If you're offended by strong language, don't read any further.
James Harrison doesn't want to go to the White House because anyone who wins the Super Bowl gets invited to the White House. The Steelers are special however, and deserve to be invited when they're 1-15. Right.
This is, to paraphrase MF Doom, how you talk white and act niggerish. If you don't want to go--don't go. But trying to cover it up with some overly clever explanation that fools no one just makes you look stupider. In other news, Skip Bayless is just as bad.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
He's really an idiot. Why would he not go? If I was his coach, I'd just make it a required team activity. The "TEAM" was invited and the TEAM is going. Period.
Frankly, I don't see the big deal. Obviously, his reasoning is stupid, but I think he's just point out that EVERY winner gets invited. I don't think HE thinks the Steelers should be invited at other times. If he doesn't want to go, don't go. Everyone's priorities don't have to match.
Christ sakes, does the NFL drug test for sniffing airplane glue? Can they start?
How do you explain this quote from him: "If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl".
He obviously DOES think that Obama should be so thrilled to be in the presence of the Steelers that he should invite them to come up on random Thursdays for no reason whatsoever.
Most of us will never get to go to the White House and meet the President. Harrison has every right not to go. He didn't go when the team made the trip before, evidently. The difference is, this time he chose to make assholic comments to the press.
"How do you explain this quote from him: "If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl"."
Simple. He wasn't being serious. To me, he clearly has the start of a shit-eating grin. I think he's simply pointing out the fact that every winner gets invited, so there is nothing that special about him, personally, being invited. Do I agree with him? No.
Only one problem, supposedly he boycotted a couple years back when the Steelers won then also. I don't think he gave the lame argument back then though. My thing is, if that is his deal then he can do him. But why open your mouth and "remove all doubt" so to speak? Besides that uhmmm isn't his team owner being given an ambassadorship to Ireland or something and didn't Obama pick them to win the Superbowl? I mean hell I would have took it better if he just said he wasn't going because he "didn't feel like it."
I will say he still doesn't rise to the level of Carl Everett of MLB saying he didn't believe in dinosaurs because they weren't mentioned in the Bible.
"Only one problem, supposedly he boycotted a couple years back when the Steelers won then also."
I don't really see that as a problem. To me, it just makes it seem like he's pretty consistent in failing to grasp the honor of going to the White House. Maybe he'a anarchist who wants the entire government overthrown. Who cares?
He should have just lied and said he had a prior engagement, but he probably couldn't because he's already done this once.
I tend to side with Stacy on this one. It seems like he doesn't think going to the WH is a big deal, and he was sorta messing around when explaining his reasons.
As for him being an idiot, it reminds me of what Richard Pryor: since when does a [linebacker] have to be a brain surgeon? "What do you do for a living?" "I knock muthafuckas out."
I should probably clarify that I felt the exact same way you did until I watched the video. I just saw the quote, and assumed that he was dumb as rock.
Heh, I still think he is. His point isn't "I don't want to go to the White House," it's "I DO want to go to the White House but because I play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, not because I won the Super Bowl."
Which begs the question, why?
I'm usually pretty light on this, but I don't actually a joke. He may not be serious. But that doesn't mean he isn't stupid.
The other thing: Does he think Obama had White House invite privileges during the Bush Administration? Dude COULDN'T have invited a crappy Stillers team up there, even if he wanted to.
hmmm...saw this earlier...don't know what to say about it actually...either he's being honest...in which you're right..or he's lying, which begs to ask the question, why? Why come up with such an elaborate lie that includes so much mental wrestling?? is he a douche who likes to toy with people ? Does he hold a grudge against the US government? If he does, why not come out and say so? I remember a couple of years back, when Joakim Noah still played for FSU, and after they won the NCAA championship, he refused to go to the white house because he didn't like the politics of the prez...im perfectly fine with this, and if James Harrison has a similar opinion, im sure that people will be fine with it...this how ever demands more questions than it answers.
First, Harrison's thinking here is beyond examination. But your post brings another issue. When I was a kid, I enjoyed the dropping of deuces while reading my Dallas Times Herald. Skip's columns in that paper always made the experience tolerable, he was a great sports writer back in the day. Now, the dude is unbearable! I don't know what is worse the cable news political pundit, or the ESPN sports pundit. Thank god for blogs and The Ticket...
Dude, what happened to Bayless? The worst part about him is you really sense he's playing a part. He's not actually making a point in good faith, or to be insightful. He's just playing the provocateur.
