FanHouse JamesHarrison

James Harrison's tough week just got tougher. Lambasted by most of the media for not attending the White House ceremony honoring the Pittsburgh Steelers for their February Super Bowl victory, he'll no doubt face additional scrutiny for something much more serious: on Thursday, his four-year-old pit bull attacked his young son.

According to Pittsburgh's WTAE Channel 4, "James Harrison III has severe, but not life-threatening injuries."

Steelers linebacker James Harrison doesn't want to go to the White House on Thursday to meet the president.

After the Steelers won the Super Bowl in the 2005 season, Harrison didn't meet President Bush. But this time, with Harrison again saying he'd rather stay home, he's upset a few people.

Here's a main reason why Harrison should meet President Barack Obama: Obama is African-American. The historical significance of that alone should prompt Harrison to get to D.C.

Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who has caused a firestorm nationally over his refusal to visit the White House and meet President Obama, still respects the president, his agent told FanHouse on Tuesday. The Steelers are visiting the White House on Thursday, a tradition and invitation extended to all championship teams.

Harrison is getting ripped for this statement to a Pittsburgh television station last week: "This is how I feel, 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 would've invited Arizona if they had won."

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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.

Throughout the course of recent memory, the President of the United States has hosted major championship teams' visits to the White House. It's become a sort of American tradition. You win the championship in baseball, football, basketball or hockey, you meet with the President.

Apparently James Harrison, the NFL's reigning Defensive Player of the Year and a key cog in the Steelers' Super Bowl victory over the Arizona Cardinals, doesn't understand the concept. He's going to skip the White House visit. That's his right and there's nothing at all wrong with not going. His rationale, however, is a bit self-important (and by "a bit," I mean "ridiculously").

Following the 2009 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers were set to have a number of key players hit unrestricted free agency, including James Harrison, Hines Ward, Ryan Clark, and Heath Miller. Earlier this offseason, the Steelers locked up Harrison with the second-richest contract in franchise history.

On Saturday, ESPN's John Clayton reported that Ward agreed to a four-year, $22 million deal (that's only $20 million less than what Matthew Stafford received for never playing a down in the NFL) that will keep the physical receiver in Pittsburgh for the remainder of his career.

James Harrison and DeMarcus Ware couldn't have had more dissimilar starts to their careers. Harrison was an undrafted free agent who played in NFL Europe and toiled away on the Ravens' and Steelers' practice squads; Ware has been a starter since the Cowboys drafted him 11th overall in 2005.

Both linebackers have been to multiple Pro Bowls, and Harrison was named the 2008 Defensive Player of the Year. And on Monday, he got a shiny, new deal out of it. Originally set to make just over $1 million next season, the Steelers renegotiated his contract to pay him more in line with his talents: six years, $51.2 million, $20 million guaranteed.

The Steelers have $19 million in cap room with only a talented cornerback and a slew of mediocre or injury-prone linemen heading to free agency. So everything's great, right?

Well, take a look at this list of Steelers who are getting ready to head into the final year of their current contracts (thanks to davaughnci for pulling a list together over at Football's Future Forum): RB Willie Parker, LB James Harrison, WR Hines Ward, TE Heath Miller, C Justin Hartwig, S Ryan Clark, CB Deshea Townsend, DE Brett Keisel, NG Casey Hampton, K Jeff Reed.

Every football fan in the country has two stories that nobody really likes hearing: a bad fantasy football week (Dude, I can't belieeeeve I benched Thomas Jones!) and a horrible beating they took gambling.

I dare you, however, to find a buddy that has landed as bad a beating as Phil Ivey did with his first half Super Bowl bet.

Ivey, who obviously treats money like most of us treat fingernail clippings, put $1.6 million on the Super Bowl spread out in two bets, one on the first half and one on the game. His game bet, the Cardinals getting seven points, covered easily. The first half bet? Well, I think you know how that went.

FanHouse's resident referee will chime in quasi-weekly with thoughts on major topics relating to officiating. We call it The Zebra Report. Matt Snyder is a high school official with eight years experience. While this is like a third-year resident critiquing the work of a world-renowned surgeon, it's still better than someone who has never worn the stripes.

First of all, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was one hell of a Super Bowl with a dramatic ending. The first thing I want to say about the officiating is that I believe it was a very well officiated game. We'll delve right into the alleged controversial calls and sort things out.