The Strive for .500

The 2011 Pittsburgh Pirates seemed like a team of destiny for the first four months of the season, bosting a 54-49 record on July 28. But after a month of solid suckage, including a 10-game losing streak, the Bucs stand at 62-72 on August 30. For you math majors out there, that would be an 8-23 record, as Pittsburgh has gone from 1.5 games out of first place to 18.5 during that span.

(Almost) Manager of the Year.

The thing on everyone's mind when the Bucs were doing well was breaking the unfathomable streak of 18 seasons under .500, which has been going strong since 1993. Of course during my lifetime, I had never experienced a winning season so my feelings were very mixed while the Pirates were hovering around first place around the All-Star break. Even though the Bucs were overachieving, and everyone knew it, I had the feeling that, "This is the year! They are really gonna do it!"

(Almost) Most Valuable Player.

But now that they fell from the top and are pretty much where they should have been anyways, I am really not surprised, and neither is anyone else. The talent on their roster is honestly more reflected in a 62-72 record than it is in a 54-49 record. With most of their talent, especially pitching, in the lower minor leagues, the Pirates are still at least two years away from being competitive in the National League.

(Almost) fielded this ground ball cleanly.

Lately I have been thinking of a few scenarios for the Pirates for the remainder of the season and wondering which one would be ideal for long-term success:

1. If the Pirates finish .500 this year, they will get the monkey off their back, but will have raised expectations for next year, which they probably will not meet.

2. But if they finish below .500, they will make it 19 consecutive losing seasons, but they can keep progressing at their own pace with limited expectations for next year.

Of course it will basically take a miracle for the team to finish 19-9 the rest of the season, but I am still asking: Which of these situations would be better for the team, fan base and organization as a whole?

Fall from Glory: Overview

So as I outlined the wrongdoings of Reggie Bush, Pete Rose, Cam Newton, Kobe Bryant and Ben Roethlisberger (x5), you can see how their actions have affected their careers and the people around them.

In Reggie Bush's case, in the eyes of the media, the public and the Heisman Trust, he compromised the meaning of the Heisman Trophy. The trophy is supposed to be awarded to the player who, each season, best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity. It is the Heisman Trust's job to make sure the winners uphold this integrity and, according to them, Bush did not do that.

Pete Rose bet on baseball, then lied about it. In sports, people usually forgive and forget an act that does not involve violence, such as gambling or steroid use, if the person is truly sorry and comes clean. For example, Jason Giambi apologized for using steroids and now it is just an afterthought. I think if Rose would have come out at the beginning and admitting betting on baseball, he might have been forgiven by now.

The jury is still out on whether or not Cam Newton actually did anything wrong. But if he is found guilty of soliciting money from schools in the recruiting stage, he could receive the same penalty as Bush. The Heisman Trophy might be stripped from the 2010 season, the Auburn Tigers championship season could be erased and his legacy would be turned upside down.

Kobe Bryant probably did not sexually assault that young woman, but he still committed adultery. He is still a great role model on and off the court, but it just shows that one incident can completely skew the view of an athlete. Of course he is always under great scrutiny for anything he does, but it was taken a lot of hard work and positivity for Bryant to overcome that mistake.

And as for Ben Roethlisberger...

Just read the posts. There are five of them. I think that should be good enough.

Kobe Bryant & the Missing Testimony

Speaking of sexual assault allegations...

NOT the kind of SI cover you want to be on.

In the summer of 2003, Kobe Bryant was scheduled to have knee surgery in Vail, CO on July 2, so he booked a room at the nearby Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in Eagle, CO. The surgery was a success, but on July 4, Bryant flew from Los Angeles back to Eagle to turn himself in to local police under an arrest warrant for sexual assault charges. Bryant was released on a $25,000 bond, but news stories began surfacing. To the media, this was the first sign of any wrongdoing by Bryant, so it came as a huge surprise to find that he had been arrested.