Yeah, I think it all started when the Times Herald went under, he bacame the morning host for The Ticket when it started up, but only lasted a few months there. All The Ticket did since his departure was become one of the most listened to stations in the country. He essentially became a man without a home. Then he did that awful Cowboy book, and accused Aikman of being gay among other sorted nuggets. He has always been opinionated, but he found a nitch in being the contrarian blowhard. I don't know if he even writes a column anymore. I absolutely think he has a bone to pick with the Cowboys, alot of that has to do with that book. But he is alot like the cable news blowhard, they don't really think that Obama is a sleeper terrorist, fascist, communist dictator, but saying so really pays the bills.
Bayless was an insufferable, unreadable hack when he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, so this isn't new.
Our boy has obviously taken one too many for the team. Besides, if he wants to stay home and watch Tom and Jerry, while eating a half dozen bowls of Frosted Flakes, why not? After all, it is just so much bother and trouble to get on a plane and do a damn meet and greet with THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.--WHY SHOULD HE BOTHER? HE MAY HAVE TO GET UP OUT OF HIS ARMCHAIR AND DRESS HIMSELF IN A DAMNED SUIT AND TIE WHEN HE CAN JUST BE IN HIS ROBE AND HOUSE SLIPPERS! THEN THERE'S THE BARBER...DAMN! SO MUCH EFFORTTYO MEET THE PRESIDENT!
Lulz.
And.
Win.
Preach it. Tell it. He's a clown.
This had me cracking up.
Totally spot on.
Apparently, Manny didn't go either time the Red Sox won. So Harrison is in good company.
that's it . . . its the roids talking.
The key to the "Steelers Code" is a degree of humility off the field. You can have swagger ON the field, but off of it, you'd better mind your p's and q's. You don't act like you're bigger than the team and you treat everyone with a degree of respect - epsecially thos who are rooting for you. To brush off someone wanting to thank you, especially the President, is beyond the pale for a lot of us as it violates this ethic. The Steelers are a brand as much as it is a team, and the perception is that the brand is about smash-mouth football on the field and no b.s. off of it. The reality doesn't always match the perception (say hello, Santonio) but when you start messing with that worldview, you risk burning your meal ticket, no matter what your value on the gridiron may be.
Harrison ain't nothin' -- what will never be topped are the words of Duane Thomas, who said before the Cowboys won Super Bowl 6 (I hate Roman numerals), "If it's the ultimate game, why are they playing it again next year?" Truer words, never spoken.
Not only that, but the NFL would have given the Cardinals the Lombardi Trophy, too! Those dirty Steeler-hating bastids!
Bruce:
This may seem like a small point, but Noah never played for Florida State University and FSU has NEVER (EVER!) won an NCAA Basketball Championship.
That would be the University of Florida. The Gators. Not the Seminoles.
It's a simple mistake I made once when I first moved to Gainesville two years ago. The feathers have long fallen off, but the last bits of tar still cling.
And while Noah did initially refuse to go, he relented but showed his umbrage by not wearing a tie to meet the president as I recall.
Go Gators.
James Harrison is no ones Public Relations genius. That doesnt make him a fool. it makes him a curious individual with his own set of values. The man doesnt wanna go, the team isnt bothered by his absence, why are we even discussing it?
I often wonder what it would be like for the media to thrust a mic in the face of regular folk...or even the hyperthoughtful folk who pass through these hallowed halls of linguistics...at the point we all do some of the questionable things we do expecting an answer.
James Harrison is a grown man who doesn't wish to go to the White House...for any reason.
He didn't wanna go in 2006 and didn't. No one asked why he wasn't there either.
Three years later he put forth one of the most dominant seasons ever performed by a Steeler Linebacker and nabbed NFL Defensive Player of the year, won another super bowl and cashed in in a major way with a huge new contract.
he STILL doesn't want to go.
whatever random foolishness he uttered notwithstanding...we STILL dont know why he won't go.
It seems obvious to me that NO answer he gave would suffice. 94.6% of us cannot imagine any rational reason why a man in his position would not want to take part in such a cool, historic, annual, and ultimately meaningless occasion.
Not once, but twice.
As a man whose admiration for POTUS probably slightly eclipses his devotion to the Steelers, let me tell you tha I could give less than a poo if Harrison goes or not. He is a grown man and if he doesn't want to go and his superiors are okay with that, why on earth do we care?
Thank you for your first two sentences.
Harrison thinks with his own brain and that's apparently not what people want to see in an athlete. I think what he meant to say was that his honor does not depend on the outcome of one game of football.
That's not stupid.
We're discussing because I brought it up.
For the record, you should read the comments here. No one's objecting to him not wanting to go the White House. He can do whatever he wants--but that's not actually his argument. It's more like, I should go to the White House because I play for the Steelers, not because I won the Super Bowl.
