by Chris Humpherys

Created on: July 27, 2009

In Lake Tahoe, a casino waitress alleges that a two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback forced himself on her in a hotel room. In another hotel room elsewhere in the country, someone sneaks a video camera through a keyhole to record a female sportscaster as she strolls around her room. In Alabama, a reporter asks a former Heisman trophy winner about his sexual behavior. In Kansas City, a well-respected journalist faults a female tennis champion for being too fat.

Somewhere we have crossed the line.

In this country, as in many others around the world, we deify the modern athlete, often to a fault. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James have become larger than life, their images recognizable worldwide. Some criticize the professional athlete for not using their status as a tool to speak out on certain issues but often it's because they don't want to subject themselves to extra media attention. It's bad enough they already live their lives with no privacy and microphones repeatedly jammed in their faces. It's surprising that more star athletes don't become hermits, but such is the price of fame and fortune.

Last week, Andrea McNulty became the latest to thrust herself into infamy by accusing Ben Roethlisberger of raping her in a Lake Tahoe hotel room over one year ago. According to McNulty's testimony, Roethlisberger forced himself on her in a hotel penthouse, yet she never reported the incident for fear of losing her job at a local casino, owned by one of Roethlisberger's friends. Roethlisberger has since denied these allegations, calling them false and vicious, but who's to know for sure? Once accusations like this are out there, they're out there. Kobe Bryant still has difficulty shaking the incidents of Eagle, Colorado that occurred six years ago. Mike Tyson served three years in prison for allegedly raping a beauty contestant in 1992, marking the bitter end of an embattled career.

Similarly, the image we hold of Big Ben, Super Bowl champion and one of the faces of the NFL, may be tainted forever. As if the NFL needed more image problems with the impending return of Michael Vick. The bottom line is we don't know what happened in any of those hotel rooms. The only people who know the truth are the two involved. We're left to judge reality based on a jury's decision or whatever settlement is reached between the two parties. If Roethlisberger and McNulty do settle out of court, is that an admission of guilt

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