The scene was set, two minutes on the clock. The Pittsburgh Steelers down by six to the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter of SuperBowl 45. A Hollywood ending was in store. The Steelers would do what they do. Grind down the field. Pop it to big Ben Roethlisberger and he would find a way to win.
Ink would be spilled and blogs filled with the redemption play. His throw to the end zone that would banish that bawdy Georgian night last March which led to an charge of sexual assault from a twenty-year old college student against him. A charge that was dropped by the authorities and ultimately only cost Roethlisberger four regular season games due to suspension from the NFL.
His suspension mirrored that of another pyrotechnic quarter-back Michael Vick. Having served eighteen months in prison for his part in a dog fighting ring Vick earned this years NFL comeback player of the year. He has garnered praise not only for his astounding performances for the Philadelphia Eagles but also for his work with anti-dog fighting organisations.
Vick is the prime example to some in America of how the prison system should work. He committed crimes that were withering in their cruelty but he served his time and has worked hard to make himself a better person and with that a better player. That may be a utopian view but it can be argued. Big Ben is an altogether more grey case.
Sport, we have been led to believe, shows the character of someone. The Chicago Bears quarter-back Jay Cutler was straight up lacking balls for some, because he went off injured in the NFC championship game against Green Bay three weeks ago. I myself, have to admit, questioned his fortitude as pictures of him ambling around on the sideline were beamed back from Solider field.
We have all heard about Brett Favre or Roethlisberger playing with injures. In the first quarter last night Ben was feeling his knee-something Cutler failed to do to convince the likes of me- but then went on a storming run to pick up the first down. Character? Balls.
Just as no-one can question Cutlers bravery because he didn’t sell his injury effectively, can anyone say Roethlisburger is a better or worse person today because he lost a football match. Vick has at least shown he is trying to change. All Roethlisberger has shown this season is he is a very good quarter-back. Had he thrown the winning touchdown pass last night do the questions or the allegations ( He is also being sued by a Nevada hotel employee for sexual assault, a case going back to 2008) disappear? Of course not.
Football is perhaps the most macho of sports. Quarter-backs look up from beneath their face-masks at packs of ravenous hunters with eyes only for them. Roethlisberger is from the Favre gunslinger school. Inviting them into the pocket and dodging their shots.
They get hit, they get up, they play on. But Big Ben hasn’t sold the reformed character yet. He may never do, but one things for sure the win/loss column has no bearing on it.
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