I guess that's thinking with your own brain--as is claiming to that Alaska's proximity to Russia gives your foreign policy experience. But you can think with your own brain and still be stupid. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
That is not how I interpret his statement. I think the reason he mentioned Arizona was to demonstrate the randomness of it all. If you are an athlete, the rules say you get the trophy if you win the superbowl. You lose, you don't. That's perfectly fine, it's sports. But as a person, you're not an inch less honorable if your team loses. Your personal honor does not depend on the outcome of one game. But, in the eyes of Harrison, that's exactly what the invitation is about. The winner is worthy of the honor, the loser isn't. If you drop the ball you are a failure, if you carry it to the endzone, the President invites you. With his refusal to accept the honor, Harrison draws a line between his achievements on the field and his value as a person. And that's not same as claiming that Alaska's proximity to Russia gives your foreign policy experience.
I would love to know how Harrison's mother or aunts feel about him passing on meeting the first black President of the United States. I'm sure they're appreaciative of the nice house he's bought them since his pay increase - but sleeping in on the day you meet President Obama??? I would slap him upside his damn head and tell him to put his black ass on a suit and tie and act like he was raised right!
But we do things a lil differently down here....
I really don't care if James Harrison goes to the White House or not (and if not, can I take his place, please?). But the thing that really makes me have no respect for him or his point of view is how he is disrespecting the one person who has given him chances to be a Steeler more than once and that is Dan Rooney. Harrison was almost cut several times in his career here. His coaches and the ownership gave him multiple chances. The owner to whom he owes his slot on a great and Super Bowl winning team quit his party and campaigned tirelessly for the current president. In addition, Harrison's boss has just been given his heart's desire and the prestigious post of Ambassador to Ireland. If Harrison has no respect for the White House or the president, I'm okay with that. But to have no respect for Dan Rooney? Sorry, James. No class, dude.
Seriously. Hines Ward, his smile, and the President in the same room? I could die a happy girl...
I don't know; this seems like much ado to me. Personally, I was more offended by Harrison's dirty play on the field. If it were Bush in the White House would one feel the same? I like that Obama is a baller, but then I thought that Kerry was pretty damn cool being a windsurf competitor at his age too, and everyone pooh poohed that as elitism. But I can remember Reagan using the Bears great defensive superbowl team as a way of propagandizing for outrageous defense spending. Personally, I have a problem with thanking Jesus or presidential politics having much to do with touchdowns and the like. Better for Obama to have Sean Penn come to the White House and congratulate him for his Oscar winning performance as Harvey Milk.
I don't know if this is true or not, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says Harrison is afraid to fly. If he was embarrassed to admit that, it might explain the weird responses he gave when pressed by the interviewing reporters.
Presumably he overcomes that fear when he has to fly to away games, but maybe a trip to the White House isn't a big enough deal to justify the pain. Still, Pittsburgh is only about four hours' drive from D.C., so I'm not sure I buy this as a reason to blow the event off completely...
I may be late to this debate, but let me correct Burghgirl, who was the only one to bring up a crucial point - James Harrison WAS cut several times, by both the Steelers and the Ravens. He didn't get selected in the draft. After he started having some limited success, he still sat behind Clark Haggans for years. Please.
I don't think any of us are qualified to denigrate the mental status of somebody who is able to persist through all that to become recognized as the best defensive player in the league. I don't think it is foolish that James Harrison was able to persist through that rejection by rejecting any person's valuation of him besides his own. He knew all along that he could be play at the level of the DPOY, and he wasn't listening to anybody else.
His comments signal to me that none of that changes, although everybody's opinion of him changed. He still doesn't care what other people think of him. He is going to continue doing what James Harrison does, which is using the offseason to train for the season (Frosted Flakes and Tom and Jerry?! Have you ever watched James Harrison play?) and earn his money, since he is making star money for the first time in his career. As a Steelers fan, I'm extremely grateful for that.
Does anybody have an idea how many other DPOYs were undrafted?
Never mind that last question. I confirmed it - James Harrison is the first undrafted DPOY.
And to keep in character with my other posts on this forum, let me mention that another football player highly celebrated here was drafted #24 by the Ravens. He never had to worry about public opinion and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2007 as a free safety when his team gave up as many long bombs as any team in the league. A player like that doesn't have any problem accepting honors and awards, since they are given to him so freely.
On the other hand, James Harrison's "awards" were to be sent to play in Europe or to be cut again. Why is it hard to imagine that the man doesn't put much value in "awards"?