Note:  Mailbag will be next.  As always, email me your questions at Eric.Rudin@gmail.com and I'll get to as many as possible.

T.O. signed in Buffalo, just as I expected.  Ok, maybe Buffalo was guess number 25, but whatever, the team he signed with was never going to be as important as the way he parted ways with Dallas (unless he signed with New England and played opposite Randy Moss, sliding Welker to the slot).  The T.O. saga has always interested me.  I refer to it as the T.O. saga because no matter what team he goes to, it's same stuff, different day.  The reason that the T.O. saga interests me so much is because of the attention he garners, or the negative attention I should say, without doing anything wrong off the field.  Of course I don't mean off the field literally, but instead in the sense of non-football related activities.  You know, he's not pulling a Chris Henry and getting caught drunk and puking out the passenger door of a car after being pulled over by the cops.  The closest thing T.O. has had to an off the field problem is a possible suicide attempt.  From my research, he has done no harm to anyone outside of the world of football yet he's treated like a pariah.  By the way, the guy isn't too far past his prime and is 6th all-time in receptions, 5th in receiving yards and 2nd in receptions. 

So why does nobody want the guy?  T.O. is a tougher subject to tackle with the point I'll be trying to make than others, but the answer to the aforementioned question is simple.  Nobody wants the drama.  Nobody wants the "cancer" infiltrating its locker room.  That being said, I'll lay out the case against T.O. in short version.  In San Francisco he accused Jeff Garcia of being gay for not getting him the ball.  In Philadelphia he overreacted to Donovan's confidence heading into the Super Bowl because Donovan said the team could win without T.O. as it had up until that point in the playoffs.  This was the Tupac/Biggie corollary.  Tupac and Biggie were great friends but Tupac, possibly mistakenly, thought Biggie took some shots at him and Tupac swore him off as his mortal enemy.  Yes, the shots in the Tupac/Biggie example were literally gunshots, but still, I think the analogy works with Donovan and T.O.  In Dallas, T.O. basically ran Parcells out of town then alienated himself because he forced guys to basically choose between himself and Romo/Witten/Garrett.  Grandma Wade's being the head coach of this volatile team didn't help anything, but still, it was just another soap opera starring T.O.

Now, let's start with San Francisco.  Ok, I can't explain that one away.  Owens was young, but still, the Jeff Garcia thing didn't help T.O.'s cause. 

Ok, so we're ignoring the San Francisco drama so I can try and illustrate my uphill battle of a point.  I think the Philadelphia and Dallas situations are perfect examples of the bigger picture when it comes to T.O.  And that picture is this:  Owens is an insecure person with an insane amount of talent who thinks he's a natural born leader and on top of that, he's the most competitive guy on any team.  He's a nice guy and a great teammate, until someone questions him, which he associates with a breach of loyalty.  The guy can't take criticism because he's insecure.  And if you don't think he's insecure and desperately in need of positive attention, just refer back to the suicide attempt.  So let's take a look at the Philly problem.  Things were going mostly fine until Donovan, in a press conference, suggested that the Eagles didn't need T.O.  Now, Donovan had no ill-will and wasn't criticizing T.O.  He was merely trying to say that if Owens couldn't go in the Super Bowl, the Eagles could still win as they had in the previous playoff games.  But all T.O. heard was, "we don't need T.O."  That's all an insecure person needs, is to feel unwanted and unappreciated.  Boom.  T.O. self-destructed and took the Eagles down with him.  He carried the grudge because he thought he was wronged and could not see the other side.  I think we all remember the bad break up that ensued.

Now let's take the Dallas years because I think that was an even more perfect storm for a guy like T.O.  By the way, what if Owens was right and Romo and Witten were planning plays amongst themselves and shutting the rest of the team out?  That's okay?  Anyhow, the Cowboys were asking T.O. to be their go-to guy, their offensive weapon, to entertain, but they weren't going to give him the credit he thought he deserved when the team enjoyed some success.  I'm not blaming Dallas.  That's just the way of the NFL.  In the NFL the heroes and the goats are the coaches and quarterbacks.  If a team goes 3-13, those are the guys who go down.  If a team goes 14-2, it's because Bill Belichick is a genius and Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all-time.  The Randy Moss' of the world are the Best Supporting Actors.  Well that's not good enough for T.O. and frankly, I see his point whether he's trying to make it or not.  If you're hiring T.O. and paying him to be your star, why can't he be the leader of your team?  Why can't he get credit when the team wins and take the blame when the team loses?  Why is it Tony Romo's team?  One guy throws the ball and makes some play calls here and there and another guy runs, makes cuts, and snags the ball out of the air.  How does that designate one a team leader and the other a mere piece to the puzzle?  Why is it okay for Kurt Warner to have a shouting match with his offensive coordinator but not Anquan Boldin and Terrell Owens?  I never like to play the race card, and being a white guy, I don't think it's my place, but I'll say this; I think it's interesting that white quarterbacks are leading their teams and being inspirational when they yell at coaches or offensive lines, but black wide receivers are selfish and needy when they yell at coaches and quarterbacks. 

