Just wanted to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday today! Love you very much! Thanks for all you do, have done, and will do!

October 29th 2012 – Bid for Hope IX:

Heath Miller and his wife Katie will once again host this worthwhile event. This year the festivities will take place at Jergels Rhythm Grill in Warrendale.

It is sponsored through A Glimmer of Hope and proceeds benefit the “Under Forty Breast Cancer Study”.

Kickoff begins at 7:00 PM and ends at 11:00 PM.  The Autograph Session with Heath and his teammates is from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

The evening also includes both a live and a silent auction so fans can bid on autographed Steelers memorabilia, and great food and drinks!

This year’s Special Guest Auctioneer is Bob Pompeani, Sports Director for KDKA.

“It’s for a great cause,” said Heath Miller, whose cousin successfully battled the disease. “It’s something that has been a part of the Steelers for a while now. It’s such a good thing. It’s important for us to contribute.”

Heath will be accompanied by some of his teammates – Previous attendees have included teammates Ben, Brett Keisel (above signing autographs at the 2011 event), and Troy Polamalu. Also, it’s not unusual for former teammate Alan Faneca, who previously hosted the event, to return to Pittsburgh to join the cause as well.


If you’d like to purchase tickets, click here.

If you’d like to make a donation, click here.

You can see photos from past Bid For Hope events here and here.

You can keep up with Heath Miller’s career here.


*Thank you to Diana Napper, Glimmer of Hope, photographer Gary Yon, and Trish!

We’ve got a few new Lil’ Fans, a couple of Lil’ Teammates, some big fans, proud Steelers Mexico fans, cute Steelers pets…and even a Steelers-themed wedding!!!


The two photos below came to us via the site’s Twitter page…


Benny & Berger:

























Lil’ Fan Benny waits impatiently for the Steelers game to start. Luckily his best buddy “Berger” doubles as a comfortable napping place to chill til’ the opening kickoff!



Headin’ to Heinz:


























That’s Peyton Morecraft behind the wheel of his micro-mini Cooper (proudly wearin’ his #7 jersey) driving a few Lil’ Teammates to Heinz Field for game day…after some awesome tailgating first! His sister Delaney, and cousins Willow Grace and Lily Victoria Rudman show off their Polamalu pride!



*Thank you to Paul D. and Drew Denham for tweeting the photos!!

Ben spoke to the media earlier today:


A few highlights –

On the ending of the Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks –

Watched it. Crazy game. Crazy ending. Glad I wasn’t a part of it.


On whether he thinks the “tie goes to the runner”, to the offense –

As an offensive player, sure (laughs). If I was on defense, no, but it’s tough. Like I’ve said, I’m glad that I wasn’t put in that situation.


On his earlier comments about using calls in Sunday’s game that weren’t in the playbook –

I probably didn’t speak clearly enough. It wasn’t necessarily I called plays as much as I used signals…hand signals. I really didn’t think it would get blown up as much as it did, so I know some people are saying that I’ve been resistant to Todd. But it’s one of those things that we went to Todd, and it’s in the playbook now. It was simply a signal that I used with the receivers on two different occasions. One was on the fourth-and-one early, we got the ball to Mike. The other one was later on third down to Emmanuel. So, we converted on both plays so they worked out. The point of me saying that was [to answer the] question how everybody was on the same page [with] me using signals that we’ve had for a long time that weren’t necessarily in the offense, but they are now because they worked. So, it’s just good that we’re on the same page. That’s all.


On the early success of the no huddle –

Well, we work very hard at it. We put a lot of extra work in, me, the receivers, tight ends, the line, the coaches, and we ask a lot of questions and got a lot of answers. So, I think it’s just a lot of hard work paying off.


On whether he talks to former OC Bruce Arians –

We talk every week, and I mostly ask about Andrew [Luck], about how he’s doing. I’m always interested in the other quarterbacks in the league.


On how comfortable he is with the new offense –

The good thing is that we’re getting better with the hand signals. Not only did we have to learn new words (for the plays), but […]

Final Score: Raiders 34, Steelers 31

“There’s no offense, there’s no defense, there’s no special teams, we’re one! The defensive guys, the offense can take the blame…I know I’ve done it before too, but no one needs to shoulder this right now.” — Ben

From Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Ben Roethlisberger was limping across the locker room and his right knee was bleeding, too. It was another tough day at the office for Roethlisberger in the stadium that is quickly becoming one of his least favorite places to visit.

When he turned around to face reporters after washing away the blood and sweat from another head-scratching loss by the bay, one would have never known by the look on his face that Roethlisberger had just played one of the best statistical games of his career.

Roethlisberger threw for 384 yards and four touchdowns and recorded a 123.2 passer rating, the second-best passer rating of his career in a loss. He had a 123.3 passer rating in a 28-20 home loss to — you guessed it — the Raiders, at Heinz Field three years ago. He has thrown for more yards in a game only six other times and has thrown for more touchdowns just twice.


You can read more here.


You can watch Ben’s post-game interview here.

Today, Ben announced another grant for the 2012-13 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.


The Foundation will be distributing a grant to the Oakland Police Department in Oakland, CA where the Steelers will play the Raiders this Sunday, September 23rd.

The Oakland PD K-9 unit currently consists of 14 dog teams, 12 of which are used on patrol. All are used to search and apprehend criminal suspects and two are cross trained for narcotics detection.

The department is seeking financial assistance to purchase equipment that will be used by their K9 unit both in training and during deployment of the canines.

Oakland Chief of Police Howard Jordan said, “The Oakland Police Department is grateful for the generous donation for such a vital program.”

This marks the sixth season that Ben’s Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units.

The mission of the Foundation is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States with a particular emphasis on support for service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA and to support other charitable organizations, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation.


You can read more about Ben’s foundation here.

You can check out his Community page here.



*The photo of “Jax”  is courtesy of Mark Rogers, who has even more beautiful photography (including an awesome collection of pets) on his website.  Mark is also on Facebook.

Thank you Mark!!!


*Also thank you to Louise at the Cover Your K-9 organization!

This organization works with Pet Food Express and local communities in California to help provide customized bullet-proof vests, heat alarms for patrol cars, K-9 first aid kits and other specialized equipment to keep hardworking police dogs protected while they are at work protecting the public.