Big Ben

Since Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident Monday morning, he has surely been taking a lot of heat for riding helmetless. Despite being a local hero and nearly everybody's darling, he has had a lot of criticism aimed at him for this "irresponsible" choice.

He's a 24 year-old kid who plays a game for a living. He makes a lot of money, carries significant responsibility, is expected to make lots of decisions, but he's still a kid. Often, kids don't make the best decisions, don't act in the most responsible manner.

I'm glad and thankful that it appears as if he will survive this incident and be able to continue his career. Hopefully, it will mature him a bit, put things into a different perspective for him. It could have turned out infinitely worse. You don't always survive your bad decisions.