Here's Bob Halloran's take on Rodney Harrison's suspension:
I'm sorry. Two words that carry more weight than most words, two words that can lift the weight of the world off someone's shoulders.
Rodney Harrison said the two most important words he could say at this time, and he said it, because he meant it. And that means a lot.
Harrison didn't fail a drug test. He failed a human test. He was tempted to take a quicker route back to the NFL, and even though he knew it was the wrong path, he took it. You can't condone the behavior, but should we condemn it? Not so fast.
This seems very different to me than the lame denials we've heard from guys like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.
Harrison could have tried at least three ways to avoid being suspended by the NFL. He could have denied, denied, and if that didn't work, he could have denied some more. He could have been embroiled in the same speculation that has dogged the usual suspects in various sports.
He could have been a distraction to his team for their entire championship run. But he manned up. After making a big mistake, he confessed.
Criticize him for the first act. Applaud the second.