Steelers planning on Roethlisberger’s return in 2021
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers plan on having quarterback Ben Roethlisberger back for an 18th season.
Team president Art Rooney II released a statement Wednesday saying he and Roethlisberger have met to figure out a way to ease the financial pressure caused by Roethlisberger’s contract.
Roethlisberger, who turns 39 next month, carries a $41 million salary cap number for 2021 and is due a $15 million roster bonus on March 20, shortly after the new league year begins.
Rooney called the meeting with Roethlisberger “productive,” adding it allowed the two sides to “discuss a lot of things that relate to where we are and where we want to go.”
The Steelers went 12-4
and won the AFC North in 2020 but faded down the stretch. Pittsburgh lost five of its final six games following an 11-0 start, including a playoff loss to Cleveland in which Roethlisberger threw four interceptions.
The Steelers are facing a serious cap crunch and have already started to overhaul the coaching staff and the roster. Center Maurkice Pouncey and tight end Vance McDonald, both close friends of Roethlisberger, have retired. Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, who also is close to Roethlisberger, was let go. More moves are on the way with wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, outside linebacker Bud Dupree and left tackle Alejandro Villanueva among the team’s 19 pending free agents.
GENEVA (AP) — Did the Australian city of Brisbane just get picked as the host of the 2032 Olympics?
It looked that way Wednesday when the International Olympic Committee named the bid centered on the coastal city in the state of Queensland as its preferred candidate.
The decision by the IOC’s executive board puts Brisbane on a fast-track to victory 11 years ahead of the games and before several expected rival candidates have publicly developed their plans.
Officials in Brisbane, Queensland and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) will now begin “targeted dialogue” with an IOC panel overseeing a reformed bidding process.
The IOC’s new bidding process, developed in part by Australia’s top Olympic official, seeks to find a winning host more efficiently and avoid turning other campaigns into expensive losers.
The 2032 race was expected to include bids from Doha, Qatar -- which is hosting the 2030 Asian Games -- and Budapest, Hungary. Neither has launched a formal bid yet, and Wednesday’s decision will likely be a deterrent for either to enter the race.
“This decision is not a decision against anybody,” IOC president Thomas Bach said at a news conference. “This is just a decision in favor of one interested party at this moment in time.”
If Brisbane is eventually approved by the full IOC membership, potentially next year, it would cap the second straight unconventional bidding process for the Summer Games.
Paris and Los Angeles were awarded the 2024 and 2028 editions, respectively, at the same time when in 2017 the IOC changed its rules mid-contest to allow a double award.
Budapest’s late withdrawal from the 2024 contest paved the way for Los Angeles being offered the 2028 edition unopposed.
The process was changed again for the 2032 Olympics to speed up the selection. The IOC wanted to move away from two-year bidding campaigns that ended with a host being picked seven years before the games in a contested vote.
These were typically expensive for cities, often ended with rejection of the Olympic brand by voters in local referendums, and invited controversy including allegations of vote-buying.
“This (former process) was not the best procedure, neither not for the future of the games nor for the reputation of the IOC,” Bach said Wednesday, aiming critical comments at consultants and lobbyists hired by candidates.
In 2019, the IOC created panels for each of the Summer and Winter Games to enter into rolling dialogue with possible candidates and even approach bidders. The panels can recommend a host that may now be picked without a contested vote.
“We cannot, I suggest, continue to be damaged as we have in the past,” John Coates, a veteran IOC member, said in 2019 while presenting the new bid process he helped shape at Bach’s invitation.
Queensland’s quick progress raised questions about possible conflicts of interest for Coates, who has led the Australian Olympic Committee for more than 30 years.
Coates returned to the IOC board last year as a vice president and is viewed as one of Bach’s closest allies. He also leads the IOC’s oversight of preparations for the postponed Tokyo Olympics this year.
Asked about the perception of Coates’s role in creating a process that first benefited Australia, Bach said his colleague was not involved in the board’s debate Wednesday.
“This is best practice that whenever a conflict of interest arises you solve it by not participating in related discussions or decisions,” the IOC president said.
China, Germany, India, Indonesia and Russia had also worked on possible bids for 2032.
My granddaughter just informed me she has decided she would be happier living as a boy, and she has gone so far as to legally change her name. I want to be supportive, but I admit I’m having a lot of trouble accepting it, or at least figuring out how to deal with it.
She’s my only grandchild and most likely the only one I’ll ever have. I loved my granddaughter with all my heart, and I don’t know how to shift gears to a grandson. I keep stumbling when I try to use the new name. I would welcome any suggestions you could make, including information about support groups you might know of. GRANDMA IN PAIN
DEAR GRANDMA: Gender reassignment is not something that someone does on a lark. There are many steps involved, and the journey, while liberating, can be challenging both physically and emotionally. I am sure this is something your grandchild has given much thought to.
Yes, coming to terms with it can be as much of a journey for family as it is for the transgender person, and it can take time and understanding on all sides. A group called PFLAG can help you through this. It has been mentioned in my column for decades. It has helped countless families to build bridges of understanding between themselves and their lesbian, gay and transgender loved ones. Please don’t wait to contact them. You will find PFLAG at pflag. org, and their phone number is (202) 467-8180.
DEAR ABBY: I am a 50-year-old man. My whole life, my relationship with my father has been strained. When I was in my teens and 20s, when he bought presents for my two siblings and not for me, he would say things to me like, “I forgot I had you.”
In spite of this, I became very successful in life. I had a great career and am now retired. My father recently announced to me that he had made only two mistakes in his life -- marrying my mother, who has put up with him for more than 60 years, and having children.
My dilemma is, he is now 90 with many health problems. He is in the hospital now for a heart problem. I know he won’t last much longer. I feel nothing for him, and I am not sad. When he dies, I know I won’t care. Is this normal? I feel
-guilty for feeling this way.
TENNESSEE
DEAR DON’T CARE: Please don’t feel guilty for feeling no regret at the prospect of “losing” a cruel and withholding parent who made it his business to make those around him feel “less than.” Do not be surprised if, rather than feel a sense of loss, you feel at peace, as though a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. You should not feel guilty for that, either. Comfort and emotionally support your mother as best you can when he dies, but don’t be shocked if she, too, feels some relief. Their union could not have been the happiest.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order “How to Be Popular.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 610540447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)