One year ago today…
Big Ben spent his 4th of July in Ireland:
Happy Fourth of July Weekend Steeler Nation!
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.
Ben and Mr. Rooney pose with the parachuters who delivered the Steelers flag as well as the U.S. and Irish flags before kickoff.
You can see more photos here!
*Thank you to Eamon and once again to Mr. Lauten, Steelers.
A Big Night for Big Ben and his Foundation
…at the Third Annual Ben Roethlisberger Foundation Fundraiser!
(Photo credit: WHIRL Magazine)
On behalf of The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, I am extremely grateful to our sponsors, guests, friends and the Pittsburgh Steelers for their generous support. I was honored to have everyone there to support two worthy causes: Police and Fire K-9 Units and Make-A-Wish of Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia. I hope those that attended enjoyed the evening as much as I did. — Ben
Jergels was the place to be on Sunday evening, June 22nd as Ben’s family, friends, fans and sponsors came out to support The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation in style – with great food, music and wonderful live & silent auction items – all of which found new homes by the end of the evening.
(Photo credit: WHIRL Magazine)
During the 2013-14 grant cycle, Ben’s foundation distributed $157,000 in grants to K-9 units around the country, including $87,000 to police and fire department K-9 units in the Pittsburgh community. Ben’s foundation recently purchased a new K-9 for Officer Lerza, who lost his partner, Rocco, after the K-9 was stabbed while performing his duties for the Pittsburgh Police Department.
(Photo credit: Tommy Iannarelli)
Ben and his Master of Ceremonies, DVE Morning Show host Randy Baumann took the stage for the Live Auction.
Some of the items up for bid during the Live Auction:
Pittsburgh Steelers Game Package for four including four field passes & transportation to and from the game.
The Ultimate Nemacolin Experience – luxury accomodations for a three-night stay with a VIP welcome amenity, breakfast for two, a round of golf for two on both The Links and Mystic Rock, a couples massage, dinner for two at Aqueous and Lautrec, and 100 sporting clays for two at the Shooting Academy.
A Kohler Experience – two-night stay at the American Club Resort Hotel with a round of golf for two on both the Blackwater River Course and Whistling Straits. The American Club is the only Forbes Five-Star resort hotel in Wisconsin and the Midwest’s only AAA Five-Diamond resort hotel.
(Photo credit: WHIRL Magazine)
Strong family support: Ken, Brenda, Ben, Ashley […]
Brandt: Ben Roethlisberger to have best year among QBs from 2004 class
“Roethlisberger is 32 and has taken plenty of licks over the years — he has 386 career sacks, 13th-most all-time among quarterbacks — but I think he’s in a great position to continue thriving. For one thing, he’s so strong; tacklers bounce off of him like you wouldn’t believe. He’s got great size and excellent athletic ability, and he can still make all the throws. Furthermore, it looked like he was speeding up his reads and making quicker decisions toward the end of last season, his second working with offensive coordinator Todd Haley. And it looks like he’s got a reliable ground game to lean on between the emergence of Le’Veon Bell and the addition of LeGarrette Blount.” — Gil Brandt, Senior NFL Analyst, NFL.com
More from Mr. Brandt’s column at NFL.com:
Big Ben came off the bench Sept. 9, 2004, against the Baltimore Ravens, throwing two touchdown passes and two picks in a loss — and he never looked back, taking the reins of Pittsburgh’s offense and compiling a 13-0 record en route to a playoff win and the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Roethlisberger wasn’t even the most-hyped signal-caller in a draft class that also famously included Eli Manning and Philip Rivers. As these players approach their 11th seasons in the league, I thought I would look at the five quarterbacks drafted in 2004 who are still on NFL rosters today and rank them according to who I’d pick to lead an offense in 2014 — a ranking that does not quite match up with what one might have expected 10 years ago.
This September will mark the 10-year anniversary of an event that changed the course of NFL history: Ben Roethlisberger’s first game with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Though it might have been a bit obscured by the Steelers’ disappointing season, Big Ben still produced in 2013, posting the second-highest totals in passing yards (4,261) and touchdown passes (28) of his career — ninth- and seventh-best in the NFL, respectively. Yes, he was sacked 42 times, but a whopping 15 of those sacks came during Pittsburgh’s 0-4 start, when the team was hampered by lackluster offensive line play.
