Harrison won't have last laugh

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Colt McCoy was briefly removed from Thursday night's game after a helmet-to-helmet hit with Pittsburgh's James Harrison. (Charles LeClaire/US Presswire)

For all the gnashing of teeth that followed James Harrison's one-game NFL suspension Tuesday, the one issue I couldn't recall being raised on Twitter, talk shows or anywhere else was the most relevant: What about Harrison's next hit?

Seemed everyone wanted to do a Zapruder-like breakdown of Harrison's helmet-to-helmet missile strike that concussed Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy last week. Or they wanted to review every similar hit over the past decade, then tally up the misdeeds.

Oh, the injustice of it all, the Nation cried in virtual unison.

A few of Harrison's teammates piped up, too, with cornerback Ike Taylor saying: "I don't understand how you punish James for playing through the whistle. He didn't punch anybody in the privates. He didn't stomp on anybody. He didn't spit in anyone's face. You're going to suspend a man for playing football."

Some of it makes for worthy debate.

Thing is, the past isn't the issue here. It's the future.

Let's assume the NFL harbors no ill will toward the Steelers (I've never bought that, given the Rooneys' stature) or toward Harrison (not so sure there, given that Roger Goodell has been known to read Men's Journal). That would make the league's motivation, in theory, an honorable one: Reduce concussions.

Well, Harrison's hit on McCoy was, as the league subtly pointed out in the headline of its press release, his "FIFTH ILLEGAL HIT AGAINST A QUARTERBACK IN THREE SEASONS." The suspension was intended to be cumulative. Moreover, both of the rules cited in the release — one regarding a passer out of the pocket still receiving "special protections," the other regarding "hits to a passer's head and use of the helmet" — were violated.

Case closed. That was easy.

So, do you fine Harrison?

How much of a fine is an effective deterrent to a player whose contract is worth $51 million and who shrugged off $100,000 in fines last year?

I had thought until the announcement that the league would go with a fine, and for no small reason: No player had ever been suspended for a head hit between the whistles. But the league evidently saw Harrison as being beyond fines, so they went with the one avenue they knew would get his — and everyone's — attention: They took him off the field.

It was the right move if aimed at discouraging Harrison in the future. You'd have to think that being forced to watch his teammates play Monday night in San Francisco — a pretty big game against the 49ers, you might have heard — will sting far more than the $73,529 he'll forfeit. He'll be letting the whole team down.

But really, I'm not sure any message will get through.

Remember, Harrison was telling reporters Monday that he expected neither a suspension nor a fine. That was either him trying to spin things or being outright delusional.

Then, Harrison's initial reaction to the suspension on his Twitter account was "LOL!!!" That's Internet code for "laugh out loud."

Imagine the reaction if he'd merely been fined.

It might be instructive for the Steelers and Harrison to look at the case of the Penguins' Matt Cooke.

When Cooke was issued his 17-game NHL suspension last season, it was unprecedented but widely viewed as fair, even locally. He'd been running players for years, and no piecemeal punishment had any effect until this one. He sat out the playoffs and watched his team rubbed out in the first round. Worse, he heard everyone inside the organization, from Mario Lemieux on down, challenge him to get his act together or get lost.

Since then, Cooke has changed his style, has kept clean and has been a terrific third-line player for the Penguins.

"The way I saw it, I had no choice," Cooke told me Tuesday. "I knew there was going to be extra attention on me, and I'm sure it's the same way with James. You can't slip up."

Lesson learned all around.

The NFL was fair to take this step with Harrison, but only for now. That can't be fully judged until there are more suspensions like it.

The Steelers have been fair, too. Tuesday, Mike Tomlin sharply dismissed any paranoia about the league being out to get Harrison and said of the suspension: "We'll accept that. We're disappointed for James. He's worked extremely hard to change his game."

It might not feel fair to Harrison, who is appealing the suspension through his agent — without the team's blessing, perhaps? — and told longtime friend Jerome Bettis on Tuesday he has no plan to change anything about the way he plays.

This is one head-on collision Harrison can't win.

Harrison deserves hefty fine

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
December 11, 2011

It's easy to predict the Steelers' week as they prepare to play a big game against the playoff-bound San Francisco 49ers Dec. 19 at Candlestick Park.

The NFL will review linebacker James Harrison's hit Thursday night on Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy, which resulted in a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Harrison for helmet-to-helmet contact. The league will fine Harrison heavily, perhaps even suspend him considering his history of similar hits. The Steelers will scream NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is out to get them and is especially targeting Harrison. Harrison will smolder and say he was wronged, although he will stop short of calling Goodell a "crook," a "devil" and a gay slur, as he did in a magazine article in the summer. The team will move on and take out all of the anger on the 49ers.

Sound about right?

There is no way Harrison avoids a stiff fine. There is no way he should. His hit on McCoy in the Steelers' 14-3 win is exactly the hit the NFL wants to take out of the game. It was much worse than safety Ryan Clark's hit on Baltimore Ravens tight end Ed Dickson Nov. 6. That hit resulted in a $40,000 fine for Clark and prompted outrage from everyone in the Steelers organization from coach Mike Tomlin, who called the fine "excessive," to the players, who went on another rant about Goodell and his unlimited disciplinary power even though their union signed off on it in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

A $50,000 fine for Harrison, perhaps?

