Look, Marvin Harrison has not played well this season. That is obvious. We can debate the reasons why all we want, but if we buy the "he's old" argument and Harrison is indeed done, he has left behind him a Hall of Fame career and the legacy that he is the greatest WR not named Jerry Rice.
However, CBS Sports resident idiot, Gregg "Pretentious Two Three Gs in His First Name" Doyell now thinks, because of Marvin's sub par play this season, that Marvin Harrison is a fraud. Gregg also thinks that Marvin's non-arrest, non-conviction, non-whatever incident that happened in Philadelphia this past summer (an incident where the police did not even list him as a suspect) makes him a sketchy person that we sports fans should not trust.
Once upon a time, Marvin Harrison was the peculiarly shy, introverted receiver who worked hard and put up great numbers. He was a star, and more. He was a role model. We didn't know much about him, but he had earned the benefit of the doubt.
Now, the benefit of doubt is gone. Now, in light of a horrific event this past spring in Philadelphia, where Harrison has been linked to -- but not charged with -- a shooting near an auto shop he owns, I'm not sure shy is the word to describe him. His gun was allegedly used to shoot a man Harrison had been fighting with weeks earlier. The victim has accused Harrison of pulling the trigger, and has even filed a civil law suit. No resolution is in sight, but in light of the events in Philadelphia, Harrison seems less shy, and possibly something more sinister.
Obviously, reading this, it is pretty clear that Gregggggg Doyel is a douchebag the size of Kellen Winslow's infected testicles. I mean seriously Greggggg. 13 years of a stellar, hardworking reputation, numerous WR awards, a Super Bowl, and even more years of Harrison giving back to his very poor and very forgotten Philly neighborhood are completely and totally undone by one sub par game in Pittsburgh and one legal incident in Philly where he wasn't even charged undoes everything?
Gregggg, were you, like, drunk when you wrote this article?
I'm not asking that as a joke, because if you were sober, you might be the dumbest writer in all of sports "journalism." I mean it seems Gregg actually uses the article to attack Harrison and exonerate... Terrell Owens?
I wonder if Harrison has more in common with Terrell Owens than we'd suspected.
But that's not fair to Terrell Owens, because T.O. would have done his damndest to make that catch in the second quarter on Sunday, and he wouldn't have been spooked into alligator-arming that drop in the end zone in the third quarter.
Terrell Owens can be a baby and even a jerk, but he's neither indifferent nor scared when the football comes his way. And he's never been accused of shooting a man.
The fact that Marvin Harrison was also never accused of shooting a man either seems to have left Gregg's realm of reasoning, but let us not dwell on Gregg's total disregard for facts. We can question Marvin's effort in the Steelers game, and we can question Marvin's quality of play this season, but that does not wipe away 13 years of greatness. Nor does it magically make Terrell Owens "better" than Marvin Harrison. For years, we've seen TO take plays off, dog routes, and undercut teammates privately and publicly. For whatever reason, Doyel thinks one game and one incident places Marvin Harrison in the category of "fraud."
For obvious reasons, Gregg Doyel is a schmuck.