(This was originally posted Wednesday at sbcIMPACT. Thought it might be a good Super Bowl Week discussion starter)
I’ve been a Steeler’s fan since my high school years, when Terry Bradshaw had hair and was rifling passes to Lynn Swann and John Stallworth; since Jack Hamm, Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Greene erected a Steel Curtain that brought even the most powerful offenses to their knees. Four times I cheered passionately as they crushed their Super Bowl foes in the 70’s.
My passion for the Steelers waned a bit in recent years. I still cheered for them, but as I got to know the life and testimony of Tony Dungy, my support shifted to the Colts. In fact, the last time the Steelers were in the Super Bowl I cheered for their opponents, Kurt Warner and whatever team it was that Kurt was playing for at the time. Kurt, like me, is a Cedar Rapids boy and I have to admit to having just a little bit of a man-crush on him. But if anyone was going to beat my man Kurt, I’m glad it was the Steelers.
Now, the Steelers are back in the big game and I want to cheer for them. I’m pretty sure I can’t get behind the refugees from the Frozen Tundra. And the Steelers earned all of our respect, admiration and gratitude by delivering an Avada Kedavra to Voldemort Ryan and the Jersey Jets. That was a tremendous and heroic service to us all. So, I want to cheer for the Steelers.
But I’m having trouble with that. The trouble has a name. Ben Roethlisberger. I read the police reports of the incident that took place on March 5, 2010 at a bar in Milledgeville, GA. There seems to be every reason to believe that Ben sexually assaulted a 20-year-old girl in a bathroom there. It was not his first such imbroglio. He was accused of rape in a lawsuit by a hotel employee in Lake Tahoe in 2008. I wrote on this previously.
There has been a lot written in the local Pittsburgh press about the wild ways of their star quarterback. He frequented many of the bars and night spots and had quite a reputation for boorish and offensive behavior.
The strange thing about all of this is that he came into the NFL with a vocal Christian testimony, but his early success seemed to have been more temptation than his faith could withstand. He wandered the dark paths of sin for several years, alienating fans and some teammates in the process.
I am used to being disappointed by sports figures and I’m under no illusions that they are all choir boys. I would hope that I would be able to stand against the temptations that they face, but how can I be sure? Athletes are notoriously promiscuous, self-absorbed and often ethically-challenged. Some of my favorite athletes have been caught in drug scandals and have embarrassed themselves publicly with moral failures. I have been a big Tiger Woods fan since he was an amateur. Alex Rodriguez is one of my favorite Yankees. I remember watching with amazement as Danny Almonte blew away hitter after hitter in the Little League World Series. Facing the fact that our heroes have feet of clay has become a common reality in these days.
There are some great Christian athletes in this moral morass and I have tremendous respect for them. It cannot be easy to live out your testimony in the spiritual obstacle course they navigate daily. When they do it right, it inspires me. Kurt Warner was (unfairly in my mind) benched for young quarterbacks in both New York and Arizona. Both times he refused to pout, but did all he could to make the men who replaced him successful. Teammates raved about the attitude he demonstrated in difficult times. Tony Dungy, Zach Johnson, David Robinson – they have spoken their faith and lived the message they spoke.
But I do not demand that every athlete I cheer for be a Christian. I cheered for David Wells, and he is nobody’s saint – a hard-drinking, hard-living rogue. Mickey Mantle? Billy Martin? Well, enough said. I’ll cheer for men who play sports way better than they live their lives. Fine.
But we are talking about sexual assault here folks. I can’t get over the sense that justice would demand that Ben Roethlisberger be in jail, not in the Super Bowl. He did not just drink, or cheat on his wife, or take some illegal steroids. He cornered a young lady in a bathroom while someone stood guard at the door and forced himself on her. She was drunk and unwilling to testify, so no charges were filed. But the facts of the case are pretty much uncontested.
I am aware that Ben Roethlisberger seems to have changed since last summer. I have read report after report that he is a new man. Teammates who used to tolerate him rave about him. The Pittsburgh public which had grown weary of his loutish behavior is beginning to embrace him. I challenge you to watch an ESPN story about him that doesn’t use the word “redemption” at some point. It seems that he may have renewed his walk with Christ and gotten his life back in order.
And I’m thrilled for all of that. I really am. I hope he continues to change and to grow in Christ. In fact, the only reason I’m even considering rooting for the Steelers (besides the fact that they are playing the Packers) is because of all the reports I have read about Ben Roethlisberger’s spiritual and personal renewal.
