Suspecting that there might be some press coverage in it, Jesse Jackson couldn't resist opening his mouth and making a fool of himself yet again. This time, he's claiming that Terrell Owens is being treated unfairly: And he's being joined by fellow camera-loving glory hound Ralph Nader, who has also said the punishment is too severe. Here's Jackson's statement in whole, with my comments:
"Terrell Owens did an interview last week and engaged in some unsportsmanlike speech, deemed detrimental to the team, but nonetheless free speech. He expressed some dissatisfaction with his contract, his team and the Eagles' organization, which should have been expressed in a more professional manner. The Eagles have suspended T.O. for four games without pay and have decided to deactivate him for the rest of the year. His future in the National Football League is uncertain, thus potentially ending his career at its heights.
Invoking free speech is utterly irrelevant here. I am a far stronger advocate of free speech than Jesse Jackson could ever hope to be, but freedom of speech means that the government can't punish you for things that you say. It doesn't mean your employer can't fire you if you continually say stupid things and behave unprofessionally. He threw his QB under the bus for about the 10th time in the last year, and this is a QB who has been to 4 straight pro bowls and has been playing brilliantly this season with multiple injuries. And no, his future in the NFL is not uncertain. Some idiot team will think, just like the Eagles did last year, that he'll be different on their team. But even if his future in the NFL was uncertain, Owens has no one to blame but himself for that. No one is obligated to hire this blowhard and lousy teammate to play for them. Unless, of course, Jesse now wants to institute affirmative action for egotistical assholes.
"This punishment is much too severe for the charge. If he had been caught shaving points, selling drugs, carrying a gun or fighting some fans, who provoked him, and he had not shown sufficient restraint, we could understand the severe suspension, because those are very serious and illegal acts."
Ah, it's the speeder's fallacy. Every time someone gets caught speeding they say, "Geez, there are murderers and rapists out there and they're wasting their time coming after me." Totally irrelevant to the question of whether one is guilty.
Unfortunately for T.O., who belatedly apologized three days after the infraction, the real question is do his comments warrant a penalty this severe?
No, he didn't belatedly apologize. He belatedly read a prepared statement that contained the words "I apologize", but he clearly did not mean them because he then had his agent argue that he shouldn't be punished at all.
"The answer is no. This does not warrant a one-year ban from the game. The NFL Players Association has taken a position that the punishment does not correspond with the infraction and the association wants the Eagles to cut T.O. if they are not going to reinstate him. I agree. T.O. has publicly apologized. His heart is contrite. If the Philadelphia Eagles' owners do not find his apology acceptable and no longer aim to maintain an association with him, they should release him to the open market or free agency, allowing him to test the free market for his services. I call for fairness in this dispute."
Jesse, if you're stupid enough to believe that Owens' "heart" is contrite, then how about you agree to pay his salary when he pulls the same thing again? He's done it with every team he's played for, it's not like this was a one-time action on his part. So put your money where your mouth is. If the Eagles were to take him back, or whatever team signs him next, if Owens repeats this behavior that he's allegedly sorry for, you pay the remainder of his contract. You can afford it, even with those palimony payments to the former mistress you impregnated in between telling us about your faith and morality.
I call for Jesse to shut the hell up. The bottom line here is that the only thing that has kept Owens in the league is his talent. If he was a mediocre player pulling the stunts he's pulled, he would have been out of the league years ago and the press would hardly have noticed. And in that case, do you think Jesse Jackson would be anywhere near this case? Hell no. He's only jumping in because Owens is famous and there's attention to be had.
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While I agree that Jackson's arguments are weak and that TO is a terrible team mate, it's not clear to me that his conclusion is actually wrong. If you look at the list of complaints the Eagles prepared against TO (questioning the head coach, parking in someone else's parking spot, etc.), it's pretty weak sauce. In a sport with a real players' union, there's no way that that would be enough to suspend someone for the rest of the season. Of course, the NFL broke their players' union almost two decades ago, so we'll have to see if the arbitrator thinks that NFL contracts are actually worth the paper they're printed on later this week.
I'd be interested to hear what Ralph W. "Lenin Lite" Nader had to say about this. Anything?
