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Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger agreed to one of the richest contract in Pittsburgh Steelers history on Monday. The eight-year deal is worth $102 million US and includes $36 million in guarantees, placing Roethlisberger among the National Football League’s highest-paid players.

Roethlisberger, 26, would join fellow signal-callers Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Carson Palmer, Donovan McNabb and the suspended Michael Vick in the $100-million club. An Ohio native, Roethlisberger led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory two years ago — the youngest quarterback to achieve the feat — and was the 11th overall pick in the 2004 draft. He has started in all four seasons with the team.

Last season, he threw a team-record 32 touchdown passes with only 11 interceptions in leading Pittsburgh to a 10-6 record and an AFC North title, bouncing back from a 2006 season marred by a motorcycle accident and an appendectomy. Roethlisberger’s Pro Bowl season also included a 65 per cent completion rate and a 104.1 efficiency rating.  In my opinion this guy is worth every penny.

Former major leaguer Chuck Knoblauch carried his toddler son in his arms on his way out after speaking for about 1 1/2 hours Friday with congressional lawyers investigating drugs in baseball.

Accompanied by his wife and a lawyer, Knoblauch did not reveal specifics of what he was asked or what he told staff members from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Knoblauch was among more than 80 baseball players cited in former Senate majority leader George Mitchell’s report on drug use in the sport. Asked after leaving the interview whether there were questions about himself or other baseball players, Knoblauch replied, “I only know about myself.”  His lawyer, Diana Marshall, said: “Everything was fine. He answered all the questions.”

Knoblauch’s closed-door interview was part of the committee’s preparation for a Feb. 13 hearing. That public session is expected to focus on Roger Clemens’ denial of allegations in the Mitchell Report made by Brian McNamee, the pitcher’s former personal trainer. McNamee said he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing substances.

Knoblauch is a former teammate of Clemens’ on the New York Yankees, and McNamee told Mitchell he injected Knoblauch with human growth hormone.

Knoblauch, a four-time All-Star who played for the Twins, Yankees and Royals, ended his major league career in 2002. He agreed Monday to speak to the committee after initially failing to respond to an invitation to testify.   I wonder if folks are really suprised at the high level of steriod and human growth hormone (HGH) use in a sport that awards multi-million dollar contracts to the players with the best stats.

O.J. Simpson filed court papers seeking dismissal of half the charges against him, saying prosecutors in Nevada failed to meet legal standards to prosecute him for kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy, his lawyer said.

Grasso filed court papers Thursday claiming prosecutors didn’t meet the evidentiary standards to prosecute the former football star on six of the 12 charges against him.

“They’re charging O.J. with … the specific intent to commit robbery,” Grasso said, citing Nevada law underlying the felony charge of robbery. “He wasn’t stealing from somebody else. He was taking back something that was his.”

Simpson, 60, is accused of leading five other men in the gunpoint robbery of two memorabilia dealers who were peddling collectibles associated with Simpson, including the suit he wore the day he was acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.

Simpson has denied any knowledge of guns being involved in the confrontation. He has said he intended only to retrieve items that had been stolen from him by a former agent.

Grasso said Simpson would fight the other six charges against him at his trial, set to begin April 7. Those counts include burglary, coercion and assault with a deadly weapon.

District Judge Jackie Glass has set a Feb. 21 deadline for prosecutors to respond and a March 7 hearing on motions in the case.  Charles Ehrlich, Clarence Stewart are being tried with Simpson; three former co-defendants have pleaded guilty.  Stewart and Ehrlich have also challenged some of the charges and Ehrlich’s attorneys have asked the judge to separate his trial from Simpson’s.

Simpson, Stewart and Ehrlich are all free on bond after pleading not guilty to all charges.  Basically it sucks to be Simpson!