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i can trust TO
T.O. is out, Simon and Schuster releasing the 242-page book - a first-person account of the trials and tribulations of one Terrell Owens during his, at first glorious and in the end tumultuous, times in Philadelphia - to a Wal-Mart near you.
And since this isn't exactly Superman Returns, where you are kept in suspense presuming you know the ending but never are really sure, let's go to what will mostly concern those following the Dallas Cowboys:
Everyone lives in the end.
The Eagles shed themselves of a year-long migraine.
The NFLPA negotiates some rule changes into the new Collective Bargaining Agreement stemming from T.O.'s suspension last year and strikes arbitrator Richard Bloch from ever arbitrating another grievance hearing.
Terrell Owens becomes the free agent he has always sought to be, and finds the pot of gold he has always sought to find at the end of a Jerry Jones-painted rainbow when the sun peeks out in Dallas following those stormy Philly months.
And for perfect symmetry, the Dallas Cowboys alas get the game-changing receiver they have been searching for since Michael Irvin retired after discovering he was suffering from spinal stenosis thanks to the back injury he suffered that fourth game of the 1999 season in . . . Philadelphia, of course.
Now then, how happily they all live will become Chapter 21.
But at least for now, Owens is a happy camper, and as far as the Cowboys are concerned, you need only skip to page 241 to discover everything that should concern you most:
(Jones) told me about how his relationships with Michael and Emmitt are special. He then looked me in the eyes, with great emotion, and told me that he wanted that kind of special relationship with me.
At that moment, as I thought of all the heartaches and hardship I'd gone through with the Eagles, hearing Jerry Jones tell me how happy he was to have me on the team, that we had a lot in common, and how much he wanted me to be part of his family, I was overwhelmed with emotion and fought back tears.
I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and told him how happy I was and that we were going to win together.
That's what you most need to know.
Now this is not to minimize the previous 240 pages. But as you were properly warned back on March 12, that Saturday T.O. signed his three-year, $25 million package here at The Ranch, from then forward is when we all should start judging Owens. Drop the preconceived notions. Drop the perspective from others. Don't become overly influenced by what those in the Philadelphia media have to say, especially the hard-line columnists.
Decide yourself from your own evidence.
Same with this book. Read it, then you decide. Don't let me influence you. Don't let those fire-spitting essays from the jilted Philly media influence you. Don't let the national media no closer to the scene than most of you probably are influence you.
You decide for yourself, if you care enough to decide, and to do that, you must read the book, which by no means is a free advertising pop for a guy I've only had like a 30-second conversation with one-on-one so far. There is no vested interest here other than yours.
Example: Remember the little anecdote in Mick Shots a week ago, the one about T.O. coming back to the huddle telling Donovan McNabb "You missed me dude," and McNabb saying, "Shut the (bleep) up," that was supposed to occur in the 2004 game against Cleveland? Well, I got that from one of the many stories I read out of Philly. Come to discover, after reading the book, that's not quite how it went down.
Now Owens thought McNabb missed him in that Cleveland game on a play, but didn't say anything until there was a repeat occurrence a few weeks later against the Giants, and that's when the confrontation occurred. Also, if you keep reading, Owens talked about how he went up to McNabb in the locker room after they all were showered to address the issue again, and he says McNabb just walked away from him; didn't want to talk about the incident.
My bad. Shouldn't have relied on anyone else's interpretation.
Now there has been much written about how self-serving this book is. Well, no kidding. Who in their right mind writes a first-person account and incriminates himself? No one purposely opens closet doors.
Plus, he comes right out in the introduction writing, "Make no mistake; this is not an apology or a defense. This is an explanation." His explanation.
There has been much written about the lack of depth in the book, and that it's written so elementary. Well, come on, what did guys expect? Hey, Owens is a football player, not a writer. And his co-writer, Jason Rosenhaus - yes the brother and agent partner of Drew Rosenhaus - is not an experienced writer, either. Wonder how many dogging the book have written one themselves?
Hey, T.O. is such an easy target these day, like a piñata, you can take a swing blindfolded and go yard. Right?
