T.O. Closure
The World is replete with remarkable people. Some are famous, most just known by a few. All of us, in our own little worlds, are exposed to some really remarkable individuals. Some are good friends who seldom get the credit they deserve, mostly because it is not too wise to single out particular friends as being remarkable less your other friends get insulted by omission.
Four years ago I accidently read Terrell Owens' autobiography. While I am not a very social person, I am kind of a people person in that I find most people intriguing. Diversity tends to be an attraction to my interests, not a turn-off. The exception are those who disrespect others in a malicious way. My dad had his prejudices but I noticed he sort of compensated for it by being especially courteous and fair to those in any of his prejudiced groups with whom he came in contact personally. Sometimes that may well be the best we can do with some or our ingrained prejudices---deliberately compensate.
Shortly after I read Terrell's autobiography he began to come under an intense and derogatory attack by an unusually large segment of the media sport commentators/analysts. The person Terrell was being made out to be by these detractors seemed to be someone else other than I had read about in his book. What stood out was the subjective, highly personal, slanderous adjective-filled nature of their attack. Virtually none of it had to do with football but an angry character assassination.
Not surprisingly I sided with Terrell. Surprisingly, I often found myself the target of anger from most others who know me because I defended Terrell. It was often like, "how can you defend such an absolute asshole?". A positive feedback surge debate commenced. The more Terrell was attacked, the more I defended him---the more I defended him the more vitriolic the attack on Terrell. From a distance it all was some sort of humorous absurdity. But from any serious introspective standpoint, it was a real interesting case to study. I mean, wow, what did this guy do to create such a monumental stir? After all, a good number of professional sport figures assault, rape, steal, get in drunken fights, trash talk other players, are obnoxious with fans, have poor training habits, etc. They are reasonably tolerated by these same sport commentators. For the most part these commentators choose to concentrate on the game performances of such lively social misfits.
Then there was Terrell. A real loner, talked little with his teammates, worker harder at conditioning and practicing than most anyone else on the team, didn't swear, didn't drink, didn't do drugs (as far as anyone knew), never physically assaulted anyone--male or female, no rapes, no drunken driving charges, no nightclub incidents, never stole anything, is always courteous with fans (especially kids), doesn't trash talk other people including those sport commentators who were trashing him, and has performed at a high level on every professional football team he has ever been on.
The volcano seems to have erupted because Terrell decided Philadelphia had tricked him into an unfair contract. Of course Terrell is not exactly the only one who tries to re-negotiate a contract. There are hundreds of attempts each year. While the TV commentators and print columnists turned on Terrell with a vengeance, the beat reporters loved Terrell. Terrell loves a microphone when he is ready to say something, and with Terrell you always get his real thoughts. His ethical mantras are interesting. He repeats these mantras over and over in his books. Never lie. Never lie. Never lie. Fair is fair, fair is fair, fair is fair. Trust no one, trust no one, trust no one, never let anyone disrespect you, never let anyone disrespect you, no one can make you accept unfair treatment, no one can make you accept unfair treatment, you do your job I will do mine, you do your job I will do mine, I am somebody, I am somebody, I am my own boss when it comes to my own position---I got there on my own from nobody to somebody, I will not let anyone change the person I am or the way I train, or how I care for my own body, or use slick ploys to pay me less than the level at which I perform.
To the best of my own analytical ability the above is the real Terrell. Like everything else in his life, he celebrates success on his own, some sort of self celebrating, self bragging, self cheering one man band after he crosses the goal line. That is difficult to tolerate unless one knows the early history of Terrell's life.
Be that as it may, Terrell handled contract renegotiating efforts his own way. He would play, but he wasn't happy, and he expected the other part of Philly's two man quarterback/receiver success saga----Donovan McNaab, to support his contract demands. Donovan did not. Like every thing else Terrell turns his attention to, he did it with a vengeance. Let's face it. When Terrell is happy, he is theatre; when Terrell is angry he is theatre; when Terrell is sad he is theatre. Unlike with most of the rest of us, no one has to wonder if Terrell is happy, angry, or sad. That last year in Philly Terrell spoke essentially with only the head coach Reid and his receiver's coach. He would not talk to Donovan ("I don't care if I ever talk to Donovan") or even the Offensive coordinator ("You don't talk to me unless I talk to you), and Coach Reid had to tread carefully in any conversation with Terrell (Coach. "Shut up Terrell". Terrell: "You shut up. My name is Terrell Owens. I am not your son. You shut up"). And so it went. To everyone's surprise except Terrell, Terrell's performance level in games did not dip at all. His media detractors ripped into Terrell with vigor---he was ruining the team and his refusal to talk to Donovan or other coaches would be a disaster come game day. Terrell's response to Donovn via his Receivers Coach was simple: "When I get free throw me the ball." Terrell knows football. It has been his whole life. From Tues until Sunday even his family or girlfriend are not allowed near him. He studies his opposition on his own. In team film sessions he often falls asleep. He has his own trainer, his own doctors, his own publicist, and his own little world apart from others. Once a year he throws a birthday party for himself (of course, I guess)--rents a nightclub, invites hundreds of celebrity type guests, shows up near Midnight, stays for maybe an hour, then leaves. What a swinger!