Maybe $75,000?

It seems unlikely that Harrison will be suspended. Nor should he be. This was his first personal foul this season. He has done a much better job playing by the rules, yet has managed to keep his image as the NFL's most ferocious player.

But that's just one man's view. A lot of national media are calling for the NFL to come down hard on Harrison. They point to the $100,000 he was fined last season for four different hits. They say he still hasn't learned the difference between a legal hit and one that can knock a player into next week.

It's not hard to imagine the terror McCoy felt when he saw Harrison coming. He had just scrambled to his left and dumped a short pass to running back Montario Hardesty midway through the fourth quarter. McCoy had to know he was going to take a brutal hit because he had just released the ball. Harrison certainly didn't get to him late. But McCoy was right to have the reasonable expectation that he wouldn't take a vicious shot in the facemask from the crown of Harrison's helmet.

It's amazing that McCoy got up, let alone made it to the Cleveland sideline. It's beyond comprehension that Browns coach Pat Shurmur and the team's medical staff allowed him to return to the game after three plays. At least it was incomprehensible to McCoy's father, Brad, a longtime high school coach, who ripped the decision to put his son back in. The team acknowledged Friday that Colt McCoy had a concussion but said he didn't show symptoms until after the game.

"He was basically out [cold] after the hit," Brad McCoy told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

Colt McCoy said after the game that he didn't remember the hit.

NFL officials need to look into that when they review the Harrison hit.

But, really, the Browns aren't on trial here, are they? Nor is Cleveland defensive tackle Phil Taylor, who was penalized in the first quarter for delivering a blow to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's head and surely will be fined. Nor is Steelers linebacker James Farrior, who will be fined for the second time this season for hitting McCoy out of bounds in the third quarter.

No, this is about Harrison.

Everyone will be watching to see how Goodell and his people handle the Harrison hit.

"I hate him and will never respect him," Harrison said of Goodell in a Men's Journal article in July in which he also used the derogatory terms to describe him.

Harrison later apologized, calling his comments "inappropriate at least and way out of line."

The league office took no action against Harrison, presumably because the article came out during the NFL lockout.

Harrison will not -- should not -- escape this time.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

Steelers season is riding on Harrison's back

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Curtis Painter(notes) (7) fumbles after being hit by Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison(notes) (92) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Indianapolis, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011. (AP)

Linebacker James Harrison's surgically repaired back is starting to look strong enough to carry the Steelers defense. But it might have to carry a lot more. How about the entire team?

You should be thinking:

Heaven help Harrison find the strength.

It's no secret the offensive line has major issues. It lost starting tackle Willie Colon (torn triceps) in that horrible opening-game loss at Baltimore and was battered and bruised almost beyond recognition in the 23-20 win Sunday night at Indianapolis with injuries to tackles Jonathan Scott (ankle) and Marcus Gilbert (shoulder) and guard Doug Legursky (shoulder). It got so bad it looked as if tight end/H-back David Johnson might have to play tackle. "We were about to pull D-linemen over there to play O-line," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said.

Scott's injury appeared to be most serious. Some of you probably are saying that's a good thing because he's so bad, but be careful what you wish for. Trai Essex was the next man up at tackle Sunday night. If the coaches thought he was better than Scott, he would have been starting. Flozell Adams saved the season last year. Could he do it again? Can the team re-sign him and fit him in under the salary cap?

Adams or no Adams, the Steelers need a quick solution or maybe just more miracles from offensive line coach Sean Kugler, who successfully plugged holes last season all the way to the Super Bowl. Roethlisberger, who was sacked three times by the Colts, can't continue to take a beating. He spent much of the game looking over his shoulder for defensive end Dwight Freeney, who owned Scott. The running game was nonexistent. Rashard Mendenhall had nowhere to go.

"It's going to be a scary film meeting with coach Kugs," Essex said.

Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau probably enjoyed grading the game tape a lot more. His guys won it for the Steelers. I know, they dominated a lame Colts offense that was without quarterback Peyton Manning, just as they dominated a horrible Seattle Seahawks offense without star wide receiver Sidney Rice the week before in a 21-0 win. I also know the defense will get a much tougher test Sunday in Houston against a Texans team that put up 34 points in a win against Indianapolis, 23 in a win against Miami and 33 in a loss Sunday to New Orleans.

Still, I liked what I saw from the defense Sunday night. Harrison was especially terrific. It was more than just his sack of Colts quarterback Curtis Painter late in the game, which resulted in a fumble and a touchdown for safety Troy Polamalu. It was his game-high seven tackles, including two for losses. He fought through tight end Dallas Clark to tackle running back Delone Carter for a 1-yard loss. He pushed back offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo into quarterback Kerry Collins and forced an incompletion. He closed quickly to tackle wide receiver Austin Collie for a 1-yard loss after a catch.

No one accused Harrison of being old and done after this performance. No one said he appeared to be "running in mud," as Steelers linebackers coach Keith Butler did in August.

"This was the best I've felt all season," Harrison said. "I feel like I'm getting a little better each week."

Harrison had two back surgeries in the offseason. He said he's in agony after a game. "I'm talking pain." By Wednesday, after taking painkilling medication, he's ready for the one practice a week with contact. There is more pain. "Then, by Saturday, I'm ready to go."

