READ TODAY'S STORIES AND E-EDITION SUBSCRIBE |  CONTACT US |  SIGN IN
Sports Extra!



SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

FOR THE RECORD
LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA


Print story only Print story with comments Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest
John Starks says NFL bad boy is 'picked on.'
Published: 8/17/2011 9:17 AM
Last Modified: 8/17/2011 9:17 AM

John Starks, inducted Tuesday night in the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, wrote in his autobiography that he and New York Knicks teammates drew fines or suspensions back in the day for actions that didn’t always result in fines or suspensions for players on other teams.

Why? The Knicks had a reputation for playing physical basketball. “Because we were the big, bad New York Knicks, they didn’t give us a break,” Starks wrote.

That said, it seemed natural to ask Starks if he thinks Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison gets the same sort of treatment from the NFL. Harrison drew penalty flags and $100,000 worth of fines last season for hits that were deemed excessive.

“I definitely think he got picked on,” Starks said.

“Obviously the nature of who Pittsburgh is and the aggressive style of play that they play, I think (the NFL was) trying to send a message that this is not going to be tolerated throughout the league.

“You see guys when they go for a hit now, they are easing up. (Hitting) is part of football. I have been around football players. My brother was a football player. They are taught from early on that aggression is part of the game. Players that play the game now are going to take a hard lick every now and then and I think the commissioner has done a great job of cleaning up the way players deliver a hit. But to take away the aggression is tough. You have to look at it like they are trying to preserve a player’s career.”

NBA defensive rules were modified during Starks’ eight seasons with the Knicks. He said NFL players have to understand it’s a “new age” for football just like the Knicks had to adapt to new rules.

“We had to change the way we played a little bit, but still keep our intensity out there on the court,” he said.

Starks may not be completely unbiased when it comes to his opinion about Harrison being “picked on.” The Steelers have long been his favorite NFL team. But Starks credited commissioner Roger Goodell for cleaning up the sport on and off the field. “There are a lot less off-the-field incidents than in the past and that’s due to his standards that he wanted to put in.”

Starks also weighed in on Harrison’s controversial Men’s Journal interview in which he called Goodell a crook and a devil.

“Some things, you just don’t go there,” Starks said. “With him, he kind of crossed the line in going there. That conversation needed to be a one-on-one conversation with the commissioner and have the commissioner explain to him why he gets fined so much for the hits that he gives out.

“For him to mouth off like that in a public forum is not a good thing because all eyes are going to be on him. If he does get fined heavy next year, he’ll know why.”

Worse, said Starks, is that Harrison criticized teammates in the Men’s Journal article. Harrison referred to Rashard Mendenhall as a “fumble machine” and said Ben Roethlisberger is no Peyton Manning.

“You just don’t do that,” Starks said. “You just don’t come out in public and discredit your teammates, especially the leader of your team in Roethlisberger like he did. I hope for his sake that they can iron things out and hopefully he can get back in the good graces of the Steelers because I know the Rooneys, how they run their organization with the utmost standards and how, more than any other NFL team, they kind of frown on these kind of situations coming from a player. Hopefully he can make amends for what he has done. He’s a hell of a player. I would hate to lose him from the Steelers just because of something like that.”



Reader Comments 1 Total
laz (last year)
stick to what you know starks
1 comments displayed


To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.


Games People Play

Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

Follow Jimmie Tramel on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog


Archive

 
Jimmie Tramel's Blog Archive:

2/2013  1/2013  12/2012  11/2012  10/2012  9/2012  
8/2012  7/2012  6/2012  5/2012  4/2012  3/2012  
2/2012  1/2012  12/2011  11/2011  10/2011  9/2011  
8/2011  7/2011  6/2011  5/2011  4/2011  3/2011  
2/2011  1/2011  12/2010  11/2010  10/2010  9/2010  
8/2010  7/2010  6/2010  5/2010  4/2010  3/2010  
2/2010  1/2010  12/2009  11/2009  10/2009  9/2009  
8/2009  7/2009  6/2009  5/2009  4/2009  3/2009  
2/2009  1/2009  12/2008  11/2008  10/2008  9/2008  
8/2008  7/2008  6/2008  5/2008  4/2008  3/2008  
2/2008  1/2008  12/2007  11/2007  10/2007  9/2007  
8/2007  7/2007  6/2007  5/2007  4/2007  3/2007  
2/2007  1/2007  12/2006  11/2006  10/2006  9/2006  
8/2006  





Home | Contact Us | Search | Subscribe | Customer Service | About | Advertise
Copyright © 2013, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.