July 2, 2013 - Big Ben in London

Ben with Simon Chester, wearing a Big Ben Miami jersey!

"As a Steeler fan since the age of 10 and now staring 40 hard in the face I have seen a number of Quarterbacks under centre for the Pittsburgh Steelers but having missed the Golden Age of Terry Bradshaw I never appreciated the position as much as when the Steelers drafted Ben in 2004.

I do not consider myself to be "starstruck" by celebrities at all given that my day job is working on concerts and sporting events I meet a lot of "stars" on a daily basis but have to admit a sense of awe when seeing Ben walk into the room to meet the fans.

Looking surprisingly refreshed and relaxed given he had only arrived in the country that morning and following a busy day doing press events I found Ben to be engaging and humorous as he answered the hosts questions or those from the fans. He seemed to be genuinely pleased to see so many Steeler fans in attendance and was especially taken by a banner made by our Steeler Nation UK fan club keen to have a photo taken with it.

While all the questions, were I am sure ones he had had many times before, he seemed happy to talk to an excited groups of fans eager to hear him talk. It was good to hear his confidence in his young offensive line and his confidence the ability of Heath Miller to be back in time for the start of the season.

He stopped short of guaranteeing a Superbowl victory but inspired the attending fans by suggesting he had high expectations for the season ahead. When he watched highlights of his Superbowl winning pass against Arizona you could feel the pride and passion as he talked about the emotions of that moment and at the same time the sense of unhappiness and disappointed he felt personally after Superbowl XL despite the victory.

At the end of the session Ben very graciously posed for photos and signed an item for every fan there finally posing for some group shots at the end much to the delight of everyone.

I briefly spoke with his wife who was watching at the back of the room, and found her to be as engaging and gracious as her husband, and there is no doubt all the fans there had had a fantastic given the conversations we had as we left the hotel." -- Simon Chester

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File information
Filename:	SteelerNationUK.jpg
Album name:	erin / The 2013 Big Ben UK Tour
Filesize:	47 KiB
Date added:	Jul 03, 2013
Dimensions:	639 x 480 pixels
Displayed:	992 times
URL:	http://www.bigben7.com/photos/displayimage.php?pid=8602
Favorites:	Add to Favorites

Big Ben 7

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July 2, 2013 - Big Ben in London