Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison says he'll skip White House visit ESPN (Twice)

He was invited to the White House Twice & Skip it both times!

Monday, May 18, 2009
Steelers' Harrison won't visit Obama

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Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- James Harrison plans to pass on another trip to the White House with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Harrison, the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, says he'll skip the Super Bowl champion's visit to the White House to meet President Barack Obama on Thursday, just as he did when the Steelers were honored by President George W. Bush in June 2006.

"I don't feel the need to go, actually," Harrison told Pittsburgh station WTAE-TV. "I don't feel like it's that big a deal to me."

Harrison doesn't believe the invitation is all that special, saying if the Steelers hadn't beaten the Cardinals 27-23 with a last-minute rally, "He [Obama] would have invited Arizona."

The Steelers had no comment Monday about Harrison's comments. Steelers chairman Dan Rooney was an early supporter of Obama's and has been nominated by him to be the U.S. ambassador to Ireland.

Harrison is known for being an individualist whose on-field sullenness sometimes extends off the field as well.

Harrison, a backup at the time, and quarterback Tommy Maddox were among a handful of players who skipped the traditional White House visit by the Super Bowl champions in 2006. Maddox apparently was unhappy at being released after the season ended, although several other players who also weren't with the Steelers any longer attended.

Former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter created a stir before that White House visit by saying he intended to tell Bush he didn't like how the country was being run. Porter chose not to make those comments, but he wore dark sunglasses throughout the ceremony.

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• Pittsburgh
• Steelers
• linebacker
• James
• Harrison
• says
• he'll
• skip
• White
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• visit
• ESPN

[boogiensarah]

I love James Harrison even more just because he didnt wanna go. Good for you James. Fuck the corrupt ass government. GO STEELERS!

[OOOLDSKOOOOOL]

He's right , if your a fan. Lets see you at a game or two.. Dont use your position to get autographs..

[Meatpieandtatters]

James knows bullshit when it's waved in front of him.

[stopwhining1]

@jayxiong28 Yeah, well hes just stating what we already know.. You get invited to the white house if you win the big game, you dont go if you lose. That isn't going to change anytime soon so he probably will never see the White House or the President in person (if he still doesn't want to go with a Super Bowl-winning team)

[GuerillaInThaMidst]

Fuck Obama...it's about seeing a iconic "place" on the world stage. Not everybody get's to see the inside up close and personal. The invite is so much bigger than the muthafucka who sits in the seat!

[jayxiong28]

@stopwhining1 his reason did make sense. What he's saying is youre only inviting me because i won the superbowl. what if I didnt win like the cardinals which the white house didnt invite them cause they didnt win the superbowl and try inviting me like 5 years later down the road even if i dont win the superbowl.

[SteelChampyinz]

I wouldn't want to see Obama either.. what for? "To tell him what a great job he's doing"? ROTFLMAO

[habman19]

You're all B.S. artists. If there was a white man in the Oval Office you'd all be calling for Harrison's head. Now all of a sudden you call this a case of freedom of speech! What a bunch of hypocrites!

[stopwhining1]

I dont have a problem with James not going to the white house, but his reasoning made absolutely no sense.