Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has turned his life around in the last 24 months. He’s married, and he somehow has gotten back in the good graces of Steelers fans who were ready in 2010 to run him out of town.
And now Roethlisberger has graduated from Miami (Ohio) University, nine years after leaving the school.
Per the Associated Press, Roethlisberger joined 600 classmates on Sunday in Oxford, Ohio, donning a extra-large gown and an extra-extra-large cap and receiving, um, a sheepskin.
Roethlisberger was four courses short of a degree in education when he left for the NFL, and an associate dean said that Roethlisberger had picked up the remaining credits over the last several years.
Though it makes sense to finish what he started and display evidence that he has become a responsible adult, does anyone think he’ll become a teacher when he quits playing football? “Getting a degree” is part of the con of college football, especially as it relates to guys who go on to earn a crapload of money playing in the NFL. Roethlisberger makes more in one game than many teachers make in a decade. If he ever needs to actually use the degree, it will mean that he has completely squandered millions and millions of dollars.