PITTSBURGH - Mid-week commentary on the news:
* The NFL suspends Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison for one game
The penalty stems from Harrison's helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland Browns' quarterback Colt McCoy in last Thursday's game.
The Steelers Nation is outraged, but the rest of the football world seems to be yawning.
To outsiders, it just looks like more of the same from Harrison, whose name frequently appears on the NFL's disciplinary docket.
He's been fined in the past, and the Steelers didn't care much about that. It was his money.
Now he's been suspended, though, for what figures to be the most competitive game of the three remaining on the Steelers' schedule.
If his appeal is denied and he has to sit out Monday night's game in San Francisco, the Steelers suffer.
Harrison loses a paycheck, but the team loses one of its best defensive players at a time when another linebacker, LaMarr Woodley, is dealing with a hamstring injury.
It was interesting that coach Mike Tomlin made no effort to defend Harrison's hit.
"It was a foul," Tomlin said.
Had it been an isolated incident, there's little doubt that Harrison would have been fined, but not suspended.
His status as a repeat offender played a major role in the decision.
Contrary to what a lot of paranoid people want to believe, this isn't a personal issue and it isn't an effort to "get" the Steelers.
It's a judgment against a player who has shown a disregard for the rules in the past.
How many times does the same message have to be delivered?
The NFL made sure this violation couldn't just be covered with a check.
* Sidney Crosby sidelined again
After missing 61 games because of a concussion, the Pittsburgh Penguins' captain played eight games.
He played well, but developed concussion symptoms after last Monday's home game against Boston.
Crosby has now missed three games, and his absence is being listed as indefinite.
That could be a week. It could be several weeks. It could be months. It could be the rest of the season.
Until last year, Crosby had gotten through five NHL seasons with no chronic health issues.
Now it looks like he has a major one.
Mehno can be reached at: johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com.