Katelyn Faber, a 19-year old worker at the hotel, claimed that Bryant had called her up to his room on July 1 and they began flirting. The flirting led to kissing which led to sex; Faber claimed it was sexual assault while Bryant claimed it was consensual. One of the iconic images of the entire situation was Bryant in tears at a press conference on July 18, with his wife by his side, apologizing for committing adultery, but preaching his innocence to the sexual assault charges.

Pretty darn emotional.

Everything about the trial was a huge mess. During investigation, examiners found multiple male "DNA" samples on Faber's clothes and it was revealed that she had multiple sexual partners around the same time as Bryant. The defense also highlighted the fact that Faber was taking anti-anxiety pills at the time and had been suicidal a few months prior to the incident.

The accuser's name was leaked to the public, information about her sexual history were accidentally exposed and the defense publicly called her a "sexually promiscuous liar and drug abuser." Because of the intrusive nature of the trial, Faber elected not to testify in court and the District Attorney, Mark Hurlbert, requested that the judge drop the criminal trial, and on September 1 it was no more.

It was also revealed that Faber had filed a civil suit just a few weeks prior to September 1 to collect damages from Bryant. Experts say that she wanted the criminal charges to get dropped because if it did not go well, she would not have been able to get as much money in the civil trial. The two sides settled in the civil trial for an amount that has not been disclosed to the public.

Some say Bryant may have gotten off easy, but overall it seemed like the evidence was too questionable for a guilty verdict. Bryant's popularity took a hit, dropping his #8 jersey sales and losing endorsements with McDonalds and Nutella. The Los Angeles Lakers won NBA titles in 2009 and 2010 and years later, this incident is hardly even an afterthought of the career of Kobe Bryant.

Bryant has then changed to #24 and jersey sales are near the top of the charts.

Ben Roethlisberger & the Bad Attitude: Part V

Off the field, Ben Roethlisberger has been exposed as one of the rudest, stupidest and most scandalous professional athletes in America. You heard "Roethlisberger" just as often as "Rapelisberger" or "Rapistberger" when talking about the quarterback. So what now?

"Feel my wrath!"

This questionable behavior did not go unnoticed from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who suspended Roethlisberger for the first six games of the 2010 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy. Even though Roethlisberger had not yet been taken to trial for the incident in Nevada and had charges dropped for the incident in Georgia, Goodell slapped a suspension on him.

The commissioner saw Roethlisberger as a role model who needed to turn his life around, and as a part of the suspension ordered him to get therapy and undergo behavioral evaluations before he returned to the field. With "good behavior," Roethlisberger could get his suspension reduced from six games to four.

Poor guy, he couldn't even stand on the sidelines...

Goodell was satisfied with Roethlisberger's progress and the quarterback was allowed to return after week four. During that time, backups Dennis Dixon and Charlie Batch led the team to a surprising 3-1 record, allowing Roethlisberger to come back "with a vengeance" after the Steelers' week five bye week. The Steelers went 9-3 the rest of the way, won the division title and earned the #2 seed in the AFC playoffs.

After winning two home games against the Ravens and Jets, the Pittsburgh Steelers were headed to the Super Bowl to face the Packers. The game did not go according to plan, however, as Roethlisberger threw two first half interceptions that led to Packers' touchdowns and a late Steelers' comeback faltered as they lost 31-25.

Championship belt: FART.

This entire situation is a good example of how fans will forgive a player's off the field issues if he plays well. As the season went along and the Steelers went deeper and deeper into the playoffs, you could feel the opinions of Roethlisberger getting more and more positive. If he would have won the Steelers their seventh Super Bowl, you could probably bank on the sexual assault cases barely being mentioned ever again. But since they lost, there are still some residual effects of his misbehaviors.

Most of the hate that Roethlisberger still faces is from female fans. More male fans have forgiven him because they are less aware of what "sexual assault" really means, or how it would affect them. Female fans are more upset about what Roethlisberger allegedly did and are going to have to be more convinced by his complete product to accept him back into their hearts, which is completely understandable. On July 24, 2011 Roethlisberger was married to his girlfriend Ashley Harlan, so hopefully that will put an end to his sexcapades.

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Big Ben!

I hope you enjoyed the five-part series as we look forward to a new and improved Ben Roethlisberger in years to come!

