Terrell Owens: That Sound You Hear is Your 15 Minutes of Fame Fading to Black

Finally, Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles have done what should have been done years ago: they’ve dropped Terrell Owens like the bad apple that he is.

Let me just say here that I am not—NOT—a staunch devotee of the gridiron. I don’t live for Monday Night Football, I don’t track the Sunday schedule, I don’t bet on the games, I can only name a handful of players and most of them are retired (Steve Young, Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Jerry Rice, and what’s-his-name who was Catholic who played for BYU and then was quarterback for the Chicago Bears in the 80s and early 90s. Jim McMahon??) Any leaning or vague interest I show in football is the result of a friend who adores football and is the repository of football trivia that is nothing short of amazing and kind of scary.

However, when it comes to simpletons like “T.O.” I have to say, “good riddance.”

First of all, Owens strikes me as someone who is amazingly talented but whose chandelier is short a light bulb or two. There’s an aura of dumbness about him that I can’t fully explain, but I sense it every time I see him on television.

Secondly, this guy has a $49 million, multi-year contract with the Eagles and he still thinks it isn’t enough. Some of us—particularly those who buy tickets to the games he plays in—will never manage to make $2 million total in our lifetimes, let alone $49 million.

Thirdly, this is a guy with an ego so big, Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir couldn’t have set aside enough open space and wilderness to hold it. T.O. thinks he’s so important to the game that he runs off at the mouth about how it’s all about him, and the Eagles (or the Niners) won’t win unless he’s in the mix. He disparages his teammates in public and pisses and moans when the quarterbacks he has played under don't throw the ball to him as often as he'd like. He argues with his coaches and, in a fit of pique, insists that they not talk to them. His arrogance is unbridled and he behaves like a spoiled, undisciplined child.

What Owens needs is a good, long time-out. He needs to be sidelined. He needs to not be rewarded for his childish, arrogant behavior. He’s received exactly what his behavior deserves.

And here’s hoping he never graces the gridiron again.

____________

Here's the article from AP.