Ben Roethlisberger seriously injured in motorcycle crash

[Righ]

By the sounds of it, he wasn't wearing a helmet and went into the windscreen of a car he hit. Ugh. Helmets guys, they make sense.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=2006-06-12T202138Z_01_N12337957_RTRUKOC_0_US-NFL-ROETHLISBERGER.xml

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/06/report_qb_ben_r.html

[Gutboy Barrelhouse]

When you add these comments from May.................

http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/PIT/8449812


"Asked why he doesn't wear a helmet -- something he wouldn't think about doing on a football field -- Roethlisberger pointed out Pennsylvania's 35-year-old state law requiring helmets to be worn was amended two years ago.

"Obviously Pennsylvania doesn't think people need to (wear a helmet)," he said. "There's a law you've got to wear it in football."

[schild]

Darwinism. The great equalizer.

[WayAbvPar]

If he was going to try to get himself killed, why couldn't it have been a couple of days before the Superbowl??

[Righ]

Broken jaw, nose, coherent and concious when heading to operating theater. So that's pretty good news.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/nfl/20060612-1405-fbn-roethlisberger-motorcycleaccident.html

[Nebu]

My ex is an ER physician.  She gets a LOT of business from guys too "cool" to wear a helmet.  Let's just say that Ben got lucky in this crash.  

[Righ]

9" laceration to the back of his head, many lost teeth, heavy knee injuries.

http://www.rotowire.com/roto_to_gnews.htm?ID=102889&sport=nfl

[HaemishM]

Way to be a dumbass. Helmets aren't just for retards.

[CmdrSlack]

If you ride a motorcycle without a helmet, at least be sure to have your organ donor card signed and inform your family of your wishes.

[El Gallo]

If he was going to try to get himself killed, why couldn't it have been a couple of days before the Superbowl??

Then we start Batch, he puts up a QB rating of around 85 and the good guys win by 35 instead of 11  

Anyway, it looks like Roflburger will be OK but damn that sounds painful.  Hopefully he learns something about not being an idiot.  The Steelers will be fine whether he can play this season or not since they are a top-3 team with any middle-of-the-road QB plugged in (unless he's too injured to play non-horribly but the leave him in anyway, which Cowher has repeatedly shown an inclination to do).

[stray]

9" laceration to the back of his head, many lost teeth, heavy knee injuries.

Nine inch lacerations? Fine.

No teeth? Fine.

Heavy knee injuries? See ya in another 30 years, Pittsburgh.

[Righ]

I certainly wish him well, I sympathise, and I also hope he's in as little discomfort as possible. People just don't look out for things smaller than a car, because that's more than 99% of what is out there. Heck, people expect everything to be the size of a small truck these days, and many folks don't notice smaller cars as much as they once did.

I'm also a supporter of allowing people to wear whatever they want and use their discretion when it comes to their own personal safety. I don't like nanny states. I always wore a helmet, and I always wore leathers - jacket, pants, gloves and seriously tough boots. I've come off bike on diesel at high speeds, and I'm glad I damaged a few hundred quid of leathers rather than sanding down my skin on the tarmac. So, I'll point at you and call you stupid if you elect not to wear a helmet or ride a bike while wearing shorts, but I'd still like it to be your right to be stupid.

However... if I injure myself in a minor bike crash, I can get back to work fairly quickly. It just takes a small injury for an athlete to be out of commission for months, even years. Just as McLaren Mercedes does with its race drivers, other athletes' employment contracts should prohibit them from doing extraordinarily dangerous things, be it riding bikes, downhill skiing, or playing World of Warcraft.

[WayAbvPar]

I would be willing to bet that staying off of motorcycles is a standard term in most American pro sports contracts. I remember Jay Williams being in trouble after he half-killed himself, and IIRC, Kellen Winslow Jr. had something similar? I can't Google it atm due to my self-imposed sports blackout until I get to see the US WC game  :-D

[El Gallo]

"It's war, they're out there to kill you, so I'm out there to kill them. We don't care about anybody but this U. They're going after my legs. I'm going to come right back at them. I'm a fucking soldier."

/Winslow Jr.  I can't get enough of that quote though it loses something without the audio.

Yeah, he had a motorcycle accident a while back and missed a season because of it iirc.  But he's a Brown, so nobody cares.

[Lantyssa]

Way to be a dumbass. Helmets aren't just for retards.

But the lack of one is!

