Bengals linebacker James Harrison has made it clear, he doesn’t like reporters, and he doesn’t like television cameras. Magazines which feature him shirtless and brandishing guns and inflammatory opinions are apparently the lone exception to his attitude toward the media.
So when his team allowed HBO’s Hard Knocks crew to embed itself in camp, Harrison wasn’t pleased.
“I don’t feel they deserve to be here,” Harrison said, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “They did nothing to be here, other than want to be here,” he said. “They didn’t put no blood, sweat and tears into none of this. All these men in here, they did that. They [the cameras] did nothing. No one deserves to see this, to come inside of this unless you’re a part of this. That’s why.”
Harrison has also described it as a “pain in the [butt].”
It also turned him into a bit of a trespasser, as he jumped into a car of a unknown passerby to avoid the cameras.
“It’s kind of like this: Everybody knows I’m getting into the car with him. There’s a bunch of cameras watching me get in the car. It wouldn’t be too smart. They’ve got his license plate and everything else,” Harrison said. “And plus, I think I can kind of handle myself. He’s driving and I’m behind him, so I think I’d be all right.”
Of course, it’s not just the camera crews. Harrison has been available to the Cincinnati media, but made it clear he’s not there to be pals.
“Nothing against you personally,” he said. “You might be a good guy. I just don’t like your profession.”
So basically, Harrison’s a grouchy old man, who would prefer you to get off his lawn.
To date, however, there’s no record of Harrison complaining about the size of the paychecks he receives. You know, the checks swollen by the league’s year-round popularity which allowed the NFL to sign broadcast deals worth billions of dollars.