Ben Roethlisberger Expected Back In Georgia To Face Investigation
Poosie Just Falling Out Your Pocket
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is expected back in Georgia in a couple of days to be interviewed by state investigators in an alleged sexual assault of a college student at a nightclub in Milledgeville.
Milledgeville police say the NFL superstar and his 20-year-old accuser visited several bars late Thursday night before the alleged attack. The unidentified woman claims she was “sexually assaulted or sexually manipulated” by a man, police said. The woman, treated and released from Oconee Regional Medical Center, approached one of the citys officers in the downtown area saying she’d been sexually assaulted by the suspect described in the police report.
“He’s been identified as being at the scene,” Milledgeville police Deputy Chief Richard Malone said of Roethlisberger.
Investigators are collecting additional evidence, and more than a dozen investigators have been involved in the case. Investigators interviewed between seven and nine people, including the woman, Roethlisberger and everyone in their parties.
A woman who asked not to be named said she saw Roethlisberger and the young woman at two bars, The Velvet Elvis and The Brick.
Roethlisberger has a winter home in Reynolds Plantation, a resort community on Lake Oconee in Greensboro.
Ben Roethlisberger Accused Of Sexual Assault Again
Poosie Just Falling Out Your Pocket
A Georgia woman has accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault according to TMZ Sports. This is the second accusation in less than 12 months.
TMZ reports that the alleged assault took place early Friday morning at a club in Milledgeville, Georgia, and that the alleged victim has been treated and released. The alleged assault took place in the bathroom at Capital City, a nightclub in Milledgeville.
Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault before: in 2009, a woman named Andrea McNulty accused Big Ben of a 2008 sexual assault that took place in Reno, Nevada. That case was never pursued criminally and the civial case is still pending though.
Is Big Ben just an unlucky guy or does he like to get physical once he hears the word no?
Super Bowl XLIV Most Watched TV Event EVER With 106.5 Milli
Surpasses "Goodbye & Amen" Episode
For 27 years M*A*S*H finale was the most watched TV event until last nights Super Bowl XLVI dethroned it. The previous record was of 106.0 million for the finale in 1983.
The Saints 31-17 win over the Colts in Super Bowl XLIV drew a 45.0 national rating and 106.5 million viewers on CBS Sunday night, up 7% in ratings and 8% in viewership from Pittsburgh Steelers/Arizona Cardinals on NBC last year (42.0, 98.7 mil), and up 4% and 9%, respectively, from New York Giants/New England Patriots on FOX in ‘08 (43.1, 97.4 mil).
Additionally, the 45.0 rating is the highest for any television program since Dallas Cowboys/Pittsburgh Steelers drew a 46.0 in 1996.
To put the numbers in perspective, the Super Bowl drew over 70 million more viewers than the top non-NFL sporting event of the past 12 months — the Texas/Alabama BCS National Championship Game (30.8 mil).
This is the third-straight year the Super Bowl has drawn record viewership, and the fifth-straight year that viewership for the game has increased. Just five years ago, Super Bowl XXXIX drew only 86.1 million viewers on FOX. From 1999-05, the Super Bowl drew less than 90 million viewers each year.
The record for the Super Bowl is the capper to a highly successful season for the NFL. The regular season was the most-viewed since 1990 (16.6 mil), the Wild Card round was the most-viewed since ‘95 (29.9 mil), the Divisional Round was the most-viewed since ‘94 (33.0 mil), and the Conference Championship games were the most-viewed since ‘82 (52.9 mil).
ESPN Lies About Reporting On Civil Rape Allegations
So Quickly Too
Former Dallas Cowboy and current NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin has been accused of rape by women who has filed a civil suit against the Hall of Fame receiver for an alleged July 2007 sexual assault.
