With Steelers linebacker James Harrison literally calling Commissioner Roger Goodell almost every name in the book, Goodell won’t be saying anything in response.
With our buddy Todd Fritz of The Dan Patrick Show raising with us the question of whether Harrison would be subject to discipline for his comments despite the lockout, we decided to pose that question directly to the league, along with a general request for comment.
“No, we don’t have any comment about any of it,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said via e-mail.
Though the league has declared its intention to enforce the personal conduct policy during the lockout, the end result will be determined by the labor negotiations. During the lockout, the league has no power over any player; the NFL can discipline players for things that happened during the lockout only if the NFLPA* ultimately agrees to permit it.
We’d be surprised if the NFLPA* consents to that term. And then the league can claim that it tried to hold players responsible for their actions during the lockout, but that the NFLPA* frustrated the NFL’s effort to protect the shield.
After, of course, the league inflicted fairly significant damage on the shield via the lockout.
Either way, we’d be surprised if Harrison gets anything than a talking-to from whoever in the organization is sufficiently brave to try to talk to him.
Meanwhile, we’re wondering how long it will be before Harrison claims that his words were: (1) misquoted; (2) taken out of context; or (3) not “on the record.”
UPDATE: As a reader points out, Harrison also could claim that his account was hacked. Sure, the comments came during an interview, but why not give it a try?
