I thought you guys would like this...

[oftt4]

Adding to the legend of Big Ben. You guys can file this one next to the broken thumb (did you hear about that?)



ROETHLISBERGER PLAYED WITH BROKEN RIBS
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2009, 10:22 a.m.

Some in the media (including John Clayton of ESPN) openly scoffed at our Super Bowl-week report that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger secretly underwent an X-ray on his ribs/back.

The X-ray was related to an injury that Roethlisberger sustained during the AFC title game.

Roethlisberger initially wouldn’t comment on the situation, and coach Mike Tomlin responded to questions from AFC pool reporter Peter King about the matter with a vague “not that I heard.”

Apparently, Tomlin needs to get better sources within his team. Because, according to King’s latest MMQB column, Roethlisberger indeed had an X-ray on his ribs. (Big Ben admitted to NBC’s Andrea Kremer that he’d had an X-ray “somewhere.”)

King also reports that, as it turns out, two of the ribs were broken, as revealed not by the X-ray but by an MRI performed after the Super Bowl.

“Fractured ribs,” Roethlisberger told King. “Luckily, in the game, I didn’t take any big hits to make ‘em hurt. But I knew all along there was something wrong. There wouldn’t have been anything they could have done about fractured ribs anyway. It was just suck it up and play.”

[Jamie_B]

TJ did that about 2 years ago for the last few games. That hit he took from one of your guys that you guys cheered about, he had already had them when he was hit.


But then TJ didnt almost die, so Ben has him on that.

[Jamie_B]

[quote][size=4]ASSOCIATED PRESS IMPLIES THAT BIG BEN IS FULL OF IT
Posted by Mike Florio on February 9, 2009, 9:40 p.m.[/size]

[img]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/ECKoolAid/lolsports/yes-you-are-ben.jpg[/img]

The controversy regarding whether and to what extent Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played Super Bowl XLIII with a rib injury continues to churn.

With Roethlisberger claiming that an MRI conducted last week revealed that he had two broken ribs, the Associated Press chimes in with an article that seems to be written under the assumption that Roethlisberger is, well, lying. (Or, at best, embellishing. Like a drama queen might do.)

The AP item initially parrots what Ben told Peter King of SI.com, and then offers a predictable, self-serving denial from Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett.

“There’s not a whole lot to say,” Lockett said. “Ben was fine to go. He was cleared to play. He didn’t miss any [practice] time. There was no doubt he was going to play.” (By the way, Dave, we’re still waiting for a response to our question about whether Roethlisberger underwent an X-ray the Wednesday before the Super Bowl. No rush.)

Then, without evidence of any attempt to contact Roethlisberger for a reaction to Lockett’s adroitly evasive sound bite, the AP item reads more like something that would have been generated not by an independent, impartial media company, but by Lockett himself.

“Roethlisberger did not mention any possible injury during postgame interviews,” the AP asserts. “It is uncertain if the validity of Roethlisberger’s claim will be proven.”

Huh? So the guy with the broken ribs — who underwent an MRI showing that he has broken ribs — is presumed to be lying?

Making the AP item even more curious is the fact that it overlooks the report from Andrea Kremer of NBC that Roethlisberger had admitted having an X-ray “somewhere.”

Of course, why let the admissions of the injured player to get in the way of what appears, quite frankly, to be an effort to cover for the posibility that the organization lied about its knowledge of Roethlisberger’s condition, presumably in order to keep the Cardinals from realizing the potential benefits of taking a 15-yard penalty for a late hit to Roethlisberger’s midsection?

Look, this isn’t about whether Ben was “fine to go” or “cleared to play” or whether he missed practice time or whether there was any doubt he was going to play. This is about whether Roethlisberger had broken ribs, whether the team knew or should have known about his condition, and whether the team misrepresented the facts to the media and to the league.[/quote]

[oftt4]

Uh, did you read the article or just the headline?

[jh0720]

i remmeber reading about this in the NY times