Now he did throw a bunch of people under the bus, for sure. McNabb was run over forward and backward, subtly and not-so-subtly. His former agent David Joseph took heat. So did Bloch. So did Hugh Douglas, and after reading Owens' seemingly plausible account of the locker room fisticuffs incident, and the recounting of the fight from the grievance hearing, probably rightfully so.
Owens went easy on Andy Reid. Showed utmost respect for Jeremiah Trotter and did a one-eighty on NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw, going from distrusting to ultimately trusting and respecting. While he devoted nearly two chapters to his broken leg, he never mentioned Roy Williams by name once for being the guy who tackled him.
Read the book, and you learn precisely about the broken leg which caused him to miss the final two games of the 2004 season. You discover how severe the injury was, and the extent he went to rehab, including buying his own hyperbaric chamber for treatment at home and how he carted the thing to Jacksonville, Fla., for Super Bowl XXXIX, even sleeping in the accelerated-healing contraption.
You learn a lot about his grandmother, Alice Black, and his mother, Marilyn Owens. You discover he had no idea who his father was until he was 11, when he had this crush on the girl across the street. Some guy told him he couldn't hang around with her like that, that she's your half-sister - my daughter, and I'm your father.
You get his version of how the interview went down with Syracuse freshman and friend Graham Bensinger, the ESPN intern whose questions gave Owens just enough rope to hang himself with the Eagles organization. Also an account of his bows on the Texas Stadium midfield star, the Sharpie incident and the Desperate Housewives intro to that Monday Night Football game with the Cowboys, where he insists the Eagles organization did some serious back-peddling on after the fact.
But to me, the predominant theme of the book, from beginning to end, from San Francisco to Dallas is this:
His thirst to become a free agent so he could get paid like the best receiver in the game. That's what caused problems in San Francisco, especially after his agent missed filing a letter with the NFLPA to void his contract, and that's what acerbated his distain for the Eagles.
He admits, just as we suspected a year ago, "I didn't want to play out 2005 for $3.25 million only to get cut afterward, because I couldn't win. First and foremost, if I played the 2005 season under my existing contract and got hurt, I would get cut and could wind up with nothing if I reinjured my fibula or ankle . . . I did not want to take the risk."
Because he knew the Eagles contract Upshaw told him not to sign had that $5 million roster bonus due the following March, and he realized the Eagles had a history of not keeping Thirtysomething players around at a high dollar. Finally, as the NFLPA warned him, he realized he was playing on a two-year deal.
He wanted a new contract, period. He wanted a commitment from the Eagles. End of story. Sound familiar? Meet Greg Ellis and about a thousand more players who have fought the same never-ending battle in the NFL since contracts aren't guaranteed.
You say, well, why won't this happen here with the Cowboys?
Well, he points out in the book his three-year total of $25 million with the Cowboys is more than Moss's first three years from Oakland. He points out how it's $5 million more than he would have made his first three years with Philly. And, he points out, he has a chance to become a free agent again after three seasons, and who knows, maybe even after two if the Cowboys don't pay that final roster bonus before the 2008 season.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has eliminated the overriding source of Owens' discontent. Money. He's paying him as the best receiver in the game. He just has to produce and behave himself. Excuses have been eliminated.
Again, assuming I'm not spoiling the ending, if we are taking Owens at his word, then his word to you guys is this:
"And so, my friends, when I put on that Cowboys uniform and step on that field, know that I am going to give everything I have to accomplish three goals: first, honor the tradition of the Cowboys star; second, make Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones and Bill Parcells look like geniuses for believing in me; and third, make the Cowboys fans love me by going to Miami on February 4, 2007, and taking home a Super Bowl trophy to add to Jerry's collection."
So, after reading T.O., all I can say is, uh, get your popcorn ready.
i can trust TO
I only hope he succeeds because it will cause maximum pain to the Eagles fans that cheered while Irvin was taken off the field on a backboard.
No way. TO is TO.
Going to go out there tommorrow and take my little boy. It's only 30min. drive.
I'll let everyone know if anything interesting occurs.
*waits for Alvarez's hate post, aka cry post*
and spears tears the cartilage in his knee, just great.
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