But back in July (when I first posted on the 22) during Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was alleged to have raped a Nevada women, the “Leader” completely ignored the fact. ESPN went as far as issuing a ‘DO NOT REPORT’ memo to all of its outlets and reporters. ESPN went as far as saying it had previously established a company policy to not report on civil cases involving athletes.
But that policy did not stop ESPN from covering Randy Moss alleged battery against a woman in January ‘08. There were no criminal charges; Moss was slapped with a restraining order against the woman.
ESPN even reported on the intention of a woman to sue Los Angeles Lakers guard Shannon Brown over an alleged sex-related incident earlier this year. When Brown was notified that he would be sued for an alleged sex-related incident in June of ‘09, ESPN.com was there with the story. And this was not a mere recycling of an Associated Press piece. This was a detailed piece on a story that was “confirmed to ESPN’s Shelley Smith on June 3, 2009.”
Eventually ESPN reported on the Roethlisberger story once the news broke that there would be no criminal investigation into the allegations.
Fast forward to February 2010 and ESPN is back on reporting on an African American athlete who is wrapped up in a civil case over in which the district attorney has made said that an announcement whether to pursue legal charges will come about sometime next week.
Ironically, Irvin has been fired effective immediately from ESPN Radio 103.3 in Dallas. According to the Dallas Morning News, ESPN planned to drop Irvin following the Super Bowl, but the sexual assault suit “expedited” the process.
An ESPN spokesman told the Dallas Morning News that Irvin’s show “was not performing and we had previously determined to end the show.”
So does the Alleged Worldwide Leader cater to white athletes?
Kurt Warner Retires From National Football League
Never Giving Up
Kurt Warner has called an end to one of the great storybook careers in NFL history. The 38-year-old quarterback announced his retirement from the game after a dozen years in a league that at first rejected him, then revered him as he came from nowhere to lead the lowly St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls, winning the first of them. Written off as a has-been, he rose again to lead the long-suffering Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl a year ago.
Warner walked away with a year left on a two-year, $23 million contract, knowing he still had the skills to play at the highest level.He had one of the greatest postseason performances ever in Arizona’s 51-45 overtime wild card victory over Green Bay Packers on Jan. 10, but sustained a brutal hit in the Cardinals 45-14 divisional round loss to the New Orleans Saints six days later.
Warner leaves the game with a legacy that could land him in the Hall of Fame even though he didn’t start his first game until he was 28. In a comparison with the 14 quarterbacks to make the Hall of Fame in the last 25 years, Warner has a better career completion percentage, yards per pass attempt and yards per game. Only Dan Marino had more career 300-yard passing games.
In 124 regular-season games, Warner completed 65.5 percent of his passes for 32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns. He and Fran Tarkenton are the only NFL quarterbacks to throw for 100 touchdowns and 14,000 yards for two teams.
He was also the fastest player in NFL history to 10,000 yards passing and tied Dan Marino as fastest to reach 30,000. He has the top three passing performances in Super Bowl history. His 1,156 yards passing in the 2008 playoffs broke the NFL record of 1,063 he set with St. Louis in 1999.
He played three seasons in the Arena Football League and one in NFL Europe, mixed in with a sting stocking grocery shelves back in Iowa. Warner made the Rams as a backup in 1998, then was thrust into the starting role in 1999 when Trent Green was injured.
What followed was a masterful and wholly unexpected season, when he led the Rams to a 13-3 regular-season record, then a Super Bowl triumph over Tennessee Titans. He was named the league and Super Bowl MVP. St. Louis was upset in the first round of the playoffs the following season, but Warner had them back in the big game in 2001, where “The Greatest Show on Turf” lost a squeaker to New England Patriots. The season earned him a second NFL MVP award.
But after an injury-plagued 2002 season, he was sacked six times and suffered a concussion in a 2003 season-opening loss to the New York Giants. He never started for St. Louis again. He signed a free agent contract with the Giants for 2004, but was replaced by rookie Eli Manning after nine games. Warner came to the Cardinals in 2005 and was an off-and-on starter before replacing the injured Matt Leinart part way through the 2007 season.
