If you’re going to define your rooting interest based on the fact that there are jerks/criminals on the team, then you need to stop watching pro sports, because they ALL have jerks and criminals on their team. In the case of Roethlisberger, I would have been fine if they’d given him the boot. Ultimately, he wasn’t charged, though, and he at least has seemed to toe the line pretty well after that incident. Now…I’ll never buy a Roethlisberger jersey (or anything with his name on it), because I think he’s very likely a scumbag, but he’s a darn good football player, so I’ll root for him in the name of the team. Like I said…if I can’t root for my team if there’s a huge jerk/criminal on it, I can’t root for ANY sports team, especially in the NFL.
Ta’amu is definitely being charged with a whole host of crimes, and is likely to be convicted. Absolutely, I think they should cut him. And, if this had been Pouncey or Woodley or Mendenhall or Wallace…yes, I’d say the exact same thing. And, had Roethlisberger been charged with multiple counts, yes, they should have released him too.
Thing is, that ship has sailed…and I’ll root for my team regardless. As shown above, the Bengals and Browns both have more arrests over the past 12 years, and the Ravens are only one shy…there’s total losers on all NFL teams.
He was charged and convicted of something. The others were not. Thus the difference.
Maybe you know what happened to the blood-covered suit that mysteriously disappeared that night? You know, the one that Ray Lewis was wearing that somehow got covered with blood even though he wasn’t actually involved with the murder. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll tell you what- you back your guy who at the minimum rolled over on his friends who demonstrably helped to cover up his involvement, and I’ll back the guys who were not convicted of anything at all. Works for me.
James Harrison. He was charged with simple assault and criminal mischief in relation to an argument with his then-girlfriend (and now wife, I guess) over the baptism of his child, something he wanted and she apparently did not.
Regardless, the charges were dropped after he underwent anger management and psychological counseling. Most importantly, he owned up to it right away.
As far as Ray Lewis goes, he was convicted of obstruction of justice in a plea deal where he rolled over on his friends and admitted lying about his role in the events of that night. If they had found the suit he’d be doing a life sentence.
No. But “Justice Obstructin’ Ray” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
It’s worth noting that Rapin’ Roethlisberger went right out and hired Ray Lewis’ defense attorney when he got in trouble. Lucked out when the bar surveillance footage erased. Didn’t cooperate with the investigation. Got lucky when his off-duty cop bodyguard “didn’t remember” meeting the victim or her friends who tried to get her out of the bathroom.
It’s a little amusing that Doors’ critical threshold is conviction, but he’s apparently unconcerned with the crime the guy was actually convicted of. It’s hilarious when he pretends to care about anything other than the color jersey they wear.
I say this as a Clevelander and a Browns fan to say, “We have NFL players? Wow, no kidding. Watching most of them play for the last 13 years I couldn’t tell if they were NFL players or D2 washouts.”
I’m glad the schedule worked out how it did, with the Browns playing the Steelers later in the season. With like 8 or 9 rookies starting, I knew the team was going to have some rough growing pains early on, but they’ll start to pull it together by the time we play.
Plus your old men squad is going to be hurting from the wear and tear of the season by then, whereas we’re all 24 year olds over here.
In other news, Dr. Richard Rydze was indicted on 185 counts of drug offenses including steroids, HGH, and oxycodone. He was also on the Steelers medical staff for 22 years, leaving in 2006 after he was found to have purchased large amounts of HGH.
Luckily for the Steelers, Rydze only started dealing in illicit drugs AFTER he was released by the Steelers. Because, you know, that’s how these things go.
One Super Bowl title, exactly the same as your Packers. So, were they just juicing badly, or was everybody on the juice? How about Brett Favre, who won the MVP 3 consecutive years for your beloved Pack? Was it JUICE PACK JUICE?
Are you under the impression that juicing automatically results in Super Bowl wins and MVPs? In your little world, every player who uses steroids becomes great, and every team wins championships? I fear you misunderstand the effects of PED’s.
And the tried and true “simply insult anyone who says something bad about the Steelers” response rears ot s ugly head. Same ol’ same ol’ in Steelerville.
What you should have done was point out that there was no evidence that Ryzde ever delivered those drugs to Steeler staff or players. But I understand that factual information and actual debate isn’t a forte of Steeler fans. Stupid conclusions and insults are much more your M.O.
And yours is dropping meaningless little posts that imply that the Steelers are dirty when there is no evidence of any such thing. Michael Moore marvels at your technique.
No, you immediately went to a dumb conclusion and insults rather than dealing with the implication of the news story. I expected nothing else and you delivered.
What implication was that? The one that you wanted people to draw with the way you framed it? The real implication is that a criminal got arrested for something that he had done following his employment with the Steelers. But that’s not the way you said it, you posted it in a very deliberate manner, and now you’re playing innocent. You’re not as clever as you think you are. It deserved nothing more than I gave it.
The same one that you obviously drew yourself. As I’ve already pointed out, you could have raised the facts that I myself did, but instead, you went for insults. I’m sure to your mind, pointing out something that might reflect badly on the Steelers automatically “deserves” an insult. I expect nothing else
I love when people talk about super bowls as if they were somehow 100% conclusive and the unambiguous marker of one team’s supremacy over the entire league across the board for that year. If the Steelers caught a few interceptions they dropped in the last 20 years, or a few fumbles bounced the other way, and they ended up winning 3 superbowls instead of one, then would you concede they were guilty of using steroids? If so, you are being ridiculous. If not, you were being ridiculous.
Assuming Hamlet’s facts are correct, that is certainly evidence that Dr. Steely McBeam was handing out steroids and HGH. It’s not conclusive evidence, but what you’re essentially saying is - a guy who worked for the football team for 20 years a medical professional, who had been caught buying large quantities of HGH, who then got arrested after leaving the job for dealing HGH and steroids - you’re saying that of course that’s no reason to think he was doing anything related to PEDs while he worked for the Steelers - he worked for them in a totally legitimate capacity and just happened to decide to get into the HGH and steroid business totally on his own, unrelated to his job with the team. And that anyone who thinks otherwise is jumping to conclusions without evidence.
I’m always sad to see extreme partianship - like, cognitive blockage level of partianship - in politics, but at least it’s understandable because of the stakes involved. But when people get all Baghdad Bob over a sports team it just sort of cracks me up.
Same here. The Bengals and Browns both have really young teams.
I for one am looking forward to the Sunday Night matchup against the Steelers. Both teams are in a bit of a funk record-wise, and the Steelers have a load of injuries while the Bengals are starting to get relatively healthy (we might actually see our 1st round CB Kirkpatrick play in this one as he’s been hurt the entire preseason and regular season).
But it is the Steelers, so who knows how it will go. The Bengals have home field, but traditionally don’t play very well in nationally televised games. And its the Steelers. Oy.
The Ratbirds are in deep, deep trouble now. They can’t stop anybody, and if they get behind Ray Rice is out of the equation. Right now they’re 5-2. Given that their defense looks horrible and is not likely to get any better, they’ll be lucky to make the playoffs. What a loss Webb turned out to be, not to mention Ray-Ray, and Ngata looks like he can’t go, he jacked that same knee today.
This is the Steelers’ golden opportunity. They need to get the lead and straight close the Bengals out tonight. Whoever wins tonight will be in the catbird seat for the division.
After that horrible first half, Pittsburgh is still tied. There’s no way they can be that bad in the second half, and they left a lot of points on the field with a few long drives, so I think Pittsburgh will get it done.