Owens Apologizes; Eagles Maintain Stance
It’s always good to discover that, in the anything goes world of professional sports, there actually is an organization whose leaders mean what they say and say what they mean. This is almost enough to make me a Philadelphia Eagles fan.
In the wake of the media circus that has been perennial and multiple DUMB@$$ Terrell Owens, Eagles coach Andy Reid and Eagles management have dealt with the issue forcefully and forthrightly. When Owens continued to act like the spoiled, immature brat he is, and when he had finally screwed the pooch once and for all, Reid said enough is enough. Owens was suspended for four games (it should be more, but that’s the longest penalty available under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement), and when his suspension ends, he will be on a paid (and likely permanent) exile from the Eagles. Frankly, I was hoping for a summary execution, but the league’s collective bargaining agreement frowns on that.
(Memo to T.O.: You’re one of the best receivers in NFL history, you make MILLIONS of dollars playing a kid’s game, you have opportunities that most men would dearly love to have, and your pissing it away by acting like a spoiled, petulant child with a pronounced prima donna complex? What part of “I’M A DUMB@$$” do you not get???)
Terrell Owens wants to return to the Eagles, but the team won’t have him.
A contrite Owens, hoping to overturn his dismissal from the Philadelphia Eagles, on Tuesday apologized to coach Andy Reid, quarterback Donovan McNabb, the team’s owner and president, and fans in news conference in front of his home.
ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio spoke to a top Eagles official, who told Paolantonio that Owens will not be rejoining the team. The official added that even if Owens’ suspension is not upheld by an arbitrator, Owens will still not play for the Eagles this season….
Owens on Monday was told by the team not to return this season. The decision resulted from “a large number of situations that accumulated over a long period of time, during which Terrell had been warned repeatedly about the consequences of his actions,” Reid said.
“I fight for what I think is right. In doing so, I alienated a lot of my fans and my teammates,” Owens said, reading a statement outside his house in Moorestown, N.J., outside Philadelphia.
“This is very painful for me to be in this position,” he said. “I know in my heart that I can help the team win the Super Bowl and not only be a dominant player, but also be a team player. I can bring that.”
Actually, what he brings is an ego the size of Delaware and is hard-wired directly to his mouth, bypassing his brain. In a league that features fewer class acts and fabulous talents like Marvin Harrison and more self-promoting jackasses and prima donnas like Owens, Keyshawn Johnson, and Patrick Johnson, it’s refreshing to see an NFL team insist on the fact that football is a TEAM game, and that no one is bigger than the team, no matter how fabulously talented. When you consider Owens’ “rap sheet”, you have to wonder why any NFL team would take on chance on this cancer:
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Sept. 24, 2000: Owens celebrates a pair of touchdowns in a 41-24 win over the host Dallas Cowboys by running to the star logo at midfield and posing. San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci suspends him for a week. “I was praying to God. That was no act of taunting,” Owens says.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Oct. 22, 2000: Owens accuses his 49ers teammates of quitting following a 34-16 loss to the Carolina Panthers. “I think the whole team just gave up, man,” Owens said. He apologizes to his teammates the next day.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Oct. 31, 2001: Owens lashes out at Mariucci for his play calling, in particular his refusal to run up the score on opponents. “I think it’s funny, but … his buddy system with all the coaches around the league, I think he tries to spare them sometimes,” Owens says.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Jan. 13, 2002: Owens complains about his role in the offense following a 25-15 playoff loss to the Packers. “I want to be the go-to guy on this team,” Owens says. “But the play calling doesn’t always involve me. I get lost in the offense.”
• May 3, 2002: Owens rankles team officials for risking injury when he plays his first game for the Adirondack Wildcats of the U.S. Basketball League.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Sept. 22, 2002: Owens criticizes Mariucci for having quarterback Jeff Garcia kneel down at the Washington 16 at the end of a 20-10 win over the Redskins rather than trying to score again. “We have no killer instinct, period,” Owens says.
• Oct. 14, 2002: Owens celebrates a touchdown catch on Monday Night Football by pulling a marker from his sock and autographing the ball. Owens tosses the ball into the stands to Greg Eastman, his financial consultant and an adviser to Shawn Springs, the player who was covering him on the play.
• Dec. 15, 2002: Owens celebrates a touchdown catch in a 20-14 loss to Green Bay by taking pompoms from a cheerleader and dancing behind the end zone.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Jan. 12, 2003: Just before halftime of a 31-6 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Owens screams at the 49ers’ sideline and slaps his head in disbelief when Mariucci elects to run out the clock rather than try to cut into a 28-6 halftime deficit.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Sept. 21, 2003: Owens throws a sideline tantrum directed at offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and is critical of new coach Dennis Erickson following a 13-12 loss to the Cleveland Browns. “It’s my job to run routes and catch the ball,” Owens says. “It’s their job to know the personnel on the field. It’s their job to know who the playmakers are and to design the plays.”
• Sept. 28, 2003: Owens storms off the field when Kevan Barlow was stuffed for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 during a 35-7 loss to Minnesota. Owens throws his helmet on the sideline and after the game hints that quarterback Jeff Garcia should to be benched.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Aug. 13, 2004: An interview with Playboy magazine hits newsstands in which Owens was asked if he thinks Jeff Garcia, his quarterback with the 49ers, is gay. Owens responds: “Like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat.”
• Oct. 31, 2004: Now with the Eagles, Owens mocks Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis during an end zone celebration.
• Nov. 7, 2004: Cameras follow Owens as he yells at Donovan McNabb on the sideline during a 27-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Nov. 15, 2004: Owens draws criticism for a Monday Night Football promo in which actress Nicollette Sheridan — a star of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” dressed only in a towel — asks Owens to skip the game then drops the towel and jumps into his arms. Owens later apologizes.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ April 2005: In an interview with ESPN.com, Owens says he “wasn’t the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl,” a comment believed by many to be about McNabb’s struggles during the end of the game.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Aug. 10, 2005: After a shouting match with Reid during training camp, Owens is sent home for a week. A circus ensues in front of his house as he works out in his driveway — doing crunches and lifting weights for TV cameras and reporters.
‚Äö√Ѭ¢ Nov. 3, 2005: In an interview aired on ESPN.com, Owens says the team would be better off with the Packers’ Brett Favre starting at quarterback instead of the injured McNabb and blasts the Eagles for not marking his 100th career touchdown catch.
The sad thing is that, despite the above laundry list of egomaniacal behavior, some NFL team will give Owens a shot next season…and some NFL team will live to rue the decision after Owens gives his massive ego free reign and manages to divide the team’s locker room into factions while he creates a feeding frenzy among the local print and broadcast media. Unless Terrell Owens can manage to learn his lesson and show some true contrition (and no one in their right mind could reasonably expect this to EVER happen), he should be forced to get a real job- you know, the kind where you actually have to work 8-5, play well with others, meet expectations, that sort of thing.
Good Riddance.
Would the troglodyte who found TPRS with this offensive Google search please take your sorry @$$ elsewhere? I value my readers, but not to the exclusion of common decency and offensive racial stereotyping. There ought to be a special place in Hell for trolls like you…please go there- NOW.
