BEN ROETHLISBERGER
"ON HOW HE KEEPS HIS POISE ON THE FIELD I'm a good actor. I'm scared to death out there. I really am. I think I get it from my dad [Ken, an auto executive]. No matter how you feel, you project a calmness. I have never once seen my dad panic or get flustered.
ON THE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE HE MOST ADMIRES Probably Derek Jeter. Just the way he handles himself. And the selflessness. All he cares about is the team's winning.
ON HIS MUCH-HYPED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOLFER NATALIE GULBIS There's not much Natalie Gulbis anymore. It's over. It just got to be too much. We decided it would be better to be friends. And we're good friends.
ON THE DOWNSIDE OF FAME The utter lack of privacy. But I don't get angry at people getting into my business. The best advice I got on that came from Warren Moon. He said, "If you don't feel like dealing with people, don't leave the house." I've watched how Jerome Bettis handles himself with such class. I try to think when I'm out sometimes, What would Jerome do?
ON LAST YEAR'S 24-20 COMEBACK WIN IN DALLAS I've watched so many great Dallas-Pittsburgh games over the years and seen ESPN Classic games with them. Now I was playing in one. It sounds crazy, but as I go to the line on the last drive and I'm yelling the cadence, I'm thinking, I wonder if this game will make ESPN Classic?
ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MIAMI OF OHIO AND THE STEELERS We played at [the University at] Buffalo before maybe 600 people. Then a year later it's 60,000, 70,000 every week. I'd look around in the stadium and it was like, Wow, how much difference can a person have from one year to the next? Made me shake my head and thank the good Lord.
ON HIS SHAKY PLAYOFFS AFTER HIS GREAT ROOKIE YEAR I might have gotten worn down. I had my college season, then I had to get ready to work out for teams, then I had the combine, then I played the whole NFL season. That's two nonstop years of throwing. After we survived the Jets in the playoffs, I was counting my blessings that I didn't throw the season away.
--As told to Peter King"
Steelers Quarterback
ROETHLISBERGER, LAST YEAR'S ROOKIE OF THE YEAR, OPENS AT HOME SEPT. 11 AGAINST TENNESSEE
"I don't believe in aliens. Only in miracles."
--Al Michaels, broadcaster
Pop Culture Quiz, page 37
 
"I don't get angry at people getting into my business."
 
COLOR PHOTO
ROB TRINGALI/SPORTSCHROME (MICHAELS)
COLOR PHOTO
PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG PENSINGER/GETTY IMAGES FOR STM SPORTS
COLOR PHOTO
MICHAEL FABUS/WIREIMAGE.COM (ROETHLISBERGER THROWING)