Warner had to beat out Leinart the following spring, then led the Cardinals to the NFC West crown and playoff victories over Atlanta, Carolina and Philadelphia before the narrow loss to Pittsburgh Steelers in last year’s Super Bowl, where he threw for 377 yards.
Warner’s departure leaves Leinart the presumed replacement. The former Heisman Trophy winner has started 17 games for Arizona but only one in the last two years.
Steeler Fan Kills Puppy Cause It Won’t Behave Prior To Game
this is for my dogs, this is for my dogs
William Woodson is a sad case of an angry Pittsburgh Steeler fan taking watching his favorite team too far. Woodson is being is being held on $25,000 bail in the Allegheny County Jail, pending a preliminary hearing on animal cruelty after he kicked the dog to death. The puppy was a 13-week-old pit bull named Flip.
His girlfriend, Christine Gielarowski 21, told police her boyfriend kicked the dog because the pup would not walk with them.
“He admitted the dog would not behave prior to the Steelers game and that he became upset at it,” according to the affidavit.
Sickening stuff to be sure. Where would an NFL fan get the idea you could commit such violence towards an animal and ever again be allowed to function in society?
President Obama & DeMarcus Ware Team Up Trying To Stop Youth Fatness
I’ll continue to ride an elevator in a two story building.
Chicago Bears Fans Are Haters
Bears Fan Will Kill You
If you’ve ever watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play a road game, you can obviously see thousands of their fans in attendance and that was no different when the Steelers visited the Chicago Bears in week 2.
That week two game saw the Bears beat the Steelers 17-14 but it was more of a loss to one Steeler fan. Zack Eddinger, 46 years old, claims he was poisoned, that lead to blindness, in a Chicago bar after an altercation with a group of Bears fans that almost took his life.
According to WTAE in Pittsburgh, Heddinger said his friends were involved in some trash talk with a group of Bears fans, and eventually the Bears fans offered a drink as a “peacemaker.”
- From WTAE:
- Not long after taking the drink, Heddinger passed out and was rushed to a nearby hospital, his heart stopping four times. At first, doctors thought he had too much to drink, but realized there was more to it.
- “They thought it was antifreeze or something like that …because it was so strong,” said Heddinger.
- Heddinger’s family rushed to Chicago to be with him after doctors told them he wasn’t going to make. According to the report, doctors believe the drink may have been spiked with toxic grain alcohol.
Forget that I ain’t ever going out for the Dallas Cowboys however the St. Louis Cardinals is a different story, there better be no crying at my funeral.
Larry Johnson Signs With The Cincinnati Bengals
Couldn't Wait A Day, Could You?
Is it hard to fathom a player like Larry Johnson whose has a troubled past, which ultimately lead to his release in Kansas City, would end up in Cincinnati with the Bengals, not really. What should be glaring is that numerous NFL teams that suddenly came down with a rash of running back injuries like Michael Turner of the Falcons (high ankle sprain), Ronnie Brown of the Dolphins (foot injury already ruled out of Thursdays nights game), and Brian Westbrook of the Eagles (second concussion that might sideline him the rest of the season), didn’t get a single sniff from these teams.
But the Bengals are taking a chance on what they considered will be an insurance policy (uh I said that yesterday) for their running back position and have gone ahead and signed Johnson, who (7-2) currently sit atop the AFC North.
In fact, head coach Marvin Lewis says Johnson won’t disrupt any running back’s role on the Bengals, not even backups Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard. According to Lewis, Johnson would likely be inactive for the Bengals when everyone is healthy, being a fourth running back.
Running back Cedric Benson currently ranks sixth in the NFL in rushing with 859 yards, but is battling a hip injury that forced him to leave Sunday’s win over the Steelers. Lewis already spoke to Benson and told him that his role wouldn’t change. The Bengals say Benson could play this week, but they will be cautious.
