Thursday, July 14, 2011

"And He'd Rather Be Known As The Angry Young Man"
by Jay Kaplan, OTSL Co-Host/Head Writer

When Billy Joel wrote this song back in 1976 I doubt he had Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro LB James Harrison in mind. After all, Harrison wasn't born until two years later, but as I read, watched and listened to the stories surrounding the EPIC, disrespectful, insult-laced rant that the 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year went on in for an interview in the August issue of Men's Journal (http://www.mensjournal.com/jamesharrison) I can't help but think of certain verses in Billy's song.
Link
Verses like "He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl/He's always at home with his back to the wall." and "Give a moment or two to the angry young man/With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand. He's been stabbed in the back, he's been misunderstood/It's a comfort to know his intentions are good." Though I'm not at all sure that what came out Harrison's mouth and onto the pages of Men's Journal could even remotely be classified under the heading of "good intentions".

In the wide ranging interview Harrison quite literally goes off like an IED, spraying shrapnel on the NFL, former players now working as commentators, as well as teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall; but he saves his angriest comments for Commissioner Roger Goodell, the worst of them being "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".

REALLY James? Are you KIDDING ME? What in the name of Art Rooney were you thinking? Sorry, retract that. You OBVIOUSLY were NOT thinking otherwise you wouldn't have shot yourself in one foot and put the other one SQUARELY in your mouth.

Let me be clear here. Everyone knows that the Steelers are my team. During football season I bleed Black & Gold (or Yellow as per Wiz Khalifa's rap). James Harrison is one of the best Linebackers in the NFL and the Steelers defense is one of the league's best in no small part because of the havoc he wreaks on Sundays.

That said, I cannot in ANY way, condone, defend or rationalize his comments. I know he believes that the NFL in general and Goodell in particular are targeting him for the way he plays. I know that he was not happy with the mistakes that Big Ben (2 INT's) and Mendenhall (1 fumble) made in the Super Bowl loss to Green Bay.

However, first of all, you DO NOT publicly throw teammates under the bus. EVER. You may not like everyone on your team, but discord in a locker room can ruin a team's championship hopes as quickly as an interception or a fumble in the Super Bowl. Harrison is now backtracking on the harsh comments about Roethlisberger, telling ESPN's Merrill Hoge (a former Steeler) that the writer twisted his comments about the QB and it was not Harrison's intention to slam Big Ben, who apparently has spoken with Harrison and says all is well between them. Even Mendenhall had no issue with Harrison's comments, though via his Twitter feed, he did direct folks to a stat page showing that he only fumbled twice in 324 carries last season.

Harrison has not - as of yet - backtracked on any of his comments about Goodell. Which leads me to my second of all. There's an old adage that goes "Show me someone not griping about their boss and I'll show you someone who is unemployed". Sorry James, but no matter how much you don't like Goodell, his policies, the way he metes out fines and suspensions or the ways he's trying to make changes to improve safety, you just CANNOT publicly disrespect the Commissioner of the NFL like that. Calling him stupid, a puppet and a dictator would be bad enough, but using Anti-Gay slurs and saying that if he was on fire you wouldn't piss on him to put the flames out is going so far beyond the line it's RIDICULOUS.

In one fell swoop the perception of James Harrison has gone from a respected player with a beef to an angry idiot without a clue. Before all this, you may not have agreed with Harrison on his points of view about the changes being pushed by Goodell that were affecting the way he'd played the game his whole life, but you at least could respect him. Now? I don't even know that I as a Steelers fan can respect him. Has he tarnished his image? Without a doubt. Has he done irreparable damage to his career? That remains to be seen.

I don't know what disciplinary action will be taken by either the NFL or the Steelers once the lockout ends and camps reconvene, but some form of punishment must be handed down, whether it's a fine, a suspension or both. I know that speech is not held in the same regard as actions as far as the NFL's code of conduct goes, but Harrison's comments - in my mind anyway - fall under the heading of "Conduct unbecoming an NFL player" and must not be allowed to stand. Actions have consequences and in this instance, words should as well.