Jeff: Blaming Big Ben

As you've probably heard by now, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his motorcycle were in an accident yesterday morning. Roethlisberger, who wasn't wearing a helmet, went headfirst into the windshield of a car. Miraculously, he suffered no life-threatening injuries, and after hours of surgery yesterday, he is left with facial fractures, a broken nose, and a broken jaw. Early estimates are that Big Ben could miss up to 4 weeks of the season (the Steelers have a bye in week 4), something that could put a real damper on the Steelers repeat title hopes. If you're like me, your first reaction was "how could he be so stupid?" How could a superstar athlete with so much going for him be so careless as to ride a motorcycle without a helmet?

It's not like he was racing, or doing any stupid tricks like Browns tight end Kellen Winslow was doing when he wrecked his knee last year. But that still should have served as a warning or a wake-up call for Roethlisberger to be more careful right? Wrong. Big Ben was still adimant that he would ride his bike sans helmet (Pennsylvania repealed the motorcycle helmet law in 2003) but was a "safe rider." Well even trying to be safe, and even though it looks like the other driver was at fault, it will cost Roethlisberger part of his season, and could have cost him his life.

Will this stop Roethlisberger from riding again, or stop other athletes from riding motorcycles in the offseason? No. Go here for a list of athletes involved in motorcycle accidents in the last 10 years. Most of those accidents are very serious, and all caused the player to miss at least a small part of their season. And yet guys still ride. Why? Well having never been a professional athelte myself I can only speculate: but from what I've seen and read and understand, a lot of these guys are adrenaline junkies. They LOVE competition, and in downtimes during the offseason, they still need to feed that love and desire to compete. Some guys turn to gambling, like John Daly, Michael Jordan, or Charles Barkley. Others to motorcycles or fast cars. It should be noted, that although Big Ben was not speeding or doing anything illegal prior to the accident, that wasn't just any old bike he was riding: his 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa is the fastest production bike on the road.

Sure maybe he was trying to be as safe as possible, but then why have the fastest bike you can buy? I was surprised at first when I heard the Steelers had no clauses or provisions in his contract against riding a motorcycle. If I was a Steelers fan (which I'm not) I would have been upset that Roethlisberger would be riding around without a helmet, jeopardizing his life, and my football team. But then "The Professor" John Clayton explained...

The reason the Steelers and most teams don't add specific language about off-the-field accidents is that they don't feel it's necessary. The NFL Management Council has advised teams to use the phrasing "for any reason" in regard to a player who defaults on his contract because of an injury suffered outside of football.

So the Steelers would have reparations coming against Roethlisberger if he misses time, just as the Browns did with Winslow. I guess teams understand that these guys are going to get the adrenaline going off the field too, and that as long as they're protected against them injuring themselves in non-sporting-related activities, then they cross their fingers and hope for the best. As a fan, I guess we should be doing the same.