Deadspin
This is James Harrison, an All-Pro linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Earlier this month, Harrison, charmingly, smacked his girlfriend in the face, breaking her glasses, during an 1 a.m. argument. Harrison was not kicked off the team. Just a few days later, though, wide receiver Cedrick Wilson was released by the team after being arraigned for hitting his estranged girlfriend. (She claims the incident was misconstrued, that he only "shoved" her.) So what's the difference between the two? Not that Harrison is valuable and Wilson' isn't, nope, says chairman Dan Rooney. It's all about intent.
Rooney says the Harrison arrest is different because he had a perfectly reasonable excuse for hitting her. Really.
"I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept,'' he said. "The circumstances — I know of the incidents, they are completely different. In fact, when I say we don't condone these things, we don't, but we do have to look at the circumstances that are involved with other players and things like that, so they're not all the same."
"What Jimmy Harrison was doing and how the incident occurred, what he was trying to do was really well worth it," he said of Mr. Harrison's initial intent with his son. "He was doing something that was good, wanted to take his son to get baptized where he lived and things like that. She said she didn't want to do it."
You kind of have to admire that. Harrison could have set the lady on fire, but if he had just been trying to take the kid to church, it would have been totally understandable. Cedric Wilson should slap women around for honorable reasons. Live and learn, people.
Dan Rooney's Legacy Gets A Black Eye [Lion In Oil]
Comments
That's a bad Silverback! Bad!
I've also been slapped for not wanting to go to church.
Blessed be the peacemakers...and the guys who slap their girlfriends who won't let their kids be baptized.
Brett Myers agrees.
nothing says "the Christian way to do things" like slapping your baby's momma because you want him baptized. So, Christian enough to get the kid baptized, but not Christian enough to marry the kids mother. Am I missing something here?
/sorry for the rant
She wouldn't give Wayne Brady his cut.
This is why Steely just keeps away from the ladies altogether.
She just fell for the ol' "what did the five fingers say to the face" bit.
There's a lot of things I normally need at 1 a.m. but getting my kid baptized ain't one of them. Now, making a kid, that's a different story.
The classy thing to do is throw her up against a couple of walls.
/Jim Lampley
Rooneys > Moonies
"I just don't see Harrison losing this battle. Any other argument can go either way, but not wanting to get your son baptized is worth a good smack." --prodigy1998
The Steelers just inked Brett Myers to be their punter.
"I know many are asking the question of [why] we released Wilson and Harrison we kept,'' he said.
Rooney is Yoda?
Jerramy Stevens is furiously taking notes. "Kid... church... set fire... got it."
I'm so torn on this issue. Really. Nothing to do with being a Steeler fan.
Nothing should ever end with physical violence. Ever.
That being said, there are those occurrences that happen in the crucible of an intense argument between people in a relationship that no one outside of that relationship will ever understand.
Not saying it is right, just saying it happens.
If your hand is bigger than your face...you don't hafta let your child be baptized
I don't see what the controversy is. It's right there in Paul 11:19:
"And Jesus did deliver unto the prostitute a mighty spin kick, for she was blocking the door to the temple's restroom, and he really had to go."
Ike Turner is puzzled by the idea of needing a reason to slap a lady.
the SLAP tag is clutch
postjack/
Hollllly shit. I'm listening to NPR and Bill Simmons is being interviewed to talk about the NCAA tourney. Worlds are most definately fucking colliding and not in a good way.
/end postjack
Matt Millen would have released Harrison and kept Wilson.
Ronnie Dobbs is now a committed Steelers fan.
Wait, was it a Catholic Church, and did he use a ruler? Is he a damned nun?! Investigate!
Otherwise known as a "Youngstown Kiss".
(1) Discuss the issue,
(2) Slap a bitch,
(3) Profit
/Elija Dukes-ized
Dear Mr. Rooney:
Yes, there are some situations where hitting a woman is justifiable. But they are very limited in nature, like "the woman is holding a loaded gun to the head of an infant child and is threatening to blow its brains out." Disagreements over baptism, however well-motivated, do not fall into that category.
