Big Ben's excuse is all sorts of lame

Ben Roethlisberger recently gave his first public interviews since a woman alleged he sexually assaulted her. The Steelers QB apologized to his fans and teammates about his actions, and also tried to explain himself in what could be one of the weakest I'm-not-that-kind-of-guy excuses in history.

(via the AP):

A contrite Ben Roethlisberger said he got caught up in being a caricature called Big Ben, not the grounded player and person he once was, leading to his off-field problems and affecting his play as the Steelers quarterback.

"Big Ben just kept building up. It ended up coming off the field. It kept taking over. Superman kept taking over Clark Kent and you just never saw who Ben Roethlisberger was any more," Roethlisberger told KDKA-TV. "At the time, I didn't see it. I was gaining everything but I was losing a lot of who I was raised to be. It got so overwhelming, it consumed me."

Poor, poor Ben Roethlisberger. All this time we've been blaming him for his crazy actions, when it was really his alter ego -- his dark side that he has no rational responsibility over -- that we should be blaming. And really it makes perfect sense, because when I think of lecherous sex offenders who walk around bars with their junk exposed, I immediately think of Superman. Don't you?

Oh, and if you think Roethlisberger's excuse wasn't the theme of his interviews, here's a few more quotes:

"My dad said to me about a month ago, it's good to have my son back," Roethlisberger told WTAE. "That killed me because my dad's been my best friend. For him to say that to me really let me know I wasn't who he raised me to be."

Roethlisberger gave the interviews upon the advice of consultants hired to help him and the Steelers rebuild his badly damaged public image. He promised several times that fans won't see the bad Roethlisberger – rather than the popular, championship-winning player of before – any longer.

"I know I've slipped, stumbled ... but you'll see a new Ben," he told KDKA.

and...

"Those chapters in my life, I've closed that book and I'm not opening them up," he told WTAE. "It only matters what I do from here on out. That's what I'm excited about – showing people, proving to people, fans, teammates, my family, the commissioner, everybody, who Ben Roethlisberger is. And that Ben is here to stay."

It's one thing to say that you're a changed man, that you've learned something or that you've matured. But to say that your actions were just the manifestation of your own bloated ego, that he literally created a monster named "Big Ben" who could do whatever the hell he wanted, and that he himself, the Good Ben, had nothing to do with it... that's just weak dude, especially from a man twice accused of raping a woman.

(Photo by Jared Wickerham, Getty Images)