Terrell Owens: A Jerk, You Think?
Written by Bryan Los on August 11th, 2005 @ 3:01 PM
The NFL football season is fast approaching. Fans are eagerly awaiting Kickoff 2005. The players are drowning in anticipation. Then there’s Terrell Owens.
Owens, upset that the Philadelphia Eagles won’t re-negotiate his recently negotiated contract, is pulling every stunt to try to get the Eagles to give in. He threatened not to show up to training camp. Then, when he did show up to camp, he conveniently injured his groin, and has been sitting out the last several practices.
He now has another week off, as head coach Andy Reid sent him home after a heated exchange between Owens and his crook of an agent, Drew Rosenhaus. These guys appear to be paired at the hip, maybe in some sort of new contract negotiation strategy called “pissing management off.”
The Writing on the Wall
This is just the thing Philadelphia knew could happen when they signed Owens before last season. They new his history with San Francisco, and how he doesn’t respect authority, or his fellow players. This is like a cruel episode of deja vu.
Rewind to his last year with San Francisco. He was calling out his QB, Jeff Garcia, and totally disrespecting his coach. Sound familiar? In last year’s Super Bowl, he called out Donovan McNabb for “getting tired” in the big game. Quite odd, since McNabb was one of the people who really lobbied for Owens to become an Eagle. Now he’s setting his cross-hairs on Andy Reid’s head. If you want to actually play the sport you love, it’s not smart getting into the doghouse of both your QB and your head coach.
This is more than a disgruntled player who is in a contract dispute. Terrell Owens is a jerk. Plain and simple. This guy has to be the center of attention, good or bad, and he can’t seem to distinguish which is which. Pulling stunts on the field I can appreciate. He’s an athlete as well as an entertainer. Harmless pranks on-field I can tolerate. What I can’t tolerate is disrupting an entire organization because you think you deserve more than anyone else.
A contract is a contract. People sign them so each side can be locked in, and presumably think they have clauses in them to benefit their side. A contract is a binding agreement between two or more parties so all ground rules are laid out in advance. No surprises. Well, this isn’t good enough for Owens. He signed a contract he liked at the time of signing, but after getting injured, he started to re-think his back-loaded contract. Oh well. Just as you can’t go back and re-write history, you can’t go back and change terms of your contract, unless both parties again agree.
The Hardest Working Jerk in the Football Business
Since Owens knows this is a business, and he certainly acts like it is, how can he expect the Eagles to go back and change what appears to be a contract which is beneficial to them? Why would you want to lose money on a deal? It’s not Philly’s fault Owens’ agent didn’t have Terrell’s best interests at heart, and just wanted some quick cash.
Thus far, the Eagles have been standing pat. They appear not to be even thinking about giving in to Owens. This is the kind of backbone that more teams need to show. One player is not bigger than the team. The Eagles in their actions have shown they believe in this philosophy, and are willing to stand up to Owens, even if that means sitting Owens out, or god forbid, having him play unhappy.
There is no place for black-male in the world of sports. A contract is a contract. Once signed, you must live up to it, in it’s fullest form. Just because situations change, doesn’t mean you get a re-write. We must all live with our actions, good or bad.
If I had a several hundred million dollars, I would buy the Eagles, and offer Owens one choice– play, or I sit on your entire contract and you never play the sport you love. That’s how I would hard bargain.
