ESPN New York’s Jane McManus has some issues with Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
“Ben Roethlisberger isn’t a redemption story just because he’s reached the Super Bowl,” McManus wrote on the ESPN W website. “Americans love to turn their athletes into heroes. And we sportswriters are sometimes guilty of providing storylines when they don’t arrive on schedule. This week, the Super Bowl is a major deadline. So I’m a little wary of stories about the Pittsburgh quarterback.
Roethlisberger has had a number of interactions with women that have involved courts or police to one degree or another. The most troubling came last April, when Roethlisberger celebrated his 28th birthday in Milledgeville, Ga . . .
“Now the Steelers are in the Super Bowl. What that means is that reporters will want to write about what happened, but will have a hard time using phrases like “alleged rape.” Instead, you might hear a lot of references to “off-the-field distractions.”
“So weak. You cannot lump DWIs, drug use, alleged rape and assault charges into the same phrase you’d use for trying to talk and text at the same time.”
