James Harrison wants to call the NFL's bluff in a big way. Not only did the Steelers linebacker say Thursday -- following Pittsburgh's preseason game against Philadelphia -- he's willing to meet with Roger Goodell and the NFL, but he proposed a brilliant idea on how to clear up any issues with this meeting.
Televise it. In other words, Harrison, one of four players facing suspension if they don't meet with the NFL over the league's investigation into an Al Jazeera report from last year, doesn't appear worried about meeting with the NFL, because he wants to film the whole thing.
Oh, and he also called Roger Goodell a "crook."
"If it goes to a conduct detrimental [situation] it goes to the hands of that crook, I mean Roger Goodell, [and] he can do whatever he wants," Harrison said Thursday night, via Pro Football Talk. "That's just the bargaining agreement that the players signed."
Harrison's been outspoken about this investigation before, saying he is "definitely" willing to sit out games instead of caving to the NFL's demands and would prefer Goodell come to his house for the interview. He did change his tune, however, noting he doesn't want to disappoint his teammates by missing games out of principle.
His biggest concern is the NFL needing to show "credible evidence" in order to actually accuse him of using PEDs or HGH. Or maybe his biggest concern is the league not having to show any credible evidence for much of anything, thanks in large part to huge court victories in the Tom Brady and Adrian Peterson cases.
Harrison now seems most concerned with the world seeing what happens when he meets with the NFL, so he suggested the meeting being "filmed live." This is a superb idea.
"Whatever evidence they think they have, or reason for questioning me, is out of my control. I really don't know," Harrison said. "I wouldn't have a problem with it being filmed live. I've been prosecuted and persecuted, you know, 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 whatever questions they want and I can answer them.
"You all can see whatever evidence they say they got."
This will never, ever, ever happen. But it should. Let's take all NFL meetings between players and Roger Goodell and air them live on television.
It would give NFL Network some bonus programming. You can hire someone with real court experience to preside. Like Judge Judy. Or even Judge Reinhold.
And then you can do a three-hour special leading up to the actual trial, just like the schedule release. It would open up the NFL programming kimono for the average fan, create some serious transparency in the discipline process and would also be ratings gold.
