Ok, Ok. Forget he makes me want to puke.
"Terrell Owens Explained"
By Brad Oremland
NFL minicamps opened last weekend, and Terrell Owens was nowhere to be found.
Owens, arguably the best wide receiver in the league, joined the Philadelphia
Eagles last season after eight years in San Francisco. The Eagles gave him a new
contract when he signed with them, but now Owens wants to change it.
It's not uncommon for players to renegotiate their contracts after breakout
seasons, but Owens had made four consecutive Pro Bowls with the 49ers, so his
excellent performance with Philadelphia in 2004 was not a surprise, or evidence
that the contract he had signed was unfair. Statistically, Owens gave the Eagles
about the amount of production they expected. During his last three seasons in
San Francisco, Owens averaged 15 games, 91 receptions, 1,271 receiving yards, and
13 TDs per season. Last year in the City of Brotherly Love, Owens played 14
games, gathering 77 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 TDs. Almost identical.
Owens signed with the Eagles after getting a trade to Baltimore nullified. His
agent had missed the filing deadline for free agency, but Owens somehow convinced
the league that he should have been a free agent anyway. No one blames Owens for
hiring a new agent after that debacle, but choosing the notorious Drew Rosenhaus
— whose clients teams have been known to avoid simply so they won't have to deal
with him — was a dubious decision. Even with that hiring, though, Rosenhaus
didn't have a piece of Owens' current contract, so he convinced T.O. to demand a
new one.
When Owens originally joined the team, Philadelphia gave him a contract that, at
the time, apparently satisfied both parties. No team in the NFL manages its
salary cap more carefully than the Eagles, and it's unlikely they would have
signed him in the first place if he'd been represented by Rosenhaus and demanded
a huge contract spread over only three or four years. Because of the salary cap,
every team in the league spreads contracts longer than they'll actually keep the
player. Agents know this, and so do players. Rosenhaus and Owens are pretending
they don't have any idea how contracts work in the NFL.
Nonetheless, T.O.'s demand for a new contract shouldn't surprise anyone. Even a
cursory look at Owens' career reveals a pattern of selfish behavior. A closer
look makes it clear that Owens is not merely selfish and inconsiderate: he is, in
fact, the most profoundly self-centered player in the history of the National
Football League.
Owens first made headlines for the wrong reason during the 2000 season, when he
twice ran to midfield and staged a touchdown celebration on the Dallas star. The
first celebration sparked a retaliatory mimic by Emmitt Smith, the second a hit
from Cowboys safety George Teague. The Niners fined Owens a game's pay and he was
held out of the team's next game, although he remained on the active roster and
was not technically suspended.
The story doesn't end there, though. It was troubling enough that Owens repeated
his stunt, oblivious to the fact that it was almost universally perceived as
classless taunting, disrespectful of his opponents and their team's proud
tradition at Texas Stadium. But Owens demonstrated the true extent of his
cluelessness when he compared his punishment to impeachment of the president: "It
makes me feel like this was a classless act. Like President Clinton and Monica
Lewinsky, that was a classless act, and he didn't even get impeached for it."
Is your jaw hanging open, like mine does every time I read that? We can forgive
Owens for not knowing that Clinton actually was impeached, but it's obvious that
he has no sense of context. A one-game fine is not equivalent to impeaching the
president or removing him from office. The whole comparison is kind of a non
sequitur.
Since the incident in Dallas, Owens has repeatedly made headlines for reasons
other than his play. I'll just go down the list: the Sharpie incident, the
pom-pom celebration, yelling at his coach, criticizing his quarterback, the nixed
trade to Baltimore, tearing down a fan's sign, the Ray Lewis imitation, the
steamy MNF opener, and now, holding out and criticizing his quarterback, part
two. There have been others (personally, that shot of his gold teeth that was on
TV 900 times last season annoyed me as much as any of these), but those are the
highlights.
Let's be honest: none of those was a crime against humanity. I thought the
Sharpie celebration was funny, and Ray Lewis, who does an elaborate two-minute
dance every time he's near a tackle, had it coming. Even yelling at his coach and
manipulating his contract can be forgiven; Owens isn't the only guy who does that
sort of thing. Taken alone, none of these incidents is a huge problem. But when
you look at the whole, the real Owens emerges.
That Owens is so entirely self-centered that he can't see things from any point
of view but his own. He honestly doesn't understand why people criticize him.
What does Owens want? First and foremost, he wants to be on television. All the
time. He also wants to be on the radio and in the newspapers. His current holdout
is probably at least partially motivated by his desire to be in the news. He
wants to be loved. I believe Owens is genuinely puzzled and mildly troubled by
the negative reactions he sometimes gets.
Secondly, Owens wants to be a great football player, and he wants others to
recognize his greatness. By all accounts, T.O. is in terrific shape, a physical
marvel. His speedy rehabilitation from the injury that kept him out of last
year's playoffs is a testament to Owens' training. With the sole exception of
Randy Moss, Owens is the NFL's greatest physical talent at wide receiver, maybe
even at any position. He's big, he's fast, and he works hard to make himself
better.
A propos of both the above points, Owens wants respect. In professional sports,
that is measured by how often you're on SportsCenter, how many jerseys you sell,
and how many zeroes are in your contract.
When Owens complains about his teammates and coaches, shows up his opponents, or
otherwise draws attention to himself at the expense of others, he's acting in his
own interests. Everyone does that to some extent, but Owens acts in his own
interests to the exclusion of all others, without even any consideration of the
impact he has on anyone but himself. The guy is the Ayn Rand of the NFL. It's
because of this narcissism that Owens doesn't understand why people dislike him.
External standards are a mystery to the guy.
When you examine Owens in context, he is a supremely talented football player,
but one whom the sport might be better off without.
