FanPost

Ben Speaks

Ben was interviewed last night and the Post Gazette has a nice story.  Below are the most interesting parts:

Mr. Roethlisberger said he felt lowest about two weeks after the incident when he read and heard the charges being made against him by the woman and her friends but could not respond because of advice from his lawyers.

"I want to tell the truth, I wanted to tell my side and let everyone know what really happened," Mr. Roethlisberger said. "Because all you ever heard was her side of the story, and it was so out there, I mean ridiculously out there. People who know the truth were like, just shaking their head. I mean it was so ridiculous."

He also labeled the sexual assault accusations in a civil suit filed by a Nevada woman the year before as "ridiculous."

His lawyers advised him that if he "lashed out" at the accuser in Georgia, authorities might just take it to trial. But Mr. Roethlisberger realized he has lost a lot more.

He has lost money, endorsements, reputation and fans.

"To me, it's more about losing fans. That's what hurt the most."

What also hurts is reading what he says are exaggerated stories quoting people who accused him of walking out on restaurant and bar tabs, refusing to pay cover charges and tipping poorly, if at all.

"When some of those stories came out they were hurtful because some of them were blatantly made up, and that is just unfortunate," Mr. Roethlisberger said. "I would never want to rob the average Pittsburgh person and walk out on a bar tab or a food tab or not leave a tip. I think if you ask people [who] know, I am a pretty good tipper.

"I think people assume that just because I get up and leave a table without actually seeing me pay the bill, they think I just got up and walked out. I have great friends, though, [who] aren't afraid to pay the bill for me. But that is the unfortunate part, that a bystander over there could overlook something. But if they say that, I'm sorry. I've never been that way, and I hope they can forgive me."




Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10212/1076672-66.stm#ixzz0vGvAcufs

I hope someday we can find some closure to this.  I'm still of the opinion that Ben didn't do anything other than throw those drunk tramps out of the VIP area and then they got vindictive and came up with their BS story.  We want to put this behind us, but these are some of his first words on the subject.  I dream of the day when he opens up and puts these pieces of human garbage in their place.

Ben-roethlisberger-tieleman_medium

via 1.bp.blogspot.com


 

Ben is our leader.  He is our warrior Chieftain.  He's looked terrible defeats right in the face and given them the middle finger.  Down in Superbowl XLIII with minutes to go, I KNEW he would get us up the field and win the game.  I knew it because he'd done it before.  No matter how scary that was, I had the comfort of knowing Big Ben would deliver. And he did.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt for all he's done for us.  Any Steelers fan that boos Big Ben is a traitor in my book, but you are entitled to your opinion.

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