After learning about this story through another fan, and then contacting Ernest Freeman personally, we are posting it with his permission:

“I’m humbled and very much appreciative of you doing so as well. Ben is my favorite player and I’d be honored. This has been unintended and overwhelming to say the least.” — Ernest.

Ernest’s Christmas Day story –


I had an extra ticket for the game tonight. I was originally going to sell it until I listened to the song, “Give Love on Christmas Day” by Johnny Gill. In the song there’s a line about giving love to the ‘man on the street’ which gave me an idea. Instead of selling the ticket, I invited ‘a man on the street’ to the game.

This is Ricky aka “Stretch” as he’s known on the streets of Pittsburgh. He’s 43 years old and has been in the Burgh his entire life, but had never been to a game. He and his friends on the street look out for one another, so one of friends was able to take his backpack and other belongings until the game was over. He told me he’s lost 12 friends this year to heroine overdoses and a few other tough stories.

I offered to buy him anything he wanted during the game, but he never once asked for anything, nor did he accept any offers of food or money after the game. He told me the gift of being invited inside the stadium to watch the game was the best Christmas gift ever for him. The looks on his face during the game looking around the stadium was something I’ll never forget because it reminded me of my own blessings. It also reminded me of what this day is all about in that the ability to give is a blessing in itself.

Initially, I wasn’t going to post about this but then I remembered the many, many, many blessed people I know in life, and saw this as a way to remind us all to give, give back and/or make a difference when and where we can.


God bless you Ernest. Imagine a world with more people like you in it! Thank you so much for allowing us to share your beautiful story.

*Thank you to Misty Mills for […]

Have you ever wondered what the “story” is behind that pregame hug between Big Ben and James Harrison that’s become it’s own tradition?

Ben explained the origin in his second sit-down interview with the Steelers’ Missi Matthews:

“Boy, I didn’t know it was so well known. It started after one of the very early games, maybe the first or second game [of the season], he sent me a text of a picture of us hugging, saying, ‘Look how cool this is?’ in the tunnel before we went out. With a guy like James, and shoot – myself, you never know when it’s going to be your last game, your last season.


“I remember texting our team photographer, and saying, ‘Hey, if you’re around, could you get a picture of this before every game. Just thought it would be a neat kinda collage of this season that we feel is special. It kinda turned into a tradition. I’m hoping at the end of this thing, we can put together a nice little collage of two brothers that I think respect each other, respect the game that each other play, and just have love for each other before we go on the field just telling each other, ‘We love you brother, go get it.’ Hopefully, it turns into something really special.”


You can watch Ben’s “Face Time, Part II” interview with Ms. Matthews here.

From Ben’s guest appearance on The Dan Patrick Show today, courtesy of Sean Gentille at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Ben Roethlisberger isn’t going to tell his kids not to play football. He also knows the best way to make real money as an athlete, minus football’s inherent brain/body-destroying risks.

“If they want to. I’m not gonna tell them they can’t. I will encourage my kids to do whatever they want to do and love to, whatever it is,” Roethlisberger told Dan Patrick on Wednesday.

“Hopefully it’s golf, though.”

Roethlisberger specifically brought up the toll football has taken on his knees, saying he expects to have replacements installed in about “20 years.”

“I hope it’s just an outpatient surgery, like going to the dentist,” he said. “I’m hoping we get that far that fast.”

He also congratulated former teammate Alan Faneca, who was named a Hall of Fame finalist on Wednesday. Naturally, the discussion turned to what Faneca said back in 2004, when Roethlisberger, during his rookie year, replaced Tommy Maddox. (The exact quote: “No, I’m not excited [about Roethlisberger’s first start]. Do you want to go to work with some little young kid who’s just out of college?”)

DP: “I remember getting into a real heated discussion with Alan Faneca, and I was sticking up for you. This is when you were a rookie, and I think Alan said something about, “I guess we’re gonna have to go with the rookie.” And I criticized him to say, “That’s not the way you want to embrace your quarterback.” I don’t know if you remember that, but Faneca said something in the locker room that I had a problem with, that I just didn’t feel like that he was embracing you as the starting quarterback. Do you remember that?”

