The Pittsburgh Steelers opened up their voluntary conditioning program today in Pittsburgh. Can you guess one player who didn't show up?
Ben Roethlisberger, accused of sexual assault more than a week ago, is not attending the workouts, and that's a mistake. I won't pretend to know all that goes on during offseason conditioning, maybe it's stupid, but Roethlisberger should be there.
For the second time in less than a year, the $102 million quarterback has embarrassed the team. Players who should be focusing on getting ready for the season are going to be asked countless questions, not on how they are preparing for this season, but about what they know of the Ben's legal issues. Those players will say they support Ben, they trust their quarterback to be innocent and that it's not a distraction, but that's a load of crap.
Football players and other professional athletes have huge egos, for the most part. These egos are not bad things. They are a big contributor to these athletes' success. When media and fans begin asking said players all about someone else though, that's when problems can arise. While they might say all the right things to the press, I think they are very annoyed that they aren't getting the attention they think they deserve.
That's why Ben should have come to workouts and apologized to the team. He needs to show up and face these questions, rather than having his teammates try and answer for him. Ben won't be able to say anything informative or new, but at least he will be the one taking the brunt of the media while his teammates can focus on other things.
He doesn't need to do any drills or actually work out. Heck, he can sit and watch movies for all I care. But he should be there.
By the way, Alexander Ovechkin is a bitch.
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
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