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The W - Football - Harrison excused from practice...contemplating retirement?
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The Game
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Since: 5.5.09

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#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.35
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81b79b32/article/steelers-excuse-upset-lb-harrison-from-practice?module=HP_headlines

According to nfl.com, the former defensive player player of the year, James Harrison is contemplating retirement after the league is now enforcing its helmet-to-helmet rule.

Thoughts and Analysis:

I for one, like the general idea of enforcing its helmet-to-helmet rule and trying to keep the players more safe. With an 18 game schedule looming around the corner, careers are already going to be abbreviated.

As with James Harrison, I can try to understand why he would be upset with the NFL because football itself is a hard-hitting sport. However, the 3 time pro-bowler would have to fork up $20 million he collected when he signed a deal with the Steelers and I still think he can keep his reputation as arguably the hardest hitter in the game without having to use his helmet to make a statement. I think Harrison has to learn to adjust to rules that were already there but now are being enforced.

Your thoughts and opinions....
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It's False
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Since: 20.6.02
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#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.82
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Harrison lucky to even make a roster before his breakout Super Bowl year?

He's throwing a fit. He'll be fine in a few weeks. If not, let him be. It's not like the Steelers don't have defensive specialists coming out the yin yang.




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Matt Tracker
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Since: 8.5.03
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#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.01
I see a lot more rib injuries when guys aim lower. I don't think they'll lead with their helmets, but the shoulder and forearms shots will increase.

Harrison is the poster boy now, and the coaches need to tell him this isn't about him but about showing the players and fans that the league is serious.

I worry about flopping. A wide receiver need only linger on the ground a bit or grab his head immediately, and the refs will bear down on close calls, especially until the league gets its footing on this new attention to contact.



"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

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#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
    Originally posted by The Game
    According to nfl.com, the former defensive player player of the year, James Harrison is contemplating retirement after the league is now enforcing its helmet-to-helmet rule.


He's not mad because players aren't allowed to hit other players with their helmets, he's mad because he thinks he was unfairly singled out. This is convenient Around the Horn fare for the day but nothing will ever come of it.

    Originally posted by It's False
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Harrison lucky to even make a roster before his breakout Super Bowl year?


He was Pro Bowl in 2007. He was lucky to make the roster in 2004.
Ryan72182
Tocino








Since: 15.1.10

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#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.00
Good. Let the crybaby take his ball and go home. He is expendable. There are plenty of athletes willing to play the game by the rules for millions of dollars a year.
wannaberockstar
Frankfurter








Since: 7.3.02

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#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.33
Guy with multi-million dollar contract crying because he can't head-butt someone?

Forgive me if I don't feel any sympathy for him.
JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

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#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
but
TheBucsFan
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Since: 2.1.02

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#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.55
I applaud the NFL's new direction on this issue, even if it comes way too late, and I support anything the league does to get these big hits out of the game. I don't like seeing guys rolling on the field in pain, or guys staggering off the field unaware of where they are. If Harrison and every other player of his caliber left the league because they couldn't handle wrapping up to tackle or aiming for the lower body, I'm still OK with that. I have to change the channel everytime there's a really big hit, because just thinking about what these players are doing to their brains long-term makes me uncomfortable.

But for this to work, it will take more than just the NFL. ESPN will have to stop promoting it by highlighting big hits and showing them over and over and over and over, and I don't think that's very likely because I don't think the suits (or most of the on-air talent) at ESPN have very much integrity.



Mr. Boffo
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Since: 24.3.02
From: Oshkosh, WI

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#9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.68
    Originally posted by TheBucsFan

    But for this to work, it will take more than just the NFL. ESPN will have to stop promoting it by highlighting big hits and showing them over and over and over and over, and I don't think that's very likely because I don't think the suits (or most of the on-air talent) at ESPN have very much integrity.

I think there's a better chance than you might think. Much in the same way some believe TBS has deemphasized talking about potential blown calls from orders of MLB, ESPN does a fair bit of kowtowing to the NFL. I remember ESPN's strange silence following one of the Roethlisberger allegations, until they realized that this was a big deal and wasn't going to blow over. It seemed like they were trying to get on the NFL's good side with that. If the NFL tells ESPN not to glorify hard hits, I think there's a good chance ESPN does it.
RecklessEric
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Since: 23.1.02
From: Maine

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#10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.00
    Originally posted by wannaberockstar
    Guy with multi-million dollar contract crying because he can't head-butt someone?

