Despite canceling a press conference that had been scheduled for today in conjunction with his upcoming appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s ABC reality show, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will make a public statement later today regarding the civil lawsuit filed against him last week in Nevada.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roethlisberger will make a public statement at the team’s complex at 2:00 p.m. EDT Thursday.
But he will take no questions.
The last part makes sense. Anything he says can and will be used against him in the lawsuit. So by addressing the situation in any way, he possibly will be telling his accuser’s lawyer something that the lawyer doesn’t already know, and Roethlisberger also will be putting on the record something that it would be very difficult to contradict while testifying under oath during a deposition or at trial.
The first part, however, makes no sense to us. Does it really serve his interests to wag a finger and say, “I did not have nonconsensual sexual relations with that woman“?
It’s better to say nothing and do nothing beyond the confines of the legal process.
And if he’s making his statement pursuant to the “if you’re innocent you shout it from the rooftops” strategy, then he should go the full distance and answer questions, too.
So, does this mean he will not be answering any questions regarding the Shaq Vs. show?
See what you’re saying, Florio, but perhaps we should wait to hear what we say before we judge what we assume he is going to?
“And if he’s making his statement pursuant to the “if you’re innocent you shout it from the rooftops” strategy, then he should go the full distance and answer questions, too.”
Didn’t you just say not answering questions makes sense? You’re in journalism, you know full well words can get misconstrued, and made to say something never intended. Although unnecessary, I applaud Ben for doing this.
Him speaking on the matter only brings MORE attention to the story and in a weird way gives some credence to the woman’s claims. His prepared statement will be scrutinized from the words to the body language and will be dissected by everyone everywhere.
If this was truly a frivolous suit, which it may very well be, the best course of action in my opinion would be to not address it publicly at all. Nothing good can come out of it.
There is NO WAY he should be answering questions. He likes to hear himself talk too much and is liable to say anything.
I’m sure he’ll be reading a prepared statement saying something to the effect of “I did nothing wrong, and will be unable to answer any questions regarding this matter until it is settled. I’m looking forward to camp.”
Florio is 100% correct here. No reason for Ben to say anything. Obiously he’s going to come out and say he did nothing wrong…but his lawyer basically already did that.
The only thing I can think is that he’s trying to get this out of the way before training camp to limit the distractions. But I seriously doubt this is going to limit them in any way come July 31.
Is it to announce that he will now put “RFJ” on his football shoes?
Nothing good can come out out of this case or press conference… except that the Baltimore Ravens just won the AFC North.
Damned you Florio, and your well reasoned analysis and calls for integrity in approach!!!!!
This is either going to be entertaining or reallllly entertaining
I heard he’s gonna be announcing Favre’s decision to postpone his announcement to announce when he will decide to announce the decision to announce the date to decide when he will announce the decision to decide when to announce the decision to not postpone the decision to announce when he will decide to announce his decision to re-un-re-re-un-re-re-un re-retire.
Your last statement makes no sense, whatsoever.
Just because you disagree that he should be making any statement at all, you’re going to then say he should throw all caution to the wind and answer live questions? That’s insane.
You had it right in your 4th paragraph. In no way should he answer questions precisely because anything he says can be used against him. It’s waaaaaay to risky of a move, and you know it, which is why it’s so puzzling to see you say it makes sense that he’s not going to answer questions, immediately followed by saying he should go the full distance and answer them.
Would someone please just smell his finger and put an end to all of this.
when does the woman releave her secret child with the a head so big it needs an erector set to look up?
Thats when Big Ben goes “Oh sh!t” and then opens the check book
Have you ever seen this guy speak? He can barely string together a coherent sentence.
Look up the word ‘Dolt’ in the dictionary, Ben’s picture will be right beside it…
“Big Ben”, indeed.
Mike – Why would a public statement by Roethlisberger surprise you? His reputation as a public figure is extremely important to him. The court of public opinion, while having no jurisdiction in this case, is always important to a professional athlete.
