DETROIT – Mild-mannered, speak-no-evil Joey Harrington fired back Monday at the Fox broadcasters – most notably former lineman Tony Siragusa – who referred to him as a “champagne and caviar” and “strawberries with chocolate” type of player.
Siragusa, a Fox sideline reporter, made his comments Sunday during the Lions’ 30-13 loss to Philadelphia.
“Am I supposed to care what he says?” Harrington asked.
“I’m not his kind of guy? Why, because I was cordial in the production meeting? Because I tried to be articulate? Because I smile when I play? Because I enjoy myself out there? Because I’m not a Billy Bad-Ass?
“I was raised a certain way. I was raised to be polite, I was raised to look someone in the eye and when they ask you a question, you answer it.”
Siragusa belittled Harrington, the Lions’ quarterback, during an exchange with announcers Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston.
“He seemed a little different than what I expected,” Siragusa said. “I thought he was a little bit too over-confident in the meeting, just a different kind of guy.
“Not a meat-and-potato guy. Very sophisticated man. That’s as much as I can go into right now.”
Johnston: “More champagne and caviar than meat and potatoes?”
Siragusa: “Yeah, I wouldn’t see him going out and ordering a beer any time soon.”
Stockton: “In other words, he may not be your kind of guy, Goose?”
Siragusa: “He’s the kind of guy that’s on the other side of the club than I am. He’s over there with the champagne and caviar and also the strawberries and chocolate.”
Stockton: “We get the idea.”
The broadcasters’ comments had Detroit’s sports talk radio buzzing Monday, but Harrington said he was not aware of them until he heard part of coach Steve Mariucci’s weekly news conference and was asked about the comments later by reporters.
Harrington, 25, showed so sign of anger, but he seemed annoyed by the comments, which apparently stemmed from the time he spent with the Fox broadcasters during a production meeting Friday.
“If he’s got a problem with the way I play, then go ahead and say it,” Harrington said. “But if he looks at how I play, I don’t think he’d be making those comments.
“If he looks at how I work, I don’t think he’d be making those comments. If he came to the parking lot and checked to see whose car was the last one out of here each day, he wouldn’t be making those comments.”
Harrington did take one shot at Siragusa, though.
“It’s nice playing in front of the best linebacker in the history of the game, isn’t it?” he said, a reference to Siragusa’s NFL career, which was relatively undistinguished until he landed on the defensive line of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, with All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis making plays behind him on the way to a Super Bowl title.
Since he retired as a player, Siragusa has tried to make a career as the fat, lovable, guys’ guy. He’s more outspoken than informative and sometimes dresses in Hawaiian shirts on the sidelines. He also appeared as strong, silent bodyguard Frankie Cortese in HBO’s “The Sopranos.”
Harrington indicated that the production meeting with Stockton, Johnston and Siragusa was routine, and there was no indication Siragusa was critical of his play or his personality.
“I don’t know where the comments came from. I don’t care where the comments came from,” Harrington said. “He didn’t ask anything. He just sat on the other side of the table and sat there.”
Harrington, the Lions’ first pick in the 2002 draft and the third player taken overall, has been criticized by some fans and media for being too optimistic, regardless of how poorly the team played in his first two seasons.
He said he probably came into the production meeting in a good mood, but he wasn’t sure how it could be interpreted as over-confident.
“I’m a guy who enjoys what I do, and I’m sure I came off the practice field smiling,” he said. “And I’m sure I came into the production meeting in a great mood. I do remember a question; he asked me if I was – how did he phrase it? – if I was worried about any of the corners in this league.
“I told him I’m not going to be worried about anybody in this league. I’m not going to back away from throwing at anybody. That’s the kind of attitude I’ve got to have. If he thinks I’m over-confident by that, then so be it. Maybe I’m an over-confident guy, but you’ve got to be confident in this league. If you’re not, you’re going to get waxed off the table, and you’re not going to be here next year.”
A Fox spokesman said that the network had no response to Harrington’s comments.
Mariucci defended Harrington.
“I think with winning all that kind of goes away,” Mariucci said. “Keep in mind, Joey’s a hell of a guy. If you were his dad, you’d be very proud of him. He wants to win as badly as anybody. He gives a full day’s work. He’s in here like crazy; you’ve got to shoo him out of the building on his days off, at nights and the whole thing. He’s just a worker.
“As he starts to have more and more success, the respect from the Siragusas of the world will come. That’s just how it is when he lives in the world of being a starting quarterback in the National Football League. He’s developed thick skin. He can handle it. “
Mariucci said he was with the Packers during Brett Favre’s early years and remembers that Favre took verbal abuse, too.
NOTEBOOK: Running back Kevin Jones suffered what Mariucci called a mild high ankle sprain Sunday and probably will be out 2-4 weeks. Mariucci said Jones suffered similar injuries in high school and college but came back quickly. . . . Center Dominic Raiola was scheduled to have a surgical procedure Monday to correct an irregular heartbeat similar to the one that sidelined Harrington the final two games of his rookie season. . . . With the bye next Sunday, injured Lions players now have two weeks to prepare for the Oct. 10 game at Atlanta. Cornerbacks Dre’ Bly (knee) and Andre Goodman (thigh), defensive end James Hall (thumb), linebacker James Davis (ankle) and fullback Cory Schlesinger (hamstring) likely will be ready to play. Cornerback Rod Babers suffered a broken left clavicle Sunday, will require surgery and probably will miss the rest of the season.
