Great Owens Articles

[jimster]

Forget Politics, Football Can Make Some Strange Bedfellows, Too

http://sports.iwon.com/news/03182006/v7811.html

Mar 18, 7:12 PM (ET) Email this Story

By TIM DAHLBERG

And they say politics makes strange bedfellows.

Football does too, and it doesn't get any stranger than the marriage of a desperate football player and an even more desperate team in Dallas.

Terrell Owens playing for Bill Parcells, Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys? What's next, Jerry Rice competing in ballroom dancing on national television?

Oh, wait, that already happened, and it wasn't always pretty.

This could get a whole lot uglier.

"Get your popcorn ready because it's going to be a show," Owens promised Saturday.

There's little doubt about that. But don't expect this show to be long running, unless you're taken in by the new public persona Owens dragged out for the press conference with Jones announcing his signing.

In case you didn't tune in, it turns out the new TO is a team player only interested in winning. The new TO has learned from his mistakes and become a better man.

The new TO loves his new team, and apparently he really loves his new owner.

"These guys have fallen in love already," agent Drew Rosenhaus gushed. "On the jet here the bond they established was moving ... moving."

The new TO hasn't yet found a cure for cancer, but he's got three years and $25 million to work on it. That's the contract the Cowboys signed him to, beating out, if you believe Rosenhaus, six other teams for his services.

Assuming Owens can last three years, that is. He spent less than two in Philadelphia, playing in just 21 games and acting like such a moron that he was finally kicked off the team.

Among other things, Owens called his last quarterback a quitter, and implied the one before that was gay.

Forgive Drew Bledsoe if he's busy this week looking for a therapist.

"I've always been a good teammate," Owens insisted. "You can't believe what you hear all the time."

Not when it comes from Owens you can't. Just two years ago almost to the day he was talking about how excited he was to be playing with Donovan McNabb and how he thought he would fit in real nice with the Eagles.

On Saturday he sat next to Jones and talked about how excited he was to be playing with Bledsoe and how he thought he would fit in real nice with the Cowboys.

He will, until Bledsoe overthrows him a few times in the end zone.

It's bad enough that the Cowboys signed a player Dallas fans hate with a passion for defiling their beloved midfield star during a touchdown celebration while playing for the 49ers in 2000.

But, with three egos so big there's not enough 10-gallon hats in Texas to contain them, it's hard to imagine anything but an eventual bad ending to this bizarre saga.

Think things were bad in Philadelphia and San Francisco before that? Add a control-freak coach and an owner just waiting to meddle to that and the giant star could implode before Owens has a chance to properly worship it.

Even Las Vegas bookies wouldn't dare post odds on this soon-to-be dysfunctional relationship lasting more than one season.

That being said, the Cowboys didn't really have much to lose by signing Owens. The money was there with an expanded salary cap, and desperation was growing to do something after nine years without winning a playoff game.

Parcells was said to be on board, and why not? The Big Tuna figures he can handle Owens, just as Andy Reid figured he could before him, and there are only so many game-breaking wide receivers around.

Besides, this is the new TO, remember?

"I'll be a better teammate, better person, better man in life," he said.

That will come as good news to Jeff Garcia, who was forced to publicly defend his masculinity after Owens suggested he was gay. Maybe Owens is such a better person that he'll call Garcia and apologize.

McNabb and the Eagles also have to be happy that Owens is at peace with himself after he dragged both the quarterback and the team down with him last year. Surely, Owens will pick up the phone and make amends.

Don't expect this honeymoon to last long. Owens is too driven by ego, too consumed by himself, to let it.

Former Cowboys safety George Teague, best remembered for taking down Owens following his second celebration on the star logo, said it best earlier this week.

"You'd always be wondering about this guy's agenda, especially if things go sour," Teague said. "It's always going to be in the back of your mind, what's going to happen if he only gets one ball this game? Is he going to come in at halftime throwing helmets and cussing out the offensive coordinator?"

He might, but for now the Cowboys are willing to risk it. America's team isn't what it once was, and there's merchandise to sell and a new stadium to fill.

Right now, both the Cowboys and Owens feel comfortable getting in bed together.

This, however, is a marriage destined to fail.

[Ken]

"This, however, is a marriage destined to fail."

Just like the relationship between Parcells and Jones....whatever. It may fail, but we will not have much risk relative to the reward.

This is the first of many negatively slanted articles. Of course, how can anyone argue otherwise?

We will just have to wait and see how it plays out.

