James Harrison, outspoken linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has made waves recently stemming from a few vicious hits he put on Browns wide receivers Joshua Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi during last Sunday’s game. Both Cribbs and Massaquoi left the game with concussions and did not return; their status for next week is also in doubt. Asked about the possibility of further action from the league, Harrison went on record as saying it would be a “travesty” if he were fined for the hits, which were deemed legal hits and not penalized during the game.
Unfortunately for him, he went on to say that he loves to hurt people, and that’s what he is trying to do every single play. While he later clarified that his definition of “hurting” is not the same of “injuring”, he might as well have written the league office a letter saying he’d like to donate some of his money to the NFL, enclosed with a blank check.
One day later he, along with two other players, were fined by the league for helmet-to-helmet hits. The other two players were fined 50k. Harrison was fined 75k. Outraged, Harrison gave a radio interview in which he said he’d be meeting with coach Mike Tomlin the next day and that he would seriously consider retiring from the NFL. This has raised eyebrows across the league as well. Was this just posturing from a man who feels the league has it out for him? Is he trying to “make a statement” by threatening to quit? Is it all just a bluff?
From everything I’ve read and listened to, almost everyone who knows anything about the NFL agrees on two things:
1.Harrison’s hits were completely legal within the guidelines set by the NFL.
2.Harrison went about voicing his displeasure/concern in the wrong way.
Before I get into it, I want to make something clear: I don’t particularly care for James Harrison as a person. His demeanor is always sour. He seems to have little to no personality. His sense of humor is practically nonexistent. When Saturday Night Live made a joke about him needing oxygen after his 100+ runback in the Super Bowl, he
actually got mad. He says incredibly stupid things, such as the above statement about hurting opponents or that he wasn’t going to visit the White House after the Steelers’ Superbowl XLIII win because “If (the president) wanted to meet the Steelers, he would’ve invited us before. If Arizona would have won, I’ll bet he would have invited them.”
Wow. True idiocy.
James Harrison, the football player, is a different story. He’s a guy who plays all-out all the time. Many people don’t know this, but Harrison was cut 4 different times before breaking into the NFL (3 by the Steelers, once by the Ravens). He got his CDL and was going to be a truck driver. Only when someone got injured did he get a call was put on the active roster. This is a man who knows he has it good, and who knows how lucky he is to be playing in the league. He plays to the very best of his ability every down of every game. His settings on the field are “rest” and “kill”.
James Harrison is a scary, scary man.
This is why I don’t buy the argument that he’s posturing. James Harrison doesn’t posture. I don’t think he even has the ability. He says what he means and means what he says. When James Harrison says “I don’t know if I can be effective under the new guidelines,” I believe that’s exactly what he means. If he is going to be suspended or exorbitantly fined for any helmet-to-helmet contact, even when it is not his fault, then he has to sit back and think about whether or not he wants to sacrifice his body on every play only to end up sacrificing his paycheck at the end of the game because a receiver ducked his head into Harrison’s path.
What I really take umbrage with is those who say Harrison is being petty or whiny. If you worked as hard as you could at your job but were put in circumstances where you had to sacrifice pay or benefits because of something you can’t always control, what would you do? If you were a pharmacist and filled a prescription that someone misused, you wouldn’t lose pay. If you’re a chef who prepares a quality meal, you don’t get suspended if a customer doesn’t like how it tastes. How long would you stay in the profession if that were the case? But when James Harrison says he may quit because he’s going to fined or suspended for a receiver or running back ducking their head into his, its regarded as petty. I don’t buy that.
I don’t think he was even making a complaint. He said what he was considering given the new circumstances, and I believe that’s exactly what he was doing. His agent, who stood to lose quite a large chunk of money had Harrison retired, confirmed this was the case. As did coach Mike Tomlin, who could only say “Well, I sure hope he’s here
tomorrow.” But Tomlin obviously felt seriously enough about it to excuse Harrison from practice on Wednesday, and Tomlin isn’t one to tolerate a lot of nonsense.
The last (and best) argument against Harrison’s actions is that he was being selfish and hurting his teammates by threatening to quit. can see this as a legitimate concern; if Harrison retired then the Steelers’ defense, the current best scoring-defense in the league, would lose a crucial cog. There is no doubt that losing Harrison would be a big blow. However, if he truly believed the rule change would hinder him that much, he might think his continued presence would hinder his teammates rather then help them. Whether or not that is the case, whether his intentions in this aspect are noble or selfish, I can’t say. I also can’t say that I’d like it if he left his teammates in the lurch. The knee-jerk reaction from the media seems to be that even though he’s in the right, he’s being selfish. What I am saying is that
before people judge his actions, they might want to think about taking a look into his mindset.
