As we all saw last night, Ben Roethlisberger likely played his final home game at Heinz Field on Monday night before an adoring crowd of Pittsburgh Steelers fans. The Steelers fan base may have had all the feels, but not every other fan base feels the same way about Big Ben like they do.
The biggest issue with Ben’s legacy is the multiple allegations of sexual assault made against the quarterback during his NFL career. Roethlisberger was accused of raping a woman in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in 2008, with that case getting settled out of court in 2012.
In 2010, a college student then accused Roethlisberger of raping her in a bathroom stall at a Georgia nightclub. Criminal charges were not pursued and the Baldwin County district attorney said at the time that they “don’t have enough evidence to prosecute.” Even still, the league decided to suspend him for six games for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy. It would later be reduced to four games.
As expected, the NFL nor ESPN wanted to shine much of a light on those allegations on a day meant to celebrate him. However, the MNF crew description of it did not make anybody happy listening to it.
“Ben was immature at times,” said Brian Griese during the broadcast. “He made mistakes. And this fan base loves him and will always support him.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
It should be notd that Roethlisberger was never charged with any crime, but those allegations have followed throughout his entire career and will continue to do so when his name waas brought up.
As we saw in the immediate aftermath of Kobe Bryant’s death, there was a plethora of people who couldn’t wait to bring up his allegations despite the horrible timing.
Big Ben is certainly not going to get the benefit of the doubt.