Teammates have a hard time believing Harrison isn't 100 percent again.

"I think he plays that back thing up a little bit," linebacker Larry Foote said, grinning. "If I saw him getting dogged or knocked back, then I might believe it. But all I see him do is dominate."

Polamalu also played his best game after being bothered by leg troubles late last season and into training camp this summer. "He was flying out there," Foote said. "That long hair was really flying ..." The fumble recovery and touchdown were huge. "That was a great play by James," Polamalu said. "I had a great front seat to it." Polamalu also broke up a couple of passes for Clark. He blitzed from the corner and blew through Carter to force a Collins incompletion. He spun around running back Joseph Addai to get pressure on Collins and force another incompletion. He knocked Addai back with a hard tackle.

"They make exciting plays when they need to," Roethlisberger said of Polamalu and Harrison. "I'm glad they're on my side."

The Steelers need the two, now more than ever. They need them to stay healthy. The defense is going to have to carry the team until the offense finds a way to solve its line problems. It might have to carry it for a long, long time.

Harrison's back had better hold up.

"It will," Foote said. "I mean, just look at him. Watch him play. Look at the tape. You can see how strong he is. No one on our team works harder. He loves his body. He's always working to make it stronger. He's a maniac."

Foote gets no argument here.

Harrison is all that and more.

He might just be the key to the rest of the Steelers season.

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the "Vinnie and Cook" show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan. More articles by this author

NFL dances line of hypocrisy with personal conduct policy

By Paul Daugherty
INSIDE THE NFL
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
August 31, 2011

LATROBE, PA - JULY 29: James Harrison(notes) #92 of the Pittsburgh Steelers snaps in his chin guard during training camp on July 29, 2011 at St Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Boxing gloves or kid gloves?

Over here, James Harrison, linebacker, Pro Bowler, fearsome pass rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Harrison is also a candid, unrepentant, up-yours kind of guy. He referred to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell as a "puppet'' and "the devil'' in a recent magazine story.

Across the way, Cedric Benson, quiet, thoughtful running back, twice a 1,000-yard rusher for the Bengals, a bright light on a dim NFL team in Cincinnati. Benson has also been arrested four times in three years and is currently in the Travis County Jai in Austin, Texas, after pleading no contest to a 2010 assault charge.

Which player gets the kid gloves from the NFL, and which endures the standing-eight?

It's a rhetorical question to most who follow the league and the arbitrary discipline handed down by commissioner Roger Goodell. Yet it speaks to a problem that isn't going away.

Last fall, Goodell fined Harrison more than $100,000 for on-field hits deemed unsafe. The commissioner docked him $75,000 for two hits in one game, against Cleveland wideouts Josh Cribbs and Mohammed Massaquoi. Neither hit drew a penalty. A few months earlier, Goodell had met with Benson to discuss the assault charge for which Benson is now doing time. Goodell decided not to fine or suspend the Bengals running back.

There could be some inconsistency here.

Harrison is a difficult case. Benson is grateful for his second chance in Cincinnati following three disastrous years in Chicago. After running for 150 yards in a December win over Cleveland last year, Benson stood in front of his locker and wept in gratitude for the second chance he'd been given in Cincinnati. Rocks would talk before James Harrison wept openly in front of the media.

But are Harrison's misdeeds more heinous than Benson's?

You could argue they're less so. Harrison's indiscretions occurred within the context of Sunday afternoon combat, in a league where violence is assumed. Benson's happened far away from the game. Since 2008, Benson has been arrested four times in his hometown of Austin, twice on alcohol-related charges and twice for assault.

Why is Harrison punished by Goodell and Benson is not?

Is Goodell's no-nonsense authoritarianism encouraging, arbitrary or merely a necessary component of doing business?

It's easy to say that Goodell was more forceful with Harrison because Harrison's misdeeds occurred on the field. Let the criminal justice system deal with Benson. That doesn't explain other fines and suspensions, most notably those involving Adam Jones and the late Chris Henry.

Goodell released the following statement after suspending Jones for the 2007 season for his involvement in a strip-club melee:

"We must protect the integrity of the NFL. The highest standards of conduct must be met by everyone in the NFL because it is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right. These players, and all members of our league, have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis."

In a letter to Jones and Henry, Goodell wrote: "Your conduct has brought embarrassment and ridicule upon yourself, your club, and the NFL, and has damaged the reputation of players throughout the league.''

On the embarrassment and ridicule scale, where should Harrison fall? Benson?

The NFL dances the hypocrisy tango on this issue. It asks its players once a week to behave like barbarians. The rest of the time, it expects those barbarians to act like the rest of us. Only, they're not like the rest of us. That's a reason we watch them.

That's not the league's only dance with hypocrisy. It decries fan violence, yet does nothing to eliminate the beer sales that fuel the rage. Beer = violence = bad publicity is not a stout enough equation for the NFL to mess with the lucrative relationship it enjoys with its beer sponsors.

Since Goodell can't serve up two-game suspensions to brawling, gun-toting fans, the league's best option would be to ban beer sales at its stadiums, and to prohibit alcohol in its stadium parking lots. Subsequently, the Mississippi River will reverse direction and bacon will become a healthy snack.

