Exclusive: Ben Roethlisberger One-On-One With Bob Pompeani
LATROBE (KDKA) -- KDKA's Bob Pompeani sat down with Ben Roethlisberger in his dorm room at Saint Vincent College for an exclusive interview.
When it comes to his former coach Bill Cowher, Ben says he deserves to be a first ballot hall of famer. Cowher will be up for the first time next year.
"When you talk about Hall of Fame coaches, I think that he should be mentioned in that group and no doubt in my mind he should be in," he said.
When it comes to his own chances, Roethlisberger says he still has a long way to go.
"Because I'm never going to be satisfied with where I'm at, I'm always trying to get better and I just don't feel like I'm that quality yet," he said.
"Well, I think wins honestly – I think wins and championships," he continued. "I think that those are those are – those should be the first two things in my opinion that you look at because that's to me the true definition of a quarterback – 'Do they help their team win football games?' That to me is big."
"Now I know you'll look at guys like Dan Marino, but I know he put together quite [an] impressive record and resume, so I think those guys – there's always exceptions to the rule," he added.
Down the road, Troy Polamalu will almost certainly end up in Canton, Ohio, but will he change uniforms before then?
Pompeani: "Can you ever imagine Troy Polamalu wearing anything but this uniform?"
Roethlisberger: "No. And I can't speak for Troy, but I know Troy. There's no way Troy's going anywhere. I mean, he's too valuable to this team, to the franchise, to the fans, the league, to go anywhere but here, so I really don't even think that's an option, but of course I don't make the decisions. … It's like me. I can't see myself ever wearing another jersey. I think if something ever happened and they didn't want to sign me, I'd probably just go."
Pompeani: "Twitter – very popular thing these days, but I notice you don't Twitter. First of all, why not?"
Roethlisberger: "I'm sure it's great for some players. That's how they want to connect to their fans and stuff, but I think it's an opportunity for you to get in a lot of trouble because it's right at the palm of your fingers. In a time of passion, in time of emotion and not thinking, you could say whatever you want and you can't take it back. The second you hit send or however it works, the whole world knows about it and I think that's very dangerous and I also think that in an athlete's life and in a person's life of celebrity status or whatever, you're looking for your privacy and I don't understand how people complain about their privacy, but yet, they're tweeting what they're eating and what they're doing, so it's just kind of counterproductive if you ask me."
Pompeani: "It's been said that it's very difficult for a team that loses a Super Bowl Ben to get back there. In fact, the statistics bear that out. The last team to do it was the Buffalo Bills back in 1992. Why? Why is it so difficult to get back?"
Roethlisberger:"It is a little baffling because usually you have a fire under you and want to get back and win it and prove everybody wrong, but you know, it's such an awesome accomplishment just to get there. Obviously, you hate to lose it – especially after winning two. It's hard, but we just want to come out and play good football and it's really – you're not playing the Super Bowl week 1, so we just gotta get ready and take it one week at a time like we always do."
Click here to read part two of the exclusive interview!
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