James Harrison was the Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL and a big reason why the Steelers reached and won the Super Bowl this past season. The win marked Harrison’s second Super Bowl win in his career, meaning his team was invited to the White House to be honored and recognized by the President once again. Harrison declined the invitation to attend the first ceremony and will do the same this time around as well. He explained his decision to WTAE:
“This is how I feel — if you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don’t win the Super Bowl. As far as I’m concerned, he [Obama] would’ve invited Arizona if they had won.”
Man, I am all for the idea of not wanting to bend over for anyone or smooch butt, but this is the President we’re talking about here, not some team passing you up in the draft or a coach saying you’re not good enough. There’s no reason to hold the grudge against the Prez — these things are determined beforehand — everyone knows the winning team of all major sporting events gets honored at the White House. It’s not like the Prez is channel surfing ESPN for players to hang out with and play golf with, he’s got a few other things to take care of. If Harrison had won MVP would he have declined the invitation to Disneyland saying Disneyland should come visit him?
I appreciate Harrison’s attitude, edge, and underdog mentality, but being invited because of tradition isn’t a sign of disrespect. I hope he doesn’t get pressured into going now that he’s shared his thoughts and sure to take criticism — he should stick to his guns.
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More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
This is a shame and it is why our nation is on the decline. Regardless of which political party is residing in the White House, it should be an honor to meet the President of the United States.
When it no longer is deemed an honor, then we are indeed past the tipping point.
At least Harrison does appear to be bipartisan; I’ll give him that.
Couldn’t agree with Gene more. Maybe Harrison see’s things for what they really are although not too many people are that informed.
Maybe Harrison should return his defensive player of the year award because if someone played better than him, the NFL would have given it to them instead. That’s as dumb an argument as his rational for not going to the White House. What a jackass.
You are a douche bag. I’ll bet you didn’t complain at all when Harrison didn’t go to the Bush White House after Super Bowl XL and futhermore, you would be hailing him a hero for refusing to go if Bush were still President. Harrison did not want to go and provide Lord Obama a photo op. I don’t blame him, especially after seeing how “Il Duce Obama” forced them into creating care packages for the very troops he maligned when he was the junior senator from Illinios. You are a talentless moron just looking to create controversy as a means of increasing readership to your website. Douche-Bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!