But we digress.

Goodell has an obligation to protect the image and reputation of his league, same as any business, because image is money. Unless you work for yourself, you are probably subject to a personal conduct policy. It might be spelled out in a manual, it might be agreed to in a contract. You are made aware of it.

Most companies aren't as arbitrary about it as the NFL is. Players need guidelines. They need to know the rules will be applied fairly, across the board, no matter who the offending player might be. Players need to know what to expect. On and off the field.

Just because James Harrison has a personality that could freeze a meat locker doesn't mean he should be judged more harshly than Cedric Benson, or any other player.

I wanted to ask Benson about this Wednesday, but I couldn't. He was in jail. Harrison, meanwhile, was at practice. Where he was supposed to be.

Paul Daugherty is a columnist for The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Harrison, Troy back as anchors

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Friday, August 19, 2011

PITTSBURGH - AUGUST 18: Troy Polamalu(notes) #43 of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs with an intercepted pass against the Philadelphia Eagles during the preseason game on August 18, 2011 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

There was a whole lot to like about the Steelers' first-teamers in the 24-14 domination of Philadelphia's self-proclaimed Dream Team Thursday night, not least of which was Ben Roethlisberger in peak playground form, the Rashard & Redman rushing express, an offensive line patching up for two lost left tackles, and a defense that rendered Michael Vick as mobile as Kent Graham.

Really, it was about as exhilarating as an exhibition gets, especially after the egg laid last week in Washington.

"This was our chance to show what this defense was all about," linebacker LaMarr Woodley said.

Me, I would have settled for the NFL's Defensive Players of the Year for 2008 and 2010 simply walking onto, then walking off the Heinz Field grass without the help of a cart, stretcher or trainer.

Instead, I got much more.

No, James Harrison and Troy Polamalu weren't wholly themselves in their first real action since Super Bowl XLV. Neither recorded a tackle for the better part of the first half in which the first-teamers played. Neither even spent much time near the ball, with Polamalu so deep in center field he could have been confused with Andrew McCutchen.

Still, true to the history of these exceptional athletes, they delivered the back-to-back knockout blows late in the half.

With 1:12 left, Harrison and cornerback Donovan Warren swarmed Vick from behind for a shared sack, Harrison's left arm crashing down on Vick's shoulder like an anvil.

"The whole game felt good, felt strong," Harrison said. "We were able to do a lot of good things."

With the next snap on third-and-10, Vick's pass downfield was tipped by Woodley and descended into the arms of Polamalu, who winded his way back 36 yards, that mane flapping left and right with each dodge, before Vick brought him down with a dangerously low tackle.

"It's reckless, immature, Pop Warner," teased fellow safety Ryan Clark of the return. "But it's fun."

Yeah, just like the old No. 43.

When Polamalu returned to the sideline, coach Mike Tomlin greeted him by saying, "I'm over it."

"I want to take it back if I can," Polamalu said. "In the middle of a play, you're not thinking too much. Really, I just wanted to go out there and play ball. It felt good to be out there."

Sweeter still for this symmetry, Harrison had made such a bold initial rush that he would have drawn a holding penalty if not for the interception.

By halftime, the Eagles' offense had wasted 6:57 of everyone's time, and the Steelers' defense had its dynamic anchors back.

"Those guys are who they are," Tomlin said. "They're both former defensive-player-of-the-year type dudes, so we come to expect that play from them."

Hey, if you can name something that matters more to the Steelers' fortunes for 2011 than a healthy Harrison and Polamalu, I'm all ears. For all the other terrific pieces and all Dick LeBeau's schemes, the great separator with this defense is that it's next to impossible for opponents to scheme against Harrison, Polamalu and Woodley.

Harrison is 33 now, and he's coming off two surgeries in February and March to address a herniated disk in his lower back. There have been no complications so far, but any doctor will attest that there's no such thing as minor back surgery. All come with risk, all are prone to relapse, and uncertainty mounts with age. For sure, it was plenty sobering to see that back wrapped in ice after his exit last night.

Polamalu crossed into 30 since we last saw him and the rest of the secondary gobbled up by Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, and he still isn't fully recovered from the Achilles' tendon he injured last December. Sure, he toughed it out after that and was helped by a coaching staff that allowed him to play well off the line of scrimmage. But that's Clark Kent to Polamalu's Superman.

It's going to take time.

Or, as Harrison put it, "It's coming."

Give both credit for being blunt about their health. Harrison said again last night that he "won't be 100 percent" until the Sept. 11 opener, and Polamalu reiterated, "I'm not 100 percent yet." Those figures were confirmed on the field last night, but at least the trend is headed upward.

James Harrison is a Madman and We Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

Why those vilifying the Steelers' unhinged linebacker are missing the point.

BY SEAN CONBOY
Pulling No Punches
http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Pulling-No-Punches/
July 20, 2011

Greased up like a truck-stop stripper and holding akimbo handguns across his chest, Steelers linebacker James Harrison made a visual and verbal nincompoop of himself in this month's Men's Journal. In his tirade against Commissar Goodell, the New England Patriots and even his own teammates, Harrison somehow made amateur conspiracy theorist Rashard Mendenhall seem comparatively sane.

