James Harrison In Men’s Journal
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James Harrison In Men’s Journal
Dear RoleModel,
What are your thoughts on James Harrison’s interview in Men’s Journal? I heard he put the NFL Commissioner and a lot of his own teammates on blast. Do you think he should be fined or suspended, and be honest.
Byron J.
Byron, first off let me thank you for your questions. Seriously bro, it gave me an excuse to buy the magazine as research so no arguments with the wife, HAHAHA, not to mention I finally have something to write about.
When I first heard about the whole James Harrison article, I was skeptical since it came from ESPN, which in my experience has always been a very anti-Pittsburgh station, but never more so than the past few years because the Steelers and their (not it’s) fans are not going to just slide the New England Patriots scandal under the rug like New England based ESPN and Patriots fan Roger No-Goodatall want us to do. I expect that station to try and take an article and use it to instigate a family feud within the greatest organization pro sports has to offer.
With that said, I read the article, and though a lot of things he may have said or done could be looked down upon by the media and certain fans, I personally applaud James for coming out and saying what he feels, without being politically correct or sugar-coating truths out of fear. James Harrison has no fear, and it shows every single season on the field and off it.
Since I don’t want to quote the entire article, I’ll just skip to a few of my favorite comments and explain why I enjoyed the things he had to say. I will give fair warning now, some of the language in this article may be harsh, so if you’re not a fan of swearing, stop reading this now…
MENS JOURNAL: “My Rep is James Harrison, mean son of a bitch who loves hitting the hell out of people” he says. “But up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty – till Roger Goodell, who’s a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league. If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn’t do it. I hate him and will never respect him.”
ROLEMODEL: Everything he said here is gospel as far as I’m concerned. James is far from a dirty player, and shouldn’t be labeled one. Is he mean? Damn right! Does he play with a chip on his shoulder? You bet your sweet little ass he does! Does he hit opposing ball carriers with bad intentions? He wouldn’t have it any other way, and being a Steelers fan since birth, neither would I. We have a name for that kind of playing, it’s called Steelers football. When I was a kid, Jack Lambert played that way, after him, we had a cornerback named Delton Hall who played that way. Greg Lloyd followed and in my opinion took it to a whole new level. Joey Porter played that way, and now we have James Harrison playing that way.
All of those guy hit to hurt you, but none of them tried to injure anyone, nor did they purposely hit anyone after the whistle blew. Playing hard and playing dirty are not the same, but unfortunately, Roger No-Goodatall doesn’t understand the sport he commissions. James has every right to have harsh feelings toward a bias commissioner who set out on a personal vendetta to destroy James Harrison’s good name, and a lot of other Steelers players for that matter.
MENS JOURNAL: “Clay Matthews, who’s all hype – he had a couple of three-sack games in the first four weeks and was never heard from again – I’m quite sure I saw him put his helmet on Michael Vick and never paid a dime. But if I hit Peyton Manning or Tom Brady high, they’d have fucked around and kicked me out of the league.” And: “I slammed Vince Young on his head and paid five grand, but just touched Drew Brees and that was 20. You think black players don’t see this sh*t and lose all respect for Goodell?”
ROLEMODEL: Black players, white players, black fan and white fans see it James. I think anyone who claims they don’t see the bias fines are either racists, blind or liars. But it’s not only black & white, it’s also black & gold! Ben Roethlisberger also took bullsh*t shots to the head, had a blatant facemask right in front of the ref by a Baltimore Ravens defender, and not only was their no flag, there was also no fine!
MENS JOURNAL: Then he laid down fire on some of his friends in black-and-gold, calling Pittsburgh running back Rashard Mendenhall a “fumble machine” for getting stripped by Matthews in the Super Bowl, a late-game flub that stopped the Steelers cold on their drive for a go-ahead score, and groaning about Roethlisberger’s recklessness, including two bonehead interceptions that day. “Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”
ROLEMODEL: This is of course the main part of the story NESPN (not a typo) reported, in hopes of instigating some dysfunction among the Steelers players. Not going to work, because it’s pretty obvious from how he worded it that he was somewhat trying to be funny when he was poking fun at Big Ben, and Ben knows it because James spoke with him already. As far as Mendenhall is concerned, I would have liked to see the entire comments made about him, and not just the two words Men’s Journal posted. Truth is, the hot back in Pittsburgh was Isaac Redman, but he wasn’t a first round draft pick, so he didn’t get the rub from Coach Tomlin. But again, even if he did say it like that, it’s true and I respect him for that.
I saved the best quotes for last. They’re about the one team James Harrison hates more than any other team in the entire NFL, as do I, the New England Patriots…
MENS JOURNAL: “I SHOULD HAVE ANOTHER RING,” HE SAYS, apropos of nothing as we drive back from lunch one scorching afternoon, the sun still a demon at 4 PM. “We were the best team in football in 2004, but the Patriots, who we beat in the regular season, stole our signals and picked up 90 percent of our blitzes” in the AFC title game. “they got busted for it later, but, hey, they’re Goodell’s boys, so he slapped ‘em $500,000 and burned the tapes. Was he going to rescind their Super Bowls? – man, hell no!”
He’s just getting started on the Pats. “I hate those motherf***ers,” he says, “especially those two clowns who talked about me after the fines.” He’s referring to Rodney Harrison, the ex-Patriot turned analyst on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, and Teddy Bruschi, another former Pat who appears on ESPN. “Sayin’ I’m dirty – shit, Harrison was the dirtiest player ever, a steroid cheater who was known by the whole world to be a head hunter and late hitter. And Bruschi’s an idiot, straight-up simple. I’d like to meet them both in a dark alley.”
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