What's really silly is that Jackson is alleging unfair treatment based on the premise that TO has/had such a fantastic career. Presumably it wouldn't be so unfair if TO was a minor-leaguer. So much for being a man of the common people.
Anytime anything bad happens to a black person - whatever the reason, JJ is there bleating to a camera.
Ed wrote,"I call for Jesse to shut the hell up." Good luck with that. I wonder which organization Jesse is going to try to get money out of on this one, the NFL players union of the NFL itself. I also wonder what will happen to Terrell when his career is over; Denny McLain, Daryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden?
I completely agree with you Ed. When I first saw that headline I rolled by eyes. I admit up front that I absolutely hate T.O. Yes, he's a great wide-receiver. But I don't care. He's an arrogant jerk who thinks that he's the greatest football player to ever walk the earth and that everyone on any team that he is one should be grateful for the opportunity to kiss his ass.
And there's no question that Jesse Jackson needs to shut the hell up. Shouldn't he still be screaming about Michael Jackson being the victim of racism? Uggg!
The thing that irritates me the most about T.O. is how unnecessary all of this was. After last year's Super Bowl, he was a hero in Philly. To come back after that injury and work so hard to be able to play in the Super Bowl, and then to play so brilliantly despite the loss, that really had helped to resurrect his image. Then he had to start complaining about the contract he had just signed less than a year earlier, a contract that was for $49 million over 7 years, because he was underpaid.
Now let's look at some other comparable players. Randy moss averages about $9 million a year on his contract, as does Marvin Harrison. Hines Ward makes $5.5 million a year, but he just signed that contract; prior to that, he was one of the most ridiculously underpaid players in the league at any position. Steve Smith makes just over $4 million. Jimmy Smith makes just over $5 million. Joe Horn makes $7 million. So by any measure, Owens is in the top 5 in the league in salary, right in line with the rest of the guys in his range of ability.
Had he just kept his mouth shut, after going to the Super Bowl for the first time last year and played the hero, he would have had endorsement offers thrown at him. But he immediately became a cancer again and that was out the window. Now he's gonna have his 7 year deal voided and I doubt any team is going to want to sign him to a long term deal. He's going to become a one year rent-a-player, tolerated by teams for a while and then cut loose. I have no doubt he's cost himself a fortune in this, and cost his agent even more. Drew Rosenhaus has achieved nothing he said he would achieve for Owens because he was too stupid to tell Owens that what he wanted was absurd and that his behavior wasn't going to get it. I give the Eagles great credit for not rewarding the behavior.
As many have been reporting, T.O's contract was for $49 million/7 year. However, what most people don't realize is that this was a heavily back loaded contract, where most of the money was to be payed out in later years. And that was only if the team decided to honor the contract. They could have easily forced him to renegotiate or out right cut him. NFL contracts are not guaranteed to the players.In reality, all players are "one year rent-a-players."
T.O. was not being payed fair market value by the Eagles, plain and simple. I don't blaim T.O. for acting the way he has, as I would have probably have done the same (and as an underpayed post-doc, to some extent I have). You need only look at Eagle's other big pick-up from last year, J Kearse, to see that they are willing to make player friendly contracts. Kearse was paid alot more for doing alot less last year for the Eagles. And even the management's stance they don't renegotiate contracts is pure nonsense in light of Westbrooks extension. They are simply playing symantics.
Many people are predicting that T.O. will make less in the long run. Barring injuries, I think T.O. has a chance to make alot more, as signing/roster bonuses is the bulk of a player's salary.