[sarius]

I feel for the guy. But his invulnerability kick was a very costly decision.

[stray]

But he's a Brown, so nobody cares.

I didn't really care beforehand either. Everyone was talking about him being the next Shockey or Gonzales, but he just didn't seem tough or big enough for that particular role in the NFL. Especially the tough part. He probably would have been badly injured anyways. Motorcycle or not.

[Bunk]

I'm also a supporter of allowing people to wear whatever they want and use their discretion when it comes to their own personal safety. I don't like nanny states. I always wore a helmet, and I always wore leathers - jacket, pants, gloves and seriously tough boots. I've come off bike on diesel at high speeds, and I'm glad I damaged a few hundred quid of leathers rather than sanding down my skin on the tarmac. So, I'll point at you and call you stupid if you elect not to wear a helmet or ride a bike while wearing shorts, but I'd still like it to be your right to be stupid.

Helmet laws are in place all through Canada, though I kind of wish they weren't . Up here if you get creamed on a bike the government (aka my taxes) foots the bill of keeping you on life support for 50 years in a vegetative state. If more of the idiots weaving through freeway traffic on crotch rockets would just not wear helmets so that they would die on impact, I think we'd all be better off.

On my way to work this morning, two lane freeway, everyones doing ~60 MPH. A car in each lane, with a motorcycle behind the car on the right. The car on the left accelerates until he's about one car length ahead of the car on the right, and puts on his turn signal to pull over. As he's about to, the motorcycle weaves to the center and then whips inside of the car that was changing lanes... I wanted to catch up and run the fucker off the road.

[Trippy]

I would be willing to bet that staying off of motorcycles is a standard term in most American pro sports contracts. I remember Jay Williams being in trouble after he half-killed himself, and IIRC, Kellen Winslow Jr. had something similar? I can't Google it atm due to my self-imposed sports blackout until I get to see the US WC game  :-D

Athletes involved in motorcycle accidents

[Pococurante]

Helmet laws are in place all through Canada, though I kind of wish they weren't . Up here if you get creamed on a bike the government (aka my taxes) foots the bill of keeping you on life support for 50 years in a vegetative state. If more of the idiots weaving through freeway traffic on crotch rockets would just not wear helmets so that they would die on impact, I think we'd all be better off.

See, that's where the US and Canadian systems differ.  Up there, you know you're paying for adrenalin-types who like the idea of shutting down traffic for four hours while they are peeled off the sidewalk with blotter and squeezed into a jar for later burial.

Down here we pretend we aren't *really* paying.  And wonder why all dollars health-related went up another 300% the last calendar year while the meta-conglomerates involved only post a 25% return that never quite makes its way down to the shares held by common investors.

See?

/smug

[Soukyan]

9" laceration to the back of his head, many lost teeth, heavy knee injuries.

http://www.rotowire.com/roto_to_gnews.htm?ID=102889&sport=nfl

Accurate. Friend of mine is a doctor at the hospital where he is. Helmet laws are a good thing. The other driver was supposedly from out of state and she ran into him. He had a green arrow and was turning left when she tanked him. (This does not make up for the idiocy of a man riding a motorcycle with no helmet. If you want wind whipping through your hair, ride a roller coaster or skydive.) On the upside, the hospital they took him to was a mere three blocks from the accident scene.

[Nebu]

I'm also a supporter of allowing people to wear whatever they want and use their discretion when it comes to their own personal safety. I don't like nanny states. I always wore a helmet, and I always wore leathers - jacket, pants, gloves and seriously tough boots. I've come off bike on diesel at high speeds, and I'm glad I damaged a few hundred quid of leathers rather than sanding down my skin on the tarmac. So, I'll point at you and call you stupid if you elect not to wear a helmet or ride a bike while wearing shorts, but I'd still like it to be your right to be stupid.

I'd agree with you 100% were it not for one thing: In this country, traffic fatalities cost taxpayers a LOT of money.

[Righ]

Yeah, that's a fair point. Though they should probably make it less of a tax burden. Perhaps we could heap it onto spiralling insurance costs along with everything else. :)

[Soukyan]

Yeah, that's a fair point. Though they should probably make it less of a tax burden. Perhaps we could heap it onto spiralling insurance costs along with everything else. :)

It already is. At least in PA, that's how it is. Motorcycles and cars are lumped together for insurance so I've been paying more for car insurance since the helmet law was changed from mandatory to optional three years ago. I say break those apart and let the motorcyclists pay several thousand a year for insurance or reinstate the mandatory helmet law. After all, there is now a double ticket, double fine in effect for not wearing a seatbelt in a car. See anything wrong with this picture?

