"Michael Irvin Stabbed Everett McIver With Shears": The Story Of 'Scissorgate', When The Dallas Cowboys WR Went Ballistic Over His Teammate Not Giving Him His Chair
Emily Wong Michael Irvin goes down as one of the greatest wide receivers to have played in the NFL, but he once nearly stabbed his teammate in a very fatal way.
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Irving retired from the NFL in 2000 after a spinal cord injury took away his ability to play the game he loved so dearly. He was drafted in 1988 by the Dallas Cowboys and spent his entire career there.
Irvin finished his career with 11,904 receiving yards (ranks 28th all time), 65 touchdowns (ranks 58th all time), with five Pro Bowl appearances and a First Team All Pro nod. Irvin also finished his career as a three time Super Bowl champion. Irvin was known for being a playmaker with his flashy plays and ability to break the defense down.
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Despite all these achievements, Irvin once had a very bizzare and incredibly dangerous situation when he once nearly stabbed his teammate to death.
Recapping Scissorgate: Michael Irvin Stabbed Everett McIver With A Scissor
Ego can sometimes be the fatal flaw for any star athlete. That’s exactly what happened when you look at the case of Scissorgate between Cowboys teammates Michael Irvin and Everett McIver.
In 1998, during training camp, things got a little out of hand in Dallas. McIver was only his fifth year in the league while Irvin had played 10 seasons and was an established star.
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McIver was getting a haircut done, but little did he know, he had occupied Irvin’s spot. When Irvin came in to get his haircut done, he was outraged by the fact that McIver was sitting where he was ‘supposed to.’ Irvin yelled out, four times apparently:
“Seniority! Punk get the f**k out of my chair!”
McIver wasn’t going to stand down, however. With other offensive linemen egging him on, saying
“You’re no f**kin’ rookie. He can’t tell you what to do.”
McIver was clearly feeling the support and so he decided to take on Irvin head on. McIver got up from his chair and shoved the legendary wide receiver, something Irvin didn’t take too kindly to.
The two got in a full scale brawl, and with one thing leading to another, Irvin eventually grabbed a pair of scissors and jabbed into McIver’s neck. McIver was very lucky to have not bled out as the blade wasn’t a straight one, and Irvin missed McIver’s vital carotid artery by inches.
The scene was almost nightmarish to the rest of the Dallas Cowboys. Sure, teammates often get into scuffles, but not to this degree. Cowboys cornerback Kevin Smith would later recall:
“The whole scene was crazy. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean, we were on the same team.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would discipline Irvin by making him pay somewhere up to six figures in a fine, but the whole incident was downplayed as ‘horseplay’, a word that greatly understates just how severe and deadly the entire scenario could have been.
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