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At around 1 a.m. Roethlisberger and the woman walked to a bathroom. The report filed by the Milledgeville police alleges that one of the bodyguards guided the woman toward the restroom by the shoulder; the bodyguards maintained to police that they had no knowledge of what happened between Roethlisberger and the woman. A source close to Roethlisberger said that he never intended to have intercourse and described his intentions as "Clinton sex," or fellatio. But the female student told police that they did have intercourse, and that the 6'5", 241-pound Roethlisberger used force.

Sgt. Jerry Blash, the Milledgeville police officer who wrote the criminal report, has resigned from the department in the midst of an investigation into comments he made to Barravecchio that night. According to Barravecchio, Blash described Roethlisberger's accuser as "this drunken bitch" and said, "This pisses me off, that women can do this." Sources say Blash—who had posed for photos with Roethlisberger and several other Milledgeville cops earlier in the evening—was dismissive about the sexual-assault claim when the accuser and her friends approached him that night. (As of last week a purple parking sign stood in the carport of Blash's house in Milledgeville reading, RESERVED PIMP PARKING. HO'S IN BACK.) Milledgeville police failed to secure the crime scene, and Roethlisberger was never interviewed in any formal fashion that night or in the ensuing days.

Earlier at Capital City, witnesses say, Roethlisberger had held aloft a tray of tequila drinks and shouted, "All my bitches, take some shots!" He preened, dispensed rounds, hit on various women and ignored others who hit on him, reveling in the Big Ben persona just nine months after he'd been forced to address another troubling incident.

On July 11, 2008, at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Roethlisberger allegedly called hotel employee Andrea McNulty to his room to fix a television that turned out to be in proper working order. In a civil suit filed a year later, McNulty claims Roethlisberger groped her and penetrated her against her will. Roethlisberger denies McNulty's account and has declined to comment on specifics.

McNulty says she reported the incident to her superiors but that they did nothing about it. She contends that her boss, Dave Monroe, the vice president of food and hotel operations, told her that Roethlisberger was a close friend of Harrah's Northern Nevada president John Koster, and that Koster "will personally fire you for starting rumors about Roethlisberger's personal life." McNulty said she was told by Monroe, "That guy [Roethlisberger] can have anyone he wants."

The Lake Tahoe incident, like the one in Milledgeville, is fraught with he said/she said. One of McNulty's coworkers gave a sworn affidavit that McNulty bragged about having consensual sex with Roethlisberger and said that she wanted to have his child. McNulty's civil complaint, in contrast, alleges that she asked Roethlisberger to stop but that he didn't, and that after finishing, he told her, "If anyone asks you, you fixed my television. Now go!"

Roethlisberger's reputation in Pittsburgh is not only a matter of an us-against-Ben war waged by service people. SI spoke at length with a friend of Roethlisberger's, who gets along with the quarterback but who is pained by his behavior. When they're out together, the man, who didn't want his name used, sometimes feels obligated to apologize to waiters and bartenders whom Roethlisberger has treated like garbage. He says he shakes his head when he sees Roethlisberger "disrespect" women in bars. (He has never seen any sign of sexual impropriety.) He is embarrassed by Roethlisberger's pettiness and immaturity during pickup basketball games—he says Big Ben will whine about team selection, talk mean-spirited trash and flex his biceps when he makes a good play. He despairs when he sees Roethlisberger blow off attempts by older Steelers, such as Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, to give him advice. He doubts that Roethlisberger's closest buddies tell him anything except what he wants to hear.

Ursus A. Horribilis wrote:I didn't have time to read it SE, I'll take a look later but do they mention anything about part of the reason for his and other NFL players entitlement may have something to do with head injuries? There are guys that have head injuries and go on without any problems like Steve Young etc.. but it may have something to do with bad behavior from a lot of these guys. It doesn't excuse anything but it may help explain why some of these NFL and Boxing athletes go so off the rails.