An Open Letter to Ben Roethlisberger

Dear Ben,
    Let me introduce myself.  I'm a regular guy who's old enough to be your father.  I was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area and I'm a life long Steelers fan.  I'm also the father of a daughter.  You can probably guess where this is going. 

I won't waste any time trying to pretty this up.  That's not Pittsburgh style.

What the hell were you thinking?

Let's start with a football metaphor.  You've managed to avoid the legal sack.  You know how those go.  Sometimes you make a good move and get away.  And sometimes you're just damn lucky.  Instead you've managed to throw a stupid interception.  The kind when you look down field to your receiver and tap your chest.  That one was on you.

I don't know what happened.  I'm just going on what reliable sources like the D.A. down in Georgia tell me.  Yeah she was drunk, on the verge of blacking out drunk.  Not making good decisions.  She shouldn't have gone there.  So what?  You the know the difference between a man and a dirt bag?  A man tries to protect people when they're vulnerable.  The dirt bag tries to take advantage. 

Seems like you maybe had a couple too.  Maybe you think that gets you the "making poor decisions" defense as well.  Sorry.   Call me old school but a man's responsible for his own actions.  Over the last 8 months you've put yourself into positions where bad things might happen.  Those are both on you.

As for your apology I noticed you managed to avoid apologizing to the fans or the city of Pittsburgh.  You know, the folks who now get to hear people say about our team and our city "Oh that's where that dirt bag QB plays".  You still owe us an apology.


Let me throw you a bone.  You did one thing right this week.  A good decision.

Much better haircut.  I mean really, a mullet?  What the hell were you thinking?


Folks from Pittsburgh are a forgiving bunch generally.  You should know that there's a lot longer history of baseball than football in the Steel City.  And in baseball it's 3 strikes and you're out.  Show us that you've learned your lesson.  Show us that you've changed and decided to act like a man.  Pittsburgh once turned itself around from some literally dark days.  We've got a thing for stories about re-making yourself.  So you've got a shot.  Don't screw it up.