Victim of Culture

Defining rape for convenience and sport

I have been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since a very young age.  Growing up in western Kentucky, my childhood had no convenient teams to root for.  The St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans did not exist at the time, and we were a little too west to root for the Cincinnati Bengals.  So, I latched onto the team of my older brother’s fandom–the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That meant many years of my life were spent without a championship team to root for, but that was okay–they were always competitive.  Years later I would meet a young woman from Pittsburgh, begin dating, and later marry.  She was, by birth, a Steelers fan.  And the Steelers, as always, were competitive.  Then, they got Ben Roethlisberger, and in a period of four years won two Super Bowls.  All was well with the world.

Meanwhile, as I grew up I witnessed the fall of many of my sports heroes.  I saw baseball legends such as Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Roger Clemens tied to steroids.  I saw O.J. Simpson get away with double murder, only to later stage a daring hotel heist.  In college I saw star players get accused of rape, and I felt my stomach turn.  I rooted for these players, but how could I any longer?  How could I root for Kobe Bryant after the accusations that put him into a court room facing rape charges?  I was never much of a Lakers fan, so that choice wasn’t too hard.  But someone I did root for?

That’s the conundrum I faced with Big Ben in Pittsburgh.  Of course someone should always be considered innocent until proven guilty, but there’s also the reality of a rape case.  The Duke lacrosse team was falsely accused and it lent credence to every man who claimed to be wrongfully accused, and it hurt the case of every woman who comes forward.  Now we all tread lightly instead of jumping one direction or another, and that’s certainly for the best.  But many rape cases still come down to a question of “he said, she said.”  Because of this, many rape cases are still tried in the court of public opinion–fairly or not.

And so I sit in judgment of Big Ben as a life long Steelers fan.  I see the opportunity for a dynasty, but I hold the harsh reality of women I knew in college who were raped.  Women who were too scared to come forward.  Women who assumed they would not be believed at best, or be labeled sluts at worst.  As a fan I don’t wan Roethlisberger to be quilty, as do I as a human being.  I’d rather believe that every rape is a lie and that every death is an accident–but I know better.

I also know that both parties deserve the benfit of the doubt, but I can’t shake the memory of those women from school.  In my years of undergrad and graduate school I never once had a male friend falsely accused, but I knew plenty of women who never came forward.  As a teacher I now hear the same from female students, but rarely hear of falsely accused male students except in the vaguest of anecdotes.  And thus, I find myself leaning towards giving one side more benefit of doubt than the other, and that troubles me.

This fall I will likely still watch the NFL.  I will also still likely root for the Steelers when given the opportunity on TV.  But Roethlisberger I will be hesitant about, despite knowing better.  It is easy to say innocent until proven guilty for myself as a fan, but in reality I know that answer is simply about convenience.

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