For some it could be seen as a positive step in the right direction. I am not some.
Terrell Owens, he of the 1,000+ receptions, 153 touchdowns, and more receiving yards (15,934) than anyone in the history of the game not named Jerry Rice made his Arena Football League debut and scored three touchdowns on 53 total yards.
it was a sad sight to see, a man once known for making plays that no one could imagine for some of the most storied franchises in football (Dallas, San Francisco, Philadelphia) was now toiling away in Allen, Texas. Not merely for the sheer fact of wanting to continue his football career.
His situation is much more dire than that.
After a career in which he has earned more than $80 million dollars he finds himself broke and facing foreclosure on multiple homes. He’s also left to wonder if a team is going to be willing to take a flyer on him given his history of bad behavior with the media and within locker rooms. There isn’t a question in my mind that Owens could contribute at a high level for multiple teams in need of help at Wide Receiver. Washington, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, and St. Louis are just a few of the teams that could use a reliable receiver right now.
Yet here is Owens, playing for the Allen Wranglers of the Arena Football League.
He’s famous for throwing multiple teammates and coaches under the bus. His most famous episodes came in Philadelphia, where he is still vilified for taking a team that was one play away from becoming world champions to a team that couldn’t function and shortly after was disbanded without granting the city of Philadelphia that elusive Lombardi trophy. Donovan McNabb, who has his faults, was seen as a coward or “not man enough” for taking it on the chin for Owens for years. Now i see the power play. McNabb, despite those faults, might catch on with a team as a backup while Owens continues drawing crowds for a league he has no business in.
I don’t feel sorry for the Terrell Owens who famously worked out in his driveway, questioned his quarterbacks sexual orientation, questioned another quarterbacks fortitude down below, or doesn’t take responsibility for his antics.
That man I could care less about.
I feel sorry for the Terrell Owens who caught a pass from a falling Steve Young to clinch a playoff victory and introduced himself to the world. I feel sorry for the player, Terrell Owens, who was the best receiver we’ve seen statistically since Jerry Rice. Most of all, I feel sorry that for a man who could do no wrong on a football field for the better part of 15 seasons it has come to this.
Get the popcorn ready Allen, Texas.
