My constant comment on the situation is, “It is time to get back to the business of winning football games!”\u00a0<\/p>\n
I finally feel I need to comment further. Over the last seven months as Steelers fans we have been hearing about Ben and what a dirt bag he is. The national media has\u00a0just absolutely torched him. On top of his “sexual proclivities” it turns out\u00a0that they\u00a0tracked down\u00a0what a cheap skate he is as he runs out on tabs at restaurants\u00a0and doesn’t tip worth a damn. There is a good chance he started the war in Iraq and caused the stock market to tank, he went from Super Hero to Pariah in\u00a0less than 13 months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somehow this all falls on\u00a0BWG Nation to choose.\u00a0If you like Ben you\u00a0support\u00a0sexual assault and you like that he sullied the Steelers name. If you\u00a0want Ben off the team then you are a “true” Steelers fan. Even our beloved\u00a0Terry Bradshaw jumped in and shot his mouth off, how\u00a0Ben should be off the Steelers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well I don’t buy\u00a0any of that! First and foremost I am not condoning his actions nor am I commenting on any of the legal merits of either case. It would be irresponsible as NO ONE except the people involved know what happened. As a point of fact though, Ben has never been convicted of any crime and never even been charged<\/strong> with a crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n That being said I have no issue with the commissioner and his draconian sentencing of Ben. Being drunk in a bar with a bunch of college girls who are underage is a RIDICULOUSLY stupid thing to do. When you have a pending legal\u00a0action against you for Sexual Assault, it\u00a0is career suicide.\u00a0I would also point out that if everyone who ever had too much to drink and did something stupid wasn’t allowed to play sports, there would be tumble weeds blowing through these stadiums.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hell the name of this group is Beer We Go and I can tell you that our senior leadership has had some interesting experiences albeit never involving an allegation as serious as this. I am not saying it is right, I am saying it is hard to judge as again no one was there and no one knows what actually happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n I do know that Ben needs to do some serious growing up. Like it or not he represents not only himself but the Steelers and unfortunately as I am figuring out, he represents us as his fans! I hope his four weeks “forced vacation” helped him understand that. Ask Pete Rose if a lifetime of achievement can be extinguished by a glaring mistake.\u00a0<\/p>\n He put us as his fans\u00a0in an unwinnable position. This is the only thing I feel qualified to comment on as it has directly affected me and the members of BWG. I went to the Giants-Steelers game at the New Meadowlands.\u00a0I was rocking my\u00a0away whites and hanging with my boys who are Giants fans, we were representing BWG in fine style. For disclosure,\u00a0I like the Giants and they remind me of the Steelers of the NFC. They have great family\u00a0ownership which if you believe the fabled lore helped Art Rooney buy the Steelers, heck the damn football is\u00a0named after Wellington Mara. (The Duke) They have a\u00a0solid fan base who like running the football and\u00a0watching a\u00a0crushing defense. They don’t need to talk trash because they know there place in NFL history,\u00a0like Steelers fans do. I love when they play each other!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It was an exhibition game and while I expected some chop busting being in an away stadium, the heckling was just plain vicious. “Rapethisberger” was the most common, several that I won’t put down here. Keep in mind again that this wasn’t Philly or Oakland this was Giant Stadium with the “Second Best” fans in the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I was heckled by the guy behind me about Ben being a rapist and Steelers support rape and blah blah blah. I finally lost my temper and my reply was it looks like he is “raping your defense”. Which I honestly wish I didn’t say, although it was\u00a0pretty appropriate! It sucks being in this position because we could always take the high ground when it came to the organization. Now we lost that and we will never get it back.\u00a0<\/p>\n That being said though, it is time to move on, I truly believe in second chances and I personally forgive Ben for everything he did to us as\u00a0BWG Nation. The redemption he\u00a0truly needs can’t be found on a football field or in a game and it certainly can’t be bestowed by a fan of a football team. But for what little modicum it may help, He has my support and that of my brothers in BWG! Starting next week I am supporting Ben 110% and at the risk of\u00a0quoting the Mega-Jerk T.O. that man is my quarterback!\u00a0<\/p>\n The past is past and while I will never forget how pissed I was about how he sullied the Rooney’s name as well as BWG nation, I can forgive. It is easy to\u00a0support these guys when they are winning the Super Bowl; it is hard when they fail you! I am not being a hypocrite,\u00a0his poster is going back up in my kid\u2019s room, and I will be wearing his jersey one of these weeks and it is indeed time to get back to the business of winning football games!\u00a0<\/p>\n The Steelers have set it up for Ben! Time for him to make good on this! BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!\u00a0<\/p>\n THE FACTS<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n My \u201cGAME BEER\u201d goes to<\/strong>:\u00a0BYE WEEK<\/p>\n Where I watched the game:<\/strong> BYE WEEK, BTW HATE BYE WEEKS!\u00a0<\/p>\n My thoughts on Next Week:<\/strong>\u00a0Our arch rival Browns! Like it or not the Browns\u00a0knocked us out of the playoffs last year. Or I should more accurately say we knocked ourselves out by losing to them. I imagine with Ben back and the defense being reminded how\u00a0that happened the Browns are in for a serious beat down STEELER STYLE!\u00a0<\/p>\n