James Harrison and Roger Goodell have never quite gotten along. Harrison became a poster-child for the NFL’s targeting rule back in 2010 and repeatedly pushed back against the commissioner’s repeated fines. So it’s no surprise to see the fiery Steelers linebacker jawing at Goodell once again.
This time, Harrison is steamed about the NFL’s investigation into his PED use. The NFL took its time in looking into the December report by Al-Jazeera naming various high-profile football players as dopers, but now that the league has gotten around to looking into it, Harrison isn’t making anything easy. He said on Instagram that he would agree to an interview with the NFL only if the conversation took place at his home and only if Goodell himself was present.
You’ve got to love that the Instagram message takes the tone (and font) of a ransom message. Harrison is putting his foot down and trying to take back some leverage from the all-powerful NFL.
Harrison has fervently denied the report of his PED use. Here’s what he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette back in Decemeber:
“He has never supplied me with anything,” Harrison said. “I never took steroids – point, blank, period, end of discussion.”
When asked how his name came up in the report, Harrison responded: “I don’t know, man. I got it, they want to claim it. I guess it’s just easy, y’all want to chew into it, y’all want to believe it… You know what, ‘James Harrison is strong because he’s taking something.’ [Heck] no, James Harrison is strong because he worked at it.”
The NFL is also investigating stars Clay Mathews and Julius Peppers, and while they have also denied the allegations against then, somehow it seems unlikely they’ll put up as much of a fight as Harrison.
