Super Bowl Fumbler Mendenhall Drops the Ball Again
Commentary by PalmerSucks
July 9, 2015
Looking for a story to make you glad it’s almost time for real football news? Look no further!
Former Stillers running back and bin Laden sympathizer Rashard Mendenhall made waves recently with his account of a certain event he claimed happened during his playing days. Mendenhall, who’s part of the staff of the new HBO Series Ballers, served up this little nugget in an interview with Men’s Journal:
Of course, Mendenhall admits, there were parties. The wildest were the ones rookies are expected to throw at the start of each season. Mendenhall recalls a young offensive lineman making the mistake of giving his credit card to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. "Ben just did the whole thing," Mendenhall says. "One night — the rookie ended up with a $25,000 bill from the club." http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/races-sports/rashard-mendenhall-the-real-player-behind-ballers-20150701#ixzz3fLzxybfP
Yes, according to Mendenhall, Roethlisberger presided over some out-of-control orgy during which he rang up a 25-large tab courtesy of some hapless Stillers rookie. Which would certainly be a tale worth immortalizing – if only it were true.
As the PFT site recently reported, things went down a little differently that night than what Mendenhall claimed:
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, it started as a dinner for offensive linemen at a steakhouse, not a club. The offensive linemen determined that former Steelers offensive lineman Tony Hills, a rookie at the time, would pay. (Hills, who currently plays for the Cowboys, was a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 2008.)
The quarterbacks showed up as well, the linemen ran up a huge bill, and Hills wasn’t able to pay it.
Roethlisberger actually paid roughly half of the amount on the spot, with Hills reimbursing him later.”
Apparently Mendenhall can’t even remember where this event happened, let alone the actual details. Far from sticking the rookie with the bill, Roethlisberger actually covered his share until Hills could pay him back. No “mistake” was made here – in fact it was quite the opposite. The rookie, it turned out, had the good fortune to have had Roethlisberger handle things for him.
Nor was Hills’s footing of the bill Roethlisberger’s idea; Hills’s offensive-line teammates actually came up with the scheme, which, by the way, was a dinner not some big club bash. (Nor is this kind of thing unique to the Stillers – such hazing was a big part of the Jonathan Martin brouhaha of a few years ago down in Miami.)
Mendenhall is listed as a “contributing writer” in the series credits. If this is any indication of his talents, it seems he has quite a career ahead of him in writing fiction.
Unfortunately, however, the clarification didn’t get reported until well after Mendenhall’s tale made the news wires. The message boards buzzed with a new round of anti-Ben fervor, much to the delight of trolls everywhere. And so was born Roethlisberger myth #1,276. (Or as one smart Stillers fan put it, expect any minute now someone to report that Ben raped Hills in the bathroom, too.)
As I’ve written before, Pittsburgh is full of folks who’ll tell you they have a cousin who has a friend who has a sister who saw Roethlisberger do something bad in public. Stiffing on tips and walking out on tabs are popular anecdotes. I expect this kind of thing from your average Yinzer – but ex-teammates?
Now, I’m not going to claim I know what Mendenhall was thinking, but I think I have an idea. Mendenhall needed to come up with a wild, hard-hitting “real player’s” story – some street cred, if you will -- to justify his consultant’s status. So, like the old man on the porch, he kicked back in his rocker and told us all what really happened back in the war.
What’s funny is how Mendenhall so smugly disses the original iteration of Ballers during the interview:
"As a player, when you see these shows about football, it feels so outside-in — just one big party without the real stories," he says, noting that Playmakers, the Nineties ESPN drama about life in pro football, had missed the mark, too.”
What was that about “real stories,” Rashard? Maybe you want to check back with your old teammates and see what their version of your tale sounds like.
I recently attempted to contact Mr. Mendenhall via Twitter to get his take on recent developments:
@PalmerSucks
@R_Mendenhall Dude! Now that your Roethlisberger charge-card story has been debunked, don't you think you owe an apology?
#Way2HaveYourTeammatesBack
7:44 PM - 5 Jul 2015
I’ve yet to receive a reply. I’ll, uh, let you know when I do.
Anyway, here’s to the coming of training camp and some actual football news. Let’s just hope the reporting is a little more factual.
FOOTNOTE: Congratulations to Antonio Brown for making the NFL Network’s Top Ten player list for 2014. Not top-ten receivers – players, period, regardless of position. And even bigger congratulations to Mike Wallace, for turning down the money that would eventually cover A.B.’s contract.
Comments? Email ‘em to PalmerSucks@Stillers.com