Yesterday Ben Roethlisberger was involved in a pretty nasty crash while riding his motorcycle without a helmet. A lot of people in the sports media have been giving him a hard time for not wearing a helmet. Well here is my take on that.
1.) Should he have worn a helmet? Probably, but under PA law he doesn’t have to. It’s much safer obviously, but it’s not required. Since there was no clause against it in his contract, he’s safe there too. It would be wise to wear a helmet at all times. That’s my position.
2.) As I mentioned, it’s not against the law in PA to not wear a helmet while riding. You can debated whether or not that is a good law, but the fact remains it’s the law. Instead of griping on Ben about being stupid for not wearing a helmet, how about griping about all the other players in the league that break countless drug laws, laws against physical abuse, etc. etc. Cut the guy some slack here.
3.) What about the woman who HIT Ben while she was driving. Why not throw some heat her way? I feel bad for her, since it does seem she truly feels bad about the whole situation, but like it or not, she was in the wrong. Apparently she made a turn and smacked right into him. Had she not, this wouldn’t even be a story at all.
One reporter said that Ben was a bad role model because he would encourage kids to not wear helmets. If I was a parent, and that was the worst thing a sports star could encourage my kid to do, I could deal with that. Go after the guys who are the real problems, who never get punished well enough for all the different rules they break.
Did Ben make a mistake? Probably. It would be safer to ride with a helmet, he could have been injured far worse, etc. etc. But cut the guy a break and focus on the real problems in sports and society in general for that matter, and you just might start to see a difference.
Jared, I’m still seeing graphics over text on my screen when viewing your blog. is this a problem for me alone, or a problem for the blog site? its really distracting. 🙁 L