Christian Ponder addressed the media this week, but the questions were not about the Vikings chances to beat the Houston Texans and stay in the playoff hunt, or even about the growing unrest with Ponder's play. Reporters found themselves asking about Ponder's Monday wedding to ESPN reporter Samantha Steele. The engagement has been public knowledge for about a month but the wedding was a surprise. Not having to practice on Monday after a win on Sunday, Ponder and Steele took an afternoon drive to Hudson, Wisconsin and got married in the courthouse with only the folks at the courthouse as witnesses. Ponder and Steele thought it was important to get married before the holidays and the trip across the border was to limit the attention on themselves.the couple plans to have a larger ceremony and honeymoon in the off-season. While it is in poor taste to second guess choices pertaining to somebody's personal life, the timing and method of this marriage opens the door to scrutiny and speculation. Fans are not satisfied with Ponder's play this season, and while he made sure to mention in his press conference that he still had time to for his normal Monday film sessions, people will grab on to anything out of the ordinary to explain poor play at the quarter back possession. For instance, look at the scrutiny Tony Romo was under while dating Jessica Simpson. A quarter back's personal life has no direct correlation with his play on the field, but if you play poorly the week after a secret wedding (coincidence or not) while your team needs two wins to make the playoffs, people may place undo scrutiny on that quarter back. This increased scrutiny causes greater pressure to perform and that pressure does have the ability to effect one's play on the field. A secret, private, courtroom wedding opens the door to this unfair possibility. Even worse that the finger-pointing after a possible bad game against the Texans, this wedding lends itself to more personal speculations. A secret courtroom wedding which was important to the couple to squeeze in before the holidays screams of an unplanned pregnancy. While most reporters would not suggest such an intense question without substantial evidence, that has not stopped the folks on Twitter from hypothesizing from the roof tops. I wish Ponder and Steele the best of luck in their marriage and all the happiness in the world. I just hope this family of public figures do not end up regretting how they legally became a family.
