James Harrison must speak or face suspension

NFL: Al-Jazeera-implicated players must speak or face suspension

ESPN.com news services

The NFL has threatened discipline, including suspension, for players refusing to cooperate with the league's investigation into steroid claims made by an Al-Jazeera America report.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison, Green Bay Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers and former Packers linebacker Mike Neal have until Aug. 25 to comply with the league's requests for interviews, according to an NFL letter sent to the NFLPA and obtained by ESPN.

Vice president of labor policy and league affairs Adolpho Birch wrote the league has a "good faith basis" for investigating potential violations of the NFL's drug policy, yet the league has made at least seven unsuccessful attempts to interview these players.

"For those players whose interviews do not take place on or before [Aug. 25], or who fail meaningfully to participate in or otherwise obstruct the interview, their actions will constitute conduct detrimental and they will be suspended, separate and apart from any possible future determination that they violated the steroid policy," Birch wrote. "The suspension for each such player will begin on Friday, August 26 and will continue until he has fully participated in an interview with league investigators, after which the Commissioner will determine whether and when the suspension should be lifted."

The NFLPA contends there's no evidence to merit an investigation. Charlie Sly, the Indiana pharmacist who made the accusations to Al-Jazeera, has recanted his statements about the players, including Peyton Manning, who was central to the report and will not be punished by the league after cooperating with investigators.

The players have an obligation to "submit to an interview but also the duty to provide meaningful responses to the questions posed," Birch wrote.

The NFLPA issued statements to the league on behalf of the players, of which the NFL considers "wholly devoid of any detail." In his statement, Harrison denies the use of performance-enhancing drugs, and he recently told USA Today that the allegations made by Al-Jazeera were "flimsy."

Harrison has declined comment on the matter at training camp.

to read rest of article:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17312784/nfl-says-al-jazeera-implicated-players-speak-league-face-suspension

Al-Jazeera even credible? what kind of terrorist shit is that

Fire Arians wrote:

Al-Jazeera even credible? what kind of terrorist shit is that

Sure is.....in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria....to name a few.

Just remember it was Al Gore who sold his "Current TV" to Al Jazeera" network.

Damn Democrats!

Fire Arians wrote:

Al-Jazeera even credible? what kind of terrorist shit is that

FrancoLambert wrote:

Fire Arians wrote:

Al-Jazeera even credible? what kind of terrorist shit is that

Sure is.....in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria....to name a few.  

stlrtruck wrote:

Just remember it was Al Gore who sold his "Current TV" to Al Jazeera" network.

Damn Democrats!

jesus, did I accidentally sign up for the NRA message board?

This may be about much more than a simple PED allogation.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/the-nfl-just-challenged-the-nflpa-over-al-jazeera-case-000616194.html

Fire Arians wrote:

Al-Jazeera even credible? what kind of terrorist shit is that

Exactly what I thought. Who the hell are they? I mean they're the Saudi "bleacher report" and because Harrison is in the mix Goodell is on his witch hunt. What a crock of shit.

jak341 wrote:

This may be about much more than a simple PED allogation.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/the-nfl-just-challenged-the-nflpa-over-al-jazeera-case-000616194.html

No it isn't. It's about Goodell telling players that he owns them.

solardave wrote:

jak341 wrote:

This may be about much more than a simple PED allogation.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/the-nfl-just-challenged-the-nflpa-over-al-jazeera-case-000616194.html

No it isn't. It's about Goodell  telling players that he owns them.

You summed up the article in 2 sentences.

Im a little confused didnt this happen last year while Payton was still playing but no one really gave a fuck about it but since he's no longer playing now they wanna ge to the bottom of it?!?! That my friends its bullshit imo

these kind of situations is exactly what unions are supposed to protect employee's from. the NFLPA president should be threatening goodell with a player walk out if he suspends these guys.

solardave wrote:

jak341 wrote:

This may be about much more than a simple PED allogation.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/the-nfl-just-challenged-the-nflpa-over-al-jazeera-case-000616194.html

No it isn't. It's about Goodell  telling players that he owns them.

