If indeed PED testing in the NFL is as random as they would like us to all believe, then Pittsburgh Steelers veteran outside linebacker James Harrison is just one unlucky guy. At the risk of sounding like a broken record in addition to possibly boring you with semi-mundane news tidbits during one of the slower news cycles of the NFL offseason, I will pass along the recent word that Harrison was once again PED tested on Tuesday.
Harrison, as we’ve all come to expect over the course of the recent years, announced his latest random PED test Tuesday on his social media accounts complete with the dates of his three most-recent “random” testings. The Steelers linebacker also made sure to point out that Tuesday marks his third random test so far this offseason.
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As you all know by now, this has become a running joke, albeit obviously not to Harrison, who over the course of the last few years has vocally questioned the actual randomness of the league’s testing for PEDs.
“I’m starting to think it’s not as random,” Harrison said in a story written by Jacob Klinger of pennlive.com last December. “I just wish I had that much luck with the lottery. That’s all.”
In an effort to not have this post totally focused on Harrison’s most-recent drug test, I thought you might like to know what fellow Steelers outside linebacker Arthur Moats had to say about Harrison during his interview this past weekend on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
“Everyone knows of his worth ethic,” Moats said of Harrison. “That’s the one thing that stands out. You don’t even have to know him personally, but you can see he’s a guy who’s going to dedicate time and his craft to perfecting himself on the field. But the thing that a lot of people don’t notice is how much of a technician and fundamentalists he is. He never wastes movement with his hands or his footwork. He’s extremely smart, he’s practically a coach on the field. I mean, the things that he brings to the table from that sense, you can’t account for that and I also feel that that rubs off on the other players.”
Moats when on to tell how Harrison has helped out his own game, specifically.
“I know for me, I learn plenty of things just from the mental side of it from him because he’s telling me different things to look at, different things to think about and it just helps evolve your game,” Moats said. “And I feel like that’s why a lot of younger guys, defensively, were beginning to have a lot more success because of that. I mean, when you’re around this guy, he’s intense and you want to be around him, you love to hear from him and you love to hear the different things that he’s able to pass on from a mental standpoint.”
Harrison, who turned 39 just over a month ago, continues to post his extreme workout videos on his social media accounts just as he has done for several years now. You have to wonder, however, if him showing off these amazing feats of strength are somehow playing a part in him consistently being random tested for PEDS. Whether or not that’s actually the case, I certainly don’t know for sure, but regardless, it sure felt good to write that with my tin foil hat tightly strapped to my head.
Like it, or not, this is unlikely to be the last time we pass along word that Harrison has been randomly tested and at this point, the league’s likely to inadvertently send him a random notification or three even after he finally decides to retire.