Ben Roethlisberger & the Bad Attitude: Part IV

When I last left off in this series, there were no Roman numeral "V" yet in the title and Ben Roethlisberger just got done with a subpar season as quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh yeah...

...and THIS!

In March 2010, Roethlisberger once again was in the middle of sexual assault allegations. This time, it was from a 20-year old college student from Milledgeville, GA, where Roethlisberger would vacation during the offseason. The story is hazy, but it basically goes like this:

Roethlisberger arrived with his posse at a bar, where there was a group of sorority girls from nearby Georgia College & State University (actually a real school, yeah surprised me too). At one point Roethlisberger yelled: "All my bitches, take some shots!" and proceeded to get these underage girls even more drunk. Then Roethlisberger brought one of the girls into the bathroom, where no one is quite sure what went on. While the two were in there, the girl's friends tried to get in to help her out, but Roethlisberger's bodyguard would not let them enter.

Very hazy now, bro.

While leaving the bar, the woman slipped and hit her head, so she went to the emergency room. While at the hospital, during evaluation, doctors discovered she had some "internal" injuries, but could not tell if it was from sexual assault. When a rape kit was collected, none of Roethlisberger's "DNA" was found and the woman had said, "A boy kind of raped me."

After a few weeks of investigation Georgia district attorney, Fred Bright, announced that he did not have enough evidence to prove Roethlisberger guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. During that time the woman had her attorney write a letter to the district attorney saying that she did not want to move forward with the case because she did not want to go through such an intrusive and public trial.

No comment.

Even though Roethlisberger was not even put on trial, stories began to emerge about him being a bad person and constantly having a bad attitude in public situations. Because of Roethlisberger's strong Christian and nice guy background, rumors began swirling that this personality change might be attributed to concussions and possible brain damage suffered in the motorcycle accident and on the field.

A Sports Illustrated article came out in May 2010 titled "The Hangover," in which Pittsburgh business owners came out and told stories about Roethlisberger coming in to their restaurants/establishments and as being rude as can be. He made inappropriate comments toward a pregnant waitress, he refused to pay his bill and he saw himself as "God" of Pittsburgh when out on the town. 

Teammate Hines Ward came out and claimed Roethlisberger had been a bad influence in the locker room, head coach Mike Tomlin said he was worried for the quarterback and team president Art Rooney was just absolutely confused.

What repercussions will Roethlisberger face and will he ever change? Find out next time in Part V!

Ben Roethlisberger & the Bad Attitude: Part III

So here we are again, Ben Roethlisberger just won a Super Bowl and is on top of the world. The scars from his motorcycle accident are faded and are just an afterthought of the two large rings on his fingers. However, when you are on top, the only way to go is down.

Way down.

In July 2009, Andrea McNulty, who worked at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, NV, filed a civil suit against Roethlisberger for sexually assaulting her during his stay at the Harrah's in July 2008. She claimed that Roethlisberger, who was staying at Harrah's during a celebrity golf tournament, called her up to his room one night to fix his television. She went upstairs and found that his television was working just fine, he then stood in front of the door, refused to let her leave and sexually assaulted her.

After this came out, McNulty's co-worker, Angela Antonetti, filed an affidavit stating that McNulty had indeed had consensual sexual relations with Roethlisberger. NcNulty actually had bragged to Antonetti about the incident and was hoping that "a little Roethlisberger" was on the way. And considering the incident happened an entire year before the suit was filed, it was pretty hard to believe McNulty was telling the absolute truth.

The trial has been stalled for two years because McNulty wanted to have the hearing in Reno, where the case was filed, while Roethlisberger wanted the hearing to be in Lake Tahoe, where the incident allegedly took place. Just recently it was announced that the hearing will be in Reno, but it is still predicted that Roethlisberger will be found innocent. Roethlisberger has expressed the will to countersue McNulty for damages in the future.

Sure, why not.

