Big Ben Becoming a Big Joke

Ben Roethlisberger is innocent until proven guilty. He has as much right to go out and have a good time as anyone else. The fact that he’s a highly-successful NFL quarterback doesn’t change that.

What that should change, however, is Roethlisberger’s decision making process. In the past year, Big Ben has already had one sexual misconduct charge thrown his way. A Lake Tahoe waitress has claimed that Roethlisberger raped her in 2008. Although the criminal case has been dismissed due to lack of evidence, the civil case is still on the docket.

The idea that an athlete that already has had legal issues and is a very similar situation is hardly newsworthy, unless the athlete involved a two-time Super Bowl champion in charge of leading one of America’s most recognizable sports franchises.

From all accounts, Big Ben is a likeable guy, but at some point, he needs to grow up. He may only be 28 years old, but Roethlisberger has little in common with his contemporaries. Ben has too much to lose and not very much to gain by going out to nightspots frequented by coeds nearly 10 years his junior. By continuing along with this immature pattern of behavior, Roethlisberger has embarrassed himself, his team, his city, and the NFL.

There is unlikely to be any sort of resolution in Roethlisberger’s case for weeks if not months. In the grand scheme, the only fact that matters is if Big Ben is charged with a crime, and if so, whether he is proven to be innocent or guilty. When all the dust settles, Roethlisberger may only be guilty of a bad decision that put him in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the damage to his image has been done.

Triumphs and mistakes on the field of play are often forgotten over time, but off the field problems can rain over an athlete’s career, and the public outcry is something from which they never escape.

Ben Roethlisberger’s small cloud might have just grown into a permanent hurricane.