Cut His Mic Off: James Harrison

"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."

-- Steelers Pro Bowl LB James Harrison, on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell\

I debated for two days as to whether to make James Harrison the latest recipient of the "Cut His Mic Off" Award. After all, as someone who constantly has bad things to say about his bosses, who am I to chastise another man for expressing his discontent with his superiors, albeit publicly. On top of that, can we really be that surprised that a knucklehead like Harrison would say something this controversial with an open mic and a lot of free time on his hands?

However, the more I read Harrison's comments, the more foolish they sounded as they echoed in my brain. For one, no matter how much animosity you have toward your boss, there should be a certain level of class you must exude, even in publicly denouncing them, when you choose to speak ill about them. Even if many of Harrison's peers share the same sentiment as the All-Pro linebacker about the NFL commissioner, they are at least smart enough to not call their boss a faggot, crook, and a devil in a magazine interview. Especially when the league is in the middle of labor negotiations. I respect Harrison for being blunt and speaking his mind instead of hiding behind cliches and masking his discontent. That being said, you can voice your dissatisfaction with upper management without coming off as a goon. If Harrison thought he was a scapegoat prior to his interview with Men's Journal, I'm going to go out on a limb and say these comments probably made matters worse. Goodell might be off to a rocky start with fans and players with all the midseason rule changes and this current lockout, but he's proven to be someone who takes disrespect personally. He proved that with Michael Vick. He's proven it with Pacman Jones. You don't cross the boss.

More idiotic, to me at least, than Harrison's comments about Goodell were his jabs at teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall. Mendenhall may have announced on Twitter that he has no problem with Harrison calling him a "fumble machine", but it's ridiculous for a man who fumbled all of twice(granted, one of which happening in the biggest game of the season in the absolute worst possible time) all season to suddenly be labeled like he's the second coming of Tiki Barber and Thurman Thomas. Then, there's the vitrial shown to Big Ben. Harrison ripped Roethlisberger for his costly picks in the Super Bowl, suggesting that Ben "at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand off the ball 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's right. Big Ben isn't Peyton Manning. In Big Ben's first seven years in the NFL, he's been to three Super Bowls, winning two of them. Manning, meanwhile, has been to two Super Bowls in 14 years, winning one. I'm no math major but I'm gonna say the first guy has more championships than the second guy. Now, Roethlisberger, numbers-wise, may not be the stat machine that Manning is and we can debate for days how many Super Bowl rings Peyton would have if he had a defense like Pittsburgh's and a running game like Big Ben had with guys like Jerome Bettis and Mendenhall. Still, Roethlisberger may not be Peyton Manning but he's also not Brad Johnson. This isn't some journeyman QB who rode the coattails of an elite defense to notch a few trophies for the mantle. Roethlisberger, when healthy, is one of the five or six best QBs in this league. On top of that, why would you suggest Ben hand the ball off more when the guy who he would be handing off to is an alleged "fumble machine"? Makes no sense to me, Jimbo.

Also, did you take a look at YOUR stats in the Super Bowl, my dude? One tackle, one sack. Great numbers.....if you're Frank Zombo(although Zombo managed to get four more tackles than Harrison. Just sayin'.). Certianly not numbers befitting a former Defensive Player of the Year and definitely not a reason for you to puff out your chest and talk shit about other teammates. Speaking of Defensive MVPs, why not take a few shots at this year's reigning DPOY, Troy Polamalu, instead of puckering up on his ass cheeks? Perhaps if you and Troy could have done more than a combined four tackles, maybe Aaron Rodgers wouldn't have burnt you like an August afternoon in Phoenix. To quote LL Cool J in "Any Given Sunday": "You have to earn the right to talk shit on this team."

When he wasn't ripping the commish or firing shots at the fellows that share his uniform, Harrison chose to play the overrated race card, stating that Goodell somehow fines players more for illegal hits on white players than he does for hitting black players illegally, citing the discrepancies in the fines for his hits on Drew Brees and Vince Young, respectively. At what point do we stop turning every slight into a black-and-white issue? I'm supposed to believe that a man in charge of a league that's somewhere between 65-70 percent black is a racist now? Why, because he varies in his penalties on a guy who thinks he's Dee-Bo on the football field? If we're talking about dubious race claims, why don't we cause a stir over Mr. Harrison saying that Brian Cushing is "juiced out of his mind" but failing to criticize another accused steroid user, Shawne Merriman? Was omitting "Lights Out"'s name in your rant on steroids just a coincidence, James?

Hmmmm.....

It remains to be seen whether Harrison gets punished by Goodell or The Rooneys for his ignorance. The Steelers best move would be to find a way to deal Harrison once the lockout ends. After all, he's 33, the team needs to find money to lock up fellow pass rusher LaMarr Woodley, and the target on his back just grew exponentially by both the boss he wouldn't piss on and the guys on the other side of the ball charged with taking pressure of him and his defensive comrades. After spending the last two offseasons dealing with Roethlisberger's philandering, Santonio Holmes' hijinx, Hines Ward's DUI and now Harrison's big mouth, it's time for Steel Town to say enough's enough.

Until then, it's time to finally cut Harrison's mic off.