Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger Shares The Weird Things Thrown At Him From Bills Mafia

The Pittsburgh Steelers went into very tough conditions against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills have a passionate, blue-collar fan base that is quite similar to the one in Pittsburgh. The Wild Card game was originally scheduled to be played on Sunday afternoon, but was moved to Monday afternoon because of the blizzard that hit the Northern part of New York and New England. As Steelers fans have spent time in Buffalo, waiting for the game to be played, they have been spending a lot of time getting to know the Bills fans, and the majority of the fans, on both sides, have been really positive. 

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who runs a livestream podcast during the games, talked about how great the Bills fans are. Then the camera showed a fan throwing a snowball from the stands at a George Pickens in the end zone as he attempted a catch. Roethlisberger's co-host, Spencer Te'o, on the podcast, which is called Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger, asked the former Super Bowl winner about what he's personally had thrown at him during games. 

Roethlisberger said that he had all kinds of crazy things thrown at him. He told Te'o that once he had a snowball thrown at him too, as well as a battery and a beer bottle. Te'o is flabbergasted. A battery? Roethlisberger said, yeah, he was never surprised by the crazy things fans threw at players out of the stands.

"Snowballs!" Roethlisberger exclaimed in response to fans throwing them onto the field. "I'll tell you what, I'd rather be hit with a snowball than a battery. I've been hit with a beer bottle, I've been hit with a battery. In Buffalo too, they used to throw batteries at ya."

It is ironic that Roethlisberger would have this happen to him at the hands of the Bills Mafia because it is the other side of Pennsylvania that made this absurd, not totally safe practice well known. The Philadelphia Eagles got media attention when they carried on a tradition of throwing batteries on the field during a Philadelphia Phillies game when fans were displeased with J.C. Drew.     

But that isn't totally surprising, Eagles fans aren't exactly known for their displays of excellent sportsmanship. I mean they did throw snowballs at Santa Claus. The incident Roethlisberger did not talk about on his show was probably one of the worst in the history of the NFL. 

Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger's Run-In With Some Classless Bengals Fans

The Cincinnati Bengals have been a fierce divisional rival for the Steelers since 1970. The Bengals haven't gotten the best of the Steelers very often during that time. The two teams have met 109 times, including twice in the postseason. The Steelers hold the winning record, 70-39. This record of losing against Pittsburgh has made Bengals fans a bit more bitter than other fan bases. 

During one of those postseason games between the Bills and the Steelers, Roethlisberger was hurt. He suffered a shoulder injury after being tackled by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict at the end of the third quarter. This meant that backup Landry Jones came in for the veteran quarterback and helped the Steelers win the game 18-16. 

There was a whole quarter left in the game when the medical staff came out to cart Roethlisberger off the field. Immediately, Bengals fans began to throw debris from the stands at the Steelers legend, while he was hurt on the cart. The stadium officials had to ask the fans to stop throwing trash on the field. 

The Bengals thought that they were going to get their wish come true, their nemesis Roethlisberger, left the field and Jones was clearly not up to the task. Bengals quarterback, A.J. McCarron appeared to be riding into the stadium on his white horse, ready to save the team. He led the team to score both a field goal and a touchdown and put the Bengals in the lead. 

Unfortunately for the Bengals, the real hero arrived, and Roethlisberger managed to come back into the game. It wasn't just the Bengals fans who were displaying poor sportsmanship - Burfict hit wide receiver Antonio Brown hard enough to cause a concussion, a hit that may have caused long-term repercussions. Then cornerback Adam Jones drew a personal foul that put Chris Boswell in field goal range. His chip shot was good and Pittsburgh won. 

Evil did not prevail. 

Are you surprised to hear that Buffalo fans were throwing things at Roethlisberger? Do all fan bases just have "those fans?" Click to comment below. 

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