[Sky]

I'm with Righ. I dislike laws that fuck with natural selection, but my girlfriend (why did I ever start dating a smart girl?) is always quick to point out the tax burden.

Also on the bit about smaller traffic. A neighbor won a Mini Cooper from his liquor distributor (how cool is that?), and took me for a spin, those things kick ass. Well-made and pretty zippy, good handling. Utter death to drive on american SUV-laden roads. A Ford F350 wouldn't even feel it being crushed under its wheels.

[Soukyan]

I'm with Righ. I dislike laws that fuck with natural selection, but my girlfriend (why did I ever start dating a smart girl?) is always quick to point out the tax burden.

Also on the bit about smaller traffic. A neighbor won a Mini Cooper from his liquor distributor (how cool is that?), and took me for a spin, those things kick ass. Well-made and pretty zippy, good handling. Utter death to drive on american SUV-laden roads. A Ford F350 wouldn't even feel it being crushed under its wheels.

Oh, I like natural selection most definitely, but I like my money more, so given the choice...

[Morat20]

Yeah, that's a fair point. Though they should probably make it less of a tax burden. Perhaps we could heap it onto spiralling insurance costs along with everything else. :)

It already is. At least in PA, that's how it is. Motorcycles and cars are lumped together for insurance so I've been paying more for car insurance since the helmet law was changed from mandatory to optional three years ago. I say break those apart and let the motorcyclists pay several thousand a year for insurance or reinstate the mandatory helmet law. After all, there is now a double ticket, double fine in effect for not wearing a seatbelt in a car. See anything wrong with this picture?

IIRC, the law in Texas is that you can "opt-out" of wearing a helmet IF you attend one mandatory safety class and buy a certain type of insurance -- basically it's the equivilant of posting a 10k to 100k (don't remember how much) bond towards your medical costs. You have to re-up it yearly, but Texas feels that if you want to be a flaming idiot, go right ahead -- as long as you know HOW much of a flaming idiot you are, and have already arranged to pay for your medical or burial costs.

[Hoax]

If he didn't tear anything in his knees then this was just a cruel fakeout of cosmic justic.

Fuck the Steelers.

[Evangolis]

This idea that other people's actions should not be allowed to adversely affect my pocketbook seems meritorious.  Let's apply it to people who choose their own gratification over the public good.

It is time for a mandatory condom law.  Having sex is terribly risky, with HIV, HPV, Herpes, and many other STDs, as well as the whole unplanned parenthood thing, and a simple, inexpensive piece of equipment can greatly reduce the public health costs of this practice.  If everyone wore protective gear on all sexual occasions, men and women alike, our nation would realize vast public health and social welfare savings.  It is time to make protection mandatory, rather than allowing reckless fornication to raise our insurance premiums and public health costs.

For those who actively wish to have children, a small amount of semen could be applied manually, using commonly available latex gloves, or better still, with the assistance of a medical professional, under the supervision of compentent government authority, the way God meant babies to be made.

[Rasix]

Ohh sweet, we've hit the retarded analogy point of the thread.  Analogy battle incoming! 

[Sky]

Oh, not another 'there oughta be a law' type.... I dislike the rampant breeding of those who can't support it, or those who don't intend it, bug I sure as hell don't want the government butting into my sex life because of it.

Government should defend the borders, police crime (murder, rape, theft), and put out fires.

Even if something is a good idea, it doesn't mean the government should be enforcing it.

[Signe]

Back in my day, we didn't even have motorcycles, let alone helmets.  We had to run everywhere,  WITH OUR FEET,  making zoom zoom noises. 

[El Gallo]

Ohh sweet, we've hit the retarded analogy point of the thread.  Analogy battle incoming! 

I'm pretty sure Hitler also opposed mandatory helmet laws.

[sarius]

Back in my day, we didn't even have motorcycles, let alone helmets.  We had to run everywhere,  WITH OUR FEET,  making zoom zoom noises. 

I thought the Flintstones finally got some brakes in an AAMCO commercial...?

[Righ]

Ohh sweet, we've hit the retarded analogy point of the thread.  Analogy battle incoming! 

I'm pretty sure Hitler also opposed mandatory helmet laws.

Reductio ad Hitlerum, we can put this thread to bed now. Brilliant!