That said, you can be sure that Ben’s statement will be extremely succinct and will simply proclaim his innocence and his confidence that the legal process will prove his innocence. If Ben is innocent (as many believe to be the case), a statement of that innocence won’t hurt him at all.
On another note: Mike, did ESPN laugh you out of the room when you applied for a job there? The public vendetta you have against them is beyond ludicrous. There has to be something personal behind it.
Let’s cut to the chase–Ben laid the pipe to a humanoid that most of us wouldn’t touch with a fishing pole. It is widely known that Ben is not a smart feller–if there is any doubt look at this undermencshen Ben popped!!!
To me, this is less about “he said, it said…” than it is further confirmation that Ben is as dumb as the sod in Heinz Field. Nail her again ketchup brain!!!!!
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”
Sounds like where theres smoke……Theres fire. Why else would he be speaking out. Maybe she’s added ESPN to her lawsuit for conspiracy to cover it all up.
Man, I wish ESPN didn’t say anything. It would be interesting to see how they reported the news conference if no one was suppose to mention the topic. See Florio you should have left it alone and seen how they got themselves out of that one.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says:
July 23, 2009 1:18 PM
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”
_________
hahahahahahahahaha
NFL.com says Big Ben will be reading a statement, which I find hard to believe, since it’s my understanding that the man can’t read.
If you go to TMZ, they have a video of her pulling out of a driveway. She gives the camera a smirk. That smirk looked like she was eating up the attention. I bet she is lying her ass off. I could be wrong, but it’s just the feeling I got from the video. If she was so distraught over this, I would imagine that she would be trying to hide her face or something.
Wonder if she kept the dress?????
Re: ESPN’s non-coverage/biased coverage of rape allegations vs. Big Ben
Isn’t it a bit of a coincidence that ABC is ESPN’s parent company, and that Big Ben is being featured on Shaq’s Big Challenge – esp. considering the ‘wholesome family’ demographic that this show is clearly targeted at? Normally I’d brush this off as a bit of paranoia, but when ESPN (finally) ‘reports’ on this story with the headline “No criminal look at Ben Roethlisberger allegations”, I figure I have a right to question ESPN’s journalism ‘ethics’…
Err, uh, err, uh, err, I didnt do it with that dude
And ESPN will subsequently add a second article about this story with Big Ben saying he didn’t do it. If the AP one isn’t favorable enough, one of their NFL writers will write one with AP contributions.
He’s probably just doing whatever his lawyer has said to do.
Saying nothing would lead alot of over-sensional media types *cough cough PFT* to start rumors about his silence indicating wrong doing. This is the smart PR move. Not allowing questions is even smarter due to all the loaded questions that would be sent his way.
She was driving out of her driveway – that doesn’t scream of “Give me attention!”
tj…hoosyourmamma
My words exactly
SEXGATE is getting out of control. Rapelisberger is going to burn for this one.
Just another reason for steeler nation to hang it’s head in shame.
Drugs, gambling, sexual misconduct, game stealing. Whats next?
“NewsHound says:
July 23, 2009 1:52 PM
Wonder if she kept the dress?????”
Or the cigar?
Give her 20 bucks and a paper bag for her head, she’ll go away happy.
I for one do not believe ANY of her story.
# GarthBrooks says: July 23, 2009 2:08 PM
She was driving out of her driveway – that doesn’t scream of “Give me attention!”
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No shit Chris Gaines, I said her smirk made her look like she was eating up the attention. She was probably the company prostitute, which is legal in Nevada. It was probably her job to satisfy top visitors. She probably satisfied Ben on a few different stays that he had at the hotel. He probably got tired of her, and told her “No… please… I don’t want to do this… I’m out of beer…” she probably said “don’t worry, I’ll put a bag over my head…” Then when they were finished, he went to the bathroom to throw up. When he returned, she was trying to take a picture of herself with his camera, but the camera broke. He then threw her out of the room… Seriously though, she probably was the company prostitute.