Still crazy after all these years

Roethlisberger family photo, 2019 Photo: 247 Sports … character issues of early years are better understood The admission was not one that many people expected. However, Ben Roethlisberger came clean about many issues in his past and how they affected his life, and that is a very positive first step in recovery, Ben Roethlisberger says he’s a changed man. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who’s twice been accused of sexual assault said he wasn’t ready for the fame and fortune provided an NFL star when he joined the league and that he lost touch with his Christian values en route to bouts with alcohol and pornography addictions. Roethlisberger made these claims as a guest speaker at a virtual conference on Saturday called ManUp Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports . He said that since he married his wife, Ashley Harlan, he’s reconnected with his Christian faith. Jason Owens, “Ben Roethlisberger talks past porn, alcohol addictions:  'No...

Will this matchup occur this year? Photo: ABC Sports … outbreaks probably came from off-campus bars and socials It was not that long ago that Louisiana State quarterback Joe Burrow was leading the Tigers to the national championship over Clemson.  Today, that seems like a long time ago. Long before Covid-19 wrecked the college football scene, leading schools to vacate their campuses and focus on online learning.  And leaving athletes to work out on their own, when they could. Then, the NCAA opened up workouts for the start of June, and many traipsed back to campus to engage with their teammates.  However, not all of that news from this month has been positive to college football. LSU administrators would not talk to SI According to a Sports Illustrated story posted yesterday, LSU administrators did not want to talk about their refusal to test athletes when they returned to campus. Instead, they asked a trainer to do so, and neither would c...

Penn State players usually return to the locker room before the anthem Photo: Philadelphia Inquirer The Philadelphia Inquirer posed an interesting question about the upcoming college football season, Penn State football players may kneel during the national anthem, Big Ten says. But what if they’re not on the field for it? Erin McCarthy, “ Penn State might review football players’  location during national anthem,” Inquirer, June 17, 2020 In his first year succeeding the legendary Jim Delany as Big Ten commissioner, Kevin Warren has been facing some challenges. First, the cancellation of the NCAA Basketball Championships, and now the pandemic that has sidelined college athletes nationwide.  However, the challenge for Warren, an African-American who was a former Chief Operating Officer for the Minnesota Vikings, is now focusing on the challenging of handling the race issue with college athletes.  Warren told USA Today this week that players c...

Steelers fans line walkway at St. Vincent's College from locker room to  preseason training fields Photo: Tribune-Review … No Steeler football at Chuck Noll Field in 2020 Members of the Latrobe and St. Vincent community were dealt a tremendous blow this week when the National Football League announced that all off-season preseason camps would be forbidden because of health concerns caused by the coronavirus.  The NFL is concerned first and foremost with the health of its athletes and other personnel, and the bottom line is that the league wants to operate, even if stadiums are half-filled. However, the Steelers trip to St. Vincent over the past five+ decades has also been memorable for its fans, and they will also miss the joy of the preseason camp, watching the practices and seeing the players coming off the field and signing autographs.  What is unwritten in these stories is that the trip was also a major boost for the economy of the Latrobe a...

Gary Gouse retired after 29 seasons as the head coach of the Portage Mustangs Photo: John Rucosky, The Tribune-Democrat When Gary Gouse entered St. Francis College, he had brought with him some impressive credentials from his years as a running back with the Portage Mustangs.  He had been a 1,000-yard rusher for Portage in his senior season and was a key cog in the Mustangs’ undefeated squad [10-0] in 1974. by 1975, he was excited to play college football.  However, what I remember most about Gary is how he accepted the fact that he would have to play running back behind a better runner. Rather than quit or become despondent as some athletes would have done, he moved from tailback to unpack or blocking back position. He did well blocking for three years for Teddy Helsel, who ended his career with close to 4,000 yards rushing for the Red Flash.  Teaching and coaching career Gary had made no secrets that he wanted to teach and coach in high school a...

Forbes Field, a great venue for professional baseball. 1909-1970 My first professional baseball game, sat in left-field stands, about 1957. The greatest World Series moment in history. Bill Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth, 1960.  Pirates' victory over nefarious New York Yankees in '60 series. Home for Roberto Clemente for most of his career. Most electrifying player I have ever seen. Lilly used to take two buses to Forbes Field every summer for the kids to see a professional game. Very memorable. First time I saw Willie Stargell was at Forbes Field. What a man! So many great memories, three World Series titles. 

Photo: Yahoo Sports … it is called losing your credibility When Colin Kaepernick decided to call attention to the problems that unarmed black men were having in being killed by white cops, I did not object to his premise.  I did, however, object to the process that he wanted to use because it injected the American flag into it. Then, those politicians who wear the flag in the lapel while concomitantly taking away the liberties of those whom they dislike to express outrage — and ignore the problem.  Blacks make up between 70 to 75 percent of the athletes in the National Football League, and the league should have tried to understand what the basic animus of the players was.  Instead, the controversy allowed a president who had avoided serving in Vietnam because of alleged bone spurs to wrap himself in the flag while trying to destroy the league itself — because they had blackballed him in the 1980s.  In short, the basic problem of black men ...