Yep

Aaron Rodgers observes how bad the situation is with regard to Goodell's control as contrasted with the NBA

Aaron Rodgers says NFL players fear 'repercussions' for speaking out

Rodgers, who attended the ESPYs last month and heard LeBron James, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade call for social change, said it's easier for NBA players to speak frankly on such matters.

"One-hundred percent. And I think it starts with leadership," Rodgers admitted. "I think [NBA commissioner Adam Silver] has done a good job promoting that type of environment. And I think some guys in the NFL are probably worried about repercussions on speaking their mind from the league. ... Those guys are doing it and they feel comfortable doing it. I think if more guys maybe did in our league, it would create a domino effect possibly."

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-says-nfl-players-fear-repercussions-for-speaking-out/

The NFL faces a long term threat to its business model due to playing the game causing brain damage (which the league tried to cover up for decades), but its popularity is not being helped by having a commissioner who is an egomaniacal a**hole and despised by the players  

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

these kind of situations is exactly what unions are supposed to protect employee's from.  the NFLPA president should be threatening goodell with a player walk out if he suspends these guys.

Players gave any leverage away when every team except the Steelers  (who had just been through the disciplinary actions taken against Ben and Harrison in 2010) voted to accept the CBA in 2011 which gave Goodell a blank check when it came to player discipline.  And Goodell is feeling pretty almighty after the 2nd Circuit upheld the disciplinary action against Brady on grounds including Brady's failure to cooperate with the investigation.

Players and the union would be opening up themselves to potentially massive sanctions if a walkout was organized.

5 years ago, players had a chance to stick it to the owners and that piece of shit, I wont even say his name. DeMoron Smiff bowed down just like all the other teams EXCEPT the Steelers (Steelers were the only ones who voted the CBA down), and now, here we are.

Players just re-up'd Smiff too so, this is what you get, now you can live with it.

The risks of submitting to a PED interview

Posted by Mike Florio on August 17, 2016

Many (including unofficial league-office executive Stephen A. Smith) have argued that the players implicated by the Al Jazeera documentary as violators of the PED policy should submit to the NFL’s line-in-the-sand demand for an interrogation. If, after all, the players have nothing to hide, why shouldn’t they talk?

Here’s why: Because the players don’t know whether the NFL has a predetermined outcome that the league is looking to support via the selective interpretation of evidence, to the point of twisting it and/or warping it and/or flat-out mischaracterizing what they say.

Before anyone suggests that I remove the tin-foil hat, that tin-foil hat came in handy during the Saints bounty scandal, when the NFL tried to put words in Anthony Hargrove’s mouth in order to bolster the appearance that Hargrove was anxious to recover payment for battering Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC title game. That tin-foil hat also came in handy when dissecting the backward-ass junk science of #DeflateGate, along with comparing Tom Brady’s sworn testimony during his internal appeal to the manner in which Brady’s words were distorted in the appeal ruling from Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Football players aren’t lawyers or linguists, skilled in properly maneuvering and manipulating words in order to avoid giving the league through inadvertence or lack of precision a chunk of syllables that can be used to support a Constanza-esque “a-ha!” and a finding of guilt that the league office is hoping to impose. So when the players tell the truth with words that may be bent into an alternative version of the truth, that’s a very good reason to not say anything.

Then there’s the possibility that they’ll be asked a laundry list of questions about any and all communications with Charles Sly, the former Guyer Institute employee/intern/whatever whose claims already have been deemed to be not credible as to retired quarterback Peyton Manning but somehow retain potential credibility as to Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, Packers linebacker Julius Peppers, Steelers linebacker James Harrison, and free-agent defensive lineman Mike Neal. If/when the players deny knowing, talking to, texting, or emailing Sly, next will quite possibly come the request for (drum roll, please) their cellphones, so that the absence of any communications with Sly can be confirmed.

Apart from the privacy concerns that prompted Tom Brady to balk at surrendering his phone, any forgotten or overlooked communication with Sly becomes a potential smoking gun, with the league assuming that the claim of no knowledge of or contact with Sly proves that the claims of PED use are true.