[jimster]

Timeline of Terrell Owens' Troublesome Track Record

Mar 18, 8:53 PM (ET) Email this Story

By The Associated Press

A look at the problems Terrell Owens has caused, prompting the star receiver to move from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Dallas:

-Sept. 24: 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.

-Oct. 22: 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.

-Oct. 31: 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.

-Jan. 13: 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: Owens rankles team officials for risking injury when he plays his first game for the Adirondack Wildcats of the U.S. Basketball League.

-Sept. 22: 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: 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: 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.

-Jan. 12: 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.

-Sept. 21: 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: 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.

-Aug. 13: An interview with Playboy magazine hits newsstands in which Owens was asked if he thinks Garcia 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: Now with the Eagles, Owens mocks Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis during an end zone celebration.

-Nov. 7: Cameras follow Owens as he yells at McNabb on the sideline during a 27-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

-Nov. 15: 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.

-April: 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.

-Aug. 10: After a shouting match with Reid during training camp, Owens is sent home for a week. A media circus ensues in front of his house as he works out in his driveway, doing crunches and lifting weights for TV cameras and reporters.

-Nov. 3: In an interview aired on ESPN, Owens says the team would be better off with the Packers' Brett Favre starting at quarterback instead of the injured Donovan McNabb and blasts the Eagles for not marking his 100th career touchdown catch.

-Nov. 5: Philadelphia suspends Owens over the latest comments. Two days later, the Eagles extend the suspension to four games and tell Owens not to return. The reigning conference champions have gone 0-3 since.

-Nov. 23: An arbitrator rules that the Eagles' suspension was justified and that the team is within its rights to deactivate Owens for the remainder of the season.

-March 14: The Eagles cut Owens one day before he was due a $5 million roster bonus, making him free to sign with any team. The club let him permission to speak with other teams in January, and he'd already met with Denver.

-March 18: Owens signs a three-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys that includes a $5 million bonus and annual salaries of $5 million in 2006, $8 million in '07 and $7 million in '08. "I'm a star among stars now," Owens said at a news conference.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Terrell Owens is one of the best there ever was and 50% of his disputes have been with people who are absolute hacks...Mariucci, Erickson, Reid. Personally, i loved what he did on the Cowboys star and I am certain that the Eagles screwed him financially. Payback is a B***h!

[Enter Apotheosis]

Terrell Owens is one of the best there ever was and 50% of his disputes have been with people who are absolute hacks...Mariucci, Erickson, Reid. Personally, i loved what he did on the Cowboys star and I am certain that the Eagles screwed him financially. Payback is a B***h!

I can't detect any sarcasm in that statement. How you avoid the problems cause by his overinflated sense of self-worth and total disregard for the teams he has played with in that assessment is completely beyond me. He is a very talented athlete and one of the most skilled receivers out there but he is FAR from being one of the greatest of all time. His inability to be a cooperative team member prevent him from being great in any sense and have even limited his production at stretches.

We all thought it was funny for him to dishonor the star... but I was under the impression that it was nearly impossible to be a TO homer given his history. Evidently, I was wrong.

[jimster]

Even as a Redskins fan I thought the Cowboys star thing was classless. - That's not sportsmanship, it's self promotion.

[SkinsHokieFan]

Even as a Redskins fan I thought the Cowboys star thing was classless. - That's not sportsmanship, it's self promotion.

Bingo. And it is amazing how quickly Cowboy fans are downplaying it

[fdarugar]

TUNA'S T.O. SILENCE IS DEAFENING

With each passing hour, the failure of Cowboys coach Bill Parcells to say something/anything about the team's acquisition of receiver Terrell Owens will be interpreted by league insiders -- and most importantly the other players on his team -- as the absence of an endorsement of the decision of owner/G.M. Jerry Jones to throw a lasso around a maverick with a belly full of loco weed.

As one league source who watched the video of the press conference told us, "If Parcells was onboard he either would have been there or at least had a prepared statement. When Owens was asked what Parcells had said to him he basically admitted he really hadn't talked to him. Now don't you think that if Parcells really wanted him he would have at least had a conversation or two with him?"

And in response to the various Cowboys fans who reminded us that Parcells hasn't attended any of the press conferences introducing new players in his three seasons with the team, this one is a little bit different, don't ya think?

At a bare minimum, there should have been something from Parcells to indicate his imprimatur of this specific personnel move.

As we explained last night, there are players who are not inclined to welcome Owens onto the team, and they are interpreting the Tuna's silence as a license to dislike the entire situation.

---------------------------------------------------

OWENS ARRIVAL CAUSING A COWBOY COMMOTION

What was Jerry Jones thinking?

