like sands thru an hourglass so are the days of TO's life

[General_Failure]

Some of us are just bored.

[hunt]

i just can't go through all 22 pages of this thread so can you tell me how the TO apologists are trying to spin this one?     i'm very curious.

[Rome]

i just can't go through all 22 pages of this thread so can you tell me how the TO apologists are trying to spin this one?     i'm very curious.

Dude, check out T.O.'s message boards.

It's positively surreal.

[PhillyGirl]

i just can't go through all 22 pages of this thread so can you tell me how the TO apologists are trying to spin this one?     i'm very curious.

  Maybe you should read it instead of assuming anything.

[hunt]

i thought we already established that i'm not reading 22 pages worth of posts  ....anyway, i need somebody to tell me that this isn't a big deal....the media is blowing everything out of proportion...and TO will be there for the regular season when it really matters.  it would make me feel a lot better.

[PhillyGirl]

i thought we already established that i'm not reading 22 pages worth of posts  ....anyway, i need somebody to tell me that this isn't a big deal....the media is blowing everything out of proportion...and TO will be there for the regular season when it really matters.  it would make me feel a lot better.

Count me in as one who still believes he'll be there for the first game of the season.

[hunt]

that's what i'm talking about.  
the thought of going into the season with lewis/brown brings back memories of thrash/pinkson & johnson/small and i don't want to think about that.

[Sgt PSN]

i thought we already established that i'm not reading 22 pages worth of posts ....anyway, i need somebody to tell me that this isn't a big deal....the media is blowing everything out of proportion...and TO will be there for the regular season when it really matters. it would make me feel a lot better.

This isn't a big deal.  The media is blowing it out of proportion.  TO will be there for the regular season. 

[PhillyGirl]

that's what i'm talking about.  
the thought of going into the season with lewis/brown brings back memories of thrash/pinkson & johnson/small and i don't want to think about that.

Other than the fact that TO said he'd be back on Wednesday, here are my thoughts in a nutshell (pun intended). TO is a nutcase. We all knew that. Period.

But he's also NOT dumb enough (and if he actually IS dumb enough, his mama won't let him throw his career down the toilet) to not come back and play. If he doesn't come back, he sits...doesn't get paid, gives back part of his signing bonus...and will NOT be traded (fact). At the end of the season, he'll still owe the Eagles a season at this years' pay and they still won't trade him. Even IF (this is totally hypothetical) they wanted to trade him, no one would take him at this point. Yes, some team might actually want him, but they'd have to take his current deal (all of it) and restructure....and if they can't get him to restructure (which they wont, because he wants MORE money, not less), they won't make a deal (kind of like the Simon thing right now).

He'll go home to Atlanta, get an earful from mama about the fact that he has to go back, and he'll come back here on Wednesday and play football. I think before it happens though, he's going to have to sit down with Reid and talk to him. If Reid can find a way to talk to Trotter after THAT debacle (where Reid and Trotter had their fight), he can do it with TO.

I think TO going home right now will be a good thing because those close to him are going to tell him that if he doesn't come back, he's in a lot of trouble career-wise. He'll be 32? 33? And he'll still owe the Eagles a season of play...and if they finally let him go at age 34, where is he going to get big bucks from? Nowhere.

Yes, he's a complete idiot for what is going on. Yes, he is a total pain in the ass. But yes, he is the best WR in the game and my favorite team in the world needs him to win a Super Bowl. THEY NEED HIS TALENT ON THE FIELD TO WIN A SUPER BOWL.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Eagles, Rice knock T.O. down a notch
There's little brotherly love for Philly star after he's sent away from camp

By JOHN MCCLAIN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

"After Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro receiver Terrell Owens was asked to leave training camp Wednesday following a heated exchange with coach Andy Reid, Denver Broncos receiver Jerry Rice said the situation has gotten "out of control" and criticized his former teammate for becoming a huge distraction.

After Wednesday night's practice against the Texans at Reliant Park, Rice sent a message to his former San Francisco teammate, who was suspended for a week by Reid nearly seven months after starring for the Eagles in the Super Bowl.

"You can't be a distraction like that," Rice said. "You've got to put the team first. It's out of hand now. It's out of control.

"You're talking about a team that went to the Super Bowl last season. They need to be thinking about what they have to do this season to get back to the Super Bowl. They don't need this right now."

