If one of your friends was accused of sexually assaulting a young girl while out partying one night, would you be able to forgive him? What about your favorite NFL Quarterback? Does Ben Roethlisberger get a pass because he is a big time QB, because he’s won two Super Bowls, or because Pittsburgh fans, despite a 3-1 start don’t want to go the rest of the season with Charlie Batch under center? Roethlisberger was not officially charged with a crime by the Milledgville, GA this police this past March, but he did do enough to warrant a suspension by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that cost him over $1.8 million in salary.
A week from Sunday when Roethlisberger takes the field for the first time against the Cleveland Browns, we will find out how the fans at Heinz Field really feel about their Super Bowl winning Quarterback. Odds are they will take them back with open arms because he is their guy. He will undoubtedly run into some boo birds on the road this season, and may even hear a few at home, but for the most part after he takes his first snap on the field, life will be back to normal. Everyone deserves a second chance, case in point Michael Vick in Philadelphia. The question is though, is it fair to wipe the slate clean after someone has done something wrong? I’ve been caught up in Michael Vick mania just like everyone else the first few weeks this season, enjoying watching one of the most dynamic players who ever played the position do things that people thought unimaginable. I watched every highlight muttering to myself how unbelievable I thought he was. I even caught myself rooting for him because deep down we all enjoy rooting for someone that possesses as much talent as he does. Then last week I was reading Bill Simmons’ article about how it makes his wife sick that he roots for Vick after all that he has done. Two sentences in I realized that I had been watching Michael Vick as if it was 2006, before any dog fighting issues had been brought public. I immediately looked down at my two dogs sitting at my feet and remembered all the horrific details of the past. It made me step back a bit and think about whom it was I was rooting for, and how I had been caught up in all the excitement of his glorious return to excellence.
Roethlisberger and Vick aren’t the only two celebrities or sports figures that the public tends to do this with. How many people remember the fact that Ray Lewis was denied his trip to Disneyworld after his Super Bowl win in February 2001 because a year before he had been facing charges of murder? Lewis was eventually only charged with obstruction of justice and didn’t face any jail time, but not before the American public could snap to the conclusion at the time that he was a murderer. The Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl in 2001 thanks greatly to the dominant defense that was anchored by Lewis. Since his Super Bowl win he has gone on to lead the Ravens’ defense and help his team earn playoff berths in five of the past nine years. He is still one of the top linebackers in the NFL even at the age of 35, and the “murderer” label that he was stuck with in the spring of 2000 is the furthest thing from people’s mind while they are laughing at his Old Spice commercials that air on TV today.
So the question is have we forgiven these superstars for their indiscretions or have we simply forgotten? Have the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers forgiven Kobe Bryant after he was accused of raping a young girl in the summer of 2003, or have back to back NBA championships helped actions that happened in the past slip their minds? If you see Mike Tyson walking down the street are you going to turn your nose up at a man that raped a young woman in 1992 and bit a piece of a man’s ear off in the ring six years later? Or are you going to remember his cameo in The Hangover and walk over to have a picture taken with him, asking if he really has a tiger like the one in the movie?
Roethlisberger is and will continue to be one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League, and I believe that he simply got himself into a bad situation. He was accused once before of sexual misconduct with a hostess in Lake Tahoe, but it wound up looking like a woman that thought she had found a way to earn her 15 minutes, and maybe a fat paycheck out of the ordeal. Nevertheless, Roethlisberger, even if he was the victim of false accusations (in the Tahoe incident, and the incident in Georgia) still put himself in the situation in the first place. Roethlisberger is two months older than I am, and at 28 years old you should not be perusing bars for college girls. I am currently even a college student, and still would not consider doing such a thing. Roethlisberger is even more at risk than any normal 28 year old because he is a recognizable superstar and anyone knows that if they can get a picture or account of a superstar doing something they shouldn’t be doing, they can sell it and make good money. He and other public figures have to know that everything they do is being chronicled whether they like it or not, and they have to be on their best behavior at all times. If they are not, something like this could be the ultimate result.
The Steelers welcomed back Roethlisberger for training camp, and his coaches and teammates say that they could immediately see the change in his attitude. I don’t know if it was because he was simply happy to be back to football, or the fact that he had turned over a new leaf and is anxious to start a new chapter in his life, but it looks like the entire ordeal has changed him and he is ready to focus on what is important in life. The real test will be next Sunday when he is introduced in Pittsburgh. Like I said before I would be surprised if the boos outweighed the cheers, almost as surprised as the fact that Roethlisberger doesn’t show up on my spell check (apparently Mr. Webster is a Steelers fan). I believe this because even though the Steelers fans have seen signs that Roethlisberger isn’t a person you should be rooting for in the past, they still treated him as Steel Town Royalty. In 2006, the offseason after Roethlisberger’s first Super Bowl win he came out and said that he would not wear a helmet while riding his motorcycle, only to be in an accident months later resulting in a broken jaw and a large laceration down the back of his head. It is arrogance like this, and what some say is a sense of entitlement that could turn some fans against Roethlisberger, that is, if he hadn’t lead there team to victory. Fans revered him after winning his first 13 regular season starts his rookie year, and later leading the team to two Super Bowl victories. So the question remains, how many victories will it take for fans to forget about what happened in March in Milledgville?
All of these athletes have one thing in common; they have made a big mistake that they have had to answer for, whether it be jail time or embarrassing public apologies. They all have faced an uphill battle coming back into the limelight and have managed to gain back the love and respect from fans they had lost in the past. This is not a bad thing because everyone deserves a second chance, and the right to regain the public’s trust and admiration. I’m not saying that these people should be vilified for the rest of their lives for a mistake or mistakes that they have made; I’m just saying that their past transgressions should not be wiped from our mind. I am happy that Vick, Kobe and others turned a corner and changed their lives because of past discretions, and I am glad that they have been able to be successful in their respective careers. But it leaves us with the burning question, have we forgiven or just forgotten?
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