NFL

James Harrison May Have Said Worse Things About Ben Roethlisberger Than Previously Thought

After news hit yesterday that Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison had some not-so-nice things to say about teammate Ben Roethlisberger, Harrison went into damage control, using every athlete’s favorite defense that the writer of the story “twisted his words.”

Today, Paul Solotaroff, the author of the Men’s Journal article in which Harrison made his controversial comments, told ESPN Radio that he knew Harrison’s defense was coming. Not because it was predictable, but because he signed off on it.

“Look, James is the guy who’s got to live with Ben for the next three years. . . . So as I told James, ‘Listen, whatever you’ve got to say to mend fences is perfectly fine with me.’”

Perhaps what’s more interesting than Solotaroff standing by his story is that he said that there were things that Harrison said about Roethlisberger that were left out of his story.

“I filled up three notebooks, I don’t know how many hours of digital tape, and I cut so much stuff from this piece,” Solotaroff said. “There is just acres of stuff James said that’s compelling and amusing and riveting. And that wasn’t the only thing he said about Ben.”

It would be interesting to see whether those additional comments are along the lines of the on-the-field criticisms that Harrison offered in the published story, or if they extend to comments about Roethlisberger’s questionable behavior off-the-field.

Either way, between this schism, Hines Ward‘s DUI arrest, and Rashard Mendenhall‘s controversial comment regarding the death of Osama bin Laden, the Steeler’s locker room is becoming one of the most fascinating in football, but for all the wrong reasons.

Here’s to wishing HBO’s Hard Knocks was around this year to capture it all.

[Pro Football Talk. Image via.]