stillers4me
10-31-2010, 09:35 AM
By JUDY BATTISTA (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/judy_battista/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: October 30, 2010
[/URL] PITTSBURGH — He finally learned the complex Pittsburgh Steelers (http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/sports/football&pos=Frame4A&sn2=d067838f/fe0a8c02&sn1=a27d8378/2c8d3592&camp=foxsearch2010_emailtools_1225556c_nyt5&ad=bs_120x60alt_10k_date_DEC3&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Fbla ckswan) defense a few years ago with the help of two wristbands, base defenses scribbled on one, Dick LeBeau’s myriad blitzes on the other. But when the N.F.L. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_football_league/index.html?inline=nyt-org) told linebacker James Harrison 12 days ago that the way he thought he had always tackled was wrong, he reacted not with the studied determination it took for him to make it to the league, but with the ferocity that has propelled him to the elite of defensive players.
“My first reaction was, ‘I quit,’ ” he said Wednesday, still not smiling.
It was unimaginable to the rest of the N.F.L. that Harrison, the 2008 defensive player of the year, could consider retiring so suddenly. He had become the face of the N.F.L.’s crackdown on hits to the head.
He was so angry about being fined $75,000 on Oct. 19 for his hit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81dS21QTgkQ&feature=fvst) on Cleveland receiver Mohamed Massaquoi — the largest of three fines the league levied that day — that his teammate James Farrior (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/james_farrior/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said he tried to persuade Harrison to come to his house “before he did anything drastic.”..........
Read more: [URL]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/sports/football/31harrison.html?src=twrhp
Published: October 30, 2010
[/URL] PITTSBURGH — He finally learned the complex Pittsburgh Steelers (http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&opzn&page=www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/sports/football&pos=Frame4A&sn2=d067838f/fe0a8c02&sn1=a27d8378/2c8d3592&camp=foxsearch2010_emailtools_1225556c_nyt5&ad=bs_120x60alt_10k_date_DEC3&goto=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efoxsearchlight%2Ecom%2Fbla ckswan) defense a few years ago with the help of two wristbands, base defenses scribbled on one, Dick LeBeau’s myriad blitzes on the other. But when the N.F.L. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_football_league/index.html?inline=nyt-org) told linebacker James Harrison 12 days ago that the way he thought he had always tackled was wrong, he reacted not with the studied determination it took for him to make it to the league, but with the ferocity that has propelled him to the elite of defensive players.
“My first reaction was, ‘I quit,’ ” he said Wednesday, still not smiling.
It was unimaginable to the rest of the N.F.L. that Harrison, the 2008 defensive player of the year, could consider retiring so suddenly. He had become the face of the N.F.L.’s crackdown on hits to the head.
He was so angry about being fined $75,000 on Oct. 19 for his hit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81dS21QTgkQ&feature=fvst) on Cleveland receiver Mohamed Massaquoi — the largest of three fines the league levied that day — that his teammate James Farrior (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/james_farrior/index.html?inline=nyt-per) said he tried to persuade Harrison to come to his house “before he did anything drastic.”..........
Read more: [URL]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/sports/football/31harrison.html?src=twrhp