welcome back, t.o.

It appears the real T.O. we all knew was out there has returned. It was bound to happen eventually. Terrell Owens has always been an emotional land mine, ready to explode as soon as the slightest thing encroached upon his galactic ego. I'm amazed he managed to fool so many* for almost an entire season last year while the Eagles were dominating the NFC, only showing evidence of his true self with his late-season sidelines meltdown with his favorite quarterback to hate. But for the record, I immediately thought that signing was the most obvious dumb move by an organization in years. I'm shocked he didn't stab them in the back much sooner.

But, alas, the honeymoon is over. The Eagles were insane to sign that guy in the first place, and since the Stupid Bowl they've only gotten what they should have seen coming to them. First the bit about McNabb's SB performance, then the contract saga, and now this--a fistfight with a former defensive end. Note to T.O.: If you're gonna pick a fight with a guy to prove a point, choose someone other than a defensive end who made his living off cheap shots at quarterbacks and would love nothing more than to eat you for lunch. You're lucky you didn't get killed.

What a great teammate. What a leader to have in the locker room when the going gets tough. Somebody forgot to tell this pathetic waste of talent that good players are needed most when the team is struggling. If you can catch 12 balls a game and rack up stratospheric yardage while your team is doing well, good for you. But you're paid big money to be there when the team really needs you, not to just add some excitement to a win. Owens has never understood this concept and so it seems so stupid for a Stupid Bowl contender to pick up such a volatile hot potato.

So maybe we should feel sorry for the Eagles and all the crap this guy is putting them through, but then again they're the ones who signed him in the first place. Put your common sense caps on and do your homework next time, guys.


*The one and only Bill Simmons had a great piece on this a while back, using an analogy about a friend dating some chick way out of his league. Sometimes he'll make it work long enough that those around him who know better and were shocked he pulled anything off in the first place actually start believing it could last, and just then the impending disaster hits and the thing blows up in his face. Hilarious. But the same applies here. We all knew T.O. would never hold up on his end of the bargain and yet so many bought into the hype and thought he'd finally found a home in Philly. In hindsight we see how utterly moronic that idea really was.