Terrell Owens: Just Selfish, Or Bipolar? - Page 2

In 2001, after Owens' screw-up caused his team, the 49ers, to lose to the Chicago Bears, Owens criticized his coach, Steve Mariucci.

In 2004, Owens sought free agency, but his agent missed the free agency deadline, yet Owens insisted that the rules be waived in his case, and that he be permitted to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue indulged him.

As James Alder wrote, “Because they retained his rights, the 49ers then traded him to the Baltimore Ravens, but Owens refused to report to his new team. He expressed his desire to play in Philadelphia, and filed a grievance, claiming he should be granted free agency. After a series of negotiations, a deal was worked out between the three teams which sent Owens to Philadelphia where he signed a seven-year, $49 million deal against the advice of the players’ union.”

Prior to the 2005 season — i.e., after only one season in Philadelphia — Owens demanded that the Eagles renegotiate his contract and increase his $7.5 million salary. During summer camp that year, Owens engaged in bizarre behavior, refusing to speak to teammates or the media. But when he was suspended for one week by head coach Andy Reid, Owens, while purportedly snubbing reporters, did “crunches” in front of his house before an audience of reporters and cameramen.

Halfway through that season, Owens publicly insulted his team’s Pro Bowl/Super Bowl quarterback, Donovan McNabb, saying that the team would have been more successful with Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. There was a racial subtext to the insult, because Favre is white and McNabb (like Owens) is black, a subtext that McNabb made explicit, when he complained about Owens comparing him unfavorably to a white, as opposed to a black quarterback. (Note that while McNabb was then in his prime, the once-dominant Favre was over the hill.)

Owens was ordered by Coach Reid to publicly apologize, both to the team and to McNabb. Owens apologized only to the team. Reid responded by again suspending Owens, initially for one week, then for four weeks, which effectively was for the balance of the season, since Reid then announced that Owens would no longer play for the Eagles.

Article Author: Nicholas Stix

New York-based, dissident journalist Nicholas Stix, has the dubious distinction of being arguably America's most frequently censored writer, having at different times outraged black supremacists, socialists, feminists, white supremacists, paleocons, neocons and libertarians. …

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