BEN ROETHLISBERGER

I've read a lot of columns this week about the motorcycle accident involving Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben R. This one by David Steele of the Baltimore Sun is probably the best I've read. He makes a pretty interesting observation.

So we've got a serious problem, us as fans and, you'd have to think, them as players. We've got a double standard to deal with. We've got to balance our understandable desire to see our stars take care of themselves when they're not required to put themselves in harm's way, with our lust to see them maim themselves in a game if that's what it takes to win.

We want it both ways.

It's also not intrinsically wrong for players to resist the call to tone it down during the offseason. To them, the whole debate about flipping the competition-and-risk-taking switch is moot: The switch is always on, and they flip it off only when someone orders them to, if then.