Police and Fire agencies: There’s still time to apply!
The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund is welcoming grant inquiries for support until August 1st for the 2011-12 season!
This is the fifth grant cycle for Ben’s Foundation. The majority of the grants we distribute help K-9 units to purchase dogs and dog safety vests, but other types of needs will be considered.
The Foundation will be distributing grants in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers during the 2011-12 season. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invites police and fire departments in these eight cities to submit proposals detailing their needs.
For the first time this year, if the Steelers make the playoffs, the Foundation will also make grants to two cities anywhere in the United States that would not otherwise be eligible to apply. In addition, the Foundation will continue to make grants to several police and fire department K-9 units in the Pittsburgh area following the Super Bowl XLVI.
The Foundation distributed more than $110,000 in grants to K-9 units around the country during the 2010-11 Season.
Eligible departments must apply to The Giving Back Fund by August 1, 2011. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
To view the full grant requirements, eligibility and evaluation process, click here.
Would you like to donate to Ben’s Foundation? Click here.
For more information, please contact Jessica Duffaut at jduffaut@givingback.org
NFL Labor Negotiations: Using the “Ben Roethlisberger” analogy
SI‘s Don Banks, from his “Inside the NFL” column today:
With face-to-face negotiations between the principle figures involved in the NFL’s labor fight scheduled to again resume Thursday in New York, many observers believe the end game to this messy, four-month test of wills and wallets has at last come into view.
“I’d say that back in March, we weren’t in the same stadium,” said one league source of the players and owners. “But if you think of both sides as a team, now we’re in the red zone, we’re driving, we can see the goal line and we have momentum. But can we still screw it up? Absolutely. That’s why tomorrow and Friday are big days, because it’s back to the (negotiating) formula that’s been most successful.”
“It does feel like we’re at the 5-yard line, and we’re right there,” one NFL general manager said Wednesday. “But it’s like Jerome Bettis has the ball, and I’ve seen him fumble on the 1-yard line before. If there’s a fumble now, hopefully either Goodell or Smith plays Ben Roethlisberger and stops the whole thing from falling apart.”
You can read Mr. Banks full column on the negotiations here.
Also Today:
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review‘s Scott Brown on the latest Steelers training camp news:
In a sign of guarded optimism that labor peace will soon prevail, the Steelers held an organization-wide meeting Wednesday to talk about training camp.
The Steelers are planning on training at St. Vincent College for the 46th consecutive season. The streak, however, is in jeopardy because of the NFL lockout.
If the start of preseason practice is delayed — and some sort of signing period for free agents and draft picks is almost sure to precede the start of drills — the Steelers could be looking at a shortened camp at St. Vincent.
“With us being a veteran team, I don’t think (not having camp) would kill us,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said recently. “But you kind of have to put some of the young guys through all that stuff — training camp and St. Vincent.”
You can read more from Mr. Brown’s column and see video […]
NFLN’s Michael Lombardi takes the ‘Top 100’ to task
From his column at NFL.com:
There has been much debate about “The Top 100 Players of 2011” as voted on by the NFL players all over the internet and on the television. My first reaction once the first group of 10 was announced was to hold off my commentary, instead waiting until the complete list was announced.
I have been holding back my thoughts until, as Popeye always said, “I can’t stand no more”.
Each week I watch the show and wonder if some of the voters actually watch the league or just rely on past performance.
The “Top 100” list should be reserved for players that impact the game.
That concept leads me to another chair-raising rating done by the players, placing Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at No. 41. Really? There are 40 players in the league better than Big Ben? I don’t think so. I love Jamaal Charles, but he is not better than Big Ben. Neither is Devin Hester, or for that matter most of the players in front of Roethlisberger. Do you think the Steelers beat the Jets without Roethlisberger moving in the pocket to convert two critical third downs? No way. Could Hester or Charles make those kinds of plays? You know the answer.
We all know the NFL is a quarterback-driven league, therefore the blue-chip quarterbacks — Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, and Big Ben — should all be in the top 10, no questions asked. To have Rivers at No. 26 is not an accurate portrayal of the best players in the league, nor is it to have Rodgers outside the top 10….
You can read the rest of Mr. Lombardi’s column (and watch video highlights) here.
Congratulations to Troy Polamalu
“I’m very proud to be his teammate!” — Ben, from the presentation on NFL Network.
Troy made the Top 10 of the NFL Network‘s “Top 100 NFL Players of 2011” tonight, finishing at number 6!
Troy was the second highest-rated defensive back voted into the Top 100.
The Ravens’ Ed Reed finished just ahead of him at number 5.
Both Ben and Coach Tomlin presented Troy in a video montage that was shown during tonight’s episode.
You can watch the video here.
“Miami’s All-Decade QB? Who Else But Big Ben!”
From the official website of the Miami RedHawks this weekend:
OXFORD, Ohio – Over the past three weeks, hundreds of Miami University fans and media have submitted ballots to select the greatest RedHawk football players of the first decade of the 21st Century (2000-2010). In perhaps the least surprising announcement of the balloting, Ben Roethlisberger has been chosen as Miami’s All-Decade quarterback.
Roethlisberger out-polled current RedHawk Zac Dysert for Miami’s most glamorous All-Decade position.
“Big Ben” owns every major Miami single-game, single-season and career passing mark, while topping Mid-American Conference chart in most completions in a season and passing yards in a season. He also is the NCAA record holder for most games in a season gaining 200 or more yards passing and consecutive games in a season (14 in 2003)….
You can read the rest here.
Big Ben has the edge
From an article today by Joe Platania, Comcast SportsNet – Baltimore:
It’s no secret that when Ravens fans look towards this year’s Week One home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they will hope and pray their purple-clad heroes get the best of every visiting player.
But none more so than quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The strong-armed, playmaking signal-caller is perhaps the single biggest reason the Steelers have five AFC North Division crowns to the Ravens’ two and three head-to-head postseason wins to Baltimore’s zero.
The Ravens haven’t beaten a Roethlisberger-led Steeler team since Dec. 24, 2006, when Steve McNair carved up an injury-riddled Pittsburgh defense in a 31-7 win at Heinz Field over the defending Super Bowl champions….
You can read more here.
Also Today:
Steelers not planning to move training camp
From Ray Fittipaldo, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
For years, fans have descended upon Saint Vincent College in Latrobe to watch Steelers training camp. It has become an annual event for people who enjoy watching practices and standing in line for autographs.
The Steelers’ plans for training camp have not changed, but other NFL teams have canceled their off-site training camps because of the uncertainty created by the lockout.
Saint Vincent spokesman Don Orlando said Monday that the college is “optimistic” that the Steelers will hold training camp there despite the uncertainty of the lockout.
“We’ll be ready if they need us,” Orlando said.
You can read more here.
We have added a few more “Lil’ Fans” to the gallery today! You can check ’em out here!
And, the Steelers Mexico Fan Club pays tribute to their favorite quarterback. You have to see this photo!