But less than 11 months ago, it seems likely that he raped a 20-year-old girl. The Super Bowl will be played 11 months and one day after that shameful act. Not years. Months. Should we just forget that? Americans love to style themselves as “forgiving” people; people who give politicians, athletes and entertainers a second chance if they own up to their faults and try to do better. That is a noble impulse, I guess.
But could it be that we have taken that too far? Could it be that our lack of moral standards makes it a little too easy for us to overlook faults and failings of our heroes? We are not talking about a minor foible here, folks. Should someone speak up for the young lady? She was drunk and foolish? Of course she was. But even if she was an idiot Roethlisberger’s actions are still unjustified, unthinkable and inexcusable. Is it right that we just act as if it never happened? Has he repented to her? Has he asked her forgiveness for what he did to her?
Should we give Ben Roethlisberger a chance to rebuild his life. No question. That is not just decent humanity but the demand of Christ who forgave us our sins. It is a moral obligation for us to give him a chance to demonstrate that he has changed. But does that mean that 11 months after this unspeakable act we should cheer for him as if nothing happened in that bar bathroom?
I’m really interested in your perspective on this. I’m a Steelers fan and I want to root for the Black and Gold a week from Sunday. But I have this nagging feeling that rooting for Ben Roethlisberger 11 months after such heinous behavior is crass. I just don’t know.
Tell me what you think.
We haven’t had a good sports-related brouhaha here in quite some time. I thought I’d prime the pump a little.
If you’re going to undertake establishing player criteria for which team you root for, I think you’d have to examine closely the life of every member of the team. And I suspect it would be very hard to draw a line as to which infractions bar someone, and which don’t.
Not to mention it’s difficult to tell what really happened in the incident.
I’d say if you want to root for the Steelers, then do it. If you want to reserve that for perfect folks, you might as well give up sports altogether. And maybe TV. And church.
That is true – its a black hole when you start applying moral standards to this thing.
But Roethlisberger’s foibles go beyond normal moral issues. It is the degree of the crime he committed that gives me pause.
This is more than just a discussion starter for me. Every time I start to root for the Steelers, I feel this impending sense that I am betraying some important values to do so.
Hi Dave,
As a lifelong Steelers fan, I’ll be rooting for them to beat the Pack.
Wouldn’t you say that Big Ben has nothing on King David?
Jim G.
Not sure how willing a participant Bathsheba was.
Fact is, I will be cheering for Pittsburgh – at least in my heart. I just have this nagging feeling that I should be a little ashamed when I do.
He who knows what to do, and does it not, well … you know the rest.
And what IS “crucifying self” if it isn’t setting aside one’s own desires in order to do what one knows is right?
And the Steelers earned all of our respect, admiration and gratitude by delivering an Avada Kedavra to Voldemort Ryan and the Jersey Jets. That was a tremendous and heroic service to us all.
Dave,
As a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan, all I can say about the Steelers beating the Jets is “AMEN and AMEN!!!” As someone who will be rooting for the Packers to win, I may not be much help to you on the football side of things. 🙂
I have not been a big Ben Roethlisberger fan, either as a player or as a person. His admittedly immoral behavior has been cause for concern. While I do not excuse the alleged behavior in the Georgia or Lake Tahoe cases, the fact is that Ben was never accused of criminal activity by the authorities and he was never charged with a crime by prosecutors in either case. As I put my attorney hat back on, I would say that Ben or anyone else is entitled to a presumption of innocence in both cases. We can speculate as to why he was not even accused, much less charged, with crimes in either of these cases, but he does not have that hanging over him.
As to his moral failures, I think that Bob is spot on in his take on the matter. I’ve got no problem rooting for Big Ben and the Steelers in certain situations, like last week versus the Jets. I do have my limits though. For me, it is immoral to pull for the Jets or Raiders. Although if Tim Tebow were quarterback of either, I might have to reconsider! 🙂 God bless and go Packers,
Howell
Accusing someone of rape is a pretty easy thing to do. The truth is not required to do so.
There is a reason there is a presumption of innocence in our judicial system.
Stan, I read the police report, and that is the source of my dilemma. The information in that is pretty compelling.
Yet they refused to go ahead with charges?
That means that there are things elsewhere or that the information in the police report would get blown out by a decent lawyer.
Actually, the word was that the young woman did not want to subject herself to the publicity and the harassment that would bring. She was not considered to be the most sterling of witnesses.
She did not want to testify. As I understand it, that is the main reason that charges were not filed. Plus, convicting a celebrity in America is never easy.
Police reports are just that: police reports. They write down what they think will get them a conviction. Even then, the truth is not necessarily present. They only have witness testimony (allegations) if they don’t have it on tape. Even then they don’t always write down the witness testimony correctly. It happens far too often.
