Hey Al, any relation?

[John O'Sullivan]

Super Bowl QB breaks jaw, nose in motorcycle crash ...............................

 

Published June 12, 2006, 10:17 PM CDT

 

Super Bowl QB breaks jaw, nose in motorcycle crash

 

By Joe Mandak

 

The Associated Press

 

PITTSBURGH -- Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash Monday in which he was not wearing a helmet.

 

Four doctors operated on Roethlisberger for seven hours to treat multiple facial fractures and "all of the fractures were successfully repaired," Dr. Harry W. Sell, chairman of the surgery department at Mercy Hospital, told reporters late Monday night.

 

Dr. Daniel Pituch, who led the team, said Roethlisberger was in serious but stable condition, and doctors were aware of no other serious injuries.

 

"His brain, spine, chest and abdomen appear to be without serious injury and there are no other confirmed injuries at this time," he said.

 

The doctors said his condition was not expected to change through the evening, and that no updates were expected until Tuesday. They declined to release further information at his family's request.

 

Roethlisberger was talking to doctors before the surgery, Dr. Larry Jones, chief of trauma at Mercy Hospital said.

 

"He's coherent. He's making sense," Jones said. "He knows what happened. He knows where he is. From that standpoint, he's very stable."

 

Roethlisberger's mother, Brenda, was crying as she arrived at the hospital.

 

Steelers president Art Rooney II said the team was "encouraged by the early reports from the medical team" at the hospital. "I am sure Ben knows that we are praying for his complete recovery."

 

The 24-year-old Roethlisberger was without a helmet, police said. He has said he likes to ride without one, a habit that once prompted a lecture from Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher.

 

Roethlisberger was on his black 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa -- the company calls it the world's fastest bike for legal street riding -- and heading toward an intersection on the edge of downtown. A Chrysler New Yorker traveling in the opposite direction took a left turn and collided with the motorcycle, and Roethlisberger was thrown, police said.

 

The other car was driven by a 62-year-old woman, police said. They didn't immediately release her name and no charges were filed.

 

Witness Sandra Ford was waiting at a bus stop when she said she saw the motorcycle approach. Seconds later, she said she heard a crash, saw the motorcyclist in the air and ran toward the crash scene.

 

"He wasn't moving and I was afraid that he had died. ... He wasn't really speaking. He seemed dazed but he was resisting the effort to make him stay down," said Ford, who didn't realize the motorcyclist was Roethlisberger.

 

Police spokesman Lt. Kevin Kraus said police and homicide units were leading the investigation, a standard practice when there is an accident with critical injuries.

 

In only his second year in the NFL, Roethlisberger helped guide the Steelers to the Super Bowl title in February at age 23. Training camp for next season begins at the end of July.

 

Several teammates, including backup quarterback Charlie Batch, linebacker Joey Porter and safety Mike Logan, arrived at the emergency room.

 

Some fans also gathered at the hospital, including Juanita Clark, who sells Steelers paraphernalia.

 

"I just feel like he's a family member," said her daughter, Loretta Clark.

 

The NFL's standard player contract prohibits any activity involving "significant risk of personal injury" apart from football. But many prominent athletes ride motorcycles anyway, despite the risk and the possibility of losing salary.

 

In May 2005, Cowher warned Roethlisberger about safe riding after Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. was injured in a motorcycle accident. Winslow tore knee ligaments and was lost for the season.

 

Other athletes injured on motorcycles during their careers include basketball's Jason Williams, skiing's Hermann Maier and auto racing's Dario Franchitti.

 

Roethlisberger has said in the past that he prefers not to wear a helmet when riding his motorcycle. He has pointed out Pennsylvania's state law requiring helmets to be worn was repealed in September 2003.

 

"He talked about being a risk-taker and I'm not really a risk-taker. I'm pretty conservative and laid back, but the big thing is to just be careful," Roethlisberger said at the time. "I'll just continue to be careful. I told him we don't ever ride alone, we always ride in a group of people, and I think it makes it even more safe."

 

Roethlisberger continued to ride after Winslow's accident and that angered Terry Bradshaw, who quarterbacked the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories during the 1970s.

 

Visiting the Steelers' training camp last summer, Bradshaw remarked: "Ride it when you retire."

 

Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press.

[Guest Nogbad]

He's lucky he's not dead.

 

American Footballer = bonehead.

 

Obviously, and luckily in this case the ratio of bone to brain is well biased to the former.

[Ralph Werner]

Not too wise riding helmetless in a big city but I would like to have more information on his speed versus one of our greatest fears - a vehicle turning left.

 

I'm sure that this incident will prompt a spate of proposed (and ill thought out) motorcycle laws.

[al_roethlisberger]

Heh, well here's the standard answer that I've distilled down to its bare minimum after being asked this about 5 times a day during the season last year....

 

 

"He probably is, but I don't know him"

 

 

The long answer is that our families are both from Berne it seems, so we likely are indeed related.

 

At the turn of the 20th century, two brothers or cousins(not sure) came over from Switzerland and landed in NY. One went to the Ohio valley(Ben's family) and one settled in Pittsburgh, which is my family.

 

The Roethlisbergers actually from Pittsburgh more or less died out or moved away(my father, the last to carry the name from Pittsburgh, now lives in Louisiana).

 

We really don't have any contact with the "Ohio Roethlisbergers" at this time, although since they seem to be more prolific... perhaps we should

 

It's funny that a Roethlisberger ended up QB'ing the Steelers as being a long-time resident of Pittsburgh in the 70s, I can remember their "Golden Years" and my Dad always getting wound-up during the games. It's also ironic that "our" Roethlisbergers are basically gone(I have one great aunt still there) but a relative from the other "batch" came over and is now the QB of my Dad's home-town team.

 

The name used to be rather obscure here in the US(not in Switzerland though I hear), but now everyone knows it. It's sorta sad, as I had gotten very used to having to pronounce and spell it.

 

But give it another 10, or less, years and I bet it'll go back to normal.

 

One other interesting aside, to illustrate how "football crazy" Americans are, we had another relative of Ben's, John Roethlisberger, in the US Olympic Gymnastics team a couple times, and I think he even won a medal. But no one ever asked me about him

 

 

BTW, on the helmet/no-helmet thing... its his choice to some degree, but my personal opinion is that he owes something to his contractual obligation with his employer since his "services" are basically his physical condition. Further, I think it is just silly to push one's luck when so fortunate.

 

I like Terry Bradshaw's(ex Steeler Superbowl QB) advice to Ben last year. It was something like, "... ride all you want after you retire"

 

I hope he's OK, but I also hope he rethinks this whole no helmet idea.

 

Al

[slug]

"He talked about being a risk-taker and I'm not really a risk-taker. I'm pretty conservative and laid back, but the big thing is to just be careful," Roethlisberger said at the time. "I'll just continue to be careful. I told him we don't ever ride alone, we always ride in a group of people, and I think it makes it even more safe."

 

Ummm, conservative & careful, yet he rides (rode) a Hayabusa, with no helmet? How can any 24 year-old testosterone fuelled millionare ride one of those "conservatively"? I'd like to hear him explain exactly how riding in a group will protect his head if a car plows in to the group he's riding with. Maybe he rides with linebackers big enough to tackle the car

 

Some fans also gathered at the hospital, including Juanita Clark, who sells Steelers paraphernalia. "I just feel like he's a family member," said her daughter, Loretta Clark.