Big Ben Benched by Appendix

This hasn't suddenly become a football blog, but there were a couple of interesting football stories out there. First we had the Charger lineback shot by cops, and now Big Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback who survived a serious motorcycle accident earlier this year, was benched right before the first game by a bum appendix:

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had an emergency appendectomy after becoming ill before practice Sunday and will miss Thursday night's season opener against Miami.

Coach Bill Cowher is not certain how long Roethlisberger will be out following the quarterback's third operation in 10 months - and second in 2 1/2 months.

"The surgery went well," Cowher said. "He is obviously going to be out this week and we will go week to week from there."

Appendix surgery is not as serious as it used to be since they can often do those with laproscopes which result in less intrusive surgery and quicker recoveries. But in a sport with so much physical contact, I'm guessing he'll be out at least 3 weeks to make sure something doesn't come undone when he gets hit.