PITTSBURGH - All good wishes to Ben Roethlisberger and Ashley Harlan as they start married life together.
The Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback was married Saturday afternoon, and it appears he's reconfigured his life after he embarrassed himself and his employer with a night of marauding in a Georgia college town in 2010.
Of all the millions of words that were written about the incident, the most relevant were from the prosecutor who investigated the incident.
"Grow up" was his message to Roethilsberger, who was out on the town for his 28th birthday.
Since then, it would appear that Roethlisberger has made major changes in his life. The biggest is his decision to get married.
Good for him. Good for the Steelers.
Down the aisle
Roethlisberger doesn't have the summer's only wedding with a Steelers connection.
Former coach Bill Cowher will walk eldest daughter Meagan down the aisle on Aug. 12 as she weds Kevin Westgarth, who plays hockey for the Los Angeles Kings.
Westgarth, an Amherstburg, Ontario native, is an enforcer. Several of his fights are posted on youtube.
In 65 NHL games, Westgarth has three assists and 114 penalty minutes.
The couple met while attending Princeton. Meagan Cowher, 6-foot-1, is the third-leading scorer in Princeton women's basketball history.
"She's the real athlete of the family," Westgarth told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm looking forward to having kids and retiring on what they end up doing."
Bad advice
James Harrison makes bad choices, but where are the people he pays to look out for his interests?
When you have a reputation as one of the dirtiest players in the NFL, you don't add to the perception by posing with guns and a glare. You play against that image by posing with babies and big smile.
That's just basic image shaping, something his "people" should grasp.
Unwanted distractions
The Pirates are having success this season, so the games are relevant.
That doesn't stop Root Sports from overdoing crowd shots (Guy in a Pirates cap? Got it) and fluff like phone polls.
The polls are actually a device to build phone traffic. If the numbers are big, Root can go to advertisers and show how much viewers respond to what they hear.
It's a cheap trick, but that's TV.
Same routine
For the second straight off-season, Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik has had surgery for a sports hernia.
As summer traditions go, that's not as happy as visiting Kennywood.
Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com
