James Harrison the Diplomat

James Harrison was interview by the Mens Journal and really showed his friendly likable side.  The issue comes out this Friday.  Here are some of the better quotes that have already been released.

On Commissioner Roger Goodell:

"If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it," Harrison told the magazine. "I hate him and will never respect him."  His other descriptions of the commissioner include an anti-gay slur, "stupid," "puppet" and "dictator."  If the Steelers had defeated the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, Harrison said, he would have whispered in Goodell's ear during the trophy ceremony: "Why don't you quit and do something else, like start your own league in flag football?"

On Ben Roethlisberger:

“Hey, at least throw a pick on their side of the field instead of asking the D to bail you out again. Or hand the ball off and stop trying to act like Peyton Manning. You ain’t that and you know it, man; you just get paid like he does.”

On Troy Polamalu:

“He’s the one guy in football I respect absolutely, ‘cause he’s spiritual and lives it like he talks it. You know, he gets more flags than anyone on our team but never gets fined for nothin’. He’s so polite and talks so softly that he could tell he could tell Goodell to kiss his ass, and Goodell would smile and say thank you.”

On Black vs. White QBs

“Clay Matthews, who’s all hype — he had a couple of three-sack games in the first four weeks and was never heard from again — I’m quite sure I saw him put his helmet on Michael Vick and never paid a dime. But if I hit Peyton Manning or Tom Brady high, they’d have f*cked around and kicked me out of the league.” And: “I slammed Vince Young on his head and paid five grand, but just touched Drew Brees and that was 20. You think black players don’t see this shit and lose all respect for Goodell?”

On 2004 season:

“I should have another ring. We were the best team in football in 2004, but the Patriots, who we beat during the regular season, stole our signals and picked up 90 percent of our blitzes [in the AFC title game]. They got busted for it later, but, hey, they’re Goodell’s boys, so he slapped ‘em $500,000 and burned the tapes. Was he going to rescind their Super Bowls? Man, hell no!”

On High Hits:

“I get dinged about three times a year and don’t know where I am for a little minute. But unless I’m asleep, you’re not getting me out of the game, and most guys feel the same way. If a guy has a choice of hitting me high or low, hit me in the head and I’ll pay your fine. Just don’t hit me in the knee, ‘cause that’s life-threatening. How’m I going to feed my family if I can’t run?”

Other random attacks:

Also on the receiving end of Harrison’s ether were other NFL execs, Patriots-turned-commentators Rodney Harrison ("dirtiest player ever, a steroid cheater") and Tedy Bruschi (an idiot, straight-up simple.), Houston’s Brian Cushing (”juiced out of his mind”),  and teammate Rashard Mendenhall ("a fumbling machine) .

How to stop Head Injuries:

Harrison believes the solution to prevent a head injury is to shorten the season to 14 games, delay the start time for offseason workouts and trim the length of training camp so “we’re not bangin’ heads so much in August; that’s where the brain trauma comes from.”

Okay, can't really say much about the last quote, he is probably right.  Mendenhall replied to the attack on twitter by linking rushing statistics from last year where he ranks fourth in carries with 324 and only fumbled twice.  (He did fumble twice in the playoffs.).

One random side note though, does his quote about Polamalu remind anyone else of this great commercial?