Filed Under » Ben Roethlisberger

Those close to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger say he has made a concerted effort to improve his off-field behavior and yesterday won over his his remaining critics by apologizing for all of the raping he has done over the years.

“I have never been charged with a crime,” said Roethlisberger. “But you hope that if people see you are trying to make positive changes in your life, be a good person and not put yourself in bad situations, they will give you the benefit of the doubt. But even that doesn’t win over everyone. So for all the people who still don’t like me, let me say: ‘I am sorry for all of the raping I have done in the past. I’m going to do my best to not do more raping. I hope we can all move past the raping now. That’s all I will say on the matter.’”

The quarterback knew he would face some difficult questions at Super Bowl Media Day and sought out the advice of coaches, players and close friends on how to handle them.

“They said all I could do is just try to be gracious and present myself as the good guy I am trying to be,” said the quarterback. “But I soon realized there were still some skeptics out there, so I just decided to audible to doing a ‘My Bad on the raping.’”

“That’s all I wanted to hear you say,” said the reporter who asked Roethlisberger a question about his offseason incident. “We’re good now. Thanks!”

“Hey, I like your pretty hair,” Ben Roethlisberger was heard telling Troy Polamalu yesterday during practice. “Why don’t you come over here and sit on my lap and tell me what you like about football?”

Polamalu politely declined and pushed his quarterback’s hand away from his butt, but Steelers teammates and coaches say Roethlisberger’s come-on was just his latest towards the star safety since camp began.

“You have to realize that Ben has pretty much been in seclusion since March when the incident in Georgia happened,” said a Steelers player who wished to remain anonymous. “He’s barely seen a girl in five months, let alone gotten a B.J. in a bar bathroom from one. So when he shows up to camp and sees someone with long, curly, black hair, piercing eyes, a thick butt, that soft-spoken but aggressive style … well, he pretty much can’t help himself.”

“Hell, I’ve been getting regular tail and I’m sort of attracted to Troy myself,” said the player. “He’s a very pretty man.”

So far Roethlisberger’s repeated advances have not been a distraction to the team.

“We’re all about team here once camp opens,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “Sexual attraction can be great for bringing a team together. In fact, it’s what made the ’90s Cowboys and the Patriots of the past decade so good.”

Some teammates say Roethlisberger dropped his pants and exposed his penis to Polamalu and other teammates today after practice, “but he was going into the shower,” said one player. “Maybe it was an innocent gesture. Although I’ve come to doubt Ben makes purely innocent gestures when his penis is out.”