It also seems on the day Johnson gets back into the NFL, he couldn’t take a breather from the social networking sites and posted a little message on his Facebook page to his former team. “Gonna gallop all over the Chiefs. Cleat prints on the chests Mudd in the face masks,” whom he could face on December 27 in the Nati, if he the gets playing time.
CAUTION: Watch Your Step 
The NFL Competition Committee has decided to look into the safety concerning it’s umpires. Far too many times have officials become part of the playing field in recent memory.
Umpires could soon be equipped with helmets similar to the players or they could be shifter further away from danger into different areas of the field. If the league opted for helmets for its umpires, they could be like the ones players wear or even an ear-flap baseball helmet.
The NFL has grown increasingly concerned with the types of collisions it witnessing from its officials. The game between the Broncos and Chargers on Monday night saw umpire Butch Hannah suffer a concussion after getting hit by Charger Steve Gregory. Earlier this season in a game between the Panthers and Falcons, umpire Garth DeFelice was knocked down four times in that game alone. Then in Sunday’s game between the Vikings and Steelers back judge Richard Reels was run down by Jeff Dugan on Percy Harvin’s kickoff return for a touchdown for the Vikings.
Players have gotten too big and too fast, and umpires who are part the field of play are becoming more and more in the line of fire.
Watch Out For The Bus
Big Bus
Jerome Bettis seems to be enjoying life outside of football, last year he was in a trial run for himself with the NBC Sunday Night Football crew and this year he beyond getting his feet wet as a blogger for Sports Illustrated. The Bus isn’t afraid of of criticizing anyone, that includes his former team the Pittsburgh Steelers who where last year Super Bowl champs.
In his new Sports Illustrated column, Bettis singles out the Steelers running game as being the factor that could derail the Pittsburgh’s attempt at a repeat. He singles out Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Frank Summers and the offensive line. But he calls out the Steelers coaching staff as the biggest problem because they ignored the problem.
“This problem isn’t anything new, and I blame the coaching staff for not addressing the line in the offseason. How did they rationalize not doing anything about it? Well, they won a Super Bowl. They won’t be so lucky twice in a row. If Ben continues to get hit the way he did Thursday — the same way he did last year, then this will come back to haunt the Steelers. Ben will get hurt. Ben will miss games. And they don’t have a line to run behind without Ben. Pittsburgh can’t repeat with the line playing like this.”
Keep making statements about your former team like these and I wonder if your next dinner tab is generously picked up in Pittsburgh?
Madden Jinx Is Back
Watch Out Larry
The first game of real football and down goes Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu with a sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee late in the first. Head coach Mike Tomlin said the injury usually sidelines a player from 3 to 6 weeks. Tomlin said there is a chance the injury could be worse once further tests are run.
“I’m sure there’s a possibility of it, but I don’t have any concrete evident that there is anything more than that,” Tomlin said.
Especially when you consider the Madden Jinx.
2001: Eddie George, Tennessee Titans
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: 1995 Heisman, 1996 Rookie of the Year, Led Titans to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIV.
2001 Stats: 315 attempts, 939 rushing yards, 5 TDs (All were career lows while with the Titan franchise)
2002: Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota Vikings
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: 1998 Sammy Baugh Trophy (Nation’s Top QB), Led Vikings to 2000 NFC Championship Game
2002 Stats: 3,853 Passing Yards, 18 TD, 23 INT, 75.5 Passer Rating, 21 fumbles. Vikings were 6-10 under Culpepper.
2003: Marshall Faulk, St. Louis Rams
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: 1994 Rookie of the Year, three-time Offensive Player of the Year, 2000 MVP, Super Bowl XXXIV Champion
2003 Stats: 209 Attempts, 818 Rushing Yards, 3.9 YPC, 10 TD. He saw his production drop every year until his retirement in 2006.
