Fans are so fickle. For months, all you heard on call-in shows was how Terrell Owens was a cancer that had to be cut out of the Dallas Cowboys' organization. All indicators seemed to point to Jerry Jones ignoring all of the signs, however, and keeping the cancer in the body. Cutting it out, after all, would be costly, in light of the ridiculous extension given to The Player (thank you, Big Bill for that nickname) last year.
Jones did the unexpected and cut T.O. He sent him packing with the obligatory "thanks for all you've done" horse crap. There ought to have been dancing in the streets. The cancer was cut out and now all that remained was a little chemotherapy to kill whatever residue it left behind (a few players were definitely infected).Instead, the local sports radio hosts were bombarded with calls from angry fans. They just couldn't see how the Cowboys could justify releasing their most productive offensive player! How could someone that good be that bad for a team?
Apparently, they had forgotten all of the junior high drama, the insidious comments, the undermining, the divisive and incendiary proclamations, and the general negative effect on the team. KTCK's Gordon Keith, a non-sports genius on an all-sports station, pegged T.O. when he called him a "zero sum" player, meaning T.O. takes as much as he gives. Sure, he shines on the field (at times: remember his hands often resemble frying pans and balls clang off of them with some regularity), but on the sideline, in front of the cameras, in Jerry's office, and other sundry places (hello, Deion), T.O. takes and takes and takes...he drains the team dry. Zero sum, in fact, may be a generous assessment of the knuckleheaded football freak.
T.O. had to go because...
T.O. had to go because...
- He burned the bridge of respect and comaraderie with his QB;
- He called out the offensive coordinator and did irreparable damage to that relationship;
- He created what amounted to racial strife, accusing Romo of favoring the only white receiver in the corps...and bending the ears of the other receivers (or, sheep, if you will);
- He proved that he was what we thought he was...a destructive force and now a three-time loser.
T.O. in Buffalo is perfect. They are a second-tier team in a small market, struggling to survive. The circus Owens brings with him will liven that place right up. Good luck, Bills fans. Better you than us.
Goodbye and good riddance, T.O. No tears, please.