It’s entirely possible that the league is entering this process with a presumption of innocence and a desire to find evidence that will support the exoneration of the players. But it’s also entirely possible, based on past NFL investigations, that league is presuming guilt and looking for any shred of evidence to support a predetermined outcome of a PED violation. Knowing the recent history of the league office’s investigative tactics and not knowing whether the league has an agenda either to prove or disprove the allegations, Matthews, Peppers, Harrison, and Neal should tread lightly — and they should seriously consider pursuing a threshold ruling that there is no obligation for any players to give evidence that may be used against them in conjunction with a PED investigation unrelated to a positive test or a criminal prosecution.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/08/17/the-risks-of-submitting-to-a-ped-interview/

Here's an idea: Can the four players all go in for the interview, and pull a Beast Mode?

"I'm just here so I won't get suspended." answer to every question.

Stu Pidasso1 wrote:

Here's an idea: Can the four players all go in for the interview, and pull a Beast Mode?

"I'm just here so I won't get suspended." answer to every question.

And let's do this a James Harrison's house.

The NFL is acting childish here. Since when does a shoddy report from a foreign news outlet (which was ultimately recanted), count as "evidence" in any way, shape, or form? I'm on Harrison's side, and I don't think he should bow down to them just for the sake of playing, I think he should take the suspension, the NFL has no grounds to suspend these guys, they did nothing wrong, and there's zero evidence to suggest they did anything wrong other than a bunch of hearsay.

If a citizen saw a city Police Officer driving a new Corvette and suggested to the Mayor that the cop was involved with organized crime...what is the likelihood that the Police Chief would call him in to explain himself, or else be suspended?

Or, what are the chances that the Police Union Rep would support such unsubstantiated claims? That is how a real union should support its members.

Goodell's opening remarks to the players before the questioning begins

James C Wexell Retweeted
Doug Farrar ‏@BR_DougFarrar  

Professional football must be great, because even Roger Goodell can't stop people from loving it.

I thought these guys had a union, WTH

If I were a player, I would, I don't know ask for my union dues back

Deebo continues to fire away

James Harrison calls Roger Goodell 'crook,' wants televised PED interview

After agreeing to make himself available to the NFL on Aug. 30 at the Steelers' facility, Harrison called NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a "crook" and advocated the idea that the interview should be broadcast live.

"Whatever evidence they might have or reasoning for questioning for me is out of my control, I don't know," Harrison said Thursday after the Steelers' 17-0 preseason loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. "I wouldn't have a problem with it being filmed live. I've been prosecuted and persecuted publicly in the media by them for something I didn't do, so I don't see why we couldn't have the media there and do a live interview. They can ask the questions and I can answer them, and y'all can see whatever evidence it is they say they got."...

"If it goes to conduct detrimental, it leans to the hands of that crook — I mean Roger Goodell — and he can do whatever he wants," Harrison said. "That's just the collective bargaining agreement that the players signed."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/steelers/2016/08/19/james-harrison-roger-goodell-crook-ped-probe/88981040/

James Harrison: I’ll be cleared like Peyton Manning

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 24, 2016



Steelers linebacker James Harrison has agreed to talk to NFL investigators tomorrow about an Al Jazeera documentary alleging he used performance-enhancing drugs, and he expects the same result as the first player who cooperated with the league’s investigation.

“They are going to clear my name and give me the same sendoff they gave Peyton Manning,” Harrison said, via ESPN. “I’m going to be cleared. They are going to give me the same thing, flash, across the bulletin board, NFL, Instagram, Twitter, all that — ‘James Harrison cleared.'”

The Al Jazeera report accused Manning, Harrison, Green Bay’s Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers and free agent Mike Neal of using PEDs. Manning cooperated with the league’s investigation and was cleared. Harrison, Matthews, Peppers and Neal initially refused to cooperate but agreed to speak to investigators when they were told they’d be suspended if they didn’t.

Despite agreeing to cooperate, Harrison referred to the NFL’s interview as a “waste of time.”

