Harrison Plays On, but the Fines Still Sting

[Atlanta Dan]

Seems as if The New York Times is running more stories about the Steelers than the P-G this week - Harrison and Goodell apparently are still not best friends

Harrison Plays On, but the Fines Still Sting

The letter from the N.F.L. is taped to the wall beside James Harrison’s locker, an olive branch that gives no solace. The N.F.L. fined Harrison, the Steelers linebacker and a defensive player of the year candidate, four times this season for a total of $125,000 for what it considered dangerous and banned hits to the head. The note, which came at the end of December, told Harrison that the priciest of them — $75,000 for a hit that knocked Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi from an October game — was being reduced to $50,000. Harrison was unmoved.

“A token,” Harrison said of the reduction, adding that he took no satisfaction from the N.F.L.’s decision. “Not at all. I shouldn’t have been fined a dime for that hit.” :...

He does not talk much to the news media. But Harrison is also playful about his persona. When he turned abruptly to face a reporter Thursday, he asked him, with a smile: “Did I scare you? Yeah, I did.”...

Harrison grew tired of talking about his troubles and cut off any more questions about them, demanding only topics relating to the Jets. He would leave the criticism to his teammates, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu, who have both fiercely defended Harrison and decried the N.F.L. Polamalu said player complaints about the fines had fallen on deaf ears.

“I think a lot of players have said a lot of things, and I guarantee he heard everything everybody said,” Polamalu told Pittsburgh reporters in November. “But he’s got all the power, and that may be part of the problem, that there needs to be some type of separation of power, like our government.”

Later, after the crowd had dispersed Thursday, Harrison motioned toward Polamalu’s locker just a few feet away.

“Troy has been outspoken, too, but he has that soft voice,” Harrison said. “He can get away with it. If I said that, they’d be fining me again.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/sp...tml?ref=sports

[grward]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

He does not talk much to the news media. But Harrison is also playful about his persona. When he turned abruptly to face a reporter Thursday, he asked him, with a smile: “Did I scare you? Yeah, I did.”...