James Harrison Speaks and Leaks

By Mike Batista

I would like to thank James Harrison.

Now, instead of a five-day-old post about Hines Ward's DUI, I can write a one-day-old post about Harrison's comments regarding NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

I don't blame Harrison for not wanting to piss on Goodell if he were on fire. I really don't think a normal urination would be adequate to extinguish flames covering an entire adult male body. It just wouldn't be a practical use of bodily fluids.

I can see why Harrison doesn't like Commissioner Goody. Let's do a little math here. Goodell fined Harrison $100,000 last season. It's easy for us to say that $100,000 is pocket change for a pro athlete. So I looked up Harrison's salary. The latest I could find was USA Today's 2009 figures. According to that, Harrison made $13,357,280 in 2009. Let's assume he had a similar salary in 2010. That $100,000 would have been seven-tenths of 1 percent of Harrison's salary.

If you're making $50,000 a year, .7 percent of your salary is $350. If one person fined you a total of $350 from September through the end of the year, and you had Christmas shopping to worry about, you might not be willing to aid that person with your tinkle, either.

So if Goodell isn't Harrison's favorite person in the world, that's fine. However, calling him "stupid," the "devil" and a "faggot" seems rather childish. Why doesn't he just call Goodell "Commissioner Poopy Pants?"

Harrison also sounded off about the performance of Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall in Super Bowl XLV. He shouldn't talk. He had only one tackle in the game. None of the Steelers should point fingers for losing the Super Bowl. Keyaron Fox shouldn't have committed a penalty on the kickoff. Mike Wallace should have studied his playbook and been prepared to run Emmanuel Sanders' routes when Sanders got hurt. Troy Polamalu should have been in better position the entire game.

Harrison needs to shut up about the Super Bowl and put all his efforts into getting back there.

Speaking of Polamalu, he is now the sole caretaker of the Steelers' character. If he gets into any off-the-field trouble, the Steelers will lose any last shred of class that they have as an organization.

Hines Ward lost his status as a standard bearer with his DUI arrest last week. Everyone's innocent until proven guilty, but this doesn't look good.

Drinking and driving is a mistake that a lot of people have made. If Ward did do this, he'd be better off turning it into a teaching opportunity rather than denying it.

What a strange offseason. First Rashard Mendenhall's comments. Then Hines Ward's arrest. Now James Harrison mouths off. More negative headlines for the Steelers ... and Ben Roethlisberger has had nothing to do with it.

NFL Labor Talks a Day at the Beach

When I attended a wedding at Nantasket Beach Resort in Hull, Mass., in 2008, the spacious hotel rooms and breathtaking ocean views made me think one thing: This place would be perfect for NFL labor negotiations.

In keeping with the Patriots' tradition of not really playing in Boston, Thursday's session took place in this seaside town about 20 miles from Boston.

Now that the players and owners have given the lawyers coloring books to amuse themselves, it seems the talks are finally on the right track and the season might actually start on time. But I'll believe it when I see it.

Thursday would have been the perfect day to reach an agreement, because Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith could have celebrated by holding hands and going for a nice, long walk along this beach across the street from the hotel.

The last picture in this post is of a shirt I bought from a little roadside stand. On their way out of Hull, I hope the millionaire players and billionaire owners gave some of their business to this guy, because the words on this shirt are going to be my message to them if a deal doesn't get done soon.