The kerfuffle kicked off a week-long marathon of rosary-clutching and revisionist history from an understandably punch-drunk fanbase. First it was the Super Bowl hangover, then Mendenhall's goofball Truther philosophizing and Hines’ failings with the DUI-decimal system, and now Harrison is sabotaging his own team?

This has been a summer of unprecedented numb-nuttery, that much is certain. But those who say that the moral fabric of the Steelers is tearing need to grab a mirror. Or a history book. Harrison's verbal barrage is media kindling, and nothing more. Unlike any other sport, overall team chemistry doesn't exist in the NFL. The idea of it makes for stirring NFL Films montages, but in reality, football locker rooms are segmented into small clusters of friends—the offensive linemen, the tight ends, the defensive backs.

Ask any player who his best friend on the team is and 9 out of 10 will say a player of their same position. Several defensive players have told me that they don't even watch the game when the offense is on the field.

The guiding hand of the Steelers was never Harrison, or even Roethlisberger. The leadership and personality of the team starts at the top with head coach and Wikiquote generator Mike Tomlin, and it ends with guys like Farrior and Polamalu. Worrying that the moral fabric of the Steelers is disintegrating because of Harrison's dumb-out is like worrying that the intellectual integrity of an entire 3rd grade class is crumbling because one mouth-breathing turtle-enthusiast won't stop eating Elmer's glue like it's fro-yo.

If you’re still feeling queasy about an internal rift, remember that the Steelers won a Super Bowl in 2005 when their defensive leader, Joey Porter, and their offensive leader, Roethlisberger, wouldn’t have peed on the other guy if he was on fire.

If the Internet had existed in the 1970s, several members of the Steel Curtain would have Photoshop’ed pictures of Terry Bradshaw chewing straw and riding a donkey around Station Square and Tweeted them to the world. Folk hero Jack Lambert would routinely threaten rookie running backs with disembowelment at training camp.

What do you think you’re watching on Sundays, anyway?

Harrison should undoubtedly be ashamed of calling Goodell a homophobic slur, but just as reprehensible are the media opportunists who have jumped at the opportunity crucify him when they’re just as culpable for the deification of jock culture. Walk into any locker room in professional sports and you’ll hear the F-word tossed around freely. Yet the mainstream media is all too eager to engineer puff pieces and cooked-up redemption stories about the very same athletes they see the uncut side of every single day.

Writers play dumb and deaf, and sell the fans the stories they want to hear. It’s dishonest, but inevitable given the media’s co-opting in the Sports Industrial Complex. So when a player is an unabashed animal and says as much right to our faces, “I am mean, I am a beast,” we recoil. How can this be? This is not my beautiful house. This is not my beautiful linebacker.

The visual of an armed Harrison in the Men’s Journal article wasn’t too far from the truth. Harrison is a hired gun; a hitman. Sometimes hired guns also happen to be giant sons-a-bitches. Often the best ones are—like Greg Lloyd, Kevin Greene, Ernie Holmes, Joe Greene, Lawrence Taylor, and other cement heads.

And what of Jack Splat? We mythologize Lambert, a solid man off the field, no doubt. But why is he a legend? Because he wore a t-shirt under his pads that warned, "I am a F****** Maniac." Because he snarled like an animal and said despicable things about opponents' wives and mothers. We love him because he was so intoxicatingly terrifying, so primal and real. He, like Harrison, was honest about his brutality.

So much of what Harrison has said about the state of the NFL today is a carbon copy of what Lambert warned us of in the ‘70s:

"Yes, I get satisfaction out of hitting a guy and seeing him lie there a while."

"I believe the game is designed to reward the ones who hit the hardest. If you can't take it, you shouldn't play."

Those quotes are from Lambert, but are an echo of Harrison’s diatribes.

Only now we’re supposed to feign horror when Harrison admits to getting a cathartic rush from knocking an opponent senseless, because neurological science has finally caught up with the dirty little secret we knew all along. The house lights have come up on the peep show, and here we all are: the beasts and the voyeurs. So what now?

Harrison is everything we say we want in a football player when we’re on the bar stool or in the recliner: He didn’t merely play all of last season with a herniated disk in his back, a debilitating injury that required him to get a discectomy after the Super Bowl. He played every single series last season. The majority of NFL players would been laid up, but Harrison was laying out quarterbacks, fighting through spasms and seizures without saying a word about it.

And for what? Why, at age 32, would he risk the rest of his abbreviated career? For you? For your message board egoism? No. He played because he knows nothing else. He doesn’t know where else to put his seething anger.

If you can’t accept that moral ambiguity, ask yourself this: What kind of person does it take to do what Harrison does? What kind of mad multimillionaire launches head-first into a 200-pound man at top speed, knowing full well that the price is a hot knife tearing through the tendons of his back?

In the sea of decontextualized nonsense that is quoted in the Men’s Journal profile, Harrison said the most disturbingly honest thing I’ve heard out of the mouth of an NFL player in a long time. “When you hit a dude hard, you feel it, too, and the Steelers go at play-to-die speeds. But if, God forbid, I wind up having brain damage, so be it.”

That’s the NFL as Coca-Cola, Sprint and Roger Goodell never want you to see it, and the most heartbreakingly honest admission from a Steelers player since the late Dwight White told Time magazine, "There's no question that I'm schizoid. I might be three or four people. I know I can be evil."

