Super Bowl XLV Bar Discussions: The Redemption of Ben Roethlisberger
During Super Bowl week, Where We Watch will provide you several bar discussion to get your conversations started. Later in the week, we'll provide you a list of the best Super Bowl specials within New York City.
This one probably has the great chance to get you in a deep discussion with a handful of people along the mahogany -- or, if handled wrong and coupled with alcohol, get you ejected from a bar.
Basically, it comes down to this: Ben Roethlisberger did something last summer in Midgeville, Georgia; there were no official legal charges filed, but he apologized at a press conference, and then Roger Goodell slapped him with a six-game suspension for personal conduct violation, which was later reduced to four games. It wasn't the first time Roethlisberger has been involved with issues of that nature (i.e. generally questionable behavior towards females). Lines were immediately formed among sports fans in terms of Big Ben perception.
Roethlisberger already had two Super Bowl wins -- the Seahawks one, back in 2005, had little to do with him (he had a QB rating somewhere around 22 in that game, and rode the defense and the run game), and the Cardinals one had a lot to do with him, including putting a beautiful touch on that ball to Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone. He's 10-2 in the playoffs as a starter thus far, and if he drops the Packers, he'll be 11-2 and have three rings before the age of 30; he'd thus be tied with Tom Brady, and two ahead of Peyton Manning. It's almost sure-fire Hall of Fame credentials.
But if he wins this game, is he redeemed for his actions? The media will likely be quick to paint it that way, because it's a captivating angle on the story.
At the most basic level, it's very hard to 'redeem' off-field actions by on-field ones; there's no correlation, and hasn't been one throughout sports history, between being a good person off the field and a good one on it. It happens in many cases -- with the whole "shunning a cancer patient" non-issue aside, Aaron Rodgers does appear to be a pretty good guy off the field (and obviously on it) -- but a lot of relatively massive douchebags have won championships, and done so repeatedly.
There is a degree of 'redemption' for Roethlisberger, yes -- on the field. Hines Ward called him out last year, and the Steelers had to get through four games without a Pro Bowl caliber player at the most important offensive position there is. In a way, he let down his teammates. He's redeemed himself there, or at least it appears he has. He helped lead them to a Super Bowl, and the way he played against the Ravens in the regular season (playing through a broken nose) and the Jets in the AFC Championship game (repeatedly keeping drives alive with the run-right scrambling stuff) were big factors.
To say he's redeemed off the field is something else entirely. Dude might be engaged, and might have made significant strides in dealing with females and bars and all that -- but we don't know. If he has or if he hasn't, it isn't connected to his performance on the field. You can't perform well in athletic endeavors and have that forgive personal transgressions; that feels a lot like high school, or, to use a broader example, how actions were valued in pre-historic times.
As this week wears on, we'll look at actual keys to the game, "who-is-really-America's-team" debates and more. But this discussion will arise at your choice of bar on Sunday. Be prepared to defend your side.
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