During the Monday Night Football telecast between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears, the broadcast team got a little too personal and egregiously ficticious when speaking of Steelers’ running back Najee Harris’ living situation in college.
Louis Riddick Talks Harris’ Upbringing, Levy Adds Unnecessary Banter
ESPN’s Louis Riddick began talking about Harris’ tough upbringing after Harris made a great play in the game. Harris, whose family lived in homeless shelters and slept on floors during his childhood, isn’t ashamed of his past. He embraces his life story and uses it as motivation — when it is told correctly.
Play-by-play voice Steve Levy uneccessarily interjected:
“Even when he got to Alabama on a full ride, got the fancy dorm room, he spent the first few months at Alabama sleeping on the floor. He said he’s just more comfortable, more use to that.”
Harris quickly denounced the story as false. The fabricated information inspired game analyst Brian Griese to say “that’s an unbelievable story.”
If it were true it would be a great journalistic nugget, but Harris let Levy know he slept in his bed at Alabama.
Bra I ain’t sleep on no dam floor in college. I slept on my bed
— Najee Harris (@ohthatsNajee22) November 9, 2021
Y’all mess up my name and y’all say that stuff smh bet
— Najee Harris (@ohthatsNajee22) November 9, 2021
Steve Levy Apologizes For False Information
On Tuesday Levy apologized and tweeted that he’s gonna make a donation to Najee’s Foundation.
I got this part wrong Najee, my mistake. Your story is inspirational & mission to positively impact is admirable.
I’ll be donating to the Da' Bigger Picture Foundation and encourage others to help Najee’s greater purpose where they can.https://t.co/GlbxzRfXSD
— Steve Levy (@espnSteveLevy) November 9, 2021
It’s highly plausible that Levy confused Najee’s story with another former Alabama running back’s story, Josh Jacobs. Jacobs’ story is similar as far as living in homeless shelters go, but his family moved much more often and he mentioned all the times he’d slept on a couch, floor or even in a car. Najee just mentioned homeless shelters, but never went into details about where he slept.
Harris doesn’t need any embellishment to be considered an American success story. He’s come into Pittsburgh and totally upgraded the run game with his ability to run hard and be explosive. Harris leads all rookies in rushing yards (541), receptions (40) and TDs (6). To say he’s carrying the 5-3 Steelers offensively is an understatement. His 150 carries lead all rookies and put him on a record pace as a workhorse.
Najee Harris is on pace for 404 touches this season
The only rookie RBs with 400+ touches in a season are Eric Dickerson and Edgerrin James pic.twitter.com/ULBuDaKkx0
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) November 9, 2021
Prior to Monday night’s 29-27 thriller win over the Chicago Bears,
Harris was on pace to become just the fifth rookie of all time to accumulate at least 115 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in four consecutive games. He’ll join Franco Harris, Eric Dickerson, Alvin Kamara and Curtis Martin if he does so.
Levy totally got it wrong and a deeper dive needs to be conducted into why he made those comments and who his sources were, but an apology and big business will sweep it under the rug.