2004 Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcons
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: No. 1 Overall Pick in 2001 NFL Draft, 2 Pro Bowls.
2004 Stats: Vick broke his right fibula in pre-season, and didn’t play until Week 11. In 5 games, Vick had a complete 50% of his passes, with 585 passing yards, 4 TDs, and 3 INTs.
2005 Ray Lewis, Baltimore Ravens
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: Two-time Defensive Player of the Year, six-time All-Pro, Super Bowl XXXV MVP, Only Defensive Player to be on Madden Cover. Member of the 20 INT/20 Sack Club
2005 Stats: Lewis was confined to six games due to injury. He tallied 46 tackles, one sack, and one interception. 2005 is the only season Lewis didn’t make the Pro Bowl in his career.
2006 Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: No. 2 Pick in 1999 Draft, five-time Pro Bowler, 2000 MVP Runner-Up (behind Faulk), holds every quarterback record at Syracuse University, 2004 NFC Offensive Player of the Year, Lead Eagles to appearance Super Bowl XXXIX.
2006 Stats: McNabb tore his ACL in Week 11, and has been relatively injury prone since. In 2006, McNabb played in 10 games, completing 180 of 316 passes for 2,646 yards, 18 TDs, and 6 INTs. Has not appeared in a Pro Bowl since being on the cover.
2007 Shaun Alexander, Seattle Seahawks
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: Three-time Pro Bowler, 2005 NFL MVP, scored a then-record 28 TDs in 2005, graced the cover of NCAA Football 2001. (The only player to be on NCAA and Madden Covers)
2007 Stats: After signing a eight-year contract with the ‘Hawks, Alexander fractured his toe, and had an injury plagued year, with only 896 yards and seven touchdowns in 10 games. Alexander is currently a free agent.
2008 Vince Young, Tennessee Titans
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: Led Texas Longhorns to 2006 BCS Championship, 2006 Offensive Rookie of the Year.
2008 Stats: Began season suspended for undisclosed reasons. Threw only 9 TDs and 17 interceptions.
2009 Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers/New York Jets
Accomplishments before Madden Cover: 3x MVP (95-97), led Packers to 7 consecutive division titles, and Super Bowl XXXI title. Holds records for most TD passes (442), passing yards (61,655), completions (5,377), attempts (8,758) consecutive starts (275), and most career victories for a QB (160).
2009 Stats: Led the Jets to be 9-7, but the team lost four of their last five games, missed the playoffs, and got Eric Mangini was fired.
Be careful Larry Fitzgerald.
SPORTS GRIND ENT: SUPER BOWL PICKS
Sports Grind Entertainment
EST. 2004
RUDY J – SAN DIEGO CHARGERS vs GREEN BAY PACKERS
CALVIN CASEY – PITTSBURGH STEELERS vs PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
SALAMI – SAN DIEGO CHARGERS vs PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
BEWARE OF THE HAIR
You asked with your eyes Trent, you asked with your eyes……….CLASSIC
NFL’s Top Selling Jerseys
Top 5
NFLShop.com’s best selling jersey list comes from April 1 through August 28. Brett Farve of the Minnesota Vikings and Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles are the No. 1 and No. 4 in jersey sales even though their jerseys have only been available for a couple of weeks now. Vick’s jersey made the it in at No.4 without the help of Dick’s, one of the largest sporting goods stores, because they refused to sell his jersey.
San Francisco 49er fans better hope wide receiver Michael Crabtree and management agree on a contract or they will have waisted $79.99.
The entire list from sales on NFLShop.com:
1. Brett Favre, Vikings
2. Jay Cutler, Bears
3. Troy Polamalu, Steelers
4. Michael Vick, Eagles
5. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers
6. Tony Romo, Cowboys
7. Mark Sanchez, Jets
8. Tom Brady, Patriots
9. Adrian Peterson, Vikings
10. Eli Manning, Giants
11. Terrell Owens, Bills
12. Peyton Manning, Colts
13. Hines Ward, Steelers
14. LaDainian Tomlinson, Chargers
15. Jason Witten, Cowboys
16. Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals
17. Joe Flacco, Ravens
18. Matt Ryan, Falcons
19. Aaron Rodgers, Packers
20. Michael Crabtree, 49ers
Look Who Came To The Ben Party
11:27 P.M.
