Roethlisberger’s message delves deep
PITTSBURGH — It seems as if everybody has focused on two lines from Ben Roethlisberger’s video last weekend from the ManUp Pittsburgh event for Christian men.
“I’ve been addicted to alcohol. I’ve been addicted to pornography … “
The quotes jumped off the screen and slapped all of us in the face.
I get the “wow” factor.
We can be so salacious, right?
“We make mis- takes,” Roethlisberger went on to say. “We sin. I am no different. We’re human.”
It isn’t often you see a Hall of Fame-caliber quarterback make such a stunning public admission. But if you are just focusing on those few comments, you’re missing Roethlisberger’s powerful message that our mistakes in life don’t have to define us; that our struggles and failures and shortcomings don’t have to ruin us; that we are strong enough to become better people and live a healthier life. He is proof.
“But you have to dedicate yourself and understand that you can get out of it because of the grace of God and him saying, ‘Listen, you’re good enough for me the way you are. You don’t have to be perfect,’ ” Roethlisberger said in the ManUp virtual conference.
It’s no secret Roethlisberger has been successful during his 16year NFL career. He holds every major passing record for a Steelers franchise that had four-time Super Bowl winner Terry Bradshaw. Roethlisberger led the Steelers to Super Bowl wins after the 2005 and 2008 seasons, and to another Super Bowl after the 2010 season. His winning touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in Super Bowl XLIII is considered one of the great plays in NFL postseason history.
Roethlisberger has been just as successful financially. His most recent two-year contract extension, which will take him through the 2021 season, is worth $68 million.
By the time his deal is done, he will have earned more than $272 million, according to spotrac.com.
But Roethlisberger had troubling moments early in his career. Many teammates considered him to be a jerk because of his pompous, flippant attitude. Worse, he was accused of rape in Reno, Nev., in July 2008 and of sexual assault in Milledgeville, Ga., in March 2010. He settled a civil suit over the first incident. No charges were filed in the second, although he was suspended for the first four games of the 2010 season by Roger Goodell for violating the NFL’s player-conduct code.
Since then, Roethlisberger has turned around his life. He was married in July 2011 and has three children. He has said his life path straightened when he came back to his Christian faith, to the way he was raised in Findlay, Ohio. He was the Steelers’ nominee for the NFL’s prestigious Walter Payton award in 2013 for on-field excellence and off-field community service. I don’t believe he has been in the news for anything worse than getting his hair cut and beard trimmed at a friend’s shop last month before Pennsylvania lifted its covid-19 restrictions.
“It’s amazing the good things that happen to you when you grow up a little,” Roethlisberger told me during an interview in his North Hills home in December 2013. “I knew who I was and how I was raised. I also knew who I wasn’t, if that makes any sense. I knew I could get to where I am today because I knew the type of person I wanted to be.”
Roethlisberger shared more of that message at the ManUp event.
“One of the things I want to tell guys and tell people out there, I can be a really good athlete and a Christian,” he said. “It’s not one or the other, I can do both. I want it to be known to all of the young men out there, it’s cool to be Christian and be an athlete. Go ahead and be the best athlete you can be and see if you can be a better Christian.”
There was a lot there from Roethlisberger.
A lot more than a couple of lines about addictions to alcohol and pornography.