Are Fans and NFL teams too demanding of players?

[Monkeydad]

Are we asking too much for players to have common sense?

No.

From the owners' standpoints, are they asking too much for players to protect themselves and stay in the playing condition that they signed the contract under?

No.

When it comes to Ben Roethlisberger, Im more upset about his possible liability on every taxpayer and insurance customer than his possible breach of contract with the Steelers if he can't play or has affected his playing abilities through his stupidity. Sure, Governor Rendell repealed the helmet law in PA a few years ago, but the legality of something doesn't make it smart or even healthy. Cigarettes are legal, but if you smoke and get cancer you have no one to blame but yourself. Bungee jumping is legal, but if you get whiplash....your problem as well. It's not illegal to sleep around or be gay, but when you get STDs...you must learn to reap what you've sown.

When it comes to people who choose to ride motorcycles without helmets, you're taking a risk that will likely cost you your life or at least your health. They should again have to take responsibility for their actions, but in reality, they won't have to. Their motorcycle insurance and health insurance will pay for their amplified injuries from not wearing a helmet. It won't come out of their own pocket, but it will come out of the pocket of everyone who pays taxes to keep the hospitals open and from everyone who will help pay the higher insurance rates from their stupidity. I think that if you want to ride without a helmet, you should have the freedom to do so since it's your life. However, with freedom ALWAYS comes responsibility and you should pay for your own injuries that result from your decision. People like Ben should have to pay for their own surgeries that were easily preventable with a helmet. The same should be true with seatbelts; if you are ejected from your car because you didn't wear your seatbelt, that's your decision to choose that outcome but you should also pay for your mistake instead of expecting everyone else to pay for your risk-taking. Just as a I don't like paying for people's herpes treatments from being irresponsible, I don't like the idea of paying my share of someone else's medical costs because they were stubborn or just like having wind and bugs in their hair.

Personal responsibility makes life better for everyone. The responsible stay safe and healthy and the irresponsible learn lessons. Society has grown to expect the government and everyone else to pay for their laziness, their risk-taking or their ignorance. Women now have babies without having a husband just for a larger check from the government every month. People quit working because they can get paid for staying home. Others have sex with anything that moves because they think that's a right, but then think it's a right to kill their baby when they have an "unexpected" pregnancy. If someone loses all of their money gambling, they don't deserve any government help (welfare).

Personally, I'm getting a little sick of taking care of these people.

I hope this bonehead move by Ben prompts owners to put some clauses into all contracts to protect their investments. Kellen Winslow Jr. should've taught Ben a lesson, but it obviously didn't.

I won't be upset if he's not the player he used to be. He brought it on himself. I just heard a report that he didn't have a PA Motorcycle license. If that's true, he really deserves any consequences from his actions.

I hate seeing anyone hurt and I pray he'll be ok as a person for his family's sake, but if he ended his football career or even limited it with this situation, I won't have any sympathy.

In the end, he's no better than anyone else and I'd feel the same way if he was a "common" person.

He needs to get his priorities straight and start taking some responsibility in his life. Despite what the media might say, he's not Superman and when it comes to his health and life, he has the same responsibilities as any of us.

I hope this does spur a reversal of Rendell's repeal of the helmet law. He did it for purely political purposes in the first place and most residents here in PA opposed it and forsaw this exact outcome of it. Fatalities from non-helmet wearers in PA have tripled and for what reason? The "right" to endanger your life and put your death on the conscience of a possibly innocent car driver? The lady that Ben ran into was a 62 year-old lady who by all accounts so far, wasn't at fault. Now she's on public record as the lady who hurt the star QB because HE WASN'T WEARING A HELMET. I hope people are sensible and leave her alone but there's always idiots who will harass her. Also, I'll be paying a share of his medical and insured costs that would've been treatment for some bruises and roadrash that is now a surgery, hospitalization and rehab.

You have the freedom to be stupid, but if you are...pay for it yourself.