Terrell Owens and His Retirement Years
Some people are just intriguing personalities. Lincoln is my favorite. One never tires of studying Lincoln. It is sort of a hobby of mine to try to understand complex personalities who excel, but in differing ways.
Terrell has always been a towering force for anyone who encounters him in life. His background is a story in itself, his amazing reservoir of genetic willpower along with his learned ability to self- focus exclusively on a career goal, coupled with an ingrained belief from his grandmother that no one, no one, can be trusted and that others, given the chance will take you down, have been features of his entire life. He did accomplish his career goal, to be one of the best wide receivers in football, and did this by jumping over, running around or running right through any hurdles in his way. If anyone ever did, he did it his way.
But his life in other areas was neglected, never developed or matured, and left him vulnerable off the football field. Life is that a way, and it is hard to properly address all the aspects of life. Terrell Owens never even pretended to try. His social life was nonexistent, his business acumen non existent, and his sexual life that of a dumb fool.
So, the burning question naturally was, what will Terrell Owens do when he is too old for football? The charge that no body wanted him on their team was a strange one since he lasted far longer than the vast majority of wide receivers in football. He was almost 40 before no team wanted him.
At any rate, the questions were many about his life after retirement. Would he get depressed or turn reckless, get into drugs, be penniless like so many former NFL players, maybe even commit suicide, etc. Nothing is easily predictable about Terrell Owens. Fortunately, without football Terrell messed around with a lot of ventures including acting, bowling, swimming, clothes lines, and the list goes on and on. In the last two years he has been embroiled in a lot of public debate about his rejection into the NFL Football Hall of Fame. Stat-wise he is in the top three all time. But those who vote are mostly small time sport editors across the nation. AT one time these were important positions and attracted some really talented writers. But today, newspapers are almost irrelevant and are disappearing at a rapid rate. Of the 48 selectors I have only heard of a couple.
Anyway their dislike of Terrell Owens is strong and personal. It was not just his personality, but the total distance he kept from them, as he did most others, including his teammates—especially the first half of his career. When he was finally pushed to be more social with teammates he ended up being accused of being a locker room distraction—even to the point where in Dallas it was felt that Romo could not be a team leader with T.O. around. Thus, T.O. was better left to himself in terms of locker room dynamics. It is not always a good idea to take those comfortable with social distance and force them to be more social.
At any rate this Hall of Fame controversy has had unintended but good consequences for T.O. His former coaches, teammates, current members of the Hall of Fame, his fans, and even many of his non fans, have rallied to his side and for the first time Terrell is feeling a warmth in his relations with others. Terrell Owens is the kind of person who, if you are on a team with him, you don’t dislike him, you just don’t understand him, or are able to get close to him personally. T.O. never had a normal childhood and a lot of his antics were sophomoric but typical adolescent effervescence. If he celebrated by himself, well—he was in fact a one man band. There was no ‘posse’ around T.O., no close associates. When his grandmother developed Alzheimers and passed away he was on his own. But as the clip at the end of this treatise illustrates, T.O. is finally developing some genuine social interactions and is now in closer in communication with former coaches, teammates, fans, and other football players. These are the unintended consequences of the personal vendetta some of the members of the Hall of Fame Selection Committer possess. Now, every year when they apply their vengeance on him, he gets to have his achievements debated again in public for a month. Many of his most vocal defenders are players who say, “I don’t know T.O. very well, but I played against him it seemed forever, and why are they so against him? He was really good, had no off the field issues, and was entertaining. For a long time he was a dominant force in the game. If anyone belongs in the Hall of Fame it is T.O.”
In this sense the controversy has been therapeutic for T.O. He seems more relaxed and open around others now. The internal pressure he put on himself is over, and because the people he played with for years are so supportive of him now, I think he really doesn’t care much anymore about how long they keep him out of the Hall of Fame. He has gotten the validation he so wanted from those who were teammates or coaches for so many years, and what these ‘pencil pushers’ (his term) think probably doesn’t matter to him at all. He would rather have the controversy continue, year after year.
Most fans have long forgotten who got into the Hall of Fame but most people, fans or not, know well what football player is being held out. No surprise who that player might be. God’s laws which govern the evolutionary process produce brilliant results, but make life tough for individuals in any species.
A lot of time situations are balanced out. Like those satisfied with little are far more content than those who have a lot of wealth, titles, etc but have a compulsive need for more. And in this case, these ‘pencil pushers’ (T.O.’s term) or individual nothing burgers in the actual sport of football seeking to gain some importance or significance in their lives (my term), get to act out their personal feelings about star players and turn the selection process into some sort of ‘Dating Game’ show, while, in this case, the subject of their hatred, finds the situation such that he is able to connect with his former coaches, opponents, teammates, fans, and non fans in a way which brings him much contentment and personal growth in social skills. So, in that sense it is win-win.
While nothing can ever be sure with Terrell Owens, I sense he is adjusting well to retirement and like the kid he is destined to always be, he is comfortable with his new interests and for the first time, some genuine friends. The tape is below.
https://sports.yahoo.com/news/terrell-owens-second-all-time-in-receiving-yards-somehow-denied-entry-to-hall-of-fame-again-000556573.html
P.S.: Another talented athletic star, Allen Iverson also had a unique childhood (much different from Terrell Owens) and also has a unique personality, was faced with a difficult retirement and it has not been kind to him. Unlike T.O., he was a total social being with compulsive social behaviors which were extremely self destructive. Both Terrell Owens and Allen Iverson have big hearts and a decent, good ethical mantra. Both have lived a life on the edge of self destruction. Terrell seems to be in a safe place now and Allen too, for the time being, seems to be in a safe, but more tenuous place. His acceptance speech to the Hall of Fame in Basketball was an interesting soul bearing speech which was one of a kind. His retirement life is another story, another musing, another day.
