A few days ago, James Harrison's decision to not join his Steeler teammates at the White House sparked quite the debate on this here blog space. Reader reaction was split pretty much down the middle on whether Harrison was just exercising his rights or if he was being disrespectful.Today we get news that a fear of flying may be contributing to his decision to not hang out on Pennsylvania Ave. with Barack Obama.
Harrison did not list his fear of flying among the reasons for turning down a trip to visit the White House and President Barack Obama tomorrow. But a well-placed source said he believes that is what will keep the Steelers linebacker home while his teammates make the short hop to Washington.
The source described Harrison as a "wreck" when he must take team flights during the season and avoids plane rides when he can.
"Yeah, there's a lot of truth to that," confirmed Bill Parise, Harrison's agent. "When James was in college, his mother had to drive him to all the away games. That's the absolute truth. The transition for him into the NFL was real difficult at first.
"He can get on airplanes and fly, obviously, but he doesn't like to."
It's an eight-hour car ride from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C., but don't expect the linebacker to be exploring that route. He simply doesn't see what all the fussis about.
Harrison said he was surprised by the reaction to his declining an offer to visit the White House. "They're making a big deal out of this: 'Oh, my, James Harrison is not going to the White House; he must be a devil worshipper!' "
Are you all out there still fired up about this?
Fear of flying could be Harrison's D.C. excuse (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
It's only at most 4 and 1/2 hour drive to Washington DC with normal traffic. You obviously don't want to enter the DC areas at any rush hour. I drive there all the time for work. So if he wanted to he could easily drive.