And the fact is that the Eagles really need T.O., really need him. He demands double coverage. Without him there, it means an additional player can blitz the already porous offensive line of the Eagles. Westbrook is not a number 1 option and in the end McNabb will end up forcing plays (which usually means more turnovers).
rjw wrote:
Then why did he sign that contract, less than 12 months earlier? If it was such a bad contract, why was he all smiles 10 months earlier when he signed it? And that was after the league bent over backwards for him to make up for the mistake his agent had made. His agent didn't file the papers on time to make him a free agent, so the 49ers still owned his rights. They traded him to Baltimore and Owens threw a fit because he wanted to be in Philadelphia instead and the league voided a perfectly valid trade and a binding contract to let him to go Philadelphia, screwing the 49ers in the process (I think they ended up getting a 5th round pick out of it). So he got his wish, then he signed that huge contract, he gets to go to his first super bowl and boost his endorsement power enormously, and all of a sudden 10 months later this is a horrible deal that justifies his behavior toward his teammates? Sorry, that's insane. If you as a post-doc went around undermining your bosses and fellow post-docs and the university you work for because you think you're underpaid, you'd be fired in a millisecond. And rightfully so.
Ed wrote, "Then why did he sign that contract, less than 12 months earlier? If it was such a bad contract, why was he all smiles 10 months earlier when he signed it?" Because he had no leverage in negotiating what so ever. As you pointed out, his previous agent that had screwed up badly.
Ed wrote, "If you as a post-doc went around undermining your bosses and fellow post-docs and the university you work for because you think you're underpaid, you'd be fired in a millisecond. And rightfully so." If I produced the equivalent as a post-doc, say in manuscripts and grants, that T.O. does as a wide receiver, I could get away with just about anything outside of a felony ;-) If you are productive, people hold you to different standards -- this has always been the way of the world (the caveat is that once you are not productive, you are so totally screwed).
rjw wrote:
But that was only because he got what he wanted and got out of Baltimore. The trade to Baltimore was entirely valid and legal, no court would have refused to enforce it. Owens threw a fit until the league got him out of that trade so he could go where he wanted. The only reason he had no leverage was because he had made it so clear he wanted to be in Philly and the league gave him what he wanted, voiding a legal trade in the process, so he could negotiate with them.
Owens thinks he should get whatever he wants whenever he wants, and he thinks that he should be able to savage his teammates unfairly in the process and have everyone around him just take his behavior. Donovan McNabb did nothing to him but make him look good all of last season, giving him his best year as a pro and helping him get to the Super Bowl for the first time. And he has been incredibly classy in not responding to the endless unfair statements that Owens has made. Part of being a gigantic pain in the ass is that you make yourself less valuable to a team, so maybe his slightly lower contract is just payment for all the trouble he caused them.
Ed wrote, "Part of being a gigantic pain in the ass is that you make yourself less valuable to a team, so maybe his slightly lower contract is just payment for all the trouble he caused them." Or maybe, if he had been allowed to cash in some of that "good will" he earned and renegotiated a player friendly contract, none of this would be happening.
Rumour has it TO might be packing his bags and heading for Atlanta next season, and that Michael Vick's eyebrows popped clean off his head. That would take some of the running game pressure off Vick though, and probably make him a more dangerous QB, assuming his passing game improves. Provided the team doesn't implode first.
P.S. : T.O.'s N.J. house is for sale. For a mere 4.4 mil, you can purchase this beauty.
P.P.S. : The Cowboys beat the Eagles last night (21-20), dropping the reigning NFC Champs to 4-5, and McNabb is injured yet again.
Dave S wrote:
I highly doubt it. Both the coach and the offensive coordinator in Atlanta know Owens from his days in San Francisco and at least one of them had a highly publicized throwdown with T.O. in the media.
rjw wrote:
So what was his excuse for this exact same behavior before that? It's not like this is an isolated incident, he did the same thing when he was with the 49ers. He's always got an excuse for it, but the bottom line is that he's incredibly selfish and a total headcase.
Dave S. wrote, "Rumour has it TO might be packing his bags and heading for Atlanta next season, and that Michael Vick's eyebrows popped clean off his head. That would take some of the running game pressure off Vick though, and probably make him a more dangerous QB, assuming his passing game improves. Provided the team doesn't implode first." While I think the media would salivate at the thought of Vick throwing to Owens, Owens already has had run-ins with the offensive coach during their 49ers days. Not a likely scenario. More than likely, Owens will end up in Dallas or Denver. One team that I think should really try in picking him up, as a 1 year experiment, is San Diego. With LT in the back field, Gates at TE, and TO at WR, that is an offense that is just scary.