    Forgive me if I don't feel any sympathy for him.



Here's the part where I do feel a little "sorry" for him. He was taught to play the game since he was a little kid one way. To hit the guy with the ball. One of those two hits that he made was a perfectly legal hit. Even the people at ESPN said after the hit "Legal hit there". For him to be punished by it seems a little unfair.



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CRZ
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Since: 9.12.01
From: ミネアポリス

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#11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.35
    Originally posted by TheBucsFan
    ESPN will have to stop promoting it by highlighting big hits and showing them over and over and over and over, and I don't think that's very likely because I don't think the suits (or most of the on-air talent) at ESPN have very much integrity.
They replaced JACKED UP with C'MON, MAN over a year ago! What more could you want from them?!



MUTigermask
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Since: 8.10.03
From: Columbia MO

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#12 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.13
Channing Crowder's take (sports.espn.go.com)

What a tool.

Edit: not his take on Harrison, on the crackdown on helmet to helmet hits.

(edited by MUTigermask on 20.10.10 2109)
supersalvadoran
Sujuk








Since: 10.1.08
From: westbury, new york

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#13 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.17
You know, if Harrison wants to perform his job well without getting punished and 'singled out' (there were several fines given out, don't act like you're the only 'victim'), he could learn how to actually do a proper tackle with both hands instead of having to do cheap shots. That goes for all the others who went helmet-to-helmet rather than just smothering the receiver to prevent them from gaining any yardage after the catch.






kwik
Summer sausage








Since: 5.9.02
From: Norwich, NY

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#14 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.97
    Originally posted by Mr. Boffo
      Originally posted by TheBucsFan

      But for this to work, it will take more than just the NFL. ESPN will have to stop promoting it by highlighting big hits and showing them over and over and over and over, and I don't think that's very likely because I don't think the suits (or most of the on-air talent) at ESPN have very much integrity.

    I think there's a better chance than you might think. Much in the same way some believe TBS has deemphasized talking about potential blown calls from orders of MLB, ESPN does a fair bit of kowtowing to the NFL. I remember ESPN's strange silence following one of the Roethlisberger allegations, until they realized that this was a big deal and wasn't going to blow over. It seemed like they were trying to get on the NFL's good side with that. If the NFL tells ESPN not to glorify hard hits, I think there's a good chance ESPN does it.


Maybe not everyone at ESPN will kowtow to the NFL:

Here's Mark Schlereth (espn.go.com)

Now, the bit about how, in the NFL's eyes, he's "not injured enough" for long-term disability, aside, because it's not totally on-point, he actually does take the NFL to task pretty good in this.



dMr
Andouille








Since: 2.11.02
From: Edinburgh, Scotland

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#15 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.99
    Originally posted by JustinShapiro
    He's not mad because players aren't allowed to hit other players with their helmets, he's mad because he thinks he was unfairly singled out.

Was he even being singled out though? Most of what I've seen was using Dunta Robinson's hit on Desean as the poster child for the dangers of such hits, with Meriweather attracting most flak of the guys that got fined. We get relatively limited coverage over here but I didn't see much attention focussed on Harrison on the interweb sports sites I frequent neither.


    This is convenient Around the Horn fare for the day but nothing will ever come of it.

Indeed. He's probably feeling a bit pissy about the whole thing, but he ain't retiring.

    Originally posted by kwik
    Maybe not everyone at ESPN will kowtow to the NFL

Easterbrook's been banging the drum about the general dangers of concussions in the NFL for a while now, and his column this week (sports.espn.go.com) talks at length about it.

If it were up to me I'd hammer people for any tackles directed at the head. I don't care if you're leading with your shoulder, your helmet or if you just flat clothesline a guy across the coupon - it's not tackling as God intended. Or at least it's not tackling as *I* want to see it, which we should assume is the same thing as what God had in mind. As much as I find rugby a deeply crappy sport, their players somehow manage to bring people down using the old-fashioned approach of wrapping their arms round a guy's legs or torso.

If a ball-carrier lowers his head then fair enough, but if he's running upright he shouldn't have to worry about a chicken-shit defender who was too lazy to learn how to tackle properly torpedoing their body towards his skull.



JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

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#16 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
    Originally posted by supersalvadoran
    You know, if Harrison wants to perform his job well without getting punished and 'singled out' (there were several fines given out, don't act like you're the only 'victim'), he could learn how to actually do a proper tackle with both hands instead of having to do cheap shots.