James Harrison reported to practice on Thursday, apparently ready to take a crack at working within the new rules, which is to say the stringent enforcement of the old rules. Hopefully the NFL will realize the game is not played in slow motion, and that some of the hits that are sustained, even helmet-to-helmet ones, are the inevitable consequence of the violent, fast-moving game that we all love so much. I hope that players who do not intend to injure will keep their
paychecks, while those who blatantly try to injure others are punished on the field and then off, if necessary. I’ll be interested in seeing how the NFL indeed forces its “new” rules on hits to the head. And I’ll be very interested in seeing James Harrison take the field on Sunday, and to see what exactly he does.
There’s nothing you can say that can convince me that Harrison wasn’t acting out like a whiny little 16 year old girl who isn’t getting her way.
Waaaah, the league is changing a punishment. Not a rule, helmet to helmet hits are already illegal. But changing a punishment to suspension. Waaaaaaah, I’m not going to be able to be as dirty of a player as I was before, so I’m going to quit.
Grow up.
If I make a mistake at my job, and I get penalized, I don’t go home for the day and threaten to retire. I man up.
Also, It’s impossible to compare my situation as a 5-figure restaurant manager to his position as a multi-million dollar a year NFL superstar. That’s just silly.
I stick but what I said when I heard the news, I hope he does retire. He annoys me. He brings nothing positive to today’s NFL.
If you make a mistake at your job, I’m willing to bet you don’t lose money or go on suspension. I’d like to see you (or me, or anyone) “man up” if they get docked half their paycheck for screwing something up without thinking “maybe I’m not in the right profession anymore.” And if that thing is not your fault, then I think you’d think even harder about it.
Just so you know, that wasn’t directed at you, the profession just provided an easy hypothetical.
You can ignore or disagree with the other side if you want. But most of the people I hear talk about it understand both sides, so I figured I’d write about it for those who don’t get it/don’t think about it for whatever reason, most likely their dislike of the Steelers or Harrison himself, as so far those are the only people who have just taken the “Harrison is dirty and that’s all there is to it” type of stand.
Who brings anything “positive” to the NFL? I don’t understand that statement at all.
Of course I don’t lose half my pay or get suspended when I screw up. That’s why your whole argument is flawed.
I lose my job. Guess what, I know that. It’s a risk that I take. That’s why I follow the rules at work, instead of complaining about them. I’d love to scream at a customer everytime they flip out because their hamburger was overcooked, but I’m not allowed to.
In spite of all this, I’ve never threatened to retire. Nor have I ever threatened to leave my job and find another one.
James Harrison isn’t allowed to hit people helmet to helmet, and if he does, he knows what the penalty is. And, the penalty just got steeper. You can suck it up, like every other player in the NFL is doing, or you can make a big stink about it because you’re a 16 year old girl.
330 defensive starters in the NFL just went on with their business this week, and 1 blew everything way out of proportion. That’s why I’m speaking out so against him so much this week. I have no respect for him at the moment. It has nothing to do with ignoring or not understanding both sides of the argument. It has everything to do with Harrison’s behavior itself.
You don’t get fired if you overcook something. You probably just make a new dish. Maybe you’d get fired if you continually did something wrong over a period of time, and that would happen here too, so I think your argument there is the one that is flawed.
The point is that 1. He got fined for hits that are LEGAL under NFL rules and 2. He questions his own effectiveness if he’s going to be fined or suspended every time some receiver flinches and causes helmet-to-helmet contact. Should he have kept it to himself? yeah, probably, but as I’ve discussed in the article, James Harrison is kind of an idiot. But he’s also brutally honest, so when he was asked about it in an interview instead of being evasive (like he probably should have) he just told the interviewer what he was thinking. It was picked up by ESPN, etc.
Do you think of the 330 defensive players, he was the only one who had reservations about the new rule? of course not. But you make it out like he went on some sort of campaign instead of stating what he was thinking, following through with his meeting, and then making a decision.
Under what definition is his hit legal? It’s illegal to hit a defenseless WR in the shoulder/neck/head area with any part of your arm/shoulder/helmet, and if the receiver is no longer defenseless, it is still illegal to launch yourself.
Harrison 100% launched himself on that tackle, and I don’t see how you or anyone can disagree. I haven’t heard anybody disagree.
Of course Harrison isn’t the only player who is against it. For the record, its not a new rule, its a new punishment. But even so, I know Harrison can’t be the only one who opposes it. But he’s the only one who acted out in such a negative nancy way. That’s the problem I have.
We all know you’re never going to retire because of something like this. We all knew Harrison wasn’t going to. You don’t leave this opportunity and that paycheck behind in the prime of your career over a disagreement with the league office. So Harrison coming out and making that statement, and then leaving practice and turning it into an ordeal, is the thing that really rubbed me the wrong way on all of this.
Grow up James Harrison. The end.
Sharkey’s being a little bitch like James Harrison.
^ more steeler bias. stupid hippie.
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