Big Lead Sports Bar

10/06/2009

THOUGHTS ON THE STEELER WAY (YOUR HELP NEEDED)

A few readers and commented on Big Ben's Monday night wrestling appearance, making the points that A. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning probably wouldn't do it (agreed), and B. It was in poor taste to participate in a skit involving scantily-clad "Divas" given the suit he is fighting right now (again, agreed).

While I consistently voice my love of all things Roethlisbergian on the field, I'm going to be a little bit critical of Big Ben away from the field. As I said this morning, at times I feel like he "isn't totally grown up". As a player, his peers are clearly Manning and Brady. Away from the game, he's more on the level of Tony Romo; he's not going to do anything criminal, but some of his decisions are not well thought-out, given his level of celebrity.

Of course, what he does with his free time is his business and not ours. But sometimes a person's actions can create their own problems. Like I've said three times now, that performance last night would've been chastised if it happened with the backdrop of a 1-3 start.

But back to the wrestling topic, Mark Madden was discussing it on his Tuesday show and was a bit critical of this particular pose:



He pointed out that when you combine an image like the one above with James Farrior's postgame scrap and the other various arrests the Steelers have dealt with over the past season, that the franchise is getting further and further away from its classy reputation.

I agree...to an extent. I was not around to soak up the awesomeness of the '70s Steelers, but I know they had Ernie Holmes shooting at a police helicopter, rampant steroid use, and a fair share of incidents on the field that surely compared to Farrior's. To say they were all choir boys away from the game would probably be inaccurate.

My suggestion is to put our heads together on a group project to see if this organizational portrayal is fact or myth. I'm proposing we try and make a master list of every Steeler-related arrest since 1970. Obviously, the more recent arrests will be easier to track, because a list of all NFL arrests since 2000 has already been compiled. Unfortunately, various Steelers have been arrested 13 times between 2000-09, including "the Santonio Holmes Hat Trick". So we're not off to a good start.

The '90s should not be too difficult, but I'm especially going to need you elder statesmen among us to help with the "vintage" varieties. Time to tap that Steeler memory bank.

We'll go with the player, the arrest, and the outcome of the case. In a day or so, I'll compile them in chronological order. This exercise is not meant to be anti-Steeler in any way. If the franchise is as "classy" as many of us take them to be (myself included), this will be a short list and merely confirm what most people already think.

Three ways to contribute:

Email: Mondesishouse@gmail.com
Twitter
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or leave it in the comment section

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21 comments:

Zone Blitz said...

Dude, I dig your site and all, and Ima gonna let you finish, but this is really not necessary. I think you're making too much adue about nothin.

JMO ...

tecmo said...

ya, since it just said it in the last one...

...my mind is on other things with these steelers. it was monday night raw, case closed

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

I like the fact that Ben did something Tom Brady and Manning wouldn't do.

He's neither of those two guys, he's Ben Roethlisberger. He doesn't have to be the clean-cut, all-American boy.

He had fun and probably made himself a few extra bucks, and it didn't harm the team at all, nothing to complain about at all.

getfreshdesigns said...

You're right, Ben did something Brady and Peyton wouldn't ever do.

Brady poses for modeling magazines and Peyton is a funny guy in commercials because lets face it, Peyton is good in that role.

Ben is neither of those, and I doubt the WWE booked him just a few weeks ago.

Let it go. Not like he did this right after a game (like some karaoke at a bar) , it was a day later.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Big Ben on field = Amazing
Big Ben off field = Moron

I have no problem with the appearance...if it doesn't have that Diva thing in the script. Somewhere along the line common sense has to kick in and say "some people may think this reflects poorly on my character". That someone may very well be a judge in Nevada.

Chip said...

You know, now I finally see why so many football fans find Steeler fans so obnoxious and annoying.

We can't just win Super Bowls. We have to have the greatest owner. We have to have the cleanest, most hard-working players. And off the field we must be most virtuous team that ever existed. Gimme a break.

It's wrestling. You either find it corny and funny or you don't. Questioning Ben's character because he did a DX crotch chop is absolutely retarded.

Brett Favre was a drug addict and alcoholic who is now everybody's hero. Tony Romo is a fame whore. Tom Brady is a douchebag who knocked up one woman and then abandoned his son for some skanky supermodel.

On the QBs-Dickishness Scale, I think standing on a platform while some female wrestlers wearing Steeler jerseys walk past is pretty low on the totem pole.

Keith Mitchell said...

Upside - Ben continues to bond with his O-line and they work to make sure he doesn't get the same treatment Aaron Rodgers received Monday night.

Downside - already stated, not the smartest thing to do while being sued for sexual harrasment.

Not sure what the point of creating an arrest list would be but as for bad boy behavior, I'm sure Terry Bradshaw wasn't throwing back Hawaiian Punch during the filming of Cannonball Run.

Koz said...

Good luck compiling that list. From the looks of it based on the comments so far, looks like you're flying solo on this one, Raul.

1. Bam Morris. There, that ought to help.

BURGH08 said...