This question, of course, presumes that he even was thinking. Not about the kavorka of a receiver with unmatched physical skills and a penchant for ringing up touchdowns, but about the manner in which the receiver will mesh with the rest of the team's employees.

The early reaction to the signing of Terrell Owens among the group that counts the most -- his new teammates -- is strongly negative. Strongly.

Part of the problem is that Owens is a well-documented locker room miscreant, a guy who can't be trusted to follow the rules that apply to the domain in which 53 oversized men sweat, shower, shampoo, sh-t, and shave. He publicly called out one of his quarterbacks, and he publicly called the other one gay.

Football players aren't necessarily rocket surgeons, but they generally have good instincts. And if a guy smells like a turd and looks like a turd and acts like a turd . . . well, you get the picture.

Complicating matters is the perception among Dallas players that Keyshawn Johnson, who despite his own flaws was well-liked in the Dallas locker room, was jettisoned by Jerry Jones in an effort to land T.O.

But perhaps the biggest factor fueling discontent among the Dallas players was the absence of coach Bill Parcells from the press conference that introduced Owens as the newest member of the team. Regardless of the actual reason for the Tuna's non-attendance, some of the players (and "some" might be an understatement) interpret his absence as a message that he disagrees with the move.

In our view, Parcells needs to make a statement -- quickly -- embracing Owens. If he doesn't, more and more of the players (we predict) will conclude that this is the latest example of the subtle power struggle in which Jones and Parcells have engaged for the past three years.

The difference is that this one could blow up the relationship permanently, especially if the players refuse to even give Owens a chance until the coach gives him a thumb's up -- and if the coach refuses to take his fist out of his jacket.

Profootballtalk.com

[tr1]

"This, however, is a marriage destined to fail."

Just like the relationship between Parcells and Jones....whatever. It may fail, but we will not have much risk relative to the reward.

This is the first of many negatively slanted articles. Of course, how can anyone argue otherwise?

We will just have to wait and see how it plays out.

I guess the writer had nothing to judge TO by? :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

When TO farts, it's gonna be news...get used to it.

[Ken]

Timeline of Terrell Owens' Troublesome Track Record

Mar 18, 8:53 PM (ET) Email this Story

By The Associated Press

A look at the problems Terrell Owens has caused, prompting the star receiver to move from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Dallas:

-Sept. 24: 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.

-Oct. 22: 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.

-Oct. 31: 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.

-Jan. 13: 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: Owens rankles team officials for risking injury when he plays his first game for the Adirondack Wildcats of the U.S. Basketball League.

-Sept. 22: 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: 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: 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.

-Jan. 12: 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.

-Sept. 21: 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: 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.

-Aug. 13: An interview with Playboy magazine hits newsstands in which Owens was asked if he thinks Garcia 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: Now with the Eagles, Owens mocks Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis during an end zone celebration.

-Nov. 7: Cameras follow Owens as he yells at McNabb on the sideline during a 27-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

-Nov. 15: 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.

-April: 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.

-Aug. 10: After a shouting match with Reid during training camp, Owens is sent home for a week. A media circus ensues in front of his house as he works out in his driveway, doing crunches and lifting weights for TV cameras and reporters.

-Nov. 3: In an interview aired on ESPN, Owens says the team would be better off with the Packers' Brett Favre starting at quarterback instead of the injured Donovan McNabb and blasts the Eagles for not marking his 100th career touchdown catch.

-Nov. 5: Philadelphia suspends Owens over the latest comments. Two days later, the Eagles extend the suspension to four games and tell Owens not to return. The reigning conference champions have gone 0-3 since.

-Nov. 23: An arbitrator rules that the Eagles' suspension was justified and that the team is within its rights to deactivate Owens for the remainder of the season.

-March 14: The Eagles cut Owens one day before he was due a $5 million roster bonus, making him free to sign with any team. The club let him permission to speak with other teams in January, and he'd already met with Denver.

-March 18: Owens signs a three-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys that includes a $5 million bonus and annual salaries of $5 million in 2006, $8 million in '07 and $7 million in '08. "I'm a star among stars now," Owens said at a news conference.

I gotta tell ya, up until april of last year, TO doesn't seem bad at all.

He really made himself a pest in his final year in Philly bbut prior to that....nothing I can't live with.

-Celebrating TDs? Ok....

-Criticizing his overmatched coaches for kneeling when they should be trying to score when they are down before the half. That is called competiveness.

-He wants the ball. Who doesn't?

-Played another sport...Deion played a couple.

