Much has been said over the past three months about whether receiver Marvin Harrison should have made it to the Hall of Fame before receiver Terrell Owens. Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice hasn’t said anything about it, and he wasn’t about to during a visit to PFT Live on Monday.
“No, you know what, man, we’re not even gonna talk about what happened with Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens,” Rice said on the subject after completing his pitch for Kay Jewelers, which makes the Hall of Fame’s Ring of Excellence. “All the inductees they get one of these rings, you know the ring of honor and it’s a very elite group of guys. So we not gonna talk about this little bashing thing going on between Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens.”
Why not? I asked.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s important,” Rice said. “It’s one of those things we shouldn’t even be addressing right now. Because both of those guys are great receivers and both of those guys are gonna be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Everything else is not important.”
I later asked Rice whether he thinks receivers won’t get into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot unless their credentials are comparable to his.
“You wouldn’t ever hear me say that,” Rice said. “You never know what the committee is thinking and I think with Terrell Owens what he was able to accomplish on the football field, it was outstanding. Same thing with Marvin Harrison and it’s up to the committee if they’re gonna let them go in on the first ballot.”
On one hand, Rice knows that he gains nothing by getting in the middle of the Harrison/Owens debate. On the other hand, Rice’s refusal was so clear and so strong that the reaction, in and of itself, becomes noteworthy.
To hear it for yourself, check out Hour Two of the April 25 podcast at iTunes or audioBoom.
