Roethlisberger #4 on Most Disliked NFL Players

Being successful, has always had its downfall and not only in the sports world. Bad press magnifies it. Nothing is ever said about Ben's charities or salute to the troops so I guess it is what it is... Bad press sells and the jealous biggots buy it up by the ton.

How else do talk shows and tabloid shows stay afloat? Yep by prioritizing the lame and their compromising situations as well as using successful folks and dumb mistakes (real or not) as the bait.

 

Yeah I always loved the fact that when we won the AFC in 08 that during the ceremony Ben thanked the troops. I know he's not an angel by any means but I do like what he does on the field.

 

Ben doesn't just fall into the same category if he did commit rape, it's far more than that, at least for me. I will forever dislike Ben regardless of his rape accusations. For many years the guy treated people like crap, including his own teammates (and apparently a pregnant waitress). Some will say it may not be true, but I have a hard time not believing it when it comes from so many different sources.

Ben will never get my respect for that reason, as well as the fact that it's possible he did some inappropriate things towards those two women. I believe that if it wasn't for him being a celebrity, he would have faced criminal charges.

But hey, as long as he's a Steeler, I hope he wins.

 

1 good act doesn't excuse 1 bad act. It's still a bad act that deserves to be judged independently of any good acts performed.

 

I know. That's why I said I know he's not an angel and I like what he does on the field. I think Ben was a total moron for even being IN a place like that crap hole in GA. I just like the fact that he thanked the military and that was BEFORE EITHER allegation. The maddest I have ever been at him was when he went to his presser looking like he was auditioning to be featured in an episode of Cops with that ridiculous looking half mullet thing. As far as people saying Ben doesn't help waitresses or whatever there's something in America called "class warfare" and a lot of people that have money get looked down upon by those who don't and they think they are "owed" something. That very well could be the kind of people saying stuff are the people that are just jealous of Ben's success and feel like he owes them something. However BobbyBiz is someone whose opinion I highly value and he has told a lot of stories about things like that too so they really might be true. I would be interested to know if any of these things have happened lately.

 

It’s not that he was a celebrity that got him off- if anything it was the fact that he was a celebrity w/lots of dough that likely gave the women the inkling to press towards a civil case or charges.
Think about those two cases and how ridiculous they appear just from a sniff test:

1. In the Nevada case the woman pursues a civil case a year after the incident occurs with many rumors of her basically throwing herself at the guy – then she goes upstairs to help fix a TV? Does she know how to fix TV’s. Did something wrong happen, maybe – maybe not – but the whole idea that you finally decide a year after it occurred that you were wronged sounds very fishy.
2. And then in GA, the girl is bombed out of her mind, she really has no physical injury that would indicate assault, she has DTF on her T-shirt, and she tells a different story that doesn’t line up w/what her friends are saying – and her friends can’t get their story straight either.

If it was just some normal dude, I think most prosecutors or civil defense attorneys would run away from the case.
I’ll always feel one of the biggest mistakes Ben after the whole affair is he never appeared truly regretful for his past actions. If he would have done a few interviews and found a way to say (1) I want to be clear I strongly believe I did not break the law or force myself on women (2) But I do understand my behavior was not appropriate, especially for the role I am entrusted with representing an NFL franchise that is revered by many and looked up to by so many children (3) I also recognize my past behavior in and around Pittsburgh at times has been arrogant and disrespectful (4) So I want to apologize to those I have hurt including my family and to the Pittsburgh Steelers organization and fanbase – I assure you in the future my actions off the field will be of a nature that serves the organization and community well.

I don’t know, maybe he was advised by attorneys not to say anything at all – but it just seems not much was done to improve his credibility.

 

In Nevada Ben admitted to consensual sex with her and said that he acknowledged that was wrong or something like that. I think the fact that she was going to training camp and telling her friends they were gonna have a "little Roethlisberger" pretty much destroys the rape allegations.

 

Well you KNOW it aint a party til someone brings it up! Sheesh! LOL!

 

But come on TTF - there can be so much nuance with stuff like this. I mean think of the poor Patriot fan boards where they have to get into a detailed discussion on:

"Does Tom Brady like Uggs or does he do it solely for the money."

 

Right, Wrong or indifference, I was disappointed that he put himself in that position. You give up certain liberties as a professional football player.

Just like in my case I am a highly ranked professional military soldier and I definitely can not put my self in situations like that. I would have been relieved of my duties and exited the military.

 

You've pretty much hit it on the head.

In many cases, we as a society have a bigger problem with "immoral" behavior than "illegal" behavior.

 

I'll also say this. I live about an hour away from Oxford (where Miami is), and everyone here's got a "my sister's boyfriend's cousin worked at TGI Friday's and Ben was a jerk" story... And guess what, they're ALL Bengals fans who just love to tell them. I'm not saying he was a saint, I'm just saying that the people around here WANT to hate Ben so badly, that stuff could easily get skewed... And for the record I met Joe Greene at training camp one year and he was kind of a dick... I don't hate him. He's a football player, not a PR person.

It's also easy for any athlete like that to get a big head, when he was young and dumb. It appears that he's grown from it. Plenty of us do dumb stuff when we're young.

 

I've had the same experiences with Bungles fans at games. I've overheard them saying they went to the same school and he was a jerk. But I've read a lot of stories of people have positive encounters with Ben too but I'm sure everyone would write those off as fairy tales.

 

And your basing your opinion of Ben off of what people you don't even know are saying about him? Did he not treat you well somewhere along the line? I guess I'm more apt to judge a person on how they treated me not how they treated someone I didn't know. I guess I was raised different. For the record I'm not trying to belittle your opinion because it is yours and you are entitlted to it! Did Ben do anything wrong? Depends on your definition of wrong. Easy to sit in hind-sight and say, "Yeah, guy shouldn't have put himself in that position". I would be willing to bet that everyone on this board has put themselves in the wrong position once or twice. Myself, I have three times. One I paid for, one I lucked out of and one I was able to spin into a good thing. If my life can be that complicated I can only imagine what a celebrity goes through.

 

That's because Brady only likes to play for guys with frisbees