The anger surrounding Ben Roethlisberger’s most recent incident of sexual assault at a night club in Milledgeville, Georgia last month, is perhaps a little premature.
Could it just be a case of a moral district attorney wishing to rebuke the two-time Super Bowl champion for his foolhardiness? Either way, the rape accusations are a serious worry to the Steelers franchise.
Not long ago, charges in the Lake Tahoe court case were thrown out after a woman and member of staff of the resort accused him of rape. But he now has this latest case to answer.
In the last few weeks, fingers have pointed at Roethlisberger as if he's already a lawbreaker, as opposed to an athlete that many in Pittsburgh love, after bringing the franchise two championships in ten years. His team-mates stand by BR and identify him as a star, but the general community has mixed emotions.
Stripping away the hype for a moment, you need to understand that Roethlisberger has never been convicted, let alone arrested for sexual assault.
It still needs to be established if the man is even guilty.
Roethlisberger issued an announcement on Monday evening and at least appeared to be very remorseful of the trouble he had caused, literally hanging his head in shame.
Meanwhile, the Rooneys are tempted to castigate the showpiece of their franchise, unconcerned about 'winning' and only concerned with protecting the image of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a whole.
Disciplining the errant quarterback has been alluded to many times and it looks as if the League or the franchise will step in sooner rather than later - if only to quell the wave of opinion that may be against him - in some quarters.
Suspending Roethlisberger sends out a message to everyone.
Remember that the Steelers just traded Santonio Holmes, a superstar, to the New York Jets - for a number of misdemeanors including those involving Marijuana a couple of years ago.
It shows how little patience the Steelers' ownership have with those who cannot conform. It could be that Big Ben is still only a Steelers player by virtue of the fact that he has not yet been charged with an offense. But this is surely his 'two minute warning'.
The Rooneys bought a lot of trouble with Roethlisberger's $100m price tag. It's anyone's guess how much the QB is actually worth today.
19 April 2010
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