Published: January 31, 2007 12:44 am         

From The Press Box: Marvin Harrison grins and bears a day in media spotlight

MIAMI — How much does Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison detest talking to the media?

When teammate Tim Jennings, temporarily representing an Indianapolis TV station, asked Harrison a question during Tuesday’s Super Bowl XLI Media Day activities at Dolphin Stadium, Harrison brushed him off.

That’s a bit unfair to Harrison, as Jennings was clearly teasing the All-Pro wide receiver, but it’s a massive understatement to say that Media Day was a requirement the media-shy Harrison looked upon with all the anticipatory glee of a kick in the groin.

“I don’t mind doing interviews, especially when there’s something good to talk about. I think this week is definitely worth the while to talk about,” said Harrison, who wasn’t speaking from a prepared text, but whose tone indicated that he might as well have been.

One had to feel for Harrison. He is the valedictorian of sorts among NFL receivers, yet he’d be the last person to actually deliver the speech. Not only did he have to wax poetic about himself Tuesday, but he had to sit there while the peanut gallery made an hour of it at his expense.

You had “American Idol” rejects Jonathan Jayne and Kenneth Swale ask Harrison if he’d like to hear them sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” A stupefied Harrison was taken aback, explained there was no game that day, and brushed them off.

Sadly, they sang anyway.

Later, Harrison made a point to field a question from a model who caught his eye. To his annoyance, he was asked to flash his touchdown dance. He explained that he had no touchdown dance – everyone knows he doesn’t dance after touchdowns, he awkwardly made pains to point out – leaving the model hanging as she persisted to get Harrison to show his admittedly nonexistent moves.

Speaking for an hour to whomever wanted to talk to him was enough song and dance to last Harrison a lifetime. He doesn’t totally shut out the media during the regular season, but Harrison speaks rarely, perhaps once a month tops.

A shame, because when Harrison spoke his mind — forced or not — he had interesting insights into the Colts and his career. Intrinsically linked with quarterback Peyton Manning, Colts fans comparatively hear from the Manning side of the most prolific quarterback-wide receiver touchdown combination (106 and counting) all of the time. It was interesting to hear from Harrison’s side of the ledger.

“Peyton and I will talk a lot about the game plan and what we need to get done,” said Harrison on their preparatory routine. “Peyton and I may talk on the field, but off the field, we don’t talk as much as we have in the past. Jim Sorgi kind of plays middle man. I always ask Sorgi what defense they are playing or what I can do to get open on another route.”

Sorgi?

“Jim can see what’s happening on the field from the sideline better than Peyton or I can during the game. He sees all the pictures and when we come off, he knows all the defenses,” Harrison said.

Harrison brushed off criticism of his postseason production. In 13 postseason games, Harrison has only two touchdown catches and averages 4.2 catches and 59.8 yards per game.

“If I get first downs and move the ball, that’s all that matters. Like I said, teams don’t want us to get big plays, so we are going to do whatever it takes to put points on the board,” Harrison said. “Being that it’s one-and-done, they’re not going to let me go out there and have big games and big plays.”

Harrison parried questions about himself throughout the Media Day hour, winning his battle to say little about a career that is destined to end in Canton.

“I don’t need to be more famous. At the end of the day, I just want my teammates to know that I was a great player that did a lot to help us win football games,” Harrison said. “I have a lot of years left to play and when that time comes, I’ll sit back and think about all the things I’ve accomplished.”

That’s about all Harrison was going to say about himself. He was asked at what age he developed his sense of deflecting attention from himself and shying away from the media.

“I’ve never thought about that,” Harrison said. “I’ve always just played.”

And much to Harrison’s delight once Media Day ended, playing is all he needs to concentrate on from now until Sunday.