Sports Headline of the Day

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/21418/its-official-roethlisberger-not-charged

On the same day the Pittsburgh Steelers traded away Super Bowl MVP wide receiver Santonio Holmes, their quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, found out he would not be charged with sexual assault. The Steelers owner, Art Rooney, has publicly expressed disappointment in Holmes while patiently waiting to see the results of Roethlisberger's case without any public admonishment.

Holmes was accused of throwing a glass at a female inside of a club. Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a 20 year old female while in a bar/club. In the case against Holmes, a man has come out and claimed responsibility for throwing the glass. Roethlisberger's case has a lot more details that I won't go over right now. It involves him being buddy-buddy with the local police and the girl's credibility.

Holmes is being suspended for four games to start the season for violating the league's substance abuse rule. Pittsburgh was planning to cut him, according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but the Jets swooped in and stole him for a 5th-round draft pick. Holmes does have other trangressions in his past. It doesn't help that he is a receiver instead of a quarterback.

Last year quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a female employee while staying at a resort. Less than a year later, he was accused of the same crime. The first female never filed criminal charges, but did file civil charges in what appears to be an attempt at receiving a financial settlement. The league office has yet to announce a decision on Roethlisberger.

These are two seperate cases, with the only obvious similarities being the players are(at the time of the incident) teammates and involve young women. Both players made some form of a bad decision. Guilty or not, both men could have avoided their particular situations.