From Kevin Kirkland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

A Steelers quarterback never expects a friendly reception in Baltimore, even when he’s on vacation.

“He walked up to me and said, ‘I’m a K9 officer and I have one of your dogs. I just wanted to say how much it meant to me,” Ben Roethlisberger recalled.

In the 11 years since the Findlay, Ohio, native bought a police dog for his hometown, the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation (https://bigben7.com/the-ben-roethlisberger-foundation) has purchased and paid to train 130 German shepherds and Belgian malinois for police departments in Western Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland and many other communities not in the AFC North Division.

Ben’s dogs are everywhere.

People who wouldn’t think of rooting for a Pittsburgh team cheer Mr. Roethlisberger’s charitable mission. And local K9 officers, well, they don’t hide their gratitude for the man who’s given them some of the best partners they’ve ever had.

Pittsburgh Police K9 Officer Philip Lerza gets to thank Big Ben for Beny whenever the handler and his dog work the players’ entrance at Heinz Field before Steelers home games. The foundation paid for the 75-pound-German shepherd-Malinois mix in February 2014 after Rocco, Officer Lerza’s previous partner, was killed on duty.

“Staying busy with Beny helped me get through it. It helped my whole family,” Officer Lerza said.

That’s because police dogs go home with their partners, but never really go off duty.

Jango, Larry & Rico

In May, Sharpsburg Police K9 Officer Jeffrey Hussar watched proudly as his partner, Jango, the borough’s first police dog, was sworn in. A grant from the Roethlisberger foundation plus local donations paid for the 2-year-old German shepherd, his training and a vehicle.

“He’s very good with his nose,” said Officer Hussar, who uses Jango for drug sniffing and patrol work. Last Saturday, they responded to a fight at a Sharpsburg home that escalated into a standoff between police and a man with a knife. Jessie Lee Glover, 39, allegedly threatened to kill police and the dog. Officer Hussar said he removed Jango when the suspect fled into the house.

“I was worried about our safety and the dog’s safety,” he said.

Mr. Glover was later removed from the house by a SWAT team and charged with eight felonies.

In nearby Ohio Township, K9 Officer Eric Wallace has his own little family of police dogs — 11-year-old Rico, who […]

…about a very special & very busy 6-year old Steelers fan!

“My daughter, Kaley Bastine, has been raising money for our local police department in Harrison Township so they can purchase a K9. She held a lemonade stand in July and raised $106, and a cookie stand in August for $856. She even had a local jeweler match her donation of $856. And just last week, Kaley received a donation from a local club of a $1,000, so she has now raised almost $3,000! I just wanted to share all the hard work and love my daughter has for her police officers and animals. Kaley loves police officers and wants to donate to them because of all the good they do in the community (she is also talking us into buying her a lab, lol). She is so excited to be on Ben’s website because she’s a HUGE fan of his.” — Jamie Bastine.

Kaley isn’t done yet. Her family has told her that purchasing & keeping a police K9 “costs a lot of money”, but she is determined.

So what’s next? She’s planning a Car Wash.

Donations can be sent to: Harrison Township Police Department, 1 Municipal Drive, Natrona Heights, PA 15065 (In the memo section just write “Kaley’s Fund”).


Kaley, you are one awesome little lady & we’re proud to post all the wonderful things you’re doing in your community, and especially for our law enforcement officers!

Recap provided by 93.7 The Fan:

On his weekly show on The Fan, Ben Roethlisberger took time to answer the weekly, obligatory Le’Veon Bell not showing up question.

“I had no preconceived notion. I didn’t think or know if he was coming, I just showed up and (other players) were messing with his locker, they put a to-go lunch on his chair like he was there so I don’t think anybody knows . . . if the media or people wouldn’t talk about it, we wouldn’t even be thinking about it truthfully.”

None of the players around the locker room are worried about when Bell will show up and Roethlisberger says that is in part thanks to the way James Conner is playing at running back.

“If we couldn’t run the ball and we weren’t winning and things like that, then I think it would be different but you know James has been playing unbelievable football.”

When Bell comes back, Roethlisberger says he hasn’t played an NFL football game since January and that “there’s no way he’s ready to play against the Browns and we changed somethings in the playbook too.”

“Even when he comes back he’s probably three or four weeks away from being ‘football ready’ if you will and so that’s more time for James to keep working and even when Le’Veon gets back into football shape and is ready to go why not use both of them. There’s a lot of teams in the NFL that use multiple backs and keep guys fresh and I think that would be smart for us.”

One of the options being floated around is keeping Conner in the backfield and using Bell more as a receiver but Roethlisberger says they have plenty of slot receivers for that job.

“When Le’Veon is good at receiver is when he’s that third or fourth guy on the field . . . and the personnel we got receivers, tight ends and him, that’s where he creates some mismatch problems,” said Roethlisberger. “If you were to just put him out there as a third wide receiver that’s not really where he would thrive, he would thrive more as a guy that can much up on linebackers as that extra receiver.”

Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers have one more practice Wednesday and […]

From Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com:

CINCINNATI, Oct. 14, 2060 – When Ben Roethlisberger III lined up behind center here Sunday with 15 seconds to play and the game on the line, he knew what had to be done. “My family has been in this situation lots of times,” he shrugged afterwards.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Ben III admitted afterward. “I just saw the Bengals were in Cover-Zero defense and I called a slant pass to Antonio Brown III.” And just like that, the third generation of Bens-to-Browns stole another football game from the Cincinnati Bengals. The more things change, the more they don’t.


Remember Benjamin Jr.’s pass to AB’s son for the touchdown?


When you’re done smiling, you can read the rest of Mr. Daugherty’s column here.