The hammer came down from the NFL on Big Ben.
The bad behavior of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger resulted Wednesday in a six-game suspension by the NFL and reportedly has triggered what once would have been unthinkable: The Steelers are testing the market to trade him.
According to an ESPN report, Pittsburgh has been contacting teams selecting in the top 10 of this year's draft, which begins at 4:30 p.m. PDT today, to gauge interest in the two-time Super Bowl winner.
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What's clear is the league and the Steelers have all but run out of patience with Roethlisberger, who last year faced similar accusations by a woman in Nevada. That case also did not bring criminal charges. Since then, reports have swirled that there's a pattern of bad off-field behavior by the quarterback, once among the NFL's most popular players.
Roethlisberger will be suspended without pay for six games, losing $2.8 million in salary, for violating the league's personal-conduct policy, and he must undergo a "comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals," the NFL said.
Good riddance. He's lucky that's all that happened. I keep hearing from his defenders that the only side of the story we're hearing is from the young woman, but there's plenty of space available in the newspapers and online for Ben to tell us his side of the story. ESPN would be drooling to get him on air for an interview. Why the silence if Ben is being so wronged and there's nothing to what happened?
On another note, the NFL draft is here and yes, I am a draft junkie when it actually takes place. The NFL and ESPN are looking to line their pocket with more gold and have turned it into a three day extravaganza. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are all being milked for everything they are worth---so for all you draftniks, put on your face paint or grab the nearest eye black---Tim Tebow Bible Verses. How interesting that the NCAA and the NFL outlawed the use of them after Tebow left college. It does look like these sports villagers have been reading my blog because I made this claim a long time ago.
Schuh denied that the rules committee wanted to ban the eye-black writing because they were worried about the kind of messages some players might try to use, such as someone protesting Tebow's Christian messages with a Muslim phrase, for example.
No Muslim phrases in the NCAA. I'm shocked Focus on Family of Falwell's people haven't tried to market the Christian Eye Black yet. Now, get your popcorn, boo the Jets draft pick...
...and hope the number 1 pick your team makes doesn't wind up to be Ryan Leaf.
By the way, he just got 10 years' probation.
Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has agreed to plead guilty in his Texas drug and burglary case in exchange for 10 years of probation, attorneys in the case said Thursday.
Leaf's attorney, Bill Kelly, said his client has agreed to plead guilty to seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance. Leaf would be on probation for 10 years and a burglary charge would be dropped.
That's what I'm talking about.
Matt Taibbi has written a guide which decodes the entire draft process. All NFL GM's should read it immediately.
For years I’ve been obsessed with what is surely the greatest spectacle in all of sports: the NFL draft. Now I’ve finally figured out how to put my fixation to good use. Listen up, GMs. By Matt Taibbi
I probably know more about the nfl draft than I do about any other single thing in life. I have first cousins whose names I can’t remember, and I forget the contents of pretty much every book I read the moment I’m finished. But for some mysterious and no doubt deeply psychotic reason, I have a virtually limitless ability to remember details about football’s annual meat market. I can recall what kind of car Seattle Seahawks pick Jerramy Stevens crashed into an old-folks home in his Washington Huskies days (a red Toyota pickup) or what a lumbering Auburn tackle named King Dunlap “ran” in his pre-draft 40 two years ago (a 5.28, I’m pretty sure). People in my parents’ generation remember where they were when Kennedy got shot; I’ll remember where I was when Andre Smith first bared his bouncing man-titties during a pro-day workout...read on.
He's right about the pot thing. The Giants drafted Mario Manningham on the 3rd round because he admitted to smoking some weed before the NFL meat market, combine and slid into the Giants lap.
