Apparently, being at the center of two sexual assault cases doesn't win you any points with Super Bowl viewers since Ben Roethlisberger was recently voted the most disliked player in Super Bowl XLV according to a poll conducted by Penn Schoen Berland.
In fact, it wasn't even close as to who the most disliked player was since Roethlisberger more than doubled the number of votes that any other players received, which is pretty impressive considering fellow teammate James Harrison was in the mix.
Of course, there's a silver lining in all of this because Roethlisberger is only the fourth most disliked player in the NFL overall behind Brett Favre, Michael Vick and Tom Brady. John Madden may have started the snowball effect hatred for Favre with his obvious crush on number 4, but Favre has managed to alienate everybody this year with his revealing text messages to Jenn Sterger.
It seems like Michael Vick is going to need a lot more than a "Comeback Player of the Year" tittle to win fans over after his dog fighting escapades. As for Brady, it appears that Super Bowl watchers side with Randy Moss in their locker room catfight over whether or not Brady's hair makes him look like a girl.
Getting back to the Penn Schoen Berland poll on Super Bowl XVL, some other findings from the poll include:
- 78% of Americans are planning to watch the Super Bowl this year.
- 30% of people watch the Super Bowl to see the ads, not the game.
- 45% of Americans are hoping that the Steelers win, while 39% of fans hope that the Packers win (don't ask me where the other 16% went). The Packers may be the team of the Aryan nation since the pool also revealed that a larger majority of Republicans and whites want the Packers to win, while a larger majority of non-whites and Democrats are pulling for the Steelers.
- Out of the Steelers, Packers, Bears and Jets, most fans voted that the Steelers vs. Packers would be the best matchup in the Super Bowl.
