TAMPA, FLA. — The tag -- "Rhein Fire, No. 53, Harrison" -- is no longer on his game-day duffel bag because it has deteriorated.
The emotional baggage, well, that remains with Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison.
Advertisement
Steelers' James Harrison is no overnight sensation
PRO FOOTBALL
The defensive player of the year was cut three times by the Steelers, once by the Ravens before getting a break.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, February 01, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
Pro football -- A photo caption on the front page of Saturday's Sports section said that James Harrison of Pittsburgh Steelers led the NFL in sacks this season. Harrison was fourth in the league.
Advertisement
Cut three times by the Steelers and once by the Ravens, Harrison plays with a mean streak, taking out his years of frustration with every hit on the quarterback.
It is this mad-at-the-world attitude that has pushed him from a would-be bus driver to 2008 NFL defensive player of the year to Super Bowl starter.
"People said I was too short, too slow, couldn't do this or that," Harrison said. "I try not to look back, but I prepare myself every off-season with thoughts of what people said I couldn't do. Nobody believed I could play."
After he had been released twice by the Steelers, the Ravens signed him Jan. 23, 2004, and sent him to NFL Europe. He reported to the team June 8 and was cut 10 days later.
How insignificant did it seem? The Ravens released him without any announcement, and no media member noticed.
"No one ever thought he was going to become NFL defensive player of the year when we let him go," a former Ravens official said. "He was a 5-10 undrafted guy out of Kent State who had some issues."
At that time, Harrison was considered bullheaded by players and coaches alike. "He was a knucklehead that didn't know the plays," Steelers linebacker James Farrior told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently.
Harrison has since acknowledged that he didn't take coaching well.
"I hold no grudge or ill will to the Ravens because they cut me," said Harrison, who publicly expressed anger at the Ravens four years ago. "They never really got a chance to see what I could do. I practiced one day.
"I figured the last time I got cut, that if I didn't get picked up, that it would probably be over for me."
He went back home to Akron, Ohio, for six weeks and got his commercial driver's license.
He thought about driving a bus before he got a call in late July 2004. The Steelers needed a linebacker because starter Clark Haggans had broken fingers on his right hand lifting weights.
Harrison eventually latched on as a special teams player and stayed in that role for three seasons. He made three tackles on coverage teams in the Super Bowl three years ago.
The return trip to the Super Bowl, however, is more special.