-Saying his team quit, they probably did and he was man enough to say it.

-Pom Poms, Sharpie, Mocking Ray Ray. Big Deal.

-Nicolette Sheridan commercial. And? Didn't ABC endorse that?

-Yelling at the QB or Coaches. Never saw that in Dallas before.

Now it gets more interesting....

-April: 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.

Did I miss something here? TO played the game of his life in the biggest game of his career. McNabb was gasping for air and puking in the huddle when his team needed him the most. TO was being criticized for being selfish, that is why he played. He merely pointed out what the real problem was. Nothing different than what Hank Fraley said or Freddy Mitchell.

-Aug. 10: After a shouting match with Reid during training camp, Owens is sent home for a week. A media circus ensues in front of his house as he works out in his driveway, doing crunches and lifting weights for TV cameras and reporters.

I think at this point it is fairly obvious that TO doesn't want to be in Philly anymore. He's not happy with his contract, one even the NFLPA said not to sign.

-Aug. 10: After a shouting match with Reid during training camp, Owens is sent home for a week. A media circus ensues in front of his house as he works out in his driveway, doing crunches and lifting weights for TV cameras and reporters.

I have nothing for this, this was the strangest thing i've ever seen.

-Nov. 3: In an interview aired on ESPN, Owens says the team would be better off with the Packers' Brett Favre starting at quarterback instead of the injured Donovan McNabb and blasts the Eagles for not marking his 100th career touchdown catch.

Well, he's not saying anything that wasn't true. Your telling me that it is an insult to an injured McNabb because TO said one of the best Qbs to ever play would make them better? OK....not to mention he wants out, remember?

-Sept. 24: 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.

This is the biggie. AT the time, I was seething. It was the current "TOs" coming out party in retrospect. Look at all of the celebrations he's had since then. He was making a name for himself. Many, many players have done that. When he stood on the Little Star in the End zone in 2004, I was more mad that the Cowboys allowed him to score. I wished at that time that my team was as dominant as the Eagles were.

So when you really look at it, it isn't bad at all. It's not like he is doing drugs, getting in trouble with the law, or missing or not practicing.

These type of players thrive in Dallas.

[Dirk Diggler]

Not that bad eh? Name 3 players in football history who have been on the receiving end of more negative attention and/or a more divisive force on their team?

[Ken]

Not that bad eh? Name 3 players in football history who have been on the receiving end of more negative attention and/or a more divisive force on their team?

Ricky Williams

Ryan Leaf

Lawrence Phillips

Bam Morris

Quincy Carter- don't laugh, our fanbase is still arueing about him.

Tony Mandarich

That's off the top of my head and I know they are all not worse than TO, i guess.

But seriously, looking at that list, is it as bad as you thought before looking at it in its entirety?

[fdarugar]

T.O. is the most contraversial athlete of this era, and probably the most contraversial ever.

[Dirk Diggler]

Ricky Williams

Ryan Leaf

Lawrence Phillips

Bam Morris

Quincy Carter- don't laugh, our fanbase is still arueing about him.

Tony Mandarich

That's off the top of my head and I know they are all not worse than TO, i guess.

You guess? Try none of them have been even close. Bam Morris? Quincy Carter? Thanks for the :laugh: The fallout from the Bam Morris scandal was truly a site to behold!

[Skins11]

Wait wait wait... Parcells wasn't at TO's news conference?? That's pretty messed up...

[Die Hard]

I can't believe I'm actually witnessing sympathetic Cowboy fans. Holy cripes... I generally hold Cowboy fans to a low standard (noting, there have been some exceptions). But when you can actually endorse the signing of Terrell Owens... then you can just about rationalize anything.

There's no kool-aid in Dallas. That's crack-herione they're serving.

[ouvan59]

Well, he's not saying anything that wasn't true. Your telling me that it is an insult to an injured McNabb because TO said one of the best Qbs to ever play would make them better? OK....not to mention he wants out, remember?

That's asinine. Brett Favre is done, cooked. If he had been saying the Brett Favre from 5 years ago then maybe but Donovan McNabb is a much better QB than Favre at this point in their careers. McNabb had 4 fewer TD passes than Favre and he only played in 9 games. He also threw 20 fewer Ints. And don't try to feed me any bull about the lack of talent in Green Bay because McNabb had James Thrash as his number 1 receiver for several years and he never put up piss poor numbers even approach Favre's last year.

And one thing you keep forgetting is that even if any of this crap was true you still don't go to the press about it. You handle it like a man and a professional and address behind locker room doors.