Well it was back to football and the Pittsburgh Steelers began the 2009 season with a 6-2 record, but that is when it all fell apart. The Steelers lost five games in a row, one with Roethlisberger out due to injury, and found themselves pretty much out of the playoff hunt. With Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith injured most of the way, the defense was very shaky during the skid. Although they won the next three games, it was not enough to make the playoffs and the Steelers suffered from post-Super Bowl hangover for the second time in recent memory.

Even though he was not found guilty of sexual assault, it brought more negative attention to Roethlisberger. People began wondering whether he was a good role model off the field and whether he was completely worth his new contract. With the struggles on the field in 2009, it gave people even more of a reason to hate Roethlisberger.

But what have we learned so far about Ben Roethlisberger? When he is down he bounces right back up! Right?

Not this time.

Please visit next week when I wrap up this series with Part IV. Or maybe I will just keep it going forever, and ever, and ever, and ever...

Ben Roethlisberger & the Bad Attitude: Part II

Ben Roethlisberger had it all. He was a Super Bowl winning quarterback on one of the most storied franchises in sports, everybody loved him and it seemed like nothing could derail him from success.

Wrong.

A hobby of Roethlisberger's was to ride his motorcycle, without a helmet. There are no helmet laws in Pennsylvania and Roethlisberger felt that he would never get in an accident so wearing one was not a necessity. He still did not begin wearing one after getting heat from former Steelers' quarterback Terry Bradshaw, Steelers' head coach Bill Cowher and many others for ignoring safety protocol.

Unfortunately, Bradshaw and the others were right, on June 12, 2006 Roethlisberger was in a near-fatal crash and without a helmet suffered numerous injuries. He had a nine-inch laceration to his head, a broken jaw, broken teeth and other injuries. Roethlisberger underwent nine hours of reconstructive surgery and if medical personnel did not arrive quickly, he may have bled out and died right on the pavement.

After an offseason of rehab and recovery, it seemed Roethlisberger would be miraculously ready to play in the team's first regular season game, until he had emergency surgery to remove his appendix just weeks before the opening game. He rushed back to the field in week two and went on to have the worst season of his career with 18 TD to 23 INTs. In the 2006 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers finished 8-8 and Cowher, who had been the Steelers' head coach since 1992, resigned from the position.

Under new head coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers came out in 2007 with a full-fledged passing attack. Roethlisberger seemed poised to lead the team to another Super Bowl, but with struggles in late-game situations and lack of defensive support, the Steelers lost to the Jaguars in the first round of the playoffs, ending their 10-6 season in which they won a division title.

Gahh, I can't believe it was David Garrard.

After Roethlisberger's career season in 2007, the Steelers made him the highest paid player in franchise history with an eight-year, $102 million contract extension. He responded with a very consistent season where the defense did most of the work. The defense was the best in the league, allowing 14 points per game, 237 yards per game and registering three sacks per game. With Troy Polamalu and Aaron Smith healthy and James Harrison having a Defensive MVP season, Roethlisberger did not have to do much more than protect the football.

The Steelers finished 12-4 in the regular season and went 3-0 in the playoffs, capping it off with a Super Bowl XLIII win against the Cardinals. Roethlisberger was the hero, capping a game-winning drive with a seemingly impossible pass to Santonio Holmes for a touchdown with just seconds remaining.

Hmm, this looks familiar.

Roethlisberger was the man once again, but what could he do this time to screw it up?

Come visit later this week to see Part III and the series finale!

Ben Roethlisberger & the Bad Attitude: Part I

Ben Roethlisberger has had a see-saw kind of life, to say the least.

At the age of two, his parents divorced, his father remarried and when he was eight years old, his birth mother died in a car accident. A very tough stretch of events for anybody, especially for someone at such a young age. Through his youth and into high school, Roethlisberger was a star athlete at numerous sports, which showed when he went on to captain the baseball, basketball and football teams.

Nicknamed "Big Ben," Roethlisberger stands at 6'5" and 240 pounds. Even though he may not have been that big back in high school, his size definitely helped him get where he is today. Despite his obvious skills as a quarterback, Roethlisberger's high school football coach started his own son at quarterback and made him play wide receiver. Roethlisberger started as quarterback in his senior season and garnered enough attention to go to Miami (OH) on a football scholarship.

