T.O. a Cowboy; America's Dream

March 21, 2006 | By Dennis Bakay | Discuss

This is what we were all waiting for right? The great boogeyman was banished from Philly.

The locker room cancer is gone.

The front office headache is gone.

The greatest playmaker to wear an Eagles uniform in at least 20 years is gone.

After all, the propagandists for the Eagles would have you believe it was a new season once the awful TO was sentenced to a half-season in purgatory following his comments in an interview on ESPN. The Eagles were 4-3 at the time and went 2-7 following that wonderful move in the name of "team chemistry."

I am in no way condoning Owens' comments or his divisive nature. However, NFL teams aren't in the business of grooming great citizens for our society like high school teams. These are professionals with huge egos. Not everyone is going to love one another. That's a fact of life in every arena from the corporate headquarters at Microsoft down to the mom and pop hardware store. People don't get along at work many times. I’ve seen this firsthand in my experience at several jobs. However, things manage to get done and the assets outweigh the liabilities in the checkbook.

The Eagles botched this situation from the door. Many pundits will contend that he signed a contract and must stick to it. Yes, that’s true. However, it wouldn’t have killed the Eagles to acquiesce Owens and guarantee the 3rd year of the deal. If he would’ve agreed to that and still caused trouble then I would’ve been all for suspending him. The bottom line is their arrogance got them into the mess; their refusal to budge one iota allowed the best playmaker arguably in franchise history to fly the coop.

I wouldn’t have expected an organization like the Eagles to allow something like this to happen. I could see the Phillies doing that, but never the Eagles. The fans have been robbed all because of the supreme arrogance on the front office’s part. TO was sent home during training camp upon his blowup with Andy Reid. Then he went onto Sportscenter with Drew Rosenhaus and derided Reid and McNabb. His subtle shots at McNabb continued throughout the season while doing his weekly talkshow from Miami. There was not further action taken. Once he declared the Eagles as a “classless” organization it hit the fan.

Richard Nixon so eloquently put it in the movie "Nixon" that "nobody f---s with Dick Helms" in reference to the head of the CIA at the time. I must say following the events of this past year that nobody f---s with Lurie and Banner.

TO trashed them for not acknowledging his 100th TD. It was childish in a way, but it certainly took balls.

And, then came the press conference that fateful Monday following another loss.
“Terrell Owens has been suspended for four games for conduct detrimental to the team.”
And, then the silver bullet in the heart of the Eagles’ personal vampire came.

“He will not return to play for the team even after the conclusion of that suspension. The league has been notified by the player’s union that they will be grieving a right to take action. Therefore, there is nothing more I can say at this point.”

I remember this moment clear as day. I was sitting at my desk at work while WIP was on my boss’s radio over his computer. A chill went down my spine during that moment. It was over. The Eagles now were officially done.

Just think of what could have been had the Eagles made an effort to reach a middle ground with Owens. It’s obvious they took advantage of him when he was just trying to get a deal after his agent failed to get papers filed in order to allow him to become a free agent. The Eagles swooped in and took advantage. Sure, he signed the contract. Anyone who has ever been at the mercy of a company during negotiations like myself can relate. When you deal with the bosses you are at their mercy if you have no other options. I don’t care what anybody says, you take that deal when you have to do what you have to do. It works on every level. I don’t blame Owens for taking the stance he did. I blame him for taking it publicly. I blame the Eagles even more for throwing gasoline into the inferno like they did.

And, who loses more than anyone else? The fans do. The NFL will surely gain. This is a dream come true for them. Owens goes to the bitter rival of the Eagles in the Cowboys. It will be great theatre for sure. This is America's dream matchup. It will even reinvigorate the rivalry between the Eagles and Cowboys. The fact remains that the Eagles are minus the greatest wide receiver in the game today. This will turn into the Eagles (and more importantly the fans) worst nightmare as they again struggle to score in crucial situations in crucial games.

Can they get back to the Super Bowl without him? Sure. It doesn’t appear that they are very serious at doing so at this point. Julian Peterson, Rocky Benard, and John Abraham were out there for the taking following their failure to get LeCharles Bentley. Now, they have a shot at trading for Javon Walker. Don’t bet on it happening.

They’d rather do things their way. The system takes precedent over everything else.

And, who wins?