FanHouse Bob Ryan

Last week, Steelers linebacker and Super Bowl champion James Harrison told the media that he had no interest in being honored, along with his teammates, at the White House. Not because he's a McCain-Palin guy -- Harrison skipped out on the trip in 2006 when George W. Bush was in office -- but because ... well, I have no idea.

"If you want to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, invite us when we don't win the Super Bowl. As far as I'm concerned, he [Obama] would've invited Arizona if they had won," he said.

So, yeah, I'm not following the logic, but I don't think Harrison was trying to make a larger philosophical point. Instead, he used a lot of words to say: "I don't want to go." And had he just stated as much, that would have been that.

For the second straight week, Boston's most prominent sports journalist, Bob Ryan, has taken to ESPN's Sports Reporters to bash Patriots coach Bill Belichick:

Responding to a question of whether there's a chance Belichick could be suspended and barred from coaching the Patriots next year, Ryan said, "Yes, the answer is, certainly, there's a possibility that he won't be coaching next year because things keep tumbling out."

At this point, I'm not ready to believe that Patriotgate will lead to Belichick losing his job. But for someone as attuned to the sports scene in New England as Ryan to suggest that it's possible is rather stunning. After the jump, more of Ryan bashing Belichick.

Bob Ryan is Boston's most prominent sports journalist, and on ESPN's The Sports Reporters today, he had some surprisingly harsh words about the New England Patriots, the Patriotgate controversy, coach Bill Belichick and even owner Robert Kraft, who for the most part has escaped criticism in this story:

Said Ryan of Belichick, "When this thing broke in September, the day of the Jets game, from that moment on, he has never fessed up, he has stonewalled it, we all know what his punishment was, but he has never addressed it, he has tried to pretend that it never happened, and that 'I just misunderstood the rules.' His day of reckoning, I think, is going to come, and I think that this whole thing that New England has built in seven years is in jeopardy.

For a prominent Boston writer to call the Patriots dynasty "in jeopardy" is rough, but Ryan didn't stop there. He also had something to say about the Patriots' owner:

"The person who has to take the initiative here is the owner, Bob Kraft. I cannot believe that Bob Kraft was pleased, during the course of this season, with the image of his team," Ryan said. "They are the most vilified team in sports, and I can't believe he likes this. He has allowed this coach to do it his way to this point and I don't see how he can allow him to do it his way any longer."
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