“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” – Abraham Lincoln.

Wishing you a safe and enjoyable July 4th!!


*This incredible image was designed by our friend, Brian Jenkins at SteelersWorld1.com. You can follow Brian on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

2013: Ben & Ashley spent their July 4th in Ireland!

Celebrating Independence Day at the Irish U.S. Embassy with Ambassador Rooney, who is hosting a flag football game today:


Ben, Ashley and Mr. & Mrs. Rooney pose in front of the Ambassador’s residence this afternoon.


Big Ben and Ambassador Rooney pose with Dublin Footballers Eamon Fennell, Barry Cahill, Jason Sherlock and Tomás Quinn this morning at the Ambassador’s house prior to the game.


The official coin toss by Ben, overseen by Mr. Rooney, to start the game!


*Thank you to Eamon and once again to Mr. Lauten, Steelers.

“I would like it for him. That’s how much he means to me and I think everyone on our team would say that. Even if guys said they would never want to play in London, 100 percent of the guys on our team would say they would play in Dublin for Mr Rooney. I’d do it for him.” — Ben

From Brendan O’Brien and his interview with Ben for the Irish Examiner:

The NFL in Dublin: it’s the tease that just won’t end.

For years Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers and a former US Ambassador to Ireland, has been talking up the prospect of his beloved football club playing a regular season game in the Irish capital and the project got another airing yesterday when the 81-year old returned to these shores.

Accompanying him for the Fourth of July celebrations at his former residence in the Phoenix Park was Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers’ quarterback and one of the most recognisable faces in gridiron this past decade. Naturally, he too was dragged into the debate.

Rooney’s role in the success of one of the US’s most successful sporting franchises was barely touched on during his official three-year stint on these shores, between 2009 and 2012, but the 6’ 5” superstar spoke volumes for the dynasty first established by his father, Art Rooney Snr.

“People are what makes Pittsburgh special. Why the tradition, why the history, why the most Lombardi’s (trophies)? To me it starts at the top. That’s him, Art his son and his family. When he was in Pittsburgh, […]

Our friend Alex Nicholson sure is…and we’re always happy when he shares them with us!!

Who’s ready for this coming Pittsburgh Steelers season and for some more portraits?! I know I am! — Alex.

In addition to drawing some of his favorite athletes, Alex can do custom pieces as well. He has his own website
Facebook page, Instagram account alex_nicholson6, and Twitter account @anicholson6 or you can email him at arnicholson96@yahoo.com!

From the Steelers’ Burt Lauten:

“We didn’t grow up watching football on television. It’s not like today where everyone is glued to their sets. That wasn’t a point of Sunday, watching football games. You went to church, came home and played outside. It’s almost surreal to know he is in the middle of this. We didn’t make football a priority. I am so proud, especially the way he handled himself through adversity. That is what I am prouder of than the things he does on the field. Just to see the way he is raising his three kids and the husband he is to Ashley. We look at each other sometimes and say we are so proud of that.” — Ken Roethlisberger.

Beautiful Father’s Day tribute from Teresa Varley at Steelers.com:

There is something special that Kelcy Dotson, Ferrell Edmunds, Sam Highsmith, Ken Roethlisberger and John Watt all have in common.

And it goes well beyond the fact that they have sons who play for the Steelers, including guard Kevin Dotson, safety Terrell Edmunds and running back Trey Edmunds, linebacker Alex Highsmith, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and fullback Derek Watt and linebacker T.J. Watt.

More than anything, the one thing they share is their pride in their sons, not just because they are playing in the NFL, but because of the men they are.

Ken and Ben Roethlisberger:

Ken Roethlisberger might have done something no other coach has done to Ben Roethlisberger.

He benched him.

Now mind you, it had nothing to do with his play at all, nothing to do with his hard work.

It was simply because dad didn’t want to show favoritism.

“I think I coached him his first year when he played soccer when he was really small,” said Ken Roethlisberger. “I found that I put him on the bench too much because he was my son and I wanted to be fair. You know how they are when they are little. You are supposed to share time. I did that more than I should have because I didn’t want my kid playing more than others and upset a parent. Then I thought that isn’t fair, so I left it up to someone else to decide if they wanted to put him on the bench or play him. I opted to stop coaching. I never coached him on the field anymore. […]

The Steelers are holding their mandatory veteran minicamp at Heinz Field on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

From Coach’s interview with the media today:

New offensive coordinator Matt Canada maintained there won’t be any issues relative to what he wants to do and what quarterback Ben Roethlisberger prefers to do when the Steelers have the ball.

“We’re gonna do what Ben wants to do and how Ben wants to do it,” Canada said. “Our job is putting every player in position to make plays. There are changes with terminology, how we’re calling things, which has been an adjustment for Ben. He has adapted easily, just like we all knew that he would.

“But that is our job, matchups are how you win football games. It starts with the quarterback, what does he do well? What does he like? What does he see? What is good to his eye in the passing game? And then we build off of that, and that’s what we’re gonna do. His voice, his vision, what he sees will be what we do.”



Canada assessed Roethlisberger capable of doing whatever’s required along those lines.

“Ben can do everything really well,” Canada assessed. “I don’t have any concern about Ben doing anything that we want to do.

“If you’re gonna run the football, I think play-action is very important. Mr. Rooney (Steelers president Art II) has sent out a very clear directive to Mr. Colbert (General Manager Kevin), to Coach Tomlin (head coach Mike) and then to me, we want to be able to run the ball when we have to run it. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna run the ball for X-amount of yards in a game. All that matters here is winning. Our charge is to win the Super Bowl, and that’s it.

“Every year you’re trying to create a system to put your players in position to make plays. And to run the football, we certainly believe play-action is a part of that. But that’s not the only focal point we have. We’re gonna run the ball when we have to run it and we’re gonna throw it when we have to throw it. And after that we’re going to do everything we can to get our best players in position to make the plays their talents direct us […]