If the girl didn’t want to testify, she must not have minded what, if anything, happened to her.
Presumption of innocence can sometimes only be appreciated by those who have at some point in their lives been unjustly denied it. I’ve seen it happen too often. My wife is planning to start law school this Fall for that very reason.
Once she passes the bar, do you think that she will resort to legal action when she is upset with you?
“Honey, I told you to pick up your clothes off the floor. Here’s an injunction demanding that you clean the entire house!”
Sounds kinda scary, Stan.
I’m going to hold her on retainer so there would always be a conflict of interests.
But it is scary.
I wouldn’t mind having a lawyer wife when deacons start acting up or something!
Deacons? You’ll need a team of lawyers for that!
And maybe some of Tony Soprano’s buddies.
Friends can be a blessing.
Notwithstanding Roethlisberger’s guilt or innocence, know of anyone, ever, on the church’s softball team that once had an improper sexual relationship and subsequently repented of such? Would one then not cheer for the church’s team?
If the man says he has repented, and especially given evidence of such, let’s give him the benefit of any doubts that we might have. We can be wise as serpents and gracious, too.
Notwithstanding Roethlisberger’s guilt or innocence, know of anyone, ever, on the church’s softball team that once had an improper sexual relationship and subsequently repented of such? Would one then not cheer for the church’s team?
If the man says he has repented, and especially given evidence of such, let’s give him the benefit of any doubts that we might have. We can be wise as serpents and gracious, too.
I’m hearing echoes of seventy times seven.
One thing I have never heard – that he made any effort to apologize to the girl that was involved. I understand that there may be legal reasons from this.
I guess one question of the parsing of all this as sports fans is: would you have these same stories of his changes and shift in attitude had the Steelers gone 6-10? I don’t remember any year that the stories of the athletes in the Superbowl haven’t all shaded towards the “feel good” side.
Personally, I’m a Packers fan anyway.
It is a legitimate wondering: how much of the publicized private lives of celebrities should we consider in our fan-dom? Should Christians make these choices based on the (obviously) limited information available to us about their whole life or should just on the field/on-stage matter?
As to forgiveness and such, that is truly a matter between the person, God, and the people they have wronged. That’s not really the question, is it? Isn’t the question “Should I be his personal fan?”
And if you think it’s too harsh or too assuming off his guilt, ask this one: Had the same story, with the same terms and result, been printed about a pastor, what would your response be about him preaching a revival? Would you go?
Doug: … what would your response be about him preaching a revival? Would you go?
Norm (AKA bapticus hereticus): Minister visiting road houses for the purpose of “raisin’ hell” – goodness, not being found guilty of sexual assault would not be his only potential problem of ministerial identity and presentation, but your point is well-taken. Although we typically hold a higher standard for those aspiring to religious leadership, given an ‘appropriate’ amount of time and demonstrated rehabilitation, assuming we believe in the power of God to restore even fallen leaders, then, yes, I would go; of course, such assumes I would want to be a part of what usually passes for revival in baptist churches, which I typically don’t.
Doug says, “Personally, I’m a Packers fan anyway.”
That’s not something you should admit to in public, Doug.
This coming from the die-hard fan of the Evil Empire.
Doesn’t matter, really. My involvement won’t help anyone win or lose. Kind of Hyper-Calvinistic about sports.
I am a sports fan, but not a football fan. Nonetheless, I think a determining factor for me would be whether I suspected that the team somehow enabled this man to get away with a crime.
Football is a bit more exciting than watching a poker tournament but not quite as exciting as curling. 😉
Hey, Bill. Texas Hold ’em is pretty exciting! And actually, I got into curling a little during the Winter Olympics.
I don’t think this is about forgiveness. First of all, Ben didn’t sin against me, so I don’t really need to forgive him. He needs, obviously, to seek the forgiveness of God. His family. His team. And most of all the girl that he hurt.
I’m not “holding a grudge” against Ben Roethlisberger. I’ve actually been a fan of his. If this was Tom Brady, you would have every right to question my motives. All people of honor and good will despise the Jets and the Pats on principle (and the Raiders, but that’s a different issue).
But if a man committed an offense (Howell is right – he was never charged, so technically its not a crime) as serious as the one Ben committed, should we just “forgive and forget” and act like it never happened.
Somehow, it seems to me to belittle moral standards when someone violates them egregiously and then 11 months later is the toast of the town!
Dave: … should we just “forgive and forget” and act like it never happened.
