Two great articles explore in great detail, the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Dwight Dixon and Robert Nixon.
The ESPN article You Have No Idea, shows that Marvin’s past is not as squeaky clean as his reputation had been.
Strike One
On Jan. 4, 2003, before kickoff of an AFC wild-card game at the Meadowlands, Harrison was catching passes from Manning as Jets ball boys shagged punts from New York’s Matt Turk. One of them, a 23-year-old Long Islander named Matt Prior, threw a ball downfield that bounced near Harrison. According to a New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority report—and two people on the field—No. 88 felt the toss violated his personal space. He charged Prior, bumping him in the chest.
“You threw the ball at me!” Harrison screamed. “You’re a professional! You should do your job better than that!” Everyone on the field froze. Prior asked Harrison to back away. Instead, Harrison grabbed Prior by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
Strike Two
That wasn’t the only time Harrison drew looks from law enforcement. On the evening of Feb. 10, 2005, three nights before the Pro Bowl, he and two men were walking along a row of stores at the Hilton Hawaiian Village hotel in Honolulu. According to a police report—and a witness—Harrison was talking on his cell when a group of teenage fans asked for his autograph. Harrison declined, and when the fans kept pestering him, he and his friends turned on them. The Pro Bowler took a swing at one fan, then grabbed him by the throat and put an arm around his neck. After more scuffling, Harrison and his friends ran off, leaving one of the teenagers beaten. “I was walking about three feet behind these kids,” the witness told The Magazine. “Harrison and his friends acted like real punks.”
Now, Gentleman’s Quarterly gives us a much more in-depth look in the new article The Dirtiest Player.
Was it only last season that Marvin Harrison was still catching TD passes for Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts? Now, in the wake of a brazen but mysterious Philadelphia gunfight—many details of which are reported here for the first time—the man who holds the NFL record for most receptions in a season may yet find himself with a permanent record of a different sort.
Whether or not Harrison will ever face a court room remains to be seen, but if he does not, You Have No Idea sums it up nicely:
Meanwhile, around the Philly courthouse, the case still has buzz. “What do you think about the Harrison case?” a clerk recently asked a cop in the case. The officer did not hesitate to answer.
“Looks like Marvin caught another pass.”