As long as Harrison keeps his idiocy and his firearms confined to print and not aimed at a police helicopter, the Steelers will be happy he's the mean, mad asshole in black-and-gold and not any other color. And if you think the Rooneys should take the moral high ground and ship Harrison out of town because of some long-lost phantasm called “The Steeler Way,” Google "Ernie Holmes manhunt" for a history lesson.

Apparently, there’s only one mortal sin in today’s NFL. You can be a lout, a beast, a madman, even a remorseless executioner. You just can’t admit to it. Because once you break down that fourth wall—once you turn to the audience and wink, “I am not an actor; I am a bad man,” the whole grand spell is broken.

This article appears in the July 2011 issue of Pulling No Punches

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James Harrison doesn't know how lucky he is

By Ian Roderick

Cold, Hard Football Facts Doctor of Bigbenology

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/index.php

July 18, 2011

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison caused a firestorm in the football world with an interview for Men's Journal in which he criticized his team’s quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.

“Stop trying to act like Peyton Manning,” Harrison said, “You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”

Beyond the question of whether Harrison was wise to publicly denounce a teammate, there is the question of whether Harrison was correct.

Is Peyton Manning a demonstrably better quarterback, and are the Pittsburgh Steelers overpaying for Ben Roethlisberger’s services?

The answer in both cases is no: Manning is not demonstrably better than Roethlisberger and the Steelers are not overpaying for Big Ben, at least if Manning's contract is the yardstick by which we measure "overpaying."

Let’s begin with salaries. Manning signed a seven year contract with the Indianapolis Colts in 2004 worth $99 million, meaning his average salary over the past seven years has been $14.17 million. Roethlisberger signed an eight year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008 worth $102 million, with an annual value of $12.75 million.

The Manning contract is worth approximately 11 percent more per year than the Roethlisberger contract, not counting inflation. So Harrison is correct that Roethlisberger’s salary is in the same ballpark as Manning’s. Both are considered elite quarterbacks, and both are paid as such.

The real question worth answering, though, is whether Harrison’s implication that Manning is significantly more valuable than Roethlisberger lives up to statistical scrutiny.

Manning vs. Roethlisberger: Passer Rating

The most popular statistic that measures quarterback performance in the NFL is passer rating. A lot of fans and analysis dis passer rating because of the complex formula used to create it and because of the seemingly arbitrary numbers it spits out. We understand the complaints.

But the Cold, Hard Football Facts love passer rating because it is a "Quality Stat," that is, it's a stat that has a direct correlation to winning football games.

Let’s compare Manning's and Roethlisberger's passer ratings since 2004, Big Ben's first year in the NFL.

Manning vs. Roethlisberger (passer rating)

Year	Manning	Roethlisberger
2004	121.1	98.1
2005	104.1	98.6
2006	101.1	75.4
2007	98.0	104.4
2008	95.0	80.1
2009	99.9	100.5
2010	91.9	97.0
Totals	101.6	92.5

As a volume passer, Peyton Manning is superior to Ben Roethlisberger. Over the past seven years, Manning has thrown more times for more completions, yards, and touchdowns, with a better rating.

Manning had a historically great season in 2004, when he threw 49 TDs to break Dan Marino’s 20-year-old record (48) and set the mark for best passer rating in a season (121.1). Since 2004, Manning has been exceptionally good. But his performances, as measured by passer rating, have also been on a fairly obvious downward trajectory since that record peak in 2004.

As Manning’s performance has slipped in recent years, Roethlisberger’s passer rating has surpassed Manning’s. Most fans and analysts, not to mention teammates such as James Harrison himself, seem ignorant of the fact that Big Ben has posted higher ratings than Manning in three of the past four seasons, including each of the past two.

The numbers are even more remarkable when you consider that Manning enjoys the benefit of playing his home games in a stat-inflating dome, where the conditions are always conducive to big passing days; Roethlisberger plays in one of the NFL's worst-weather outdoor arenas.

Manning vs. Roethlisberger: Passing YPA

The Cold, Hard Football Facts also like Passing YPA as a way to measure the effectiveness of each quarterback. It's easier to understand than passer rating, it provides for better comparisons across eras (YPA has remained relatively constant over the past 70 years, while passer ratings have soared) and, most importantly, YPA is also a Quality Stat. In other words, like passer rating, it has a direct correlation to winning football games.

Manning vs. Roethlisberger (YPA)

Year	Manning	Roethlisberger
2004	9.17	8.89
2005	8.27	8.90
2006	7.89	7.49
2007	7.85	7.81
2008	7.21	7.04
2009	7.88	8.55
2010	6.92	8.23
Totals	7.88	8.04

By this measure, Roethlisberger has often outperformed Manning, particularly over the past two years. As we wrote earlier this week, Yards Per Attempt is extremely predictive of success in the NFL. Teams that pass the ball most effectively are often the teams that make deep runs into the playoffs and end up bringing home Super Bowl trophies.

In this respect, Roethlisberger is one of the most prolific and underappreciated quarterbacks not just today, but in all of NFL history. Big Ben is No. 5 all time with a career average of 8.04 YPA. Three of the players ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame: Otto Graham (8.63), who parlayed his record average into a record six straight NFL championship games; Sid Luckman (8.42 YPA) and Norm Van Brocklin (8.16 YPA).

