Former NFL WR Amani Toomer seems to think Ben should sit eight games. Yeah, or maybe he should be banned from every playing again! Please.
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is headed to New York today for a meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Now the attention turns to what discipline the league or the Steelers may impose on Roethlisberger, though he wasn’t charged with a crime in Georgia, Roethlisberger may have violated the league’s personal-conduct policy. Former NFL player Amani Toomer said he’s watching closely and advocated a half-season suspension for Roethlisberger. “I’m interested to see what’s going to happen with Roger Goodell, because there’s precedent in this situation with Pacman Jones. He never got convicted of anything, but he got arrested a lot of times. What is Goodell going to do?,” Toomer said. “Ben Roethlisberger, the NFL is running away from this like the plague. He should be suspended for at least eight games.”
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raul
April 13, 2010 at 2:57 pm
crap, who´s toomer anyway?
George H
April 13, 2010 at 3:53 pm
He was the WR for the NYG. To compare Big Ben to Pacman is rediculous! Pacman was arrested mulitple times and Ben has never been arrested. Im fairly certain Ben has never shot a gun at someone and Im pretty sure Pacman has. Ben needs to shape up but to compare the two is just ignorant.
DrGeorge
April 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Mr. Toomer is not a noted legal authority to my knowledge, and the precedent between Pacman Jones and S. Holmes is far more apt than any comparison with B. Roethlesberger, if only because Ben’s conduct in the Georgia incident, however distasteful and boorish, would be criminal only if the victim did not consent to the alleged contact. There was some question about whether in fact she did consent to sexual contact and the nature of that contact, if any. The Georgia D.A. decided there wasn’t enough evidence of contact to prove that a crime had been committed ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ and declined to prosecute. Those facts are very different in kind and degree from those in which Jones and Holmes were allegedly involved.
Mr. Goodell will exact some penalty for the embarrassment Ben has caused the league and damage to the sport itself. Perhaps Steelers’ management will too. That would be appropriate. But neither should be influenced in their decisions by A. Toomer’s thinly veiled attempt to play the race card. This is not a matter of unequal justice; it’s a matter of unequal culpability — Tweedledum versus Tweedledummer.
Logically, if Holmes was suspended for 4 games for substance abuse, Ben’s punishment for exercising poor judgment (a non-criminal act) should be less. But then logic and politics never did mix, and this brouhaha grows more political by the minute.
Rather than an inequitable suspension, the more appropriate sanction against Ben might be a financial one, retroactive or prospective, to the extent that such a remedy is possible within the framework of his contract and the NFL union agreement. Ben should pay a price for his indiscretion, but the price should be based on Ben’s own conduct, not some flawed comparison with the conduct of Pacman Jones.
Adam
April 13, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Toomer please go have your self excised by Dr George as clearly you have cancer of the mouth you piece of poop
Mike
April 13, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Ben is a jerk. Got it. Ben wins football games. If he happens to be a jerk, why should i care? It does not effect me or my support for the team. he has not been charged with any crime, ever. Good enough for me. If for some reason ben would leave the steelers, he would be dead to me. The same way Cowher is dead to me, Joey Porter and any other player or coach that is no longer wearing the black and gold. Why do people expect so much from these guys? My advice to all would be root and cheer for the team as a whole, not the individual players. I have never purchased a jersey with another persons name on the back. If people want to buy a big ben jersey or a santonio holmes jersey, fine. Don’t be surprised when they let you down. Root for the team!!!