Late last night ESPN finally threw their hat into the ring on the report of Ben Roesthlisberger. Although it was brief and centered more around how theres no intention of criminal charges to filed, at least now ESPN is not acting like Lake Tahoe and Andrea McNulty never happened. But what happened to ‘company policy’ that ESPN does not report on athletes and on going civil suits? Or was the public imaging things when ESPN issued the statement
“At this point, we are not reporting the allegations against Ben Roethlisberger because no criminal complaint has been filed. As far as we know, this is a civil lawsuit that Roethlisberger has yet to address publicly, ESPN considers it a private matter and not news.”
Here’s ESPN first acknowledgment of the situation which came at 11:27 P.M.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4349253
ESPN Is Ignoring The Ben Roethlisberger Story
WHY The Silence?
ESPN lets a lot of athletes through their “carwash” of interviews on a regular basis, and there’s obviously some that they have cushy relationships with. However, it’s honestly rare that they choose to ignore certain items, about said athletes, entirely. The “Leader” is completely ignoring the fact that Ben Roethlisberger is being sued by woman in Nevada. Obviously saying that a pro athlete “sexually assaulted” you, has become taboo at this point, but there should absolutely be a mention of it somewhere.
ESPN’s silence on the Ben Roethlisberger lawsuit is no accident. Pro Football Talk reports that ESPN ” issued a ‘DO NOT REPORT’ memo to all of its outlets and reporters” late last night, with no explanation. A source told Pro Football Talk that “some of the reporters are wondering why, but haven’t been told.”
Last year, ESPN issued a similar memo in regards to allegations that former-Packer Brett Farve gave secrets to the Lions prior to their Week 2 game against the Packers. Their rationale at the time was that the story was not true.
In this case, as Pro Football Talk noted, “ESPN can’t claim that the report of a civil suit alleging sexual assault isn’t true.”
A source tells Deadspin that “it’s a previously established company policy to not report on civil cases involving athletes.” That did not stop ESPN from covering Randy Moss alleged battery against a woman in January ‘08. There were no criminal charges; Moss was slapped with a restraining order against the woman. ESPN also reported on a lawsuit against Marvin Harrison in a case that has not resulted in criminal charges.
ESPN even reported on the intention of a woman to sue Laker guard Shannon Brown over an alleged sex-related incident earlier this year.
A woman accuses a professional athlete on a championship team of sexual misconduct and plans to sue. The athlete denies the allegations. ESPN reports the allegations.
But this is not Ben Roethlisberger. It’s Shannon Brown, reserve guard for the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. When Brown was notified that he would be sued for an alleged sex-related incident in June, ESPN.com was there with the story. And this was not a mere recycling of an Associated Press piece. This was a detailed piece on a story that was “confirmed to ESPN’s Shelley Smith on June 3, 2009.” Brown is far from an NBA star, and certainly lacks the national recognition of two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger, who was named in a civil suit over an alleged sexual assault. But while ESPN had no problem reporting on the Brown suit little over a month ago, the Roethlisberger allegations have not been discussed on any ESPN outlet.
In addition, the network’s silence on the story while others report is a hole to big to ignore and the fact that ESPN jumped all over the Pacman Jones story while refusing to mention Ben Roethlisberger now gives the African American community fodder that the Alleged Worldwide Leader caters to white athletes.
The criticisms may not be true, but as long as ESPN executives continue to hide under their desks on the Roethlisberger story while other outlets continue their investigations, the arrows will continue to be fired at the sports behemoth.
