First Call: James Harrison has much more to say about Steelers beyond 'the envelope' - TribLIVE

boonoor.blogspot.com

About an hour ago

In Friday’s “First Call” we look at everything James Harrison said in that interview with Willie Colon besides the inferred payment for his hit on Mohamed Massaquoi.

Also, that story isn’t sitting well with Saints coach Sean Payton. Fake crowd noise on NFL broadcasts? And another “Lemieux” has No. 66.

That ain’t all

Former Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison made headlines by implying Mike Tomlin paid at least some of his fine for his infamous hit on former Cleveland Browns receiver Mohamed Massaquoi.

He didn’t say that directly. But that’s what he was trying to get us to think. The Steelers deny it, by the way. So does Harrison’s agent.

But that was just scratching the surface when it comes to the full interview with former teammate Willie Colon on the “Going Deep” podcast.

While that was the story that got most of the attention, Harrison had a lot more to say in the 90-minute Q&A. As transcribed by PennLive, here are some other things he discussed:

Kevin Colbert sticking up for him during his discipline hearing with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: “They send me with Kevin Colbert, right? What I ain’t know was Kevin Colbert was an assassin, OK? He don’t like them either.”

How he and Mike Tomlin came to loggerheads over his playing time in 2017: “His words were ‘I’d be a dumbass to release you and one of these dudes get hurt and go down.’ I said, All right, that’s what you wanna do, cool. Well I’ma tell you this right here right now. I said ‘If I ain’t playing, I ain’t staying.’ So if the game came, and he didn’t have me dressed to play, I left. Yes, I went home.”

Nearly fighting former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians after a minor bump into Ben Roethlisberger at practice: “He goes ‘You dumb (expletive).’ I said ‘Man, who the (expletive) you think you’re talking to, man? I’ll whoop your (expletive), say another (expletive) word.’”

Beyond that, Harrison explores why he refused visits to the White House after Super Bowls, how much the team partied while Bill Cowher was the coach and how he looks back at his days in Pittsburgh.

Click the PennLive link and you’ll get the entire … uh … transcription.

Well, it’s close. I think.

Pouty Payton

Since we brought up the alleged Mike Tomlin pay off of James Harrison …

… well, someone brought it up to Sean Payton.

The New Orleans Saints coach got suspended for a year because of his team’s infamous BountyGate situation.

When it comes to matters of players getting paid for big hits, you might think Payton has an acute sensitivity.

Sure enough. He’s got sensitivity. And it is acute.

Payton was candid when asked for his thoughts on former Steelers LB James Harrison saying in a recent podcast appearance that Mike Tomlin handed him an envelope after a big hit on Mohamed Massaquoi in 2010. pic.twitter.com/mlVQlenCLD

— Luke Johnson (@ByLukeJohnson) May 14, 2020

I love when stuff like this happens.

So, what does Payton want? Does he think that his team got mistreated, so Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have to, also?

Or is he mad that the NFL may retroactively investigate something like his case again?

Because, theoretically, if his Saints were wronged by NFL investigatory maleficence, then he shouldn’t want the Steelers to be victims of the same wrongdoing.

If the Steelers did it, then he should want the league to be as probing toward the Steelers as they were toward his club. Although, that’s something that still seems to be making Payton upset.

Just let me know when the goal posts stop moving, Sean. And tell me which side you are on.

It had to be, right?

A lot of people wanted the Steelers to draft Oregon offensive lineman Shane Lemieux.

Why not? Another Lemieux in Pittsburgh? That’d be great, right?

One problem. David DeCastro wears No. 66. He wasn’t going to give that up. Especially after Alan Faneca had it before him.

No such problem in New York, where he was drafted by the Giants.

Love it, @ShaneLemieux! pic.twitter.com/us3tHZSzqN

— Pittsburgh Clothing Co. (@PGHClothingCo) May 14, 2020

Tremendous. Now let’s hope Adam Graves doesn’t still live in New York. Or else this kid better make sure his wrists are guarded at all times.

It sure is quiet in here

Fox Sports broadcaster Joe Buck says that his network is looking into a way to artificially mix in crowd noise if fans aren’t in the stands for NFL games.

Bad idea. We all know it’s fake going in. It’ll sound fake when it’s happening. And it’ll sound (and look) even worse the first time something fluky happens during a game.

Also, is the NFL going to allow booing of the refs when a bad call goes against the home team?

C’mon, this is going to sound phony. It’ll be like a video game from the 1990s.

What is this, the WWE? It’s all pretend. We all know it’s pretend. And we pretend it’s not pretend anyway. Is that how this is going to work?

Be real. This is what we are going through. It’s reality. Let’s depict what’s really happening.

What’s worse, there’s even talk of somehow streaming in fans through an app on their phones. Apparently, they tried it during a Tunisian soccer game or something.

More from LAST WEEK in the LA Times from the great @LATimesfarmer pic.twitter.com/QAq8NXtJxC

— Joe Buck (@Buck) May 14, 2020

Cool. Does Tunisia have an FCC? Because that’s gonna be an issue here.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz