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Fat Tuesday was a sad day for Indianapolis, not the type of Mardi Gras the Colts fans were looking for with the release of wide receiver Marvin Harrison.
No more “Peyton Manning steps up, he fires it down the far sideline, leaping for it at the 25 is Marvin Harrison, he has it, loses one man, to the 15 the 10 the 5, touchdown Indianapolis.”
It is the end of an era for the Colts and the National Football League, closing the book on the most prolific quarterback-receiver tandem in the history of the game.
Manning to Harrison was heard more than Bradshaw to Swann, Montana to Rice, and Aikman to Irvin.
During their 13 seasons together, Manning and Harrison hooked up 971 times for 13,090 yards and 110 yards. All three are National Football League records for a quarterback-receiver duo.
At the end of the day Tuesday, football, although viewed by millions on television, was still a business and Indianapolis made a business decision to part ways with Harrison.
Harrison’s contract would have been more than $13 million next season. Considering his 60 receptions for a career-low 636 yards and five touchdowns in 15 games this season, it is easy to figure out why the Colts let him go. That is a lot of money to pay a the third, or fourth best receiver on the team.
His days of being a franchise wide out are gone. Harrison did not try to negotiate for less money. You can’t blame him either. He sees $3 to $4 million as a slap in the face.
So, like some of the stars before him, the show will go on the road. Harrison will always be remembered for his time in Indianapolis, but could very well find his way to Philadelphia to play with Donovan McNabb and the Eagles. Let’s face it, McNabb isn’t getting any younger and the Eagles have been knocking on the title door for years. Harrison could be the missing piece that puts Philly over the top.
He could head to New York. Wouldn’t that be interesting? Say, the New York Giants. It could be Manning II to Harrison. He could add to his record for receptions, yards and touchdowns from the Manning brothers.
I wish the stars could walk away from the game when they are on top. Who wants to remember Jerry Rice for his days in Oakland? Please.
Or Emmitt Smith as an Arizona Cardinal, before they were good.
I know the fans want them to keep playing. It is hard to let go — for the player and the fan.
If they are staying in it for love of the game, why not work out a deal to stay with the team for less money? Yeah, I know, the greats don’t want to take a pay cut. But, do they really need the money at this point in their careers?
To leave for a shot at a ring, that is another story. You can’t blame a guy for doing that. However, Harrison has as good of a shot at putting another ring on his finger in Indianapolis as he does anywhere.
Being a huge Peyton Manning fan, I am going to miss watching him hook up with Marvin Harrison.
Like the greatest at anything, seeing the two of them connect on the football field was brilliant and graceful — pure poetry in motion.
Manning and Harrison made the impossible probably, the difficult look easy and the game simply childs play. When they were on, you couldn’t stop them, only hope to contain them.
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