When James Harrison left the Pittsburgh Steelers for the Cincinnati Bengals, he was not expecting to be broadcasted around the world. However, the Bengals agreed to be the center piece of HBO's current season of Hard Knocks. Now, cameras are present at every practice and reporters are everywhere, not making Harrison too happy.
"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 simply described the HBO crew as a "pain in the butt." In the first episode of the annual series, Harrison jumped into a car of an unknown passerby just to simply avoid the cameras. While being interviewed by media in the locker room, Harrison turned his back to everyone in order to not be seen on television.
Harrison has made it clear he does not like the journalism profession. He told one reporter, "Nothing against you personally. You might be a good guy. I just don't like you profession."
Harrison has long been profiled as the league's bad guy. Not necessarily for off-the-field issues, but more so for his aggression on the field and towards the league in general. The linebacker has been fined multiple times for illegal hits and yet has remained adamant in not changing his ways.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Harrison was quoted calling Commission Roger Goodell a "crook and a "devil." Now with the Bengals, it comes of no surprise that Harrison would be against the HBO cameras. Since arriving in Cincinnati, Harrison has told reports that they can ask their questions, but make it quick.
On the field, Harrison is starting to make his presence known. In his preseason debut with the Bengals, Harrison made two key tackles, stopping running back Steven Jackson for no gain. He is adjusting to playing an outside linebacker position in a 4-3 scheme. He admits the change has been hard to get used to.
"The hardest part is getting used to lining up stacked off of the line and having to read centers, tackles, guards, all of that, where normally I'm just reading the tackles and tight ends," Harrison said. "I don't rush as much, especially on tackles now, but I'm doing the same things as some point in time that I did in Pittsburgh."