In the 2004 NFL Draft, Roethlisberger was eclipsed by Manning and Rivers. Ten years later, he’s made the most Super Bowl appearances (three) of […]
A beautiful evening for a wonderful cause!
The Arians Family Foundation 2nd Annual Georgia Celebrity Golf Classic is in full swing tonight with a Welcome Reception at Reynolds Plantation. Proceeds from this Golf Classic benefit CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).
Posing with my new best friend, Breelynn at the reception tonight for the Arians Family Foundation Golf Classic Reception. Her brother is a Cowboys fan!! — Ben
And from the Arians Family Foundation via Twitter:
Arians Foundation @AriansFF
@_BigBen7 supporting our foundation tonight at our #AriansClassic welcome reception. @TraciArians @reynoldsgolf
You can learn more about the Arians Family Foundation here.
“Thank you to Ben & Ashley”
Courtney Dadejko wanted to share her family’s story of a surprise meeting at a Pittsburgh-area restaurant:
Hamilton Family Reunion/Memorial 2014
Our grandmother passed away in February of 2014, and we were all able to get together for a memorial service for her on what would’ve been her 90th birthday. We had a very long day putting her to rest and remembering her life on the day of her birth, June 21st during a family reunion.
The older cousins decided to unwind at the Latitude 40 restaurant, and to our surprise we all got, what we thought, was a present from her…that’s right, Big Ben and his beautiful wife were outside on the deck! What a wonderful treat for all of us on such a sad day!
We have Steelers fan family members from all over the country in this photo, Washington, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Maryland and we all got to meet the great one together. I’d like to say thank you to Ben and Ashley for being so wonderful to us on what is for sure a day none of us Hamilton’s will ever forget! — Courtney Dadejko
*Thank you right back to the Hamilton Family for sharing their photo and story!
Big Ben: Biggest Cannon?
Nickelodeon announces their nominees and the categories for First-Ever Kids’ Choice Sports Awards to be hosted by Michael Strahan, live from Los Angeles on July 17th…
and Ben is up for “Biggest Cannon”!
From the press release via Reuters:
Nickelodeon announced the nominees and categories for the inaugural Kids’ Choice Sports awards show, in which the nation’s kids will choose their favorite athletes from among a wide range of kid-centric categories. Hosted and executive produced by Michael Strahan (LIVE with Kelly and Michael, Fox NFL Sunday) Kids’ Choice Sports 2014 will be telecast live on Thursday, July 17 (8 pm ET/PT) from UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Not only are the top athletes in the world coming to Kids’ Choice Sports to play, but their biggest celebrity fans will come to compete alongside them. Beginning in June, kids will be able to cast their votes in 15 categories on Nick.com/sports.
The nominees for Kids’ Choice Sports were selected based on two methods: analysis of Q scores – which rank the most recognizable and well-liked athletes according to kids, and the input of the Kids’ Choice Sports Council – a group of professionals, athletes and others, from the world of sports.
The “Biggest Cannon”:
Some of the most incredible arms in sports belong to athletes from the worlds of baseball, football and tennis. This category honors the outfielders, pitchers, catchers, quarterbacks and tennis players with the strongest arms in the game.
The nominees:
Novak Djokovic (ATP)
Clayton Kershaw (MLB, Los Angeles Dodgers)
Cam Newton (NFL, Carolina Panthers)
Aaron Rodgers (NFL, Green Bay Packers)
Ben Roethlisberger (NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers)
Justin Verlander (MLB, Detroit Tigers)
Serena Williams (WTA)
Steeler Nation has also been nominated!
“Smells Like Team Spirit”:
A team is nothing without its fans – we’ve seen fans’ support pull a team out of a tough situation again and again. The nominees in this category represent the best fans in professional sports – the rally-caped, face-painted, “never give up on your team” fanatics who live for their team no matter what. Now we honor them by including them in the nominees for this category that will be accepted by a member of the team and a fan.
The nominees:
Detroit Red Wings Fans
Green Bay Packers Fans
Oakland Raiders Fans
Oklahoma City Thunder Fans
Pittsburgh Steelers Fans
Seattle Seahawks Fans
Steeler Nation Kids, you can vote for Big Ben and yourselves