As if this is about "I'm just mad that I can't do me cheapshots anymore." Plenty of players have said they think his improper tackle wasn't illegal and that MM ducked into a collision that wasn't even helmet-leading. That's unfortunate but that's Harrison's whole beef -- that the punishments are inconsistent and arbitrary, and that defensive players are put into a difficult position because they're being coached to be physical and break up plays while no one is sure what's illegal or what will be enforced as illegal (no penalty on the MoMass hit) as something similar-looking slides. I'm all for protecting players and an expanded interpretation of unnecessary roughness; the NFL is a meat-grinder on the human body. But the league talks out of both sides of its mouth and only regulates ex post facto based on controversy, attention, and PR, such as this becoming headshot week.

(edited by JustinShapiro on 21.10.10 0909)
lotjx
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Since: 5.9.08

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#17 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.65
I wish I could get more info about this story besides ESPN, but the local Pittsburgh sports station is getting replaced by Radio Disney in January and are currently playing ESPN sports radio which is the most boring controlled sports radio out there. As a Steelers' fan, I am 50/50 on this. Harrison has been a beast at times, but he has gotten worse since the Super Bowl win, so if he leaves I don't seeing his replacement being worse. I just hope the Steelers who were once considered one of the best loved teams become the most hated due to a rapist QB and now a defense of player who wants to put other players to sleep as well as a coach who condones his defensive player's behavior.

(edited by lotjx on 21.10.10 0809)
JustinShapiro
Scrapple
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Since: 12.12.01

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#18 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
    Originally posted by lotjx
    Harrison has been a beast at times, but he has gotten worse since the Super Bowl win,


Yes. He had a season that was not as good as one of the great defensive seasons ever by a linebacker, while all the extra attention on him helped his opposite-side counterpart make the Pro Bowl.

    Originally posted by dMp
    Was he even being singled out though? Most of what I've seen was using Dunta Robinson's hit on Desean as the poster child for the dangers of such hits, with Meriweather attracting most flak of the guys that got fined. We get relatively limited coverage over here but I didn't see much attention focussed on Harrison


Well not literally singled as in the one, but branded with the cheapshot artist/violent/thug rhetoric as part of Deadly Brain Weekend.
dMr
Andouille








Since: 2.11.02
From: Edinburgh, Scotland

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#19 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.99
    Originally posted by JustinShapiro

    As if this is about "I'm just mad that I can't do me cheapshots anymore."
No, but he's still acting like a complete bell-end. If he wants to come out and say, "Hey, the NFL shouldn't go changing the rules mid-season in response to one weekend with a freakish number of injuries because it's not fair on guys on either side of the ball" then more power to him. Heck, I'd agree with him 100%.

Instead he's run off pouting, offering silly, empty threats about not wanting to play no more if these is the rules. Probably not the best way to win public support.

Delightfully though, and to the great surprise of gullible folks everywhere, he's back at work (sports.espn.go.com).
JustinShapiro
Scrapple
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Since: 12.12.01

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#20 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
    Originally posted by dMr
      Originally posted by JustinShapiro

      As if this is about "I'm just mad that I can't do me cheapshots anymore."
    No, but he's still acting like a complete bell-end. If he wants to come out and say, "Hey, the NFL shouldn't go changing the rules mid-season in response to one weekend with a freakish number of injuries because it's not fair on guys on either side of the ball" then more power to him. Heck, I'd agree with him 100%.

    Instead he's run off pouting, offering silly, empty threats about not wanting to play no more if these is the rules. Probably not the best way to win public support.


I agree. I don't begrudge him the right to be pissed, but the retirement thing was silly. I would've written it off as sarcastic radio comments taken out of context in our 24 Hour Sports Media if his agent hadn't added his "NO SERIOUSLY" comment.

edit: hey look what showed up in thread flashback

    Originally posted by dMr, April 15
    Fans of 'big clubs' will trot out the "no man's bigger than the club, we don't need Player X sullying our good name" line. Fans of teams from smaller or close knit communities will generally go with the "winning isn't everything, we're too classy for Player X. You can't pull that sh*t in our town" approach.

    And then as soon as Player X throws a few TD passes/scores a few goals/wins a few games, all is forgiven and they're cheered to the rafters.

    The reception Ben gets in Pittsburgh come October/November time will be directly correlated with his own performance and the number of wins he's posted by then. Believe it.


Pay the man

(edited by JustinShapiro on 21.10.10 1220)
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