(The one oddball in the Top 5 is No. 4 Tony Romo of Dallas, who has yet to parlay his statistical proficiency and slight advantage over Roethlisberger in YPA (8.043 vs. 8.036) into championship-caliber playoff performances.)

The Steelers went undefeated with Roethlisberger starting at QB during his rookie year, before finally falling to the dynastic Patriots in the AFC title game; they won the Super Bowl the following year, with Big Ben the youngest QB in history to lead his team to achievement. He was far more than a caretaker: his incredible 8.9 YPA in 2004 and 2005 represents the most prolific first two years by a quarterback in NFL history, even if everybody but the Cold, Hard Football Facts failed to take notice.

Manning vs. Roethlisberger: running with the ball

A third statistical category that can be used to compare the quarterbacks is rushing. Since 2004:

• Ben Roethlisberger has rushed for 874 yards and 14 touchdowns.
• Peyton Manning has rushed for 140 yards and 8 touchdowns.

While rushing statistics are secondary to passing when measuring a quarterback’s performance, the superior rushing ability of Roethlisberger, who stands 6-5 and weighs 241 pounds, presents a real challenge to opposing defenses.

As noted above, Peyton Manning is a more statistically prolific quarterback than Ben Roethlisberger, at least in terms of meaningless volume indicators (i.e., he passes the ball a lot more).

In terms of the more important Quality Stats that relate to efficiency (passer rating) and effectiveness (YPA), Roethlisberger has been the better passer in recent years. And he remains a better rusher.

Most importantly, Roethlisberger outperforms Manning in the most crucial statistic of all: Super Bowl wins. By that measure, there is no question that Roethlisberger is worth every penny, even if his on-field performance resembles a fuel efficient Honda Accord more than Peyton Manning’s high performance Ford Mustang.

The Steelers have won three AFC titles and two Super Bowls in seven seasons with Roethlisberger at the helm; the Colts have won two AFC titles and one Super Bowl in Manning's 13 years at the helm.

Bearing that in mind, Harrison might want to rethink his opinion of his team's quarterback. Then again, thinking before speaking has never been a strong suit for James Harrison.

James Harrison's words define image

By LZ Granderson
http://espn.go.com/nfl/
July 16, 2011

One of the greatest hip-hop cuts of all time is "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. Released in 1992, this introspective monologue started off as a tribute to a friend of the group who had passed away but ended up becoming the lead song to the soundtrack of many black Gen X'ers lives, of which I am a part.

To this day, whenever I hear the haunting sax refrain that drives the melody, my head involuntarily begins to bop, as my mind does a quick inventory of the decisions I've made and how I hope to be viewed when people reminisce over me.

I thought of this song when I saw the photo of a shirtless James Harrison, brandishing two guns and a frown -- driving up the page clicks for Men's Journal, while simultaneously driving home nearly every negative stereotype of today's black athlete.

In the apology that followed he said he's a gun collector, a hunter and a fisherman who advocates for the responsible use of firearms and "could just as easily posed with my fishing poles."

"…… I am not promoting gun violence by posing for that photo."

Hmmm, WWJD (what would James do?): Go for the fishing poles or play off a cover image of the video game series "Hitman" in which the main character, Agent 47, is an assassin and the subtitle of the latest installment is "Blood Money?"

Decisions, decision.

I'm not going to say that Harrison's apology isn't sincere. But I am amazed at how the language an athlete tweets or uses in interviews always seems vastly different from the language used in apologies.

It's a free country and Harrison doesn't owe anyone anything, not even his community. If he wants to push a negative stereotype of black men in general and black athletes in particular, it is what it is. The days of black athletes feeling morally obligated to "give back" or be positive role models are long gone.

It's every man for themselves.

It's every man, rep themselves.

Still when I think about the Harrison interview and all his other blips, I couldn't help but recall the Rock-Smooth lyric, "when they reminisce over you, my God."

• Skipping out on meeting the president of the United States -- twice.
• A domestic dispute (charges were eventually dropped).
• And now trying to downplay a photograph that emulates an assassin and comments critical of fellow Steelers. (His beefs about teammates' play in the Super Bowl would have more bite if dude had more than one tackle.)

But that's neither here or there. In less than five years, the 33-year-old Harrison will likely be out of football, but our impression of him, carved from what we know of his life up to this point, will live long after.

Realistically he probably doesn't really give damn about that, me, you, or how anything he said in the story -- or apology -- makes him look. And maybe years from now that's what they'll say about him: "He didn't give a damn."

Too bad, because they could say so much more.

Harrison was an undrafted free agent who has scratched and clawed his way to being one of the best defensive players today, maybe of all time. His legacy should be one of resilience and determination. His narrative should be repeated every hour during the NFL draft, much in the same way Tom Brady's is. This is a guy who was underestimated and dismissed now forcing the league to recognize. He should be so much more than what he's allowed himself to become.

I will always have a soft spot for people like Harrison because, as someone who started life with my share of mistakes, I know people can change. And as novelist George Eliot once said, "it's never too late to be who you might have been."

