Big Ben in Big Trouble

Okay so this all began while I was in solitary for two weeks so I just found out about Ben Rothelisberger's trouble last night on the news.

I am a huge Steeler fan. I also really like Ben because his first year in 2004/5 when Hurricane Katrina hit he donated his game day salary to helping the victims and got the rest of the team to do it too. I like that about a person - and he wasn't making enough money (then) that giving up his salary was easily done. He has also become a great leader and when he screws up on the field he owns to it. Often he takes the blame for a blown game completely on his shoulders and I admire that. He doesn't shirk from responsibility.

However, I have heard he was a wild young man at times. He's definitely impulsive - it's one of the things we all like - when he breaks from the pocket to sprint down the field and dives to get those six extra yards that gives us another first down. So did he rape some woman while drinking in Vegas a year and a half ago? My instinctive answer is no because I like the kind of guy he SEEMS to be. Especially since on the field he seems able to own his mistakes but is he the same man off the field as he is on it?

I don't know him. Never met the guy. Fame does funny things to a person. Could he rape a woman? I hope not. But I don't know. As much as I love the Steelers and like him as a quarterback there is no way I can or will say he's completely innocent. It doesn't stop me from hoping he is and that the truth comes out in his favor. But if that woman was really raped and not just looking for a get rich quick scheme, I hope that he goes to jail. I hope that he has to pay out his ASS and then he goes to jail. Because rape is a horrible injustice that too many people don't pay for.

One out of every FIVE women in the world have been sexually abused in some form. That's a staggering and disgusting fact. A worse fact is that most of those abuses never get reported because the women/young girls are frightened and think it was their fault. They are told it is there fault. And when they get the courage (perhaps a year and a half later??) some people think they are lying, scheming moneygrubbers. Maybe this woman is just after Ben's money.

But what if her story is true?