The Ever Popular "Don't be a Dumbass"

Preface:

Anyone who reads this and starts going crazy because atheltes are people too, they can suck it.

Ben Roethlisberger...

What can I say? Oh yeah, I know... You are a complete and utter dumbass!

Was that motorcycle ride worth it? Was it worth potentionally career-ending and permanent injury? Was it worth sacrificing your future?

Now I understand the money he made in the last two years can take care of my needs for the most part for my entire life, but let us reflect.

First of all, if he should miss any time due to these injuries, if he should have ANY lingering phyiscal effects, even he has some lingering mental effects, he should give back the proportional amount of money for those games and that percentage from his signing bonus.

I had someone respond to this rant, she being a liberal laywer began going on saying that atheletes are people too, and they should be able to do whatever they want, which I agree Constitutionally. However, my response was one of a sports fan, and also of a different logic. Understanding that people can choose to invest their money in whatever they want, and there is an inherent risk that they loose their investment in a myriad of different ways depending apon investment. In this case however, Big Ben's health is directly proportional the overall performance of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His product is specifically tied to his body and his mental ability to recognize defenses, coverages, routes, and so on. A "normal" human can't do what he does on his level, those are his specific gifts. I believe this argument would be equally viable if Roethlisberger was doing drugs which would potentionally limit his mental AND physical abilities, while also occuring the potentionallity that he could have a catostrophic physical reaction, a la stroke, heart attack, etc. By the way as a Detroiter, I will tell you that Charlie Batch is no where near the quarterback that Roethlisberger is.

Further, the common person invests their money in a sports team, buying tickets and merchandise. The fan pays the salaries of all the players, coaches, employees, and so on. If there were no fans, there would be no professional sports. Understanding the risk factor as mentioned above, fans are also losers in this senario, especially season ticket holders. Season tickets holders cannot withdrawl their investment when something happens that is catastrophic to a team.

Furthermore, in the age of the salary cap, it isn't like the a team can get money back so they can sign someone else, at any position, AND FURTHERMORE, there is NO way that they can a player that has value as Roethesburger does. Also depending upon the time of the year, there is little chance you can find two players that would add up to his total impact.

The Moose

Tortured Lions Fan