Going back to the case of Terrell Owens, I think that teams are going about it the wrong way when it comes to Owens.  You don't have to give him the ball every play if you give him a leadership role on the team.  The part of him that needs attention and is insecure needs the ball because he feels that that's the only way he can get any credit or positive attention.  And when that's not happening, he acts out.  Do you remember when Owens had a case of the drops early in his career with the 49ers?  He was a wreck until he made that unreal catch against Green Bay to win the Wildcard game.  And his reaction?  It wasn't a bucket of popcorn, or pompoms.  He cried.  He literally cried.  That's the type of guy Owens is.  He feels the weight of the world on his shoulders and seeks any way possible to get it off.  Steve Young never had a problem with T.O.  Even recently on ESPN, Young noted Owens' drive and his being the only guy who could rival Jerry Rice's work ethic.  T.O. doesn't need a coach yelling at him to keep him in order.  On the contrary, he needs to be coddled to cure whatever is ailing him.  He can't satiate his own internal needs so he relies on the externals to do it.  He sees the positive reaction to endzone celebrations so he mimics them and tries to be the best at them.  He feeds off of the attention and the love of the fans, his players, and the media.  If he's not getting it, then, as I said and we've seen, he self-destructs.  He's a one man wrecking crew. 

I don't blame Dallas for cutting T.O. loose because the situation had spiraled out of control.  But, I don't see why so many teams would want to avoid the guy like the plague.  It's not like Washington has a great team and T.O. would just screw it up.  What about Oakland?  DeAngelo Hall's ok, but at T.O. we draw a line in the sand?  The Bears were okay with Tank Johnson and his arsenal of weapons but T.O.'s Sharpie would have bruised Kyle Orton's ego?  I get it Baltimore.  Ray Lewis can lead your team even though he wouldn't give information on a double murder and Jamal Lewis and his drug dealing are fine, but crying underneath designer shades in a press conference?  No go.  We could do this all day, but hopefully my point is starting to seep through.  If not, you may as well stop reading now, because I'm not done trying.

I just don't understand the hypocrisy of fans when it comes to Terrell Owens.  We want our players to want to win.  We urge them to live up to contracts, work hard in the offseason, and play with emotion.  We want them to stay out of legal trouble and be law-abiding citizens.  Doesn't Owens do all of that and more?  Yes, he's an insecure player who will resort to media antics as his defense mechanism, but you mean to tell me that that's worse than Leonard Little's vehicular manslaughter?  We can let Ray Lewis slide but not Owens?  I'm not saying we shouldn't forgive a guy's mistakes, especially in the case of someone like Lewis who has gone to lengths to fix his image, but why the hate fest with T.O.? 

Finally, I'll end with this, the NFL lives off of rankings and what gets more ratings than an enigmatic, entertaining wide receiver?  Quick, name a Cincinnati Bengal . . . and it can't be Chad Johnson.  I'll bet it took you another second or two.  Whether he's trying to be one or not, T.O. is a brilliant self-promoter.  He can't do anything without making Sportscenter's leading story most days and having three emotional interviews the next.  We live in a society where an NBA player who averaged 7.3 points and 13.1 rebounds over his career was one of the league's highest paid players.  Andris Biedrins averages 12 and 11 and I can promise you that he's not going to make Dennis Rodman-equivalent money.  Why?  Because 95% of the country couldn't pick him out of a lineup.  Players get paid for being entertaining, for being a story, for bringing fans to the stadium.  Again, is that Terrell Owens' fault?  The owners should shun a guy that brings that much bang for the buck?

I know that it's a tough argument to make in T.O.'s case because he can be selfish.  He is immature.  He does put others down for his own benefit.  But how many people in your life did I just describe?  Do you have disdain for them the way you do for Owens?  Do you cast them off the way you would someone who drives drunk and kills someone?  All I'm saying is that the T.O. saga should be looked at a little more differently.  I saw an episode of Punked where he drove past an overturned van filled with senior citizens.  He stopped, tried to help them out, and a fake lawyer came by blaming him for the whole thing.  Owens wasn't exactly happy, but he didn't lose his cool the way Shaq did, running after the guy and threatening him.  T.O. was nothing but nice with the seniors and I'm not surprised.  At Lakers games I've seen him happily sign autographs and I haven't heard of anyone meeting the guy and saying a bad word.  No, T.O.'s image is tarnished because he's unstable, emotional, can't keep his mouth shut, and needs to feel appreciated because he isn't sure enough of himself as a person.  Is that a guy really worth hating in the grand scheme of things?  Gosh I hope not, especially nowadays.  In case you're left unconvinced, visit Terrell Owens' Catching a Dream Foundation site.  He doesn't hype it but it does a lot of good.  I'm not saying you should shed a tear for the guy, but maybe spend your hating energy on something more productive.