Big shot.

Roethlisberger redshirted his first year in Oxford, OH and started quarterback for the next three seasons, dominating the college football ranks and proving himself as a legitimate talent at the NFL level. He was chosen by the Pittsburgh Steelers as the #11 overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh had Tommy Maddox struggling as its starting quarterback and wanted to groom Roethlisberger into the quarterback of the future.

Ugh, good riddance.

Roethlisberger was thrown into the fire when Maddox suffered an injury during the second game of the season against the Ravens. Pittsburgh lost that game and were 1-1 after week two and headed towards a season of the unexpected with a rookie quarterback starting the rest of the way. With the help of a outstanding defense and great running game, the Steelers finished the regular season 15-1 and were the #1 seed in the AFC going into the playoffs.

Pittsburgh won its first playoff game against the Jets and then lost to Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. In the 2004 season, Roethlisberger set the record for most consecutive wins by a quarterback to start his career. At this point, the Steelers ditched Maddox and looked forward to the Roethlisberger era in Pittsburgh. After a 15-1 premiere, expectations could not be higher for Roethlisberger.

He embraced the new role and led the Steelers to a Super Bowl XL Championship a year later over the Seahawks. After an 11-5 regular season, Roethlisberger led Pittsburgh to win three straight games on the road in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl. Roethlisberger had a bad game, but his teammates bailed him out and the Steelers won their fifth Championship.

One for the thumb, baby!

So at this point you may be asking, "This seems like a whole lot of success, when does the down part of Roethlisberger's see-saw life happen?" Well avid reader, it all went downhill after Super Bowl XL...

So tune in next week for Part II!

Cam Newton & the Solicitation Allegations

A little known fact is that while Tim Tebow was in the middle of his Heisman Trophy winning season at the University of Florida in 2007, a quarterback by the name of Cam Newton was his primary backup.

In the 2008 season, Newton was was injured in the team's first game and would have to redshirt his sophomore season. While he was taking time off due to his injury, Newton stole a laptop from a fellow Florida student. When the police came to investigate, he tossed the laptop out of his room and it was eventually found in a nearby dumpster.

Inevitably facing suspension, Newton announced his intentions to transfer to Blinn College, a junior college in Texas, to continue his football career. He led the Buccaneers to a championship in his only season with the school, and was eligible to transfer back to the NCAA. Newton's top choices were Auburn Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs and, after consideration, chose to go to Auburn to play for head coach Gene Chisik in 2010.

Newton impressed the football world immediately. With his large stature, great throwing arm and the ability to make exciting plays, he became extremely popular in the blink of an eye. As the Tigers kept on winning, Newton's Heisman stock kept rising and Auburn continued to climb the rankings.

However, it did not take long for rumors of illegal activity to arise. It was reported that a recruiter from Mississippi State heard a demand from Cam's father, Cecil Newton, that it would take $100k-$180k for Cam to transfer to the Mississippi State Bulldogs from Blinn College. Newton went to Auburn, so he did not get this money, but if Cecil wanted money for his son to play for Mississippi State, the NCAA wanted to make sure Auburn did not pay him to go there.

Daddy knows best!

Auburn held strong on the fact that they did not know of his father's negotiations with Mississippi State and that they did not pay Cam to play football. At the time, Auburn was undefeated and heading to the SEC title game. Newton was the favorite to win the Heisman and one more win would put the Tigers in the National Championship game.

After it was confirmed that Cecil wanted Cam to get paid to play at Mississippi State, Auburn banned his father from any future involvement in the program. They also declared Cam ineligible, but issued a plea for reinstatement by the NCAA. The NCAA obliged because there was no evidence that Auburn knew of any of Cecil's actions during the recruiting process.

Newton went on to win the Heisman Trophy and lead the Tigers to a National Championship victory. He was chosen #1 overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft. However, his suspected violations are currently under review and who knows if Auburn will have to vacate its National Championship in the future, or if Newton will have to return his Heisman Trophy?

Worth it?

Worth it.