But that doesn't take away the fact that we must realize who that person is today. I'm not outraged by a single thing Harrison said in that interview because, sadly, I've come to expect that out of him. He's always linked to questionable behavior, so I expect questionable words.

My surprise is reserved for the day he changes. I'm not being cynical, I'm just being real.

I remember when I used to cringe every time someone of Harrison's profile pulled something like he did in Men's Journal. Between our culture's insatiable appetite for scandal, and the small number of positive black images in the press, the black community couldn't afford to have its public figures lead reckless lives. There simply wasn't a balanced portrayal of the black community in the media. There was one episode of "The Cosby Show" vs. a week's worth of "breaking news."

I'm not sure things are too much different now, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Harrison's in Men's Journal, Rodney King's in jail -- again -- and Chris Brown's in dire need of growing up.

And that's just in one week.

I guess I'm at the point where my desire for someone to be something he's not has given way to accepting who he really is. Fines and suspensions can punish, jail can deter but eventually a person's going to be who he is going to be. I hope for change but accept people may not. If Harrison was reported arrested tomorrow, I doubt anyone would be shocked. He's projected that kind of image.

And when they reminisce over him, that's what they'll say,… unless he decides otherwise.

LZ Granderson is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at lzgranderson@yahoo.com.

James Harrison's words dull his point

Steelers LB's language in ripping Goodell overshadows his criticism of commissioner

By Ashley Fox
http://espn.go.com/
July 13, 2011

James Harrison posed with two of his handguns for this photo that appears in Men's Journal. (Mensjournal.com)

James Harrison does not look tough. He does not look like the meanest player in the NFL, the hardest hitter or the most feared defender.

He looks like an idiot. And he looks very, very bad.

I'm not sure what is the most offensive part of the spread on Harrison in the August issue of Men's Journal, out on Friday. The picture with the guns? The anti-gay slur? The utter disrespect for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell? Or the calling out of two of his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates?

It is all bad, and it overshadows the fact that Harrison does have a valid criticism, shared by other players in the NFL, of how Goodell went about fining players for illegal hits last season. There are players like Harrison who think Goodell unfairly targeted African-American players and fined certain players more than others. There are players like Harrison who think Goodell issued harsher fines for illegal hits on white players than for hits on black players. And there are players like Harrison who think Goodell had it out for certain players.

Harrison is the perfect person to speak on this subject, because Goodell took $100,000 out of his pocket last season, fining Harrison more than any other player. But because of his inflammatory language, Harrison lost any opportunity to make his point about the fairness of Goodell's system or to try to persuade Goodell to change it. He ripped Goodell, which was not breaking news, but he did so by using an anti-gay slur to describe the commissioner.

Using an anti-gay slur is just as unacceptable as using a racial slur. You don't have to be in support of gay marriage, but you cannot be intolerant. Gay slurs are not slang. They are hurtful, and the use of them has to stop.
Harrison also called Goodell "stupid," a "puppet" and a "dictator," and said that, "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."

Harrison can hate Goodell all he wants. He can think Goodell is out to get him, is unfair and is unjust, but he needs to show Goodell respect, just as he needs to show his head coach, Mike Tomlin, respect and his position coach respect and the person who makes his lunch in the Steelers' cafeteria respect.

Playing football under a six-year, $51.175 million contract does not mean Harrison isn't still an employee. He is. There are rules, and there are consequences for breaking those rules.

Harrison said that if the Steelers had defeated the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, he was going to whisper in Goodell's ear during the trophy presentation: "Why don't you quit and do something else, like start your own league in flag football?" Now that would have been classy, but Harrison did not get that opportunity. The Steelers did not win. Harrison did not take responsibility for losing the game, even though he had only one tackle the entire game, a sack of Aaron Rodgers where Rodgers essentially ran into him. He did not apologize for getting dominated most of the game by Packers tackle Chad Clifton.

Instead, Harrison ripped his quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, who did take responsibility for the loss after throwing two interceptions in the game.
"Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again," Harrison said of Roethlisberger. "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."

Harrison also called Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall a "fumble machine."
Rule No. 1 of being a good teammate is you do not publicly criticize a teammate -- ever. You keep that in house. Publicly throwing a teammate under the bus, particularly the quarterback, only serves to divide a locker room, and divided locker rooms do not produce championships.

Tomlin is a master at managing star players and their monster egos, and he will have his hands full with this one whenever the lockout ends. Harrison drew a line down the middle of the team, offense on one side, defense on the other. Tomlin will have to fix that.

The photo accompanying the article shows Harrison shirtless with his arms crossed holding two of his guns, reportedly an FN Five-Seven pistol and a Smith & Wesson 460V revolver. It is a ridiculous image for kids to see. Harrison is a professional football player and therefore, unfortunately, a role model for some children. In the picture he is promoting guns, as if he has never been to inner city Chicago or Detroit or Philadelphia and seen the devastation gun use causes.

Harrison is not some character in a video game or a movie. He is a name and a number and a man with influence and sway on young people. We don't need more young people on the streets with guns. We need less.

If he wants to own a gun, fine. That is his right. But don't pretend that a gun makes you tough. It does not. It makes you dangerous. There is a difference.

No one has ever questioned Harrison's toughness. But it is now fair to question whether he has a clue.

Ashley Fox covers the NFL for ESPN.com.