Signed,
APNDR
@BigTenObsession: For eight hundred years have I owned Steelers. My own counsel will I keep on who is to be waived. A Steeler must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.
If those women wouldn't try their reverse psychology ("No, don't hit me! You're hurting me!") so much, maybe Harrison and Wilson would leave them alone more often.
/going to Hell
Let he who has not slapped a bitch for the wrong reasons cast the first stone.
See what i did there? Bible reference, he wanted to take his kid... ah nevermind.
Then 20 women broke Harrison's legs and covered his face with bees.
She had a bee on her hat.
Harrison is a member of the Slapaho Tribe. To fire him would be discrimination.
@Burning_River: But what if said bitch has shot twice? Has not the first stone been cast?
@MattinglysSideburns: Puscifer is now writing the Steelers' fight song.
Harrison just couldn't forgive his girlfriend, not with this Sicilian THING that's been going on for thousands of years.
This is not a good day to be a Steelers fan or a Hoya. I don't want to know what's next.
Wasn't this the plot of a Very Special All in the Family?
Minus the slapping. Although Sally Struthers had it coming.
Isn't being punched its own baptism of sorts?
Perhaps she had thrown a london broil at him.
"Guys, couldn't you have just smashed her car windshield with your face like a normal human being?" ~Ben R.
Hey Dan, can you hear me all the way back there in the Fifties?
This is how missionaries spread the Word back in Rooney's time. Minus the rape.
She should have just laid there and enjoyed having her ass kicked.
/Bob Knight
just cuz it's a theme song, don't make it not true.
@TheStarterWife: Uh, I'm not sure that the fact that something "happens" means your stance on an issue should reflect that. Hate crimes "happen," too, and I don't think any of us understand the emotions behind those.
What happened to the good old days, when the only slapping in football involved Deion Sanders and Andre Rison?
All you got to do
Is know how to love her
You got to hold her, squeeze her, never leave her
You got to got to got to
Try a little tenderness
Under the eye socket
When got my first slap from a professional athlete, I thought it was a rite of passage and bragged for weeks.
The Lord doth indeed work in mysterious ways. Anyway, she was obviously a witch.
/pope'd
Obviously, if a woman is unwilling to accept the love of Christ into her heart and the heart of her child, bitch need to get smacked.
After the alleged smack in the face, Harrison is alleged to have take a Gucci bag and a North Face.
Most NFL owners insert a clause that if you reach the Pro Bowl, you not only get a bonus, but a number of passes on malfeasance.
@futuremrsrickankiel: Agreed, but I think you are comparing two different things.
I do believe people who have made bad decisions can later see the mistakes they've made. I do believe people can learn and not make those mistakes again.
(Sorry for the generalities, but this... um... "hits a little close to home" for me and my experiences. Domestic violence is a rather complicated issue.)
That bitch had it coming to her.
/Rae Carruth
That being said, there are those occurrences that happen in the crucible of an intense argument between people in a relationship that no one outside of that relationship will ever understand.
What, like a homicide committed in the heat of passion?
Who "shoves" people in the face? With a closed fist? Knocking them off a barstool onto the floor? In front of at least a few dozen eyewitnesses in a crowded restaurant?
That support check won't be nearly so large if Cedric can't find work as an NFL receiver...but trust me, he PUNCHED her. And then he hustled out the door like a little bitch.
This is why Jack Lambert's bitches always let him have his way.
So if Mitch Berger wants his boychick to have a Bar Mitzvah, and his wife says "oyyyyyy, can't ve just skip de 'ting and make him a big vedding ven he's older", is he allowed to punch her in the shpielkas?
@TheStarterWife: I certainly wouldn't disagree with you on the notion that violent behavior precludes redemption. In the context of this article, though, I'd have to say that the Steelers' decision frustrates me for that very reason: often, change will never happen unless someone is given a compelling reason to do so. I'd like to think that suspending a player could force them to modify their behavior when all else fails.