Fans embrace Roethlisberger

NFL: Ben Roethlis- berger was so worried that the Pittsburgh Steelers fans who once embraced him would boo him, he couldn’t recall being so nervous and apprehensive before a football practice.

What Roethlisberger (pictured above) didn’t expect: waves of cheering supporters wearing his No. 7 jersey and knocking over temporary security fences to get the autograph of a player whose vulgar off-field behavior led the NFL to suspend him for six games.

Roethlisberger, so disliked in Pittsburgh a few months ago that he wondered if he’d regain a sliver of his previous support, was greeted warmly by a crowd estimated at 10,000 on Saturday at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. He heard few, if any jeers, and many fans appeared to go out of their way to embrace him.

There were cheers when Roethlisberger and receiver Hines Ward arrived on the practice field together, and more when the quarterback found Antwaan Randle El on a pass route.