Don't call it a comeback

By: Jonathan Miller

Posted: 3/8/10

It's been a few weeks since the Jon has had an opportunity to vent a little bit of steam, and given how much has happened in the sporting world recently I figure it's high time I subject the few of you who read this here column to a bit of splendiferous wisdom.

It is a tad ironic that I begin my rant this week with Ben Roethlisberger when I had such nice things to say about the Steelers franchise in my last go-round. Big Ben was once again accused of sexually assaulting a woman over the weekend, and whether or not Pittsburgh's star quarterback is guilty, the entire situation poses a few glaring and highly debated questions.

One, how much public interaction should high-profile players expose themselves to? Let's not ignore the fact that Roethlisberger is a famous, wealthy and unmarried 28-year-old man who is well within his rights to go out on weekends and fraternize with the opposite sex. Let's also not forget that in recent years he has become the face of one of the most popular franchises in all of sports. So far in his young and glimmering career, Big Ben has been in a serious motorcycle accident (some aspects of which he lied about) while riding with an expired license and no helmet, been sued for allegedly raping an employee at a Nevada casino and now he's being investigated for an incident that may have occurred at a Georgia nightclub. And there's also the Rookie of the Year Award and the two Super Bowl rings, but no one's really paying attention to that right now.

His off-field antics are by no means the most tumultuous the NFL has seen over the past five years, but taking into account his recent legal troubles wouldn't it be better if Roethlisberger just stayed home on Saturday night's for a while? Is it even fair to suggest that he needs to stay home on weekends? After all, film and music celebrities hit the clubs in Los Angeles and New York every night of the week and seem to get into less trouble then Big Ben does in small towns like Lake Tahoe and Milledgeville.

I think the real argument is this: once you become a Super Bowl hero like Roethlisberger has you have a certain responsibility to the public, to the fans and to your employer to remain a positive image for both your team and your league. Maybe it's not entirely fair to suggest that a grown man "tone down his behavior", but it's also not entirely unfair of Mike Tomlin and Dan Rooney to be a smidge upset with their 102 million dollar investment for drawing so much negative attention to himself.

Perhaps Big Ben should make a few phone calls to NFL players like Plaxico Burress, Pacman Jones and Larry Johnson and ask them how well hitting the clubs has treated them in the past. Burress is in jail, Jones is now a defunct wrestling star and Johnson, the most fortunate of the trio thus far is currently sitting at fourth on the Cincinnati Bengals' running back depth chart.

Ben, you're absurdly rich. Build a wicked cool man cave at your ridiculous lake house and hang out there. Not forever, just for a while, and be sure to wear a helmet.

On a more serious note, there's another issue here and it does more than just damage a playboy footballer's reputation. Situations like these have the potential to damage the credibility of women who are legitimate victims of rape and sexual assault.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website someone in this country is sexually assaulted once every two seconds. While there will be no way of knowing whether or not Roethlisberger's latest accuser is telling the truth or not for about another week, there seems to be a trend in America that leans towards letting high-profile athletes off of the hook when it comes to such matters. The most common assumption is that the woman in question is trying to scam said athlete out of a great deal of money, and unfortunately in the past that has been proven true in certain situations. Roethlisberger's first accuser Andrea McNulty is a prime example. She was heard bragging about having consensual sex with the quarterback in his hotel room in July of 2008, and a few months later she was suing him for close to half a million dollars and alleging he raped her.

It doesn't look like the accusation was true, but either way it makes the 20-year-old Georgia woman who accused Roethlisberger of assault over the weekend look like a money-hungry scam artist looking for a quick buck. Here's perhaps the most troubling part: what if she isn't? What if something really happened in the VIP room of the Milledgeville night club and this girl is truly a victim of sexual assault?

Sadly, I don't think it will matter much. If you look at the 4,700 plus comments on ESPN's website, it's quite clear that fans have already made up their minds that Roethlisberger is innocent. Here's where the whole story comes together: if high-profile athletes are going to leave themselves vulnerable to a frequently envious and opportunistic public, they need to be aware of the repercussions of their actions, even the smallest ones. It's their responsibility to keep themselves on the up and up, and when they don't there's a very real chance that people are going to get hurt.

Now by no means am I willing to accuse the Georgia woman of possessing either of the aforementioned traits, but like I said she's unfortunately in a no-win situation. If she's telling the truth she'll not only be the victim of a rather heinous crime, but she'll also be publicly ostracized for marring the image of our classic all-American quarterback. If she's lying, she'll have managed to do even more damage to those who are truly victims of sexual assault and will set the precedence for numerous assault cases yet to come. We'll all have no choice but to assume she's lying, even if she's not. Here's what the Jon thinks: stay home rich people!

On a more pleasant note, I have to give some serious kudos to Canadians. You people are so nice that it's darn near sickening. As I was watching the American women's hockey team losing to Canada in the first gold medal game we lost last week, I heard a faint chant from the obviously pro-Canuck crowd that sounded a little bit like "U-S-A! U-S-A!". Lo and behold our pleasant neighbors to the north had begun an American chant just to applaud their effort in game we had basically no chance of winning. After all, it is their sport, but I have to wonder if the ole' U-S-of-A would have been such gracious hosts, especially if we were losing on our home turf. My guess after watching Pittsburgh Penguins fans mildly boo Canada's golden child Sidney Crosby on his home ice last Monday leads me to believe the answer to that question is a resounding no.

Speaking of booing, I have choice but to send some boos the way of Brigham Young University's basketball fans after they lost the season series and the Mountain West Conference's regular season title to our New Mexico Lobos on Feb. 27 in Provo. The Cougar faithful resorted to throwing bottles and such on the court after their first defeat in their last 22 tries at the Marriott Center.

According to claims on the blogosphere, BYU fans were upset with the way the game was officiated and were simply showing their disdain for the men in stripes. Whether or not that's true is irrelevant and their behavior gave the country a bad look at a team and a fan base that are usually extremely classy and gracious, regardless of outcome.

Fan behavior in the NCAA has become an issue as of late, and hopefully BYU Athletic Director Tom Holmoe will follow in the footsteps of West Virginia's Ed Pastilong and clean it up a bit before The Cougars hit their home floor again next year.

And by the by BYU fans, please stop contending that you would have won if Jimmer Fredette had played in the second half. If a tummy ache keeps you out of your ball club's biggest regular season matchup in recent memory, you lack a bit in the resolve category. Fredette seems like a nice guy and is obviously a heck of a ball player, but the cold hard truth is that he let his team and fans down, and luckily for us Lobo fans his actions should result in a Player of the Year Award for Mr. Darrington Hobson.

And finally, March 4 represented 20 years to the day since Loyola Marymount basketball player Hank Gathers passed away on the court due to a heart condition. I'm fortunately old enough to remember Gathers and was extremely happy to see ESPN and USA Today run such fond and positive stories of him over the weekend.

While I wasn't watching the game in which Gathers collapsed, I was watching when his friend and teammate Bo Kimble sunk two left-handed free throws in honor of Gathers against New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It was one of the most alluring moments in sports history and ESPN and company got it right when they opted to pay tribute to Gathers, who was a sensational college athlete and would have likely been an all-pro at the NBA level.

Kudos to you ESPN. 'Till next time kids. JDM