Back in 2006, Terrell Owens set the sports world on fire by daring to compare himself to a few sports legends with the following quote:
"I'm not Superman. I'm human. Michael Jordan doesn't make every shot. Jerry [Rice] hasn't caught every pass. Tiger [Woods] doesn't make every putt. I understand the expectations of me. People want me to catch every ball. The likelihood of that happening is not going to be great. I understand that."
Now, because America's sportswriters are always looking to find fault with Terrell Owens, they were up in arms about that statement. "How dare he compare himself to Jerry Rice, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan! He can't even put himself in the same sentence as those guys!"
Fast forward to April 9, 2009, when Terrell Owens said the following quote:
"Other than that, I'm fine. I've been called selfish pretty much throughout my career. I think I'm in good company, Jerry Rice has been called selfish before, as well as a number of other guys."
I wrote about this in 2006 and I'm going to write about it again, mostly because I hate sportswriters. I'm not going to pretend that Terrell Owens is an angel or a model teammate, but once again, they're really reaching with this. You'll see that what I said in 2006 is pretty much going to be identical to what I say today:
"But for those of us who don't think with our anuses, he didn't compare himself to them at all. For those of us, who aren't constantly trying to find fault with a guy who can buy and sell, say...sportswriters with the change in his ashtray, he merely said that those guys, who are great, didn't come through every time and he isn't going to, either. It's just not realistic to expect him to. I think that sounds pretty humble, and the sportswriters would think so too if they weren't busy being all-around assholes."
Actually, I don't think I need to add to that at all.
Whether or not Jerry Rice was actually called "selfish" is beside the point. Nowhere in either of those quotes is T.O. saying that he's comparable to Jerry Rice. It's like when people say "People talked bad about Jesus, too." Unless they can also walk on water, they're not comparing themselves to Jesus. But when you make it your life's mission to hate a guy, then you'll find the negatives wherever you want to. In fact, the article where I got that quote was titled, "Terrell Owens: Criticism of him has been unfair."
It's T.O.'s fault that Dallas didn't make the playoffs because he divided the entire locker room, because the Cowboys are not grown men or anything, who can make their own decisions. T.O. was the serpent who coerced them to play like garbage. T.O. was wrong for choosing not to attend a voluntary workout with his new team, the Buffalo Bills, because even though it's voluntary, T.O. needs to spend time with his new teammates. Mandatory workouts and training camp simply aren't enough time. You'd think sportswriters wouldn't want him there, since it's his destiny to divide the locker room. Since he changed his mind and decided to go, that's just going to give him a headstart or wrecking their season.
Yeah, I'd say the criticism has been a bit much. After all, like the man himself pointed out, "What I find so unfair is that I'm not the only guy out of 32 teams that didn't show up to voluntary and optional weight sessions." No, just the only guy that the sports media wants to bring down. Right, Skip Bayless?
After all, it's not like anything he does will ever have a humble or positive spin put on it. Maybe I should show them the way. The quote I'm going to use is the sentence directly before the quote that caused all of this controversy.
Terrell Owens Actually Does Have Humble Moments
Terrell Owens showed deference to retired Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman when he responded to Aikman's comments about "addition by subtraction" earlier this week. Owens said, "I think he has three Super Bowl rings, so he has the authority to say that."
Man, what an jerk.
Jerry Rice was as bad as T.O. about getting the ball he just didn't do it publicly
Good read, I agree with you 100%.
I get so tired of the T.O. bashing on ESPN, it would be one thing if it was legit, but it's just crazy. Dude doesn't go to voluntary weight lifting sessions? It would make sense if he came into camp obese, but this is a dude that graces the covers of numerous mens health type mag's. Anyway keep up the good work.
I dont want it with Rob
Iverson has a reputation as a guy who misses practices, is selfish, and makes poor decisions. Marbury has a reputation as a cancer on teams. And like T.O. they earned that rep. T.O. a sympathetic figure? You earn your reputation professionally with your actions. The media exaggerates what he does in the worst way. But his history speaks for itself. Jerry Rice was selfish, but didn't go on television saying the Niners would be better with Elway as his QB...he didn't get thrown to 20 times in a game, drop 4 passes, then say he needs more passes right after the game. He didn't cuss out coaches in meetings and do sit ups in drive ways because of a contract dispute. Making excuses for this guy's reputation cracks me up. He created the media's perception of him so to blame the media for how they view them is short sighted.
if you act like an asshole one too many times in public don't be surprised when you're treated like one. remember when randy moss was doing the same thing a few years back? he had his fair share of negative press. and now he just comes in and does his job. and what a shock! no one has anything bad to say about him.
and i will never have any sympathy for a man in his THIRTIES who acts like a baby.
"but didn't go on television saying the Niners would be better with Elway as his QB"
Except he did not say anything about that, until ESPN baited him over what somene else (Michael Irvin) already said along those lines about Favre in regards to the Eagles and asked his thoughts on that.
What ESPN left out in its coverage was besides that when asked who he credited for his big numbers, he credited first God and then his quarterbacks. Not just that, he also defended McNabb in regards to him having what was perceived as poor play by saying McNabb was hurt so it did affect his play (sounds like making excuses for his QB, not attacking him there).
The media horribly twisted what TO said there, and the Eagles exploited it to run him out of town, while at the same time force him to stay on the team and not play at the same time, so he cannot sign with anyone else. The Eagles did behave unprofessionally there.
And McNabb did his fair share of throwing shots at TO up to that point, too. Both guys were at fault. And after TO left, McNabb took shots at his teammates for having TO as friend and partying with him.
TO was not blameless in Philly, but the media handling of it was atrocious, one-sided, and unfair.
they both are the best
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