I posted in the other one about Brady/Manning, but I can see the other points.

I'll also add that both Manning and Brady did Saturday Night Live, and that was some pretty silly stuff, but seen by the public as more acceptable than wrestling.

In all honesty, as long as he is not a criminal, I could care less that he is a bit of a dope off the field, not seen as helpful to the media or every clamoring fan.

I just want the man to continue winning Lombardi's.

BURGH08 said...

Not really wild about the 'elder statesman' comment, but I am in my late 30's.

I remember Carlton Haselrig going through the DUI/Rehab stints and testing positive for cocaine. He ended up doing even more bizarre stuff and was out of the league soon after.

If you count steroid suspensions, Terry Long was while a Steeler, then arrested when his playing days were over and commited suicide.

Those are two that came to mind.

SantoGold said...

Burgh08 mentioned the SNL shows with Brady & Manning. Didn't Brady parade around in his underwear for one of the skits? I'd say that is more ridiculous than Ben being on the WWE hitting the crotch chop (which really went out of style 10 years ago....is the WWE creative dept. really that desparate?).

Based on the demographics for this site I'm not sure how this will be received, but the best thing for Ben would be to find a gal mama would be proud of and get married. Someone with maybe a bit more social sense than him who might say, "you're millionaire 27 years old public figure....do you really want to be on TV smacking your crotch just for a few laughs?". That type of girl; and of course one who is smoking hot as well.

SantoGold said...

The media covered up the sins of "their boys" much better back in the day than today, so pickings are slim. From the 70's, Joe Gilliam was a heavy drug user during his playing days, Steve Courson with the steroids, the whole "criminal element" lawsuit in 1977. In the 80's, Dan Turk had a pretty bad "party boy" reputation and I recall Aaron Jones being considered a dirty player, especially by Boomer Esiason. That's all I got.

BURGH08 said...

Santo, yes Brady did, and he also grabbed Tina Fey's boob.

I know this probably exposes me as a yinzer, but as much as I really didn't have a problem with Ben yesterday, I would have probably if they lost Sunday and he played awful.

Admin said...

Uhhh, you do know Ben really doesn't "control" raw. It's fake and only Vince is responsible for what's on air. It's not like ben said "I'm only coming if we have hot girls come out and wrestle sexily dressed. shit its fake let it be. u tryin to make something out of nothing. stop trying to make gold into shit.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

Historically ,Football players aren't exactly mistaken as candidates for Sainthood.

We have heard the stories about Bobby Layne's wild behavior and we all know about Turnpike Ernie to name a few. However, I do agree with Don that it seems the Steelers have been a little more lax with the character projected by their players. The league as whole, however, has slipped even further IMHO.

I have all the respect in the world for Ray Lewis, but he helped commit a murder and was the Super Bowl MVP the next year without even missing a game. Look at the Bengals entire organization. Saint Manning the Elder was accused of sexual assault at Tennessee, but that hasn't effected his Q rating. Randy Moss ran over a traffic officer. How about The Love Boat and SpyGate? Look at wholesome Tom Brady; he's father 2 kids out of wedlock to 2 different women ( who came blame him, but what does he think this is, the NBA?). And of course who can forget Tony Dungy's crusade to assure a convicted felon would get his millions with an NFL team (no help for Matt Jones though?).

The NFL has become a parody of what it once was held up as: the model for the other 3 major sports leagues.

BURGH08 said...

I have no respect for Ray Lewis.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

i apologize, i left out "as a player"

AJ said...

Joe Montana hosting SNL back in the 90s was one of the greatest television moments of all time.

Unknown said...

Well, Mark Madden is an idiot. James Farrior is tarnishing the image of the Steelers for being fired up after a game? Really?? It's not like he cold-cocked Jackson then went after fans. He ran his mouth (which he's prone to do) and they shoved one another. Joey Porter did stuff like that ALL THE TIME when he was here. I didn't hear much outrage over it. In fact, I think it made everyone like him more.

The "various arrest" thing is hardly worth discussing. As someone else said, this is the NFL we're talking about here. Show me a team that hasn't had some players run into legal trouble. And the Steelers historically do the right thing, depending on the situation.

And Ben: holy hell, if any of that was can be considered done in poor taste, then the pussification of our society is complete. Last I checked, Ben hasn't been found liable for anything yet.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

AJ, was that SNL the famous "I'm gonna go upstairs and masturbate" episode? That was hysterical.

In fact, the skit where Brady was in his underwear (wasn't it a take on sexual harassment?) was pretty good too.

The problem with wrestling is that some people refuse to just take it for what it is: a live action scripted TV show with some stunts thrown in. It's basically the same thing as doing SNL, just in a different genre of entertainment.

I DVRed Raw and basically just fast forwarded to Ben's parts. It was stupid (it's wrestling, what do you expect?) but there was nothing wrong with it. Let the boys live their lives as long as they're not hurting anyone.

Unknown said...

If those girls were "scantily clad" then ....well I dunno....they were anything but scantily clad...they were fullt clothed.