Rashard Mendenhall is a rookie, so fumbling is going to happen some. But he’s still a first-round draft pick and the purported goal-line RB for the Steelers, so it would be kinda nice for Pittsburgh fans if he wrapped it up (insert your own Lindsay Lohan joke here).

Of course, all of this may explain why Hines Ward is giving the youngster a hard time. The PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE - REVIEW (via MONDESI’S HOUSE) carries the news that Ward put a football in Mendenhall’s locker which he has to carry around. If he loses the ball, he has to pay whoever took it $100. Sounds like fun times for rookie Rashard:

Read more…

There are plenty of perks to being a professional athlete: local celebrity, gobs of dough, the ladies, and the opportunity to wear snazzy work clothes. But there’s also a downside to fame. In addition to long lost relatives invariably appearing out of nowhere asking for a loan, there’s also the very real possibility of becoming a target of enterprising criminals.

Dunta Robinson, Antoine Walker and Rashard Mendenhall are three such examples, and now, Panthers first-round pick Jeff Otah’s Cadillac Escalade joins the fun.

Read more…

Rashard Mendenhall, now in camp with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, said he was close to “walking out” on football during his senior year at Illinois.

Rashard and his brother Walter played together for the fighting Illini last season. When Rashard left for the NFL, Walter transferred to Illinois State. And neither had anything nice to say about their former coach, Ron Zook.

Read more…

Tuffy passes along word from the CHICAGO TRIBUNE that former Illinois star Rashard Mendenhall was robbed at gunpoint early Monday morning.

The ex-Illini RB and Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick was back in the Windy City, when he and a friend were held up by two men around 2 a.m. near the corner of 39th Street and Lake Shore Drive. Read more…