One Last Time On Ben

After spending most of the past two days responding to the response to my original post about Ben Roethlisberger, it’s time to clear up some things.

1. I did not accuse Roethlisberger of being high on drugs. I pointed out that there were many references made to the fact that he did not appear to have been drinking a lot on the night in question.

The implication, or at least my inference, was that those accounts were being used to bolster the contention that he didn’t misbehave. I simply pointed out that there are other ways to get high, meaning that his alcohol consumption or lack of same, was irrelevant to his innocence or guilt.

I also asked if you would be surprised to find out that he was high on something else. Would you?

That’s not an accusation. It’s a question. Why would anybody NOT consider the possibility of drug use when trying to explain the kind of behavior that Roethlisberger is ACCUSED of?

2. I did not accuse Ben of blowing off a Make-A-Wish kid. I began my post by making the observation that I had never seen a local athlete generate so many “What’s wrong with this guy” questions. I ended the post by giving an example of one of the many, many negative stories I had been told about the guy.

I said that a woman emailed me with a story about Roethlisberger blowing off a Make-A-Wish kid. I said that I was later put in touch with a woman claiming to be the kid’s mother and she said the story was true.

I also pointed out that KDKA’s news director quashed the story and made it clear that he didn’t want it to be investigated further. I did not accuse Ben of blowing off the kid. I just told you about someone who claimed that he did.

This is a blog. I’ll be posting stories from people about lots of things. I’ll post them. You take them for what they’re worth. If over time, you notice a lack of credibility, stop visiting. It’s not complicated.

This ain’t the New York Times.

Oh, wait. That’s probably a good thing, considering their recent track record.

Date: March 14, 2010

Categories: Uncategorized

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Reply

DavidMcGwire

in March 14th, 2010 @ 12:02

John, I really wish you would have never put the one sentence regarding the “being high” in your original post. Now your whole message is being overlooked while everyone discusses and dissects that one point. I’m sure when you wrote the post that one sentence was just a small portion of the overall message you wanted to convey.

However, it not your fault that some of your commenters don’t have the mental capacity to look past that one sentence and read into the main point of what you wrote.

None the less, I will never understand the theory that to be a “true” Steeler fan you have to support every player as if they were your family. To me it’s completely ridiculous. Does anyone realize what Pittsburghers would do if this situation happened to any other NFL quarterback? He would be crucified; but because Ben is “Our Guy” we are supposed to stand by him? I’m not saying he’s innocent or guilty of what he accused of…but he is certainly guilty of bringing negative attention to the Steelers, and for that we have a right to judge. No one gets accused of something this serious, twice, who has done nothing wrong. Whether he has done something illegal is another story.

By comparison, to make an example by using a less serious case, I whole heartedly believe Matt Cook should have been suspended last week. His hit was dirty and though “legal” was cheap. It doesn’t make me less of Penguins fan for saying that…and if you think it does….you’re ignorant person.
Reply

Bobby

in March 14th, 2010 @ 19:30

Steigy doth protest too much, methinks.
Reply

L

in March 14th, 2010 @ 20:16

Your intro into the world of blogging has been kind of Baptism by Fire. My advice: Do not feed the Trolls. (in blospeak-don’t respond to over the top negative comments because that only feeds their fire.) You can’t please everybody and no matter how you write it-no matter how many times you explain it-they will read into it whatever they want.

For the record: I read it exactly how you intended it. Keep telling it like you see it!

Reply

JohnSteigerwald

in March 15th, 2010 @ 07:57

I wanted to answer as many as possible in the beginning but I couldn’t agree more. No matter how many times I point out that I made not one accusation, Ikeep hearing from people who claim I accused him of being on drugs. Thanks.

Reply

JohnSteigerwald

in March 15th, 2010 @ 10:03

Nope. Glad it’s not something as serious as sexual assault.
Twice.

Danger is my middle name.

Reply

Stumbler2001

in March 15th, 2010 @ 08:11

I have been a Steelers fan since childhood, but have never lived in Pittsburgh I am the first to admit that I know nearly nothing about the kind of person ANY player from the team is off the field, other than what I read in the media. I read your original post and many of the responses. Then I read this post. You say

“I did not accuse Ben of blowing off a Make-A-Wish kid….I said that a woman emailed me with a story about Roethlisberger blowing off a Make-A-Wish kid. I said that I was later put in touch with a woman claiming to be the kid’s mother and she said the story was true…I did not accuse Ben of blowing off the kid. I just told you about someone who claimed that he did. ”

However, this is what I read in the first post

“A couple of years ago I heard from a woman who said that Roethlisberger blew off a Make-A-Wish kid. When KDKA-TVs News Director, John Verrilli, was shown the email, he made it clear that it was a story that his news department would not be pursuing. I eventually got in contact with the parents of the little girl who the jackass snubbed. They said the story was true but they didn’t want to go public with it for their daughter’s sake. The little girl had cystic fibrosis.

As I said, Bad citizen who needs a comeuppance.”

You clearly DID accuse Ben of blowing off this kid. And you said you got in touch with the girls parents, NOT someone CLAIMING to be her mother.

All of the things you said about Ben may be true, but my point is that if you expect anyone to believe what you write about things he may have done, you should start by being honest about what you wrote.

Reply

JohnSteigerwald

in March 15th, 2010 @ 10:05

I later clarified the post. I still have never accused him directly of blowing off the kid. There’s a lot more to the story, by the way, that I haven’t repeated. I only mentioned it in the first place in the context of how amazed I’ve been at the number of “why is this guy such a jerk” questions I’ve received over the years about this idiot.

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