As the premier "Is Ben Roethlisberger Jewish?" blog...

...I was negligent in not pointing out the religious tensions underlying The "Accident." Here's a good blog post that hits the major points.

A comment rightly points out: "I don't want your loyal readers thinking I am some paranoid nut. I mean when they say "Martha Fleishman, 62, of Squirrel Hill" you know that the rest of the burgh is reading it as "Jew Lady from Jew Hill."

So true.

A recent comment on this blog (scroll to the bottom) shows a little bit of the pogrom potential underlying this whole incident. Maybe it isn't so paranoid to be worried about Cossacks sweeping into Squirrel Hill.

Also...here's a very entertaining article in the Post Gazette outing some of the gleeful reactions to Ben's misfortune. The entertaining part comes from a clinical psychologist trying to explain why people might revel in the Steelers woes:

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Friday said the human brain does not fully develop until 25 years of age, which, he said, might explain why Roethlisberger, who is 24, decided to ride a motorcycle without a helmet. Friday said the posters are either too young to know better or are people whose brains never completely wired, which can happen due to a number of circumstances, including class and culture.

"The people who are blogging in Cincinnati, they're the ones whose brains never fully develop," Friday said. "They don't perspectivize human tragedy. They don't learn to think effectively. These people are not normal. We're talking about a fringe element. We're dealing with the screaming people who are venting. These are elements that are not representative of their communities. They are representatives of their own minds."
Friday said posters on Internet message boards hide behind their keyboards and write things they would never have the courage to say aloud in public. He said posters who write tasteless messages use football and the rivalries between teams as a way of getting out their aggression in a non-violent manner. It's not necessarily a new phenomenon, just one that is more evident because of the instant communication that is available via the Internet.

"We have a degree of transference on sports figures," Friday said. "It's a way of vicariously going to battle. People can blog and send thoughts, and feel a self-induced empowerment."
The Steelers' success also is part of the equation, he said. If the Steelers had not won the Super Bowl in February, people would not post such vitriolic messages. The Steelers are kings of the mountain, and their players are being transformed from humans into symbols, waiting to be knocked from their high perch.

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I had an eye opening experience wearing my Roethlisberger jersey around NYC this week. People at Bar Bri laughed at me. Most dudes on the street (Jet's fans no doubt) laughed in my face. A couple people asked me if I heard what happened, which I found funny. All in all, there was a lot more hostility than sympathy.

Obiviously Roethlisberger's absurd decision to ride around Pittsburgh w/o a helmet reflects more his stupid-hick-from-Ohio side than his jesus-incarnate-champion-for-the-ages side, but it is weird to laugh at someone while he's still in surgery.

Personally, I have to think that the vast majority of the anger stems not from undeveloped brains or transference but rather the simple fact that the STEELERS ARE THE MOTHER FUCKING WORLD CHAMPIONS AND ALL YOU HATERS ARE JUST JEALOUS AS SHIT. SUCK IT. That which does not kill you....