Ari Hait of Pittsburgh-based WTAE-TV files a report from Milledgeville, GA., that includes comments from a woman who claimed, “she was one of about 20 who partied with Ben Roethlisberger at a nightclub last week on the night that a female college student told police she was sexually assaulted by the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.”
Excerpts of Hait’s report:
“Everyone keeps talking about how nice he was. He was not nice,” the woman said.
The woman — who asked not to be identified — told reporter Ari Hait that people who were with Roethlisberger invited her into the VIP area of the the Capital City club.
“A bunch of big guys were like, ‘Come back in here,’ and I was like, I’m just trying to have fun, whatever,” she said.
“He bought a round of shots for girls and said, ‘All you bitches, take my shots,’ and I got pissed because that’s very rude and disrespectful to call girls a bunch of bitches,” she said.
Before she left, she said she saw Roethlisberger with the woman who would eventually become his accuser.
“The fact that people are talking about how he’s such a nice guy at the bar, buying us a bunch of shots, because there’s a bunch of drunk girls happy that they’re getting free shots — he was very arrogant,” she said.
This woman isn’t the first to claim that Roethlisberger was more than a little inelegant that night.
More damning though than a random account from an alleged witness was a recent blog post about Roethlisberger’s off-field behavior by Pittsburgh media member John Steigerwald, who started covering the local Pittsburgh sports scene before Roethlisberger was born.
Ben is a bad citizen. He doesn’t know how to treat people and he definitely doesn’t know how to handle being the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In my more than 30 years of working in the Pittsburgh sports media, I have never had any player come close to generating as many unsolicited questions from fans as Roethlisberger has. They want to know why he’s such a jackass. And these aren’t just Steelers fans who got turned down for an autograph. It’s men and women from all walks of life.
Most of the accounts of the incident in Georgia mention that Ben wasn’t drinking much. The implication being that he wasn’t high. Let me be the first to point out that he could very easily have been high on something other than alcohol. If that turns out to be the case, will you be surprised?
Roethlisberger is a punk who needs to be knocked down a peg or two.
A couple of years ago I heard from a woman who said that Roethlisberger blew off a Make-A-Wish kid. When KDKA-TVs News Director, John Verrilli, was shown the email, he made it clear that it was a story that his news department would not be pursuing. I eventually got in contact with the parents of the little girl who the jackass snubbed. They said the story was true but they didn’t want to go public with it for their daughter’s sake. The little girl had cystic fibrosis.
None of the anecdotes and opinions I’ve heard about Roethlisberger lead me to believe that Steigerwald was out of line with his statements. And I don’t say that lightly. I’ve personally heard stories about Roethlisberger’s bad act for years.
It will be interesting to see if the alleged victim’s attorney attempts to paint a similar picture of Roethlisberger. Of course, his preceding reputation should be irrelevant to the case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some things come out of the woodwork if this thing goes to trial.
5:50 pm on March 13th, 2010
Something tells me Ben’s career/life is circling the bowl
6:39 pm on March 13th, 2010
Ever seen a pic of Big Benjy at some big whoopty-do with a celebutard next to him? To say the celebutards look less than thrilled is being kind…
7:29 pm on March 13th, 2010
Come on Ben, are you a Jackass? No way….your just a big prick!!!
7:44 pm on March 13th, 2010
The dude wears a giant pic of Satan .. his eyes are glowing red coals in some pics… in others they are white glassy balls .. He’s grinning like a serial killer in some pics, in others he just looks dense.
I’m sure there you can find more than one drunk girl that likes Satan and thinks Satan is a nice guy. Especially if Satan gave her a free drink! Why not Ben? By the way, Ben spelt backwards is Neb… and that means… well nothing, really.
What more do people need!!!
8:09 pm on March 13th, 2010
If it doesn’t fit you must aquit. If he didn’t bag up, he is in some deep doo doo!!!
It appears that Karma is a mean bitch. If he did really blow off the make a wish request, this will be bad karma bitting him in the ass!!!
8:12 pm on March 13th, 2010
I certainly hope these accusations aren’t true, because they will impact my ability to enjoy watching football next season.
11:13 pm on March 13th, 2010
‘All You Bitches, Take My Shots’
I think I have enough for 3 girls to take my shots, but not 20. That would just be unfair to everyone else.
11:25 pm on March 13th, 2010
been a steeler fan since 1964, red sox fan even longer - never have i been embarrassed by those i revere. if big ben is this person he’s being portrayed as - i am embarressed to be a fan. this is unforgivable as all the people sitting in bars, watching on tv, etc. are paying your salary and rooting for you (maybe)n shame on you if this is true.
4:52 am on March 14th, 2010
“A bunch of big guys were like, ‘Come back in here,’ and I was like, I’m just trying to have fun, whatever,” she said.
Yeah, just trying to have fun, sure. It amazes me that the same golddiggers who go for free shots criticize the very person buying them.
Who is worse, the guy who calls her a name, or the woman who is a chronic “shot leech” and just uses people for drinks?
As a friend of a clubowner, let me tell you first hand that the “shot leeches” are the bottom of the barrel. They wait by the V.I.P. section and just leech off any guy they can get a free drink out of by smiling and flirting. They use men constantly. They have a camera magnet in their dress, which is to say they magically navigate in the picture’s line of sight whenever a photo is about to be taken.
1:17 pm on March 14th, 2010
That blog post comes off like the guy has been personally slighted by Big Ben in one way or another in the past.
It’s one thing to be an impartial observer. It’s another to call a guy a punk and say he needs to be knocked down a peg or two.
5:59 pm on March 14th, 2010
The Ben story is interesting but the TMZ’ing of absolutely everything is getting slightly annoying
9:19 pm on March 14th, 2010
All you bitches, read my post!
11:11 am on March 15th, 2010
this obviously needs some thorough investigating…
7:19 am on March 16th, 2010
“All you bitches, take my shots”…..EXACTLY! All these cock whors were there looking for some cock. When Ben’s entourage came in, they got even more horny. If they just wanted to socialize, they’d be in conservative dress clothes at a book club or church function. Shot leeches is a good term too.
7:48 am on March 16th, 2010
LOL, jim. I’ll admit there are alot of “cock whors” and shot leeches out there and Ben’s entourage probably turned up the heat a bit. These little college girls were there for fun….and probably cock.
10:03 am on March 16th, 2010
money does strange things to small brains.all sports figures make way to much money, this is why there’s alot of trouble, kobe, tiger, jordan, and now “nots so big ben”.
1:44 pm on March 17th, 2010
There are a lot of golddiggers and shot leeches out there. Always looking for something free. I’m sure ben is a jerk, but those bitches aren’t any better. Alcohol and/or money can help the panties come off quicker, even if they will regret it later. They have no right to complain when they consent to it, even if they were plastered when it happened. Women need to take responsibility for their actions, being drunk is no excuse.
2:09 pm on March 19th, 2010
No one really knows if the accusations are true or not, but the mere fact that this is the second or third time its happening to him means either there is some truth to them or he really needs to stop visiting such places. But in my eyes what makes the guy an a@#hole, is how do you blow off a make a wish kid. That is just mean and like they say karma is a bitch, hope he gets what he deserves.
1:01 am on April 13th, 2010
2 rings so far…..you morons…let him rape them all who cares!