Airplanes Keeping Harrison from the White House

It seems like Steelers LB James Harrison keeps taking undue heat for not wanting to go to the White House on Thursday with the Steelers. Don’t forget, Harrison didn’t go with the team to the White House after Super Bowl XL – “Let me ask you a question,” the NFL Defensive Player of the Year said. “Why is it a big issue now that I’m not going if it wasn’t a big issue the last time?”

Good point.

But, is there more to the story than James just not wanting to go than meets the eye? Possibly. Ed Bouchette, the excellent Steelers beat reporter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reported today that a “well-placed source” says that Harrison has a fear of flying, and that he’s a “wreck” whenever he is required to fly on football business.

Hmmm, if that is true, why doesn’t James just come out and say that? I guess he wants to just make it known that he doesn’t really care to go, and maybe doesn’t want to let folks now that he has a phobia?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of truth to that,” confirmed Bill Parise, Harrison’s agent about his fear of flying. “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.”

So in the end, the realy truth seems that Harrison is just not a fan of the friendly skies. Weird.