Norm (AKA bapticus hereticus): ‘It’ never happened is “complicated”, but legally, ‘it’ never happened. What happened is known only to two people and there is a dispute among them. In problem relationships or encounters it is sometimes difficult to find agreement on what should be considered the primary independent influence, given in time an outcome of such may influence other outcomes, etc., thus the difficulty in deciding responsibility. How much do we assign to process and how much do we to assign to outcome? The legal system is concerned with outcome, primarily (?) and process, secondarily (?), but the truth of the matter cannot be understood without both. However, if ‘it’ did happen, then, yes, we are to forgive. The forget part becomes easier as time passes, and especially so as such does not happen again. If a leader, it is not unreasonable that counseling be mandated prior to the reinstatement of responsibilities.
I am more concerned about the, say, revialism system that exists in baptist organizations than I am in whether or not a pro quarterback’s alleged sins are sufficient for dismissing the work of his team-mates that are living with a high degree of integrity.
FYI, for reasons I don’t completely understand, our spam filter is still taking some of your comments. I just went in and got some out. I’m checking it pretty regularly, but its still putting some of you in the penalty box and I really do not know why. Plus, a bunch of comments by regular commenters went into moderation (ones I did not put there).
I’m monitoring things, but ask for patience.
Isn’t “Roethlisberger” a German word for over-rated?
Ya, I said it. So.
Wait, I thought that was “Romo”?
Oh, snap!
Romo isn’t a German word is it? Must be the Italian word for overrated. 🙂
Actually, guys, Romo is the Koine Greek term for “my career completion percentage and career passer rating is higher than Ben Roethlisberger’s.”
I thought Romo was latin for “my career’s in the tank”.
Romo is an ancient Sanskrit legal term meaning: It is the blonde woman’s fault.
Rick,
The 2nd meaning, according to the as-yet unpublished 5th edition of the BAGD Lexicon is “one who watches the Superbowl from home”
Jeff, I was thinking maybe it’s Latin.
I was pondering the same question this weekend as I watched Ben’s little sister, Carly, show her athletic skills on the basketball court for the University of Oklahoma. What a talented brother and sister.
If Ben is indeed my brother in Christ, then I stand with him in his very difficult journey of repentance and hold out much hope that he will succeed through God’s grace. To be so skilled and then so broken with addictions fueled by sexual temptation and alcohol, it is a wonder he can take the field at all. Still, I pray that God will restore his life to something that will stand as an example of redemption. He could yet be a real role model, and, if that change occurs, it won’t matter if he won the Super Bowl or if we cheered for him and his team. We will have something very real to shout about. That won’t be a moral dilemma.
When I experienced the depths of my sexual brokenness, which was well-known by many, I would not have wanted the company I worked for or my co-workers, friends and family members to have suffered further by being painted with the broad brush of judgment suitable only for me. For some reason, despite the charges and the obvious truth of Ben’s destructive and dangerous behavior and his devaluing of others (if indeed a rape occurred), he has been allowed to remain in his position of leadership.
Cheer on the team. Pray for Ben. And especially pray for the young woman or anyone who may have been a target of his recklessness and disregard.
I’m not nearly as concerned with who wins the Super Bowl as I am that hearts are healed and no further harm done. Perhaps the off-season will be a new beginning for Ben, whether he is a champion or not.
He is one of many Christians whose lives Satan may have targeted for destruction through sexual brokenness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt7LdZwegkU
Those of us who have young daughters (and even those who don’t… but respect women), know the answer to this one. You don’t cheer for a lewd, predator even if he is a football superstar. As much as I dont’ want to root for the Packers, they are my team in this SuperBowl.
I can’t go that far, Richard. The obvious choice is either to cheer for the Steelers or refuse to watch the game. Cheering for the Pack is not an option.
Considering the trail that the New York Yankees have left splattered across the decades…
I’d say go ahead and cheer for the Steelers and enjoy the game.
Watch it, young man.
Just gonna forget about the QB and cheer for Hines Ward
Now, that’s a possibility.
I should know better than to get this bunch talking sports!
Shiloh Shane,
You had some interesting and compelling perspectives. However, you used some “colorful” language that goes beyond what is permitted here on SBC Voices.
I think your most powerful point is this: in this whole discussion, are we forgetting that there is a 20 (now 21, I guess) year old girl who was hurt in the process. Whatever calculations we do should not just be about the star quarterback, but also about the girl who was hurt in the process.
You are welcome to reword your comment in a slightly more “Baptist-friendly” vocabulary, if you know what I mean.
Thanks for the comment, even if it did not make the cut!