It’s a Fan Friday!
“The season is coming and my little son knows it!” — Ruben Serantes.
“While in Savannah, GA…we stopped by #7’s place! Savannah Tap House! Great place, Ben!” — Gerry Brosch.
“Had to rock the Big Ben jersey my first time in San Fran, lol!!” — Dusty Haspel.
“Named my son after you!” — Bob Tschappat, Jr.
“My daughter loves the Steelers and Big Ben and her birthday!!” — Nicole Griffin.
“Yup, the gang’s all here and ready for my bedtime!” — Wade Kaboly, age 4.
“We certainly aren’t artist but we enjoy our Steelers and Ben in particular. We plan to bring this and hoist it proudly at the HOF game knowing Ben will soon be enshrined.”
“My 13yr old, Dominic and I will be there proudly representing Big Ben and his quest to his enshrinement.”
GM Colbert on Ben: ‘It was a very unselfish move on his part’
“Last year, coming off that surgery, nobody knew, really. I didn’t see his arm deteriorate as the season went on. We deteriorated as a team. We just weren’t as good.” — Steelers GM Kevin Colbert.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
General Manager Kevin Colbert typically kicks off each Steelers training camp with a media availability that covers a wide range of topics and procedures, while also filling in some of the gaps to help explain what the team did during the offseason and why those things were deemed important at the time. But no matter what Colbert was asked Tuesday, and then what his answer happened to be, a theme emerged and carried through the whole session.
And that theme was contained in four words within one of the first sentences he spoke into the microphone.
“The one thing we really want to think about and talk about is it’s an unusual year.”
“An unusual year”.
That’s a big statement, coming as it does following a year that was significantly impacted by COVID, to the degree that most regular season games were played in empty stadiums and some of those kicked off during the middle of the week.
But there can be no argument that “unusual” is an apt description for the kind of offseason it has been for the Steelers. It started with hammering out an agreement with Ben Roethlisberger to come to an agreement on his contract that would serve the dual purpose of bringing him back for his 18th season while also leaving the Steelers with sufficient resources to make the necessary personnel moves the offseason would require.
“To go back to what Ben did for us back in the spring, by taking a restructuring of his contract, which was done with really two purposes in mind,” said Colbert. “The first – his being able to be here, and then also allowing us to do some things financially and-cap wise that we probably wouldn’t have been able to do without that. It was a very unselfish move on his part.”
You can read the rest of his interview here.
Oh Captain, My Captain!
Leadership is something you earn, something you’re chosen for. You can’t come in yelling, ‘I’m your leader! ‘ If it happens, it’s because the other guys respect you. — Ben.
When there are doubters, it always fuels the fire a little bit. When people say you can’t do something, if you are a competitor, that drives you! — Ben.
10 years ago…
I married the most amazing woman in the world. I am so thankful for her love, support, and her friendship. She has the biggest heart and anyone that knows her knows this. I love you Ashley, even more today than I did that day 10 years ago. — Ben.
Day 1 of Steelers training camp is in the books
“You work on your diet. You work on your exercise. You work on yourself to get ready to play this game at this age and for this many years. You find ways to do it.” — Ben, speaking to the media after practice.
“My arm feels a lot fresher. This time last year I threw thousands of footballs trying to get ready. Today was the first time I threw a football since minicamp besides my son in the backyard. It feels more normal of an offseason. My arm feels really good.”