James Harrison: I'm A "Massage Whore"

At a press conference today for the Cincinnati media, new Bengals linebacker James Harrison showed us he's more than just an angry, headhunting sociopath who sucks at dodgeball.

In a video of the presser that appears on the Bengals' website, Harrison was his usual taciturn self when asked his view of Andy Dalton: "I don't have a view. Next question." He also denied that he's mad when he plays. But Harrison actually smiled and joked about being the youngest of 14 children, and he even revealed that he spends anywhere from $400,000 to $600,000 a year taking care of his body. Because don't we all?

The 2008 NFL defensive MVP has been known to tweet images from his frequent acupuncture sessions. But today he detailed just how extensive his body work can get. It's a glimpse into just how much repair is required to make up for the wear and tear on a 35-year-old NFL body:

“As far as training, I have a hyperbaric chamber. I rent a hyperbaric chamber when I’m in Arizona. I have massages and I bring people in from New York, Arizona to where I’m at. There’s that cost. Like I said, I get body work almost every single day except Saturday and Sunday. I have a homeopathic doctor and I do a lot of homeopathic things. It’s just a lot, supplements, so on and so forth.

A question about whether his routine is any different from when he was much younger prompted this response, part of which was not included in the transcript on the Bengals' site:

"I didn’t know what a massage was. I take it back. I was getting a lot of massages. I’ve always been what everybody’d like to call me—excuse my English—is massage whore. I can’t think of nothing else. They done called me it so long I’m starting to believe it."

Harrison said he's tried out as many as 150 masseuses, but that he's down to six.

[ Cincinnati Bengals, via PFT]

Photo credit: Associated Press