Ben’s Veterans Day Salute
My girlfriend Natalie Karpinsky is a Senior Airman in Security Forces for the U.S. Air Force. She has been serving for 3 years and is currently active duty. She was deployed in the Middle East for 7.5 months this year. When she’s not deployed she serves full time at the 171 Refueling Base in Pittsburgh.
Besides her family, Natalie keeps love for her Country first and love for her City second. She is a Black & Gold girl through thick and thin. We even have a ‘Ben wall’ in our game room, lol. Needless to say, she is proud to be an American and proud to be a Yinzer.
The most enjoyment I get out here is watching the team win on Sundays. Because of the circumstances with this week’s bye, I am using part of my day off to finally listen to Mr. Roethlisberger’s Man Up testimony and Bigger Than Ben series. Both were amazing.
I […]
8-Oh ‘boys!! 
As they had done against the Ravens, the Steelers rallied to beat the Cowboys.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Ebron with 2:14 left in regulation provided the Steelers’ first lead and they hung on for a 24-19 victory.
“I’m not taking any shots at anybody, but if you didn’t know who America’s team was, you should have seen the stands and all of the Terrible Towels. Dallas may be America’s team but we will be the World’s team because we have fans everywhere & they are the best in the world.” — Ben, post-game.
Pittsburgh is 8-0 for the first time in the storied franchise’s history despite an upset bid from the Cowboys, who were the biggest underdogs they’ve been at home in at least 31 years.
Happy Game Day
“America’s Heroes”
From ESPN’s Press Room:
With its annual America’s Heroes tribute, ESPN will salute veterans and active members of the U.S. armed forces with a week of programming and initiatives Nov. 7-14 in recognition of Veterans Day.
USAA is the presenting sponsor of ESPN’s week-long Veterans Day activation and many well-known athletes, coaches and celebrities will provide daily “shout outs” to members of the military within ESPN programming. Among the participants will be Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, Christian McCaffrey and Baker Mayfield (NFL); Arike Ogunbowale (WNBA); Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green and Victor Oladipo (NBA); Dabo Swinney, Dawn Staley, Jimbo Fisher, Lincoln Riley, Lane Kiffin, Kara Lawson and Mike Krzyzewski (college sports); Cobi Jones and Kelly O’Hara (soccer); Charlie Blackmon (MLB) and more.
Also:
Editions of ESPN’s SportsCenter, leading up to and including Veterans Day, will include features related to veterans and active members of the military, sponsored by USAA as part of America’s Heroes. Among the features airing on SportsCenter:
Saturday, Nov. 7 – Rocky Bleier – Fifty years after it happened, former Notre Dame and Pittsburgh Steelers great Rocky Bleier returns with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi to the place where he was wounded during combat in Vietnam.
You can read more about ESPN’s planned recognition initiatives here.
Lil’ Fan Friday – Steelers Siblings
“Three little fans and some kisses! These three kiddos are huge fans: Anden is 7, Athena is 2 and Niem is 5.” — Mom Lindsey.
“Here are my two cuties all the way from Arizona! Lincoln and Harlow! We love the Steelers and Ben!!” — Mom Lindsey.
“Cameron age 4, Eli age 1.5, and Olivia 6 months. Cameron is obsessed with football, especially Steelers football! His favorite player is JuJu and he loves to watch him on Snapchat and TikTok.” — Mom Brittany.
“Chad, Nolan, Jonah, Jacob & Julia – This is a picture of my grandchildren on our way to training camp 7 years ago! They had a blast! Stood by the fence as the team came on the field and got high fives from Ben and Troy…that was the best highlight of the day.” — Grandma Marina.
Wednesday’s Q&A with the media
“My college coach used to say, ‘Have a plan, work the plan and plan for the unexpected’. That’s what we have been doing. We take whatever is thrown at us.” — Ben.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
With a 7-0 record this year’s team has matched the best start in franchise history, when the 1978 team also began with seven wins to begin the season.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger credited having a veteran team that didn’t undergo wholesale changes this offseason with helping to lead to that success.
That togetherness is something that has been valuable for a lot of reasons in 2020. It’s been a season like no other due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted the team this week after Ravens’ safety Marlon Humphrey tweeted that he tested positive one day after playing against the Steelers. The has put the Steelers in a more intensive protocol this week, changing things up a bit for the players.
“Things got pushed back an hour today. We met in the indoor facility, so it was really spread out. That is where some of the meetings are going to have to be. We were told we can’t do individual meetings in person, so those will be virtual. There will be some virtual stuff this week.”
It’s something Roethlisberger and his teammates will deal with, just as they have had to deal with playing three straight games against teams with a combined two losses at the time they played. Just like they have to deal with playing three straight road games because of schedule changes due to the Titans game being moved because of their COVID-19 positive tests.
“Being around as long as I have you get in these situations. It’s been an unprecedented year. We had all of those home games in a row, which you don’t have. Now to go on the road, the way this season and year has been for everybody. My college coach used to say, have a plan, work the plan and plan for the unexpected. That has what we have been doing. We take whatever is thrown at us. Like today everything getting pushed back an hour.
“Everyone has to do what we can. We can’t sit back and say, ‘woe is us.’ People in real life are dealing with changing things too. We have to keep rolling with it and understand when […]