But What's in a Jersey?

We have the ability to take stands. This aspect of humanity connects us with the animals to some degree, though they are driven by instinct whereas we are driven by logic and emotions. (And, typically, our stands aren’t quite as bloody as those between a bull and a ram.) Sometimes we have great difficulty balancing the two – logic and emotion – and this often gets us into trouble. If we had a red light to tell us which to use in any given situation, we would be a much more successful species. Our right to take a stand, however, doesn’t have to represent something larger because we can choose to stand up for small things or for things that matter only to us. I have taken one such small stand by not wearing a jersey of a player on my favorite football team.

Allow a digression as means of explanation. I, for instance, reserve the right each year to be a fair-weather basketball fan. I just don’t like the sport enough to care unless the University of Pittsburgh or Marquette University on the college level, or the Boston Celtics on the professional level, are doing well. If they lose, I don’t watch; when they win, I scream and hoot and holler and root. It’s the one area where I am dispassionate about certain sports teams.

On a larger scale, I take a stand on things such as education and family values. I absolutely stand firm in keeping my children away from bad things and bad people and bad places, and yes even bad relatives, in the world that only do more harm than good. Through action we parent; through dis-action, we end up with regret.

One stand I took in 2010 concerned my aforementioned favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. I like to think that I am not a Yinzer. For those unaware, a Yinzer is a Steelers fan, usually from Pittsburgh, who thinks they know everything, thinks they would make all the right calls on the field, and somehow takes credit when the Steelers win but points a big foam finger elsewhere when the team loses. It is the kind of person who will say, “We beat the Raiders by blocking down,” or “We need to fire Coach So-and-So.” I try to avoid the “we” comments. I am sure no Steelers players know me, and I am even more certain I have never done anything to help them win or cause them to lose. Yet, I am a devoted fan. I am just not the kind of guy who will spread rumors about gay quarterbacks and divorcing coaches when the team has 6 wins and 10 loses only to praise the same Kordell and Cowher when they beat the Ravens. Ever notice how that talk seems to follow when the team is lousy but never rears itself when they are in the play-offs? Huh, I wonder why?

Anyway, to my Stand.

There are few who will disagree that the Steelers current QB, Ben Roethlisberger, has been a jerk the last few years. As much as I admire his athletic skills and leadership abilities, I have to think that when he took a knee at the end of the AFC Championship in January 2011, his prayer went something like this: “Dear Lord, whom I believe in when I win, thank you for good lawyers who got me out of trouble in Georgia last summer.” (I might be paraphrasing.)

Sure, he has been a model citizen and yes I want him to win his third Super Bowl in six years. However, I decided in August of 2010 that I would make a personal protest by not wearing his jersey for a year. I wore it briefly last week only because I thought I would need an extra layer against a cold night…I was wrong. It is already back on a hanger and out of sight, and here is why.

That Big Ben had a great season in 2010 does not dictate that he will be a Good Little Boy in the off-season. It is how he deals with success when he has nothing to focus upon that will make or break his legacy not as a quarterback, but as a human being. It is easy to behave when you are focused and pre-occupied. Any good parent knows that a kid starts to get into trouble sometime after they get bored. Thus, such a parent keeps their kid busy, or at least full of options that will not allow them to get bored in the first place.

When all the cameras are off, when CBS and NBC are focused on their spring and summer line-ups, when the seats in Heinz Field are doing nothing more than absorbing the sun’s rays, when Steelers Nation is on vacation, when the bars are open late, when Ben’s entourage doesn’t want to go out and play, when the summer doldrums set in, when the excitement and thrill and passion of a football season wears off and Ben Roethlisberger is still a well-behaved and dignified human being, THEN I will pull out my number 7 jersey (which was a gift by a team of really great students, by the way!) that I really do enjoy wearing, and I will put this all behind me.

I believe in second chances, I really do. I also have two daughters. They may never ask, but for them I have taken a personal stand. I am disappointed in myself for having sported my Roethlisberger jersey last week, but I too deserve a small and inconsequential second chance. If Ben is still a nice guy after his recent success, then I will welcome him back to the fold. Winning isn’t everything that a Yinzer would make it out to be. You can win the game with a touchdown, but to win respect you have to be in it for the long haul.