Big Ben losing biggest fans

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

It’s fans like Becky Rickard who Ben Roethlisberger has lost.

The 33-year-old Rickard is a Pittsburgher and a fan of every team in town. She should love the Steelers and their six Super Bowl titles, including two under the direction of Roethlisberger. Right?

“I had a Ben jersey and gave it away,” Rickard said. “We’re a proud city and we don’t like anything to make us look bad. Ben has tainted what our image is.”

Roethlisberger has worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh.

The good will generated by those NFL titles, capped by his memorable last-minute touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes in the Super Bowl 15 months ago, is all gone. It’s been lost in Roethlisberger’s night of tearing through a Georgia university town wearing a devil T-shirt, ending with an underage university student accusing him of sexual assault in a nightclub bathroom. The case won’t be prosecuted, but the quarterback’s latest episode of bad behavior has destroyed his reputation in Pittsburgh and beyond, and shamed his team and its highly regarded owners.

And the twist is that while Pittsburgh can’t stand him the Steelers can’t cut him. At least not soon, given the $50 million the team has spent on Roethlisberger’s salary and signing bonuses since 2008.

The case stuns former NFL player turned Pittsburgh-based sports lawyer and agent Ralph Cindrich.

“Never in the history of the city can I recall anything close to it,” Cindrich said. “I think most are offended because of not only the city, but how it reflects on the Rooney family.”