“It’s a stupid thing I gotta do to continue doing what it is I want to do and trying to get to where we want to be, and that’s holding a Lombardi [Trophy],” Harrison said.

After being cleared like Manning, Harrison hopes to do at the end of this season what Manning did at the end of last season.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/08/24/james-harrison-ill-be-cleared-like-peyton-manning/

NFL, James Harrison quiet after PED interview

Posted by Mike Florio on August 25, 2016



As expected, Steelers linebacker James Harrison submitted for his Al Jazeera-sparked PED interview on Thursday morning. Via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, both sides kept quiet after the meeting ended.

That’s likely good news for Harrison, because if he saw or heard anything in the room that made him think that the league wasn’t accepting his denial of knowing Charles Sly of the Guyer Institute or using PEDs, Harrison surely would have said something about it on the way out of the room, if not sooner.

It fits with the theory making the rounds that the league made it known to Harrison and/or his agent that, if he simply shows up and answers the questions, exoneration will be perfunctory.

Harrison likely assumes that the next step will be the issuance of a press release from the NFL that clears him. If not, he’ll then have plenty to say.

At some point, if he’s not exonerated, everyone will get a chance to see what Harrison said in Thursday’s meeting.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/08/25/nfl-james-harrison-quiet-after-ped-interview/

James Harrison has long-awaited meeting with NFL

Chris Adamski | Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016

The NFL's long-awaited meeting with Steelers linebacker James Harrison on Thursday lasted longer than the 20 seconds Harrison predicted it would.

It apparently didn't include any fireworks or overly contentious exchanges, either.

The meeting, which took no longer than 45 minutes late Thursday morning, was done in time for Harrison to join the Steelers' ongoing walk-through practice outside at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.

“My understanding is everything went very smoothly,” said Harrison's agent, Bill Parise, who'd been in touch with an NFLPA representative who was present at the meeting. “There were no problems and no issues.”

The NFL had been trying to set up the interview with Harrison through the NFLPA since the beginning of the year in light of a December report by the now-defunct Al-Jazeera America network in which a source, Charles Sly, alleged to an undercover reporter that Harrison uses a banned performance-enhancing substance.

Harrison has long denied the accusation, which was later recanted by Sly and consisted of less than 25 seconds of dialogue.

Parise said Harrison approached the meeting with a mindset of being cooperative.

“James certainly understood that it's a process, and he approached it as professionally as he does everything in football,” Parise said.

An SUV carrying, among others, NFLPA associate general counsel Heather McPhee, spent about an hour parked outside Steelers headquarters. It left about 20 minutes after a Steelers spokesman said the meeting had ended.

Shortly before McPhee and others left, Harrison got into his four-door pickup truck and left the facility, amidst several of his teammates who were doing the same. The Steelers had a chartered afternoon flight to New Orleans for their preseason game at the Saints on Friday night.

None of those involved in the meeting were made available to the media, and none made an attempt to stop when passing a small group of reporters as t hey exited the Steelers facility.

An NFL spokesman said the league is “not commenting on any of the player interviews.”

Last week, with relatively little media attention or scrutiny, Major League Baseball announced it was clearing veteran former All-Stars Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard of similar accusations made in the Al-Jazeera report after it conducted an investigation MLB said both players cooperate with.

McPhee arrived in Pittsburgh late Wednesday night after accompanying Green Bay Packers players Julius Peppers and Clay Matthews in their similar meeting with league officials Wednesday, Parise said, and McPhee was boarding a flight out of Pittsburgh less than an hour after leaving the South Side on Thursday. She was expected to accompany free agent Mike Neal in his Al-Jazeera report-induced interview by the NFL on Friday.

Despite Harrison saying on Wednesday that NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith would be in attendance at his meeting, Smith by all indications was not.

In other Steelers news Thursday, an industry source confirmed that offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert had his contract restructured. Gilbert was scheduled to make roughly $4 million this season, but that base salary was converted into a guaranteed signing bonus and the salary-cap hit spread out over the ensuing three seasons.

http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/11032653-85/harrison-steelers-meeting