There are times when you read something and it simply jumps out at you as well - ridiculous - case in point, news has surfaced today that Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison was allowed to skip practice today as he contemplates whether he should retire after being fined by the NFL for his hit on Mohmed Massaqoui (graduate of Charlotte Independence High School) this past Sunday in a game against the Cleveland Browns.
Here is the article from ESPN - "James Harrison Says He'll Retire" and here is a video of both the hits he levied against Massaqoui and Josh Cribbs in the same game.
C'mon man! Are you serious. Go ahead, retire, I'm sure there are a few folks out there that have no problem taking your job. Believe it or not I have a background that gives me a bit of perspective on both of the angles of this story and there is no doubt when you watch both hits, especially the Cribbs hit that Harrison was in my opinion playing dangerously out-of-control. The objective of a defender is to tackle the offensive player and in both cases, Harrison's tackling technique was terrible and for those young folks watching, completely dangerous. To be perfectly honest, Harrison is fortunate that he didn't mis-time his hit and end up planting his helmet, in the orientation he had it, into the side of either Cribbs or Massaqoui, if he had, we might be talking about Harrison's condition with a possible spinal injury (remember, see what you hit, you tell me, is Harrison seeing what he's hitting). But we aren't, because the reality of the matter is that the NFL has allowed this type of hitting (not tackling) to occur for some time and folks like Harrison have become good at it.
Hey, I won't lie, I grew up on the Redskins and one of my favorite players was strong safety Alvin Walton, with his Mohawk and #40 coming at you it was bad news for opposing wide receivers. He was in the same mold as folks like Ronnie Lott and making big hits was just as important as making the play.
My reaction to all of this is primarily about Harrison's reaction to it. Which I personally think is ludicrous. I'm not debating whether or not Harrison has a beef with the NFL for levying the fine and essentially over the past week going into hyper-vigilant mode about protecting players in helmet-to-helmet incidents. But to say you are going to possibly retire because of it...because you don't know if you can play the game now?
The reality is that over the past year and half the NFL has finally decided to recognize that head injuries are potentially occurring in the sport. And moreover that something needs to be done about it while at the same time attempting to keep their product intact. The high-profile and quick action by the NFL over the past week is highlighting this new thought process and although folks can debate the time and place for these actions, I think anyone that knows of a fella named Newton is at least partially in support of football leagues at all levels taking a serious look at how the game is taught, promoted and highlighted at all levels (Pee-Wee to the NFL) and how those elements play into the safety of the game.
Getting back to Mr. Harrison. In both incidents, Harrison, one of the top linebackers in the league could have easily made devastating legal and safe tackles where he ran through the players, saw what he hit and took the player down while wrapping up. Care to argue that point? Didn't think so - we all see it, especially those of us that have been intimately involved in the sport, but the fact is that Harrison decided to leave that for someone else, unless of course his head first helmet-to-helmet collision did the job by itself without any help.
Harrison could have tackled both Cribbs and Massaqoui properly and he chose not to and as a result the NFL is levying a fine on him and potentially creating a new policy that may lead to future suspensions if similar actions take place on the field. For Harrison to say that he may have to retire because the game he grew up learning has now changed and he doesn't know whether he'll be able to play his type of ball anymore is both true and garbage at the same time. Sometimes what you don't say is the most telling part of the story - For Harrison, he is correct without even saying it, to properly tackle someone is tougher than to simply run someone over while you are out of control and leading with your head, but correct me if I'm wrong - He is a professional right? And in the end, that's really what this is about for Mr. Harrison, playing the game the way he likes to play it (which is dangerous to those around him, as well as to himself - although it appears he fails to grasp that aspect) or playing it in a way where the game can continue to be a staple of iconic American history for generations to come while hopefully mitigating to at least some extent the unnecessary roughness that doesn't have to exist in order for the game to still be one of the hardest-hitting exciting games around.
No comments:
Post a Comment