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Tuesday, 13 December 2011 14:02

Written by Dan Gigler

James Harrison -- a.k.a the Honey Badger of the NFL -- had a pretty succinct initial reaction to his suspension earlier today via Twitter: 

The man doesn't mince words. At least it's believed that was his reaction to his suspension. He may simply have finally gotten around to watching last week's Parks & Recreation on DVR. That Amy Poehler is such a charmer.

Harrison later thanked his supporters via the same 140-character medium.

Regarding the incident, Jamison Hensley of ESPN says Harrison has only himself to blame and Doug Farrar of Yahoo!'s Shutdown Corner blog says Harrison is getting what he deserves. They both make a lot of good points. Even The Bus himself, Jerome Bettis, thinks Harrison will 'absolutely' find more trouble this season because apparently he's like the protagonist in "Freebird" -- Lord help him, he can't cha-a-a-a-a-a-a-ange ...

This isn't to pick on Harrison. He plays the game with enviable passion and ferocity, his personal success story is admirable and he's this guy too. Its somewhat conceivable to compare Harrison -- in this specific case, anyway -- to a parolee getting jammed up over his priors. That's not to minimize the hit on Colt McCoy, which was as nasty as they come. The Cleveland training staff should be 'canned for clearing McCoy to go back into the game.

Of the numerous Harrison hits that have aroused ire in the NFL's Park Ave. offices, this was the least egregious -- vicious as it was. McCoy tucked the ball and was running for a first down but alertly flicked it away at the last second when he saw Harrison bearing down like a force of nature. It was close to a bang-bang play. Harrison lead with his head. He was appropriately flagged. It was a penalty. His own coach said as much during today. In fairness to Harrison, he has made effort to rein in his "style" since last season. This was his first personal foul in a span of 16-games (including the postseason).

This, however, was an obvious regression and one that he absolutely cannot make. Not with his reputation and unrepentant, strident attitude. Not during the stretch run of the season. Next time it will be worse.

A thoughtful piece from the Christian Science Monitor asks if Harrison is a throwback or a relic to an older age of football (as in prior to 2010); another thoughtful piece on Niners Nation discusses the appeal of rooting for the bad guy (Harrison); the Browns blog 'Dawgs By Nature' is predictably less charitable.

But hey, at least this year the NFL isn't making a profit selling pictures of Harrison's illegal hits.

Instead, you can get a high-res picture of Colt McCoy looking more shell-shocked than the kid in the Metallica "One" video. I mean somebody has to make money off of the start of his brain degeneration. Not to be cynical.

Order by 12/18 to have this actual item under the tree in time for Christmas (really).

Anyway, back to that intial reaction. If Harrison was "Lol!!!"-ing over the suspension, it's doubtful that it was a literal. His suspension makes his team weaker and less likely to defeat an excellent San Francisco 49ers outfit on the road on Monday Night Football. Probably nothing funny about that to a guy like Harrison.

Rather, you'd have to imagine it was an ironic "Lol!!!" -- or perhaps he really meant: 'Wtf???'

Anyway, Harrison's "Lol!!!" inspired a little fun with the LOLcats site:

Derp ... wrong Deebo.

Anyway, I'd love to see Larry David have this exchange with James Harrison re: his LOL:

Comments (6)

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written by ol88603, December 14, 2011 - 09:54 AM

*t's something how the NFL lives by double standards such as profiting from film and photos of Harrison's hits. What really gets me is how the constant showing of the McCoy hit in slow motion has really made it look like the hit was very late, when in real time it wasn't. I believe this is really has led to the suspension, the media sensationalizing the hit and Goodell and his boys buying into the slow motion version. It also doesn't help that Merton "Chicken Neck" Hanks, an ex 49er helps levy out the punishment and the 49ers are the Steelers's next opponent. In reality it's BS and they should let them play football.

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written by Spatula, December 14, 2011 - 01:53 PM

How bad is it when the only one standing up for Harrrison is Deion Sanders?

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written by Whelk, December 14, 2011 - 02:20 PM

Actually it looked to me like he was amused by a tweet from Ryan Mundy, who initially said "Wow..." and then tweeted a few minutes later:

"RMundy29 Ryan Mundy
No. Mad the guy lost the showcase showdown -_- RT @falcao1989: @RMundy29 mad at the Harrison suspension?"

About ten minutes after that came Harrison's "Lol!!!"

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written by D_Gigler, December 14, 2011 - 03:02 PM

@ ol88603: very true, the slo-mos always make it seem way worse, though I disagree with you on the Hanks angle.

@ spatula: I thought the same thing

@ Whelk: good observation, but hard to say since he didn't include RT or @RMundy29 in the tweet like it was a response to that.

Good points all, folks, thanks for stopping by.

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written by buffy, December 14, 2011 - 06:06 PM

Looks like the NFL wised up and removed the McCoy photo from sales - if you click on the link, it says it's not available. I am glad Dan got a shot of it, though. Now we just need a reporter (or the Steelers) to ask the NFL to explain their hypocrisy. You can't speak against helmet-to-helmet hits and profit from them at the same time.

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written by a guest, December 18, 2011 - 02:07 PM

Did you see the first quarter sack of Clemens by the Bengals? The helmet to helmet contact on that play was no different than what Harrison did, yet there was no flag at all. CBS replayed it several times. Actually I agree it shouldn't have been a penalty and neither should Harrison's tackle of Colt "Girly Man" McCoy.

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