I don’t read Monday Morning Quarterback by Peter King, unless it’s first filtered here. But, serendipity has permitted Peter King to uncover perhaps the most interesting pre-Super Bowl storyline. Well, that and that little matter about the 2011 season going the way of NBC’s Joey.

Ben Roethlisberger has twice been accused of sexual assault, and so, he was suspended for six games this season by the NFL, which was later reduced to four games. Roethlisberger, who apparently believes that sexual assault is not worth more then a couple games riding the pine, thought that the penalty was unduly harsh. NFL Commissioner and “workaholic” Roger Goodell spoke with a number of Roethlisberger’s teammates and basically confirmed what every casual NFL fan already knew; most people who know Big Ben think he’s an asshole.

Tell me again how tough it is to travel to fun places and talk to famous athletes Peter King:

Goodell said he “doesn’t feel any connection” with Ben Roethlisberger. Not too surprising there. I’d always heard Roethlisberger felt he got railroaded on his six-game suspension that was reduced to four. But Goodell said he had “some very tough times” with Chicago defensive tackle Tank Johnson before suspending him, and that Donte’ Stallworth chafed when first told he’d be suspended for a year after a car Stallworth was driving struck a man on a Miami causeway and killed him, with the player being legally drunk at the time.
“The one thing I take a little bit of issue with is when guys tell me they’re being screwed,” Goodell said. “[Most often] they’re not recognizing they have a role in it.” Regarding Roethlisberger, Goodell said when he was investigating what to do with the quarterback, he talked to “I bet two dozen players … Not one, not a single player, went to his defense. It wasn’t personal in a sense, but all kinds of stories like, ‘He won’t sign my jersey.’ ”

Great job, Peter King. Somebody deserves a treat (dangles sardine in front of King until he kneels, and claps his flippers)

But is this even really news? Former Steelers Linebacker Joey Porter called out Roethlisberger in 2006. It’s not like it was a secret that Roethlisberger is a douche.

As we already know, America loves winners. Therefore, you’ll never guess what happened this week during Super Bowl press conferences when Steelers teammates were asked about Goodell’s assertion.

Drop my jaw to the floor ProFootballTalk:

Steelers linebacker James Farrior, however, said it’s simply not true for Goodell to claim that no one on the Steelers went to bat for Roethlisberger.

“I was highly upset about the whole situation,” Farrior said. “When Roger Goodell came to us in the preseason, I think I was the guy that asked him a lot of the questions about Ben. I was pretty upset about it. I really didn’t get any answers from him that I was looking for, but I was definitely disappointed in what the verdict was and how they proceeded. I definitely didn’t think he should be suspended four games.”

Poppycock! Roethlisberger has always been popular with his teammates. Let’s hope Roethlisberger uses his newfound people skills to diffuse the situation and doesn’t try to “force” the issue with his teammates before the big game.

By now, everyone should know the whole Ben Roethlisberger civil suit story, and if you dont go ahead and read this then come on back. Ok, now, everyone should also know that ESPN is purposefully not reporting on this news story, even releasing statements why they wont cover it, despite those statements being contradictory to what has been done by TWWL in the past. If you haven’t seen this discussion, read here and even here then come on back. After reading all that, I am sickened but not surprised by ESPN’s course of action here.

The utter arrogance on the network’s part to decide what is and what is not news is inexcusable. It begs the question about what kind of racial bias the network has, it brings to mind what kinds of corporate biases the network has with all of its partnership deals with the very sports they cover and the advertisers they have, and it brings to mind whether or not the network should even be as huge and powerful as they are.

They have no problem reporting about a dead for over 2 weeks Steve McNair’s blood alcohol content, for no reason whatsoever since he was the one who was murdered, but when the Super Bowl winning quarterback get sued for sexual assault, this is not considered news. When a former super bowl winning wide-receiver gets sued in a civil suit for injuries sustained during a shootout, ESPN was all over it…but not for Roethlisberger’s sexual assault civil suit.

What gives? ESPN owes everyone a real explanation here. They dropped the ball. Big time. Especially considering that every other news establishment felt that this story was actual news.

Thank goodness I have (some of) my fellow bloggers there to give me the straight news, without the filters that ESPN seems to have. I’ve long since given up going to ESPN for news for various reasons, including those listed above, but obviously most of America has not and ESPN owes it to its viewers to report the news not through ESPN colored glasses.

Or hey, maybe ESPN is right and everyone is wrong. I mean, no one could possibly believe that Ben Roethlisberger would ever be out of control…right?

At least Aaron Brooks sits at home and wonders why he doesn’t get any calls from teams looking for quarterbacks. It may have something to do with backwards passes and scrambling for -25 yards before being sacked.

Then there’s Daunte Culpepper. He and Byron Leftwich had the good fortune of being flown to Steelers training camp for a workout after backup Charlie Batch broke his collarbone. Both of them impressed however Leftwich is staying and Culpepper is going home. Leftwich got with the program while Culpepper thought he was going to compete for the starting job against Ben Roethlisberger.

PFT seems to think that Culpepper still has a chance to sign if he gets off whatever he’s on and realizes that he would only be there to cover for Batch in his absence. You almost want to salute Culpepper’s drive to become a starter again. However he needs realize that he’s not going to get that chance especially on a team with a Super Bowl winning franchise QB. He needs to latch onto a team and hope the starter goes down so he gets a chance. If he impresses, he’ll have a good chance of being signed to a stupid contract by the Ravens cause that’s how we do. He’ll be able to buy 20 sex boats with all the money he’ll get for being mediocre.

You know how I know the Steelers are going to suck? Ben Roethlisberger can’t even deal with his imposters like Bill Henry.

The AP reported that former major league pitcher Bill Henry died last week. Only problem is that Henry’s still alive. A man who impersonated him for 20 years was the one who died. He allegedly died of a heart attack but I’m going to assume the real Bill Henry dealt with that the only way he knew how. You get right up on him and BANG! Heart attack. That’s some cold blooded, gangsta shit.

Henry’s 80 years old. What’s Big Ben’s excuse?