By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The NFL suspended former Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes Monday for the first four games of the 2010 season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be lucky if he doesn't get just as much time off from the NFL or from the Rooneys for violating the sensibilities of decent people everywhere.
If Roethlisberger isn't suspended for at least two games for his despicable behavior in Milledgeville, Ga., last month, there is no justice in the NFL.
Roethlisberger appears to get that, at least. It didn't take him long to swing into damage-control mode. He made his first public appearance at Steelers headquarters Monday night and read a brief statement to the media, saying he is "truly sorry" for the negative attention he brought to the team and the league. He acknowledged he has "much work" to do to win back the trust of Steelers management, his coaches and teammates and the fans. He pledged to make all concerned "proud on all fronts."
The statement was predictable.
Too bad it didn't seem to contain much contrition.
You have to wonder what Roethlisberger sees when he looks in the mirror every morning. Here's guessing he doesn't see a 28-year-old lout who needs to grow up in a hurry and become a respectable human being. If that's the case, he's lying to himself.
Funny, "grow up" is exactly the advice Georgia district attorney Fred Bright gave Roethlisberger when he announced Monday he was not charging him in the sexual assault case involving a 20-year-old college student March 5 at a Milledgeville club because of a lack of enough evidence to get a conviction and because the alleged victim didn't want to pursue the case.
Never have two more appropriate words been uttered about anyone.
They are worth repeating:
"Grow up."
Bright portrayed Roethlisberger as a real creep during his news conference.
He said Roethlisberger "provided shots of alcohol" for the alleged underaged victim and her friends. He also said Roethlisberger invited the "highly intoxicated" alleged victim into the club's VIP area and later followed her into a small bathroom.
"Significant questions about what had occurred [after that] persist," Bright said.
The only way Roethlisberger could have looked worse Monday is if Bright had filed criminal charges against him.
"We are not condoning Mr. Roethlisberger's actions that night," Bright said. "But we do not prosecute morals. We prosecute crimes."
The NFL has no such limitations. Nor do the Steelers. It is up to one or the other to do the right thing and suspend Roethlisberger for at least two games. His immature, reprehensible behavior has done great harm to the league's brand and to the Steelers' reputation.
Saying "sorry" isn't enough.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is scheduled to meet with Roethlisberger this week. There is tremendous pressure on Goodell -- some of it racial pressure -- to take a tough position with Roethlisberger. The commissioner has earned something of a reputation for being a hanging judge in his disciplinary dealings with black players such as Michael Vick and Adam "Pac-Man" Jones. He has to know how it would look if he turns soft with a star, two-time Super Bowl-winning, white quarterback, who, clearly, has violated the league's Personal Conduct Policy.
Certainly, the league's black players will be watching closely how Goodell handles the Roethlisberger situation.
There also is pressure on the Steelers -- again, some of it racial -- to come down hard on Roethlisberger. There's no disputing that the team was tough with Holmes, a black wide receiver. A former No. 1 pick and the MVP of the Steelers' win in Super Bowl XLIII, Holmes was traded Sunday night to the New York Jets for a fifth-round draft choice. It's obvious the Steelers had tired of his equally loutish off-the-field behavior, which included four incidents involving police intervention since he was drafted in 2006, some absurd tweets on his Twitter account recently and the four-game suspension. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette reported the team was so disgusted with Holmes that it would have released him if it hadn't found a trade partner.
Certainly, the Steelers' black players will be watching closely how management handles the Roethlisberger situation.
Steelers president Art Rooney II released a statement Monday saying the team would wait until Goodell has his meeting with Roethlisberger to determine "the next steps in this process."
The next step is a suspension for Roethlisberger.
That can be the only step.
Bright put it best in his "grow-up" lecture to Roethlisberger.
"Come on, you're supposed to stand for something. You need to be a role model for your team, your city, the NFL. You can do better."
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com.
Ed Bouchette's blog on the Steelers and Gerry Dulac's Steelers chats are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
Apr 13 2010
Has Roethlisberger learned his lesson?
By Bob Smizik Tuesday, 12:30 a.m.
What’s next for Ben Roethlisberger?
I’d be shocked if a suspension -- two to four games -- were not in his future. He committed no crime -- wasn’t even charged with a crime -- but his behavior was disgraceful. Look for commissioner Roger Goodell to take action. Roethlisberger has embarrassed the NFL -- big time.
But what about after that?
Michael Henninger/Post-Gazette
Ben Roethlisberger reads a statement to the media at the Steelers' South Side facility on Monday.
There’s reason to be concerned about Roethlisberger. There’s reason to wonder if he learned anything from this experience.
I hope I’m wrong, but in making his statement last night Roethlisberger acted like a man who did nothing wrong. He acted like he had come out of a bad chapter in his life unscathed. Oh, that it were so.
Roethlisberger was cleared yesterday of sexual assault charges leveled against him in early March, which means he will not go to trial. But his trial in the court of public opinion continues and he’s losing.
Some people on this blog thought District Attorney Fred Bright was too tough on Roethlisberger in discussing the case during a news conference yesterday. He was tough all right, but not too tough.
Roethlisberger is a 28-year-old internationally known celebrity multimillionaire who tried to take advantage of a drunken 20-year-old college female student, who was impressed with his status and eager to gulp down the free booze Roethlisberger was offering the sorority girls.
We can only hope Roethlsgberger realizes how wrong that behavior is. He gave no indication of that yesterday with his first public words since the incident, which occurred in Milledgeville, Ga. on the night of March 4-5.
During a news conference yesterday, Bright said some things that put Roethlisberger in am unfavorable light.
The DA said the woman in question told police -- after first saying he didn't -- that Roethlisberger raped her. The DA also mentioned that Roethlisberger basically lied to the police by claiming the women had a head injury when, in fact, she never complained of such an injury and there was no evidence of it.
The DA also said there was DNA evidence found on the woman that was of a male human but there was not enough to determine to whom it belonged. But it was enough to make you wonder since Roethlisberger and the women had spent time together in a small bathroom in the bar where they were drinking.
With all that just a few hours behind him, Roethlisberger had the nerve to stand up in the Steelers locker room on the South Side last night and say, `I'd like to begin by expressing gratitude for the thorough investigation process in Georgia and the prosecutor's decision not to bring charges.
"I know without a doubt it is the right conclusion.’’
If the case were a football game, Roethlisberger made it sound like his team won 48-0. Not so, Ben. You won, but the score was more like, 10-7.
This episode has cast a large shadow over Roethlisberger’s character and he did nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to alter that image with his words last night.
He would have been better advised to stay silent rather than stand in front of a group of reporters and read words that someone else wrote for him and come across as a man who doesn’t seem to realize he did something grievously wrong. He actually said he wants to be "role model'' for kids. He should first try to be just a decent guy -- a status that he currently nowhere near.
The only smart thing he did last night was not take questions. No answers from him could have erased the words of Bright earlier in the day when he painted Roethlisberger as a jerk. When he told him to "grow up.’’
When he said, ". . . you don't need to be in the VIP area drinking alcohol .
. . You don't need to put yourself in position of 'These ladies, come over the back and these shots are on me,' whatever . . .
"You need to be a role model for your team, your city, the NFL. You can do better."
He sure can. But based on what we’ve seen, he’s learned nothing.
Posted: Bob Smizik with 22 comment(s)
Filed under: Ben Roethlisberger, Roger Goodell, Fred Bright
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