In my mind, it is time for me to put the Terrell matter to rest. The saga has played itself out. That Terrell has remained standing after such a frontal assault by the media, the NFL lawyers, an irate owner, League officials, and a vast media created hostile fan base is kind of amazing, at least to me. The rest of us kind of know when to 'fold 'em', when fair is fair has to give way to the reality of 'you can't fight city hall'. We get up, we dust ourselves off, we grin and bear it, preferring the tranquility of defeat to endless and hopeless conflict. Terrell is probably the nearest thing to the proverbial immovable object as there is. I often pondered, 'How does he do it?". The answer seems to be that Terrell's world is some kind of isolated, self contained, self driven, self evaluated, self sufficient operational sphere. Unlike most of us, what others outside his bubble think of his operational principles, has no impact on Terrell. No matter that many others don't like him, Terrell is really content with himself, his plans, his efforts, his understanding of matters, his achievements, and his attitudes.
Let's examine the goals and predictions of those media commentators at the height of Terrell's Philly controversy. The most vitriolic commentator was the head of the football area of Sports Illustrated (King). I can never remember his name. He insisted the league should ban Terrell from the league, that Terrell's behavior was a disgrace to the league. Others were a mite less vitriolic but made the following predictions;
Terrell would never be hired by another team because Terrell was too disruptive. Oops, Terrell was hired by another team (Dallas Cowboys)
If Terrell was hired he would have to take a pay cut from his salary in Philly. Oops, Terrell received a contract that was more lucrative than his contract in Philly.
If any other team hired Terrell there would all sorts of behavioral clauses in the contract. Oops, there were no such clauses in the contract Terrell signed.
Terrell would not be hired because his former teammates and coaches did not like Terrell, felt Terrell was a disruption and was personally disliked by players and coaches. Oops, the number of former or current teammates who dished Terrell could be counted on one hand. Considering Terrell has had hundreds of teammates over his career and dozens of coaches, that is not very impressive.
When Philly released Terrell at the end of the year, the media awaited the funeral, the end of the Terrell saga, no doubt well prepared to celebrate with the same vigor they engaged in their character assassination of him.
OK, why then did Terrell land on his feet with a better contract and within one year, a coaching staff almost written to his specifications? If his former coaches and teammates did not really like Terrell his career would have been finished. If no owner had been willing to look into the real world of Terrell, Terrell would have been finished. While few, if any players could claim to be personal friends of Terrell, almost all said some form of "Terrell never did anything to me, I have no reason to dislike him. He is just impossible to get close to. He is (was) a good teammate---a play maker---one of the hardest workers in practice, and certainly off the field on his own training program." His former coaches, especially his receiver coaches, had nothing but praise for Terrell, but noting that you don't control Terrell, you work with him. When Parcells left and Wade Phillips became the coach, one knew Terrell would thrive when Wade said the first day, in response to how he would control Terrell, "I don't control players, I assist them to become the best they can become."
Are there any general lessons to be learned here? First, if you are going to stand your ground, the principles upon which you take a stand better be solid ones. Second, if you are going to stand your ground, the ones around you, the ones you work with on a daily basis, better have a high opinion of you. Third, there is no 'best' way to coach, no 'best' way to teach, no 'best' way to become a successful athlete. Fourth, the best way to be the best teammate is to perform your best at your position. If all this camaraderie in the locker room was so important, teams would not trade and replace players so often. Fifth, all players old enough to be on a professional sport team need to be treated as individuals for any 'fair is fair' mantra to prevail on a team. Dictatorial coaching at the professional level might work occasionally, and work very well occasionally----a la Vince Lombardi or Bill Bellicheck---but then one has to ask, what price victory? Sixth, in the case of Terrell, when Terrell trusts those at the top, he loosens up with others around him. He even played dominoes with players in the club house this year. And he, to the surprise of many, teared up in the defense of Romo when Romo was being pummeled by the media for losing the playoff game. I think he teared up not just because he likes Romo, but he probably sensed that if the media began any kind of character assassination of Romo, remotely similar to the character assassination the media laid on Terrell, that Romo was not Terrell, that Romo would be too defenseless. But who knows, Romo himself is a good character study, and may be just as strong in his own way. I think I will pass on that character study, I need a rest.
I suppose the future may yet write a few more interesting T.O. chapters. But my case study of him has ended. The next remarkable study for me is Barack Obama. He wrote a book titled the Audacity of Hope. We'll have to see where this saga goes. Terrell could write a book titled The Audacity of Principle and Perseverance. On the other hand I guess he just did.
