Roethlisberger: No Answers, But Many Questions

Nearly everyone -- with the exception of one 20-year-old sorority member and one 28-year-old quarterback who apparently share the pastime of hanging out with undergraduates at campus bars -- is far from answers with respect to anything that occurred in a restroom at the Capital City nightclub.

Several questions, however, already seem pertinent:

• Why do Roethlisberger's representatives continue to make silly statements? First, his agent indicated that a preliminary investigation had caused the allegation to be dropped (just before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation officially labeled Roethlisberger a suspect and "invited" him to return to Georgia for interrogation). Next, his lawyer announced that "no sexual assault occurrred," a statement roughly as reliable as a Pat Robertson natural disaster forecast, made roughly at the time a subpoena for Roethlisberger's DNA was issued. Roethlisberger fans should hope that his categorical declaration at a 2009 press conference -- "I would never, ever force myself on a woman" -- was not another installment in a series of self-serving, unreliable statements.

• Why is it so difficult to pay a tab and leave a proper tip? This
report from Georgia (Dan Majors, Post-Gazette):

there are members of the service industry who share stories of his walking out on checks

suggests that Georgia's hospitality community is learning what waitresses in Cranberry have been discussing since the Steelers quarterback moved his local residence from Washington's Landing to points north.

• Why would anyone rely on the sketchy situation in Nevada to defend Roethlisberger with respect to current events? That reliance seems misplaced for several reasons. This accuser went straight to the police and the hospital, not to a plaintiffs' lawyer and the courthouse. This accuser's acquaintances depict an unlikely golddigger; the Reno claimant was almost immediately derided by acquaintances. The Reno claim originated in a hotel room registered to Roethlisberger; the Georgia claim reportedly originated in a restroom originally occupied by a female.

It is far too early to declare Roethlisberger guilty; he has been accused, but not charged. It also is far too early to declare him innocent, however, and Roethlisberger's mouthpiece should know better.