Ben Roethlisberger says he will not publicly support Donald Trump
Scratch one quarterback from Donald Trump's list of public supporters.
While Trump and New England Patriots QB Tom Brady seem to be thick as thieves, the same might not be true of Pittsburgh Steelers signal-caller Ben Roethlisberger. During a recent rally in Pittsburgh, Trump said he had Big Ben's support "100 percent" and that the quarterback would speak the the Republican convention later this summer.
However, the quarterback told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he "is staying out of politics and will not attend the GOP event." So that friendship built on the golf circuit may not be as strong as Trump thought.
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The likely Republican nominee for president still has plenty of backing within the world of sports, including the likes of Brady, UFC head honcho Dana White and NASCAR CEO Brian France. Surely, some of those people will be at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month.
Big Ben just won't be among them. It might have been helpful for Trump to have Roethlisberger solidly in his corner when it comes time for the general election since Pittsburgh as a whole tends to be a heavy Democrat stronghold, but given his sometimes checkered slate of off the field incidents over the years, it might not actually be a good thing nationally to have him not speak.
Or possibly Roethlisberger has the right idea and athletes as a whole should just stay out of what's bound to be an ugly, no holds barred contest coming up this November.
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