BR: “Absolutely. And Alan and I still joke about that today. Obviously we can laugh about it now, but yeah, I remember that. And that meant a lot, coming from a guy that I looked up to as a leader and a guy that was a leader on this team. It hurt, but I also understood where he was coming from. I knew that he was really close with Tommy, and he’s a guy that wanted to go win and knew that we had a really good team and didn’t […]

Recap from Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

“Ben Roethlisberger understands the balance between excitement and business as usual.”

Ben Roethlisberger is no stranger to playing football this time of year, preparing for his 18th postseason game when the Steelers take on the Miami Dolphins in an AFC Wild Card game on Sunday at Heinz Field.

If there is one thing Roethlisberger has learned over the years, it’s how to approach the game. Yes, there will be a little more excitement, the blood will be pumping a little harder and the heart rate will pick up a bit.

At the same time, though, the key is tempering the enthusiasm and going into the game with the same approach you do each and every week.

“If you are not excited to be in the playoffs, something is wrong with you,” said Roethlisberger. “You still have to take the same approach. Today is Wednesday, let’s go about our business. I think just the attention to detail has to be a little more intense.

“You have to go about your business as usual, but you have to understand there is a sense of urgency, attention to detail, mistakes are magnified this week. It’s a little of both.

“You are excited, you do have jitters. There are only so many teams playing. A lot of teams have already gone home. I have been doing this for a while. Just keep eye on the younger guys and make sure they don’t get too excited.”

A player who doesn’t have Roethlisberger’s wealth of postseason experience is Le’Veon Bell, who was injured for the team’s last two playoff runs.

“I think he will be excited, I think that is good,” said Roethlisberger. “Any time you get the chance to play in your first playoff game, you should be excited.”

It’s been a while since the Steelers’ have had a full complement of players going into a postseason game, with Bell, Antonio Brown and DeAngelo Williams among those that missed time last year. Roethlisberger likes the fact that the health of the team isn’t an issue.

“This game is about when you can get hot, when you can play your best football,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s important to play your best football late in the season when it matters the most. Staying healthy is […]

From Ben’s radio show this morning on 93.7 The Fan:

After getting a week off to rest up for the playoffs, Ben Roethlisberger talked about how both he and the rest of the team are getting healthy as they prepare for their first round playoff matchup with the Miami Dolphins.

“I do know what it feels like to not have everybody healthy and it feels great to have everybody healthy, as healthy as you can be going into the postseason,” Ben said. “I feel super healthy…just because we’re healthy doesn’t guarantee anything.”

Health and experience are two of the biggest assets you can have going into the playoffs. After talking about how he’s healthy, Ben talked about the experience he has and how that helps.

“I think it helps, I wouldn’t say it’s going to guarantee a victory or anything like that…We’re lucky in the sense too that we’ve got a lot of guys, offensively and defensively, that have played in postseason games,” he said.

One key player who is lacking in playoff experience also happens to be the team’s MVP this year, Le’Veon Bell. Ben shed light on how the star running back has to be feeling at this point.

“I’m sure he’s going to be amped up and ready to go, which is good for us,” he said.

As he watches tape and prepares for this week, Ben was asked about controversial Dolphins defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, who is known for his dirty play and if Ben is always aware of what he’s doing.

“In terms of the extra stuff, we don’t worry about that. We’re just going to go out and play the football game. You can’t get caught up in it, because if you get caught up in it, you do what the Bengals do and you lose the game,” Ben said.

Ben looked back at that last matchup against the Dolphins when they traveled down to Miami and lost 30-15 in what was considered a major upset at the time.

“Just trying to look at tendencies, look at plays that I missed, plays we didn’t make, how can we all be better,” Ben said.


Shhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Things wrapped up on “The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show” this week with Ben joking about a special request he […]