Big Ben Tries to Charm Through Media Day

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tuesday, February 1, 2011.

You might forget this day, but Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and legendary NFL knucklehead Ben Roethlisberger won't.

This was the greatest day for Roethlisberger since he survived smashing his head against the windshield of a car five years ago after he crashed his motorcycle while not wearing a helmet.

Actually, this was the greatest day for Roethlisberger since he avoided charges of allegedly raping a woman a year ago in Milledgeville, Ga., along the way to a six-game suspension by the NFL that was reduced to four. This was after he was named in a woman's civil suit two years ago in Nevada that claimed he sexually assaulted her.

Whatever the case, this was Media Day at Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV, where a sometimes awkward but mostly sincere Roethlisberger was successful during what he admitted to me was a deliberate attempt at gathering sympathy before many of the credentialed 5,000 folks for Sunday's game who wandered by his podium.

He had jokes.

Well, he tried.

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"I'm taking all of this (the madness of Media Day) in stride. Taking the opportunity to film you guys," Roethlisberger said, video camera in hand, as his attempt at humor was greeted by silence.

Later, Big Ben as Jay Leno was slightly more successful. For instance: on the panic around Dallas on Tuesday after a nasty storm of snow and ice left the city nearly paralyzed, Roethlisberger said, "I woke up this morning, and I thought I was back home (in Pittsburgh) ... It's amazing that back home, it's common knowledge that (when it snows), you put salt on the road, or a little sand, gravel, something."

There was laughter. There were even a few nods for Big Ben as Billy Graham when Roethlisberger said, "I want to be a guy that people look up to. I want to be the best husband and father and grandfather, hopefully, and it starts with faith. You've got to be able to instill that in your kids, and that was instilled in me."

And get this: before Roethlisberger continued to speak of spirituality and to do and to say a bunch of other stuff in public that he hadn't done in his previous six NFL seasons, his image was helped earlier in the day by a couple of other things.

First, Sports Illustrated writer Peter King admitted he erred by reporting at the beginning of the week that he was told by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that two dozen Steeler players refused to support Roethlisberger after his Milledgeville mess. Turns out, King said he assumed Goodell was referring to two dozen Steeler players when King said the commissioner was referring to two dozen NFL players.

Big difference.

There also was hope for world peace everywhere, because former Steelers great Terry Bradshaw and Roethlisberger did the impossible. They ended their cold war that began when the now NFL analyst for Fox began blasting away soon after Big Ben joined the Steelers from Miami (Ohio) University as the 11th pick in the 2004 NFL Draft.

Many of Bradshaw's jabs at Roethlisberger were justified (see above), but some were simply mean.

The stuff of an old star trying to keep a new one in his place.

"Terry wanted to talk to me (about an hour before Media Day), and he pulled me aside before we did a sit-down interview, and him and I sat, and we had a good, quite honest session," said Roethlisberger, adding that it was the first time they ever did as much.

No wonder Roethlisberger grinned while he filmed everything in sight with his video camera as he walked toward the masses for the start of his media session. Or maybe his joy came from the prayer he said he uttered and the Bible verse he said he read before he walked onto the field.

Or maybe Roethlisberger was full of chinstraps.

Haven't we seen this before?

The year after Ray Lewis barely escaped charges involved with a double murder in Atlanta, he did and said all of the right things at his Media Day session during the Baltimore Ravens' trip to a world championship. It also didn't hurt Lewis' so-called redemption process back then by winning Super Bowl MVP honors -- you know, as if there is a connection between playing well and evolving into a good citizen.

There isn't, by the way, but whether it was Lewis back then or Roethlisberger right now, you just want to see what is coming from the heart more than the head.

Roethlisberger's heart was overflowing Tuesday.

There was moisture in his eyes when somebody asked him about Terry Hoeppner, his Miami (Ohio) coach who died of brain cancer four years after he coached Roethlisberger.

"Oh, you're going to make me get emotional," Roethlisberger said, lowering his head. "(Hoeppner) had a big impact on me. He was a fatherly figure to me, and the hardest part about that is that I wish he could be here with me and for me now."

Then Roethlisberger glanced at the roof of the dome, but he was looking beyond that. "I know (Hoeppner) has the best seat in the house right now, but it still would be nice to have him here right now, because he means a lot to me."

So do Roethlisberger's teammates.

If the Steelers beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, it will be the Steelers' third Super Bowl victory in six years. Not only that, the Steelers will have done so despite Roethlisberger's various issues that caused Goodell to suspend Roethlisberger before this season and to trigger the confusion surrounding that Sports Illustrated article.

"We found a way to be 3-1 (during Roethlisberger's suspension)," said Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward. "Now you have Ben coming back, and he had to prove everybody wrong, that he's a changed man. To have that hunger and desire and determination that he wants to go out and he wants to lead this team and have another great year, he's done that."

He wants to do more.

He wants to be that role model.

"Just live your life, and you know it's not going to happen overnight," Roethlisberger said. "So you just keep plugging along, and then just keep plugging some more."

Moments later, with the stadium clock ticking down the end of Media Day, Roethlisberger began counting when it reached single digits at the urging of the NFL Network's Deion Sanders nearby.

Said Roethlisberger, chuckling while counting, "Six, five, four, three, two, one. Thank you, everybody. Have a good one."

Another flat joke.

Just as long as he doesn't fall flat on Sunday.

That's all the Steeler Nation cares about.

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