The Steelers and Heinz Field Management issued press releases Tuesday urging fans to arrive early for a nomentous preseason tussle Thursday night with the Philadelphia Eagles, but neither mentioned the most compelling justification for such hyper-punctuality.
It’s not because The Vagrants will perform in the Great Hall starting at 5 p.m, although that’s fairly compelling, especially because it’s a band called The Vagrants and not your everyday North Side vagrants in their typical pregame ritual.
And it’s not because the Steelers don’t want you to miss a single snap involving Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell or D’Angelo Williams, because coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday none of them will play. In fact, if you want to see any of them live, you can arrive as late as Sept. 18.
No, the thing is, you should show up for the Eagles tilt early (certainly no later than an hour after kickoff), if you want to get perhaps a final look at embattled linebacker James Harrison, who might be appearing in uniform for the last time in a long time.
Unless somebody blinks.
“We cannot accept your unilateral assertion that the cursory, untested statements you have submitted satisfy the players’ obligation,” said the NFL to the players’ union about those affidavits it sent on behalf of Harrison and three others. “Accordingly, the Commissioner has directed that (the players) be given until Thursday, August 25 to provide interviews. For those players whose interviews do not take place on or before that date, or who fail meaningfully to participate in or otherwise obstruct the interview, their actions will constitute conduct detrimental (to the league) and they will be suspended, separate and apart from any possible future determination that they violated the steroid policy. The suspension will begin 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.”
Now generally, you can receive correspondence that includes the term “on or before” and not be in trouble, and you can receive correspondence that includes the term “whether and when” and not be in trouble. But if you get correspondence that includes both, you’re in trouble.
In his affidavit, Harrison denied that he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs (did I mention that’s what this is all about?), but the league obviously regarded this as a form of Trumpspeak (I said it, so it must be true).
This was after Harrison said he would be glad to sit for an interview, but only if The Commissioner (still Roger Goodell) came to his house. Unfortunately, Roger failed to RSVP, and here we are. Contrary to what you might infer from the chest-thumping legal language coming from both sides, the NFL/PED issue is pretty complicated.
When baseball decided it might actually do something about steroids, and regardless of what anyone thinks about the motivations and methodology involved, the results were dramatic. As of Aug. 16, only six players in the current baseball season have 30 homers, and no one projects to more than 48. None are likely to hit 50. Compare that to 2001, when 12 players hit between 41 and 73 homers, or 1998, when 10 hit between 44 and 70. The NFL has had “the toughest steroid policy in sports” (baseball makes a similar claim) much longer than baseball, but the results aren’t evident.
You see anyone getting smaller?
So the reason the league is pushing so hard on Harrison et al., apparently on the basis of a discredited Al Jazeera America documentary (I’ve watched it, and it is trash), doesn’t really add up. The only plausible explanation is that the league feels as though it’s got a lot more on these guys than Charlie Sly’s retracted statements to Al Jazeera. One such indication is in its statement regarding Peyton Manning, who lost the most metaphorical blood in the Al Jazeera hatchet job.
“Following a comprehensive seven-month investigation into allegations made in a documentary by Al Jazeera America, the NFL found no credible evidence that Peyton Manning was provided with or used HGH or other substances prohibited by the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances,” said the NFL. “The Mannings were fully cooperative with the investigation and provided both interviews and access to all records sought by the investigators.
“Initiated in January, the investigation was led by the NFL’s security and legal teams with support from expert consultants and other professionals. The investigation involved witness interviews, a review of relevant records and other materials, online research, and laboratory analysis and review.”
If the investigations of Harrison and the others had run along parallel chronological tracts, nothing along the way has dissuaded the league from the notion that it needs to talk with Harrison. Does the NFL have something on No. 92 and the others that it couldn’t find on Manning, or is there something less tangible in play, such as that once it pushed Tom Brady, arguably its top-of-the-marquee attraction, to within a whim of the Supreme Court of the United States, it feels that it can’t spare anyone an ounce of discipline?
There’s a lot boiling beneath the surface for now, and all Harrison has to do to release some of the pressure is answer a few questions. His union should advise that he do so, and he’s already indicated that he might, because he does not want to hurt the Steelers.
Further, he should do this “on or before,” lest he assuredly be confronted with a “whether and when.”
In the meantime, I’d be on time Thursday night.
Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com and Twitter @genecollier.
First Published: August 17, 2016, 4:01 a.m.
