Former Steelers legend James Harrison talks about an incredible hit

Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, James Harrison is an undisputed legend. The stories about his unbelievable career, the way he battled adversity and rejection and became a hero in black and gold are nearly mythical in proportion. Harrison is no stranger to controversy, but on Christmas Eve in 2005, he did something almost every Steelers fan dreams of. 

He body-slammed a Cleveland Browns fan.

Pittsburgh Steelers' Harrison's Favorite Hit 

Harrison appeared in the GRINDcast podcast, hosted by Simon Arias and was asked about his favorite NFL moment, other than the pick-six for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. Harrison recounted the infamous story of how he tackled a Browns fan on Christmas Eve. 

This game was against the Browns of old, and the Steelers were demolishing them the entire game, winning 41-0. Apparently, the fan, Nate Mallett, wasn't too happy with Pittsburgh handing the Browns a whooping and decided to run onto the field. 

For any kids that might be reading, never run onto the field at a sporting event, it's a very bad idea as Mr. Mallett was about to find out. 

The young Mallett was apparently quite inebriated that day and when he ran onto the field, Harrison picked him up and body-slammed him to the ground. Harrison was only in his third season with the Steelers at that time, he wasn't even a full-time starter. But that day, fans everywhere got a glimpse into just how incredible he was going to be. 

Reflecting back now on it, Harrison quips:

"If I knew that they wouldn't do nothing to me, I'd had to put a little more into that one."

Here is how it all went down according to Harrison:

"It was in Cleveland and dude just ran out on the field. Verron Haynes was sitting at the tail and when the dude came running, he kind of took off a little bit, like he was running away. So I had to go get some of our street credit back. He was bouncing back towards us and I'm like I'm about to go out here and just slam him real quick. I think, I'm gonna hold him down until the police get there. So I picked him up and I slammed him and I started to throw his arm behind his back, but I'm like no I might hurt his arm."

Arias asks Harrison if he got fined for the body slam and Harrison said no, he hadn't even been fined by the NFL at this point. Harrison said that Mallett was the one who got in trouble that day:

"They got him for criminal trespass felony, they said felony trespassing, some s*it like that. So, I'm like all right, I'm gonna hold his arm in front of him so then he grabs my face mask. He looks up," Harrison says laughing, "He's like, 'Oh, I got your a** now. I got you,' he said, 'I got your a**.' So I took this forearm (points to his own arm) and I had this hand here (Harrison holds up his opposite hand and pantomimes pushing his hand onto his forearm) and I just started pressing my hand down into it, down onto his throat. By then, the police came and they started grabbing him."

Harrison goes on to say that Mallett might have gotten rougher treatment from the police than he did from the linebacker:

"Now when I got down with him, he didn't have a scratch on him. They came over there, they had a foot on his head, on his jaw, after I got up, one dude stomped his foot down on him like this (mimes stomping) and then he looks at me like, 'You see that?' He was bloody by the time he got up."

Apparently, the whole interaction left an important impression on Mallett, despite him initially claiming on TV that being body slammed didn't hurt. Harrison said the punishment wasn't over for him after the police got done:

"Ended up he had to go to jail every time the Browns played. I think he had to sit in jail for it was like two or three seasons. They did an interview and that helped him to start sobriety."

Do you remember seeing Harrison body slam the Browns fan? Was it the first time you were really aware of how he might be more incredible than you realized? What was your favorite James Harrison play?