now I have no way of knowing if this is really the way the conversation went between Ben Roethlisberger and his buddies. However, with all of the questions surrounding the terrible decision making skill of one of the best quarterbacks, the most obvious question is this...What is a 28 year old, 2 time Super Bowl winning Quarterback who plays for one of the top 5 or 10 organizations in all of sports doing in a little college town in Georgia? I understand wanting to get out of Pittsburgh. It's the winter and you want to fly south for warmer weather. His best receiver, Hines Ward, still lives in Georgia, so I can understand coming to Georgia. But how do you end up in Milledgeville? PLEASE GROW UP. You are not a kid anymore. What are you doing partying at 2 in the morning with a bunch of college kids? Unfortunately for everyone involved: Ben, The Steelers, the NFL, and the fans, this is just another example of THIS guy making a terrible decision.

Let me address this on many fronts...THE LEGAL SIDE. The law says "innocent until proven guilty" and I agree with that 100%. The Milledgeville District Attorney has said that he could not find enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against "Big" Ben. The United States is a funny place, people can press charges on you for whatever they want. I can say anything I want to and the police have to investigate the validity of my claim. It is one of the many things that makes our country great. However, I must admit, I have never ONCE IN MY LIFE BEEN ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT. Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of it TWO TIMES IN A YEAR!!! I know what you are saying, I am not a high profile athlete. I am not seen by everyone and the center of attention whenever I walk into a room (maybe if "Big" Ben stopped hanging out in places like Milledgeville he would not be such a big star). Your statements are true, I am not a professional athlete. Roethlisberger does make more than I will make in my entire lifetime. GREAT. Please explain this to me...Why have I never heard claims like these made about Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Brett Favre? Are these guys not high profile athletes? Do these guys not make enough money where it would be worth going after if it is all about the money and there is no fault on behalf of the athlete. Please understand this, just because they can not convict you in a court of law does not mean you are innocent, does it OJ?

DECISION MAKING. On June 13, 2006 Roethlisberger suffered multiple facial wounds after crashing his motorcycle. He was not wearing a helmet and spent nearly seven hours in surgery repairing the damage he had done. When this happened, he was a kid who thought he was invincible. He was a kid who was on top of the world after becoming the youngest quarterback in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. I could overlook that. I DEFENDED him in that situation. Then fast forward 2 years, Sexual Assault charges come out. I say let's give him due process. He deserves the right to have his day in court. Next thing we know the charges are dropped. Good for him. Wrong Place! Wrong time! I hope he learns his lesson. A YEAR LATER, here we are dealing with the exact same thing. This is the leader of your team and he can not go 365 days without being accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Come on Ben, YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER THAN THAT!

THE FANS SIDE. I am not someone who believes you should over react to the actions of sports figures. These guys should not be role models, they should not be admired by our youth. They are athletes who provide forms of entertainment. Nobody screams when some actor ends up in rehab for drug related charges. Nobody cares when some actor is arrested for trying to pick up a prostitute, but we scream over the failures by our athletes. Parents do your job, stop making athletes the most important people in your children's life. Put them around good people who you know on a personal level and you know that even though they are not perfect they live in such a way where you won't have to explain to your children why you are taking down the poster of their favorite athlete, or why they can no longer wear that jersey.

Finally, THE PITTSBURGH STEELER SIDE. This is an organization who does things right. I know there are people who don't like them and that is fine, but they run their organization the right way. Until Ben Roethlisberger, you did not hear about Steeler players getting themselves in trouble legally. They had stability at the top. The owners have never been in trouble with the league. They trust their coaches and in a time where owners meddle and fire coaches for not winning in year 2, these owners know the value of stability. So now, Rooney's you MUST crack down on Ben. Your organization has way to much pride. Maybe you will get lucky and lose the games that you suspend Roethlisberger for. Maybe those games will cost you the playoffs and you can sit this over sized child down and explain to him that his actions have consequences. You can let him know that HE cost his team the playoffs. HE let an entire city down. He did that because HE chose to be an immature kid in Milledgeville, Ga instead of being a PROFESSIONAL NFL quarterback.

Until Next Time...