Oh, some crappy news for the Steelers. Just when I thought we were going to be able to get away with no arrests or lawsuits this off-season. Apparently Big Ben has been listed as one of the defendants in a civil suit claiming that he sexually assaulted a woman back in July 2008.

Yep, July 2008. And he is one of nine defendants listed in the report. Now I’m always a firm believer in siding with the victim, of course, and I’m devastated to see that Big Ben could even have his name affiliated with something so heinous. But there are other questions that I’m sure will have to be cleared up in future reports: Why wait an entire year? And who are the others that are listed? And it’s a civil suit…not a criminal one.

The suit was filed last week by one of the workers at Harrah’s. And check out this from TMZ. Now I never take TMZ as entirely trustworthy, but still, this incident sounds like it will be headline-worthy for a few weeks to come. I hate to see the Steelers embroiled in this kind of news when the season’s ready to kick off.