Ben's parents root with delight, dread
FINDLAY, Ohio
Ben Roethlisberger's family is standing in front of you, six days before Super Bowl XL, so you pretty much have to ask the question:
How about that beard?
"The neatest thing I heard him say was that he couldn't wait to shave it off," says Brenda Roethlisberger, Ben's stepmom. "I was relieved to hear that. I think his grandmother told him she was going to cut it off while he was sleeping."
Little sister Carlee, a junior volleyball and basketball star at Findlay High, likes her brother's suddenly flowing locks, but she's no fan of the beard, either. When asked about it, she winces as if she just bit a lemon.
Dad isn't moved either way.
"I had a beard when I was 24, and when I look at pictures, I say, 'Well, that was bad,' " Ken Roethlisberger says. "As a matter of fact, (Ben) made fun of my college pictures because I always had a lot of hair."
To most of the 90 million viewers who tune in to Super Bowl XL, the guy wearing the No. 7 Steelers jersey will be Big Ben -- emerging superstar, bearded wonder, man throwing football. Some will cheer wildly when he completes a pass. Others will roar when he gets smacked in the head.
To the quarterback's parents, it's Little Ben. Their only son. They will be awash in the same emotions that always roll up on game day.
Delight and dread.
"It's terrible," Brenda says. "Not everyone has to watch their kid get beat up every weekend."
You know how Roethlisberger has that uncanny knack of slipping out of the pocket just before some 330-pound oaf engulfs him⢠Brenda believes she helps.
"If she sees somebody coming at him on the blind side, she'll just scream," her husband says. "It's just a natural response, I guess, but my ears aren't the same anymore."
Says Brenda: "I know (Ben) hears me."
The Roethlisbergers sit among the masses at the road games, far from the action.
"We don't eat very much before the games," Brenda says. "Afterward, it's just like we played. A lot of people don't understand that. It's like, 'Oh, you guys must be so excited for this game.' Yeah, but we've already heard how many guys are going to be after him on the line."
The Roethlisbergers are trying to maintain a normal life as their town whips itself into a frenzy. It's not easy, especially when national reporters come knocking at the door of their cozy, unpretentious home looking for an interview.
Ken is a manager at the local Honda parts plant. Brenda teaches yoga and dabbles in other pursuits. They will arrive in Detroit on Saturday and thus avoid much of the madness there.
A former Georgia Tech quarterback, Ken knows there will be major ramifications for his son whether the Steelers win or not.
"It's going to be great, or it's going to be people saying, 'Oh, you blew your first one; maybe you'll get another chance; maybe not' -- you know, what they've already said with (Dan) Marino," Ken said. "There's just so much good and bad to it that you say, 'OK, let's just do it, get it over with.' "
Which brings up a final question. You have the parents standing in front of you, so you pretty much have to ask:
How about Ben riding a motorcycle without a helmet?
Apparently, that's about as popular around here as Ben growing a beard, but, as with the beard, the family understands.
"A lot of people expected us to call him up and say, 'Ben, wear your helmet,' and he'd put his helmet on and ride off into the sunset," Brenda says. "We'd look at him and say, 'OK, he's 23; what are we supposed to do?' We mentioned it once."
Brenda quickly adds that Ben invited her into that world one day.
"He took me riding, just him and I," she says. "And I thought, 'This isn't so bad.' "