Philadelphia media reported that Reid suspended Owens after a heated exchange in a team meeting. Owens, who had been nursing a groin injury, was asked to return in seven days.

"I don't condone what he did," Rice said about Owens. "All I know is that he just had some words with Andy Reid. If he kicked him out, I guess he had his reasons.

"T.O. is a great, great player. But I don't feel like you're bigger than the team. It's a situation that needs to be dealt with. It needs to be over."

Rice and Owens were teammates with the 49ers for five seasons (1996-2000).

"One thing about T.O.: He's very defensive," Rice said. "If he feels like you've crossed him or stabbed him in the back, he doesn't forget that. As a professional athlete, you've got to be able to move on."

Owens, who has created one controversy after another in his 10-year career, had been a huge distraction since he ended his threats to hold out and reported to camp. The Eagles have refused to renegotiate the seven-year, $48.9 million contract he signed last year.

"If I had just signed a contract," Rice said, "I wouldn't publicize it. I'd go back to the team and say, 'Hey, look, guys, I feel like I should be paid like the top receivers. See what you guys can do.' That's not calling management out."

Rice wasn't the only great player who was critical of Owens on Wednesday. Former running back Eric Dickerson, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, weighed in on the controversy while watching the Texans and Broncos.


What was he thinking?

Dickerson found it hard to understand that Owens wanted to renegotiate after making $9.5 million last year.

"Hey, I'm always for the player, because I was a player, and I went through a situation like that," Dickerson said about forcing a trade from the Rams to the Colts because he was unhappy with his contract. "But when you made $9.5 million and you say you can't feed your family, what family are you trying to feed? I can feed these two teams right here and a lot of others for that kind of money."

Owens defended himself to Comcast SportsNet during an interview at his home in Moorestown, N.J.

"I got sent home until Wednesday for whatever reason," Owens said. "It was just a difference of opinion. I was defending myself.

"If the truth needs to be told, then that's what I'll do. If he (Reid) wants to be a man about it and have me really go on the air and really tell the people what happened, then I can. It was a difference of opinion."

The Eagles also had a statement: "Terrell Owens has been sent home from training camp due to undisclosed team issues. He is expected to return to the team (next) Wednesday."

Owens refused to confirm reports that said his argument with Reid focused on his failure to attend autograph signings.

"I haven't been signing autographs on the outside because I have been rehabbing on the inside," Owens said.

The receiver's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told talk-show host David Letterman that "there are other options" besides his client's rejoining the Eagles.

Fine start in 2004
Last season, Owens had 77 receptions for 1,200 yards and a franchise-record 14 touchdowns before severely injuring his ankle late in the season.

In eight years in San Francisco, Owens' antics — including pulling a Sharpie from his sock and autographing a football, posing on the Cowboys' star at midfield in Texas Stadium, and waving a cheerleader's pompoms — often overshadowed his success."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[PhillyGirl]

Rosenhaus is full of it. there are NO other options. None. Sorry Drew.

[PhillyPhreak54]

As one of TO's fans and a guy who thought he'd be there on September 12th, I'm starting to change my mind.

If he doesn't show up, I still think the Eagles win it all.

[PhillyGirl]

As one of TO's fans and a guy who thought he'd be there on September 12th, I'm starting to change my mind.

Read my post above. He'll still be there Sept. 12th. He has NO other options. Zero.

Except retirement.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Sure he does, PG...he can come back and act a fool again and get Keyshawn'd.

[PhillyPhreak54]

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

By LES BOWEN
bowenl@phillynews.com

BETHLEHEM - Someday, perhaps soon, we'll know which side gained an advantage yesterday, when the cold war between Terrell Owens and the Eagles heated up long enough for the team to send T.O. away from training camp for a week.

Was it Owens? Was the All-Pro wideout's icy demeanor toward some teammates and coaches calculated to convince the Eagles their best option for the coming season is to trade or release him, and rid themselves of a huge distraction?

Or was it the Eagles? Some NFL observers feel the team is now poised to wield the hammer of asking for the return of as much as $1.87 million of Owens' signing bonus, under an addendum to every contract the Eagles negotiate that states a suspension for conduct detrimental to the team can result in the team recouping a prorated portion of bonus money.

If the Eagles actually came after Owens' money, with him already extremely unhappy over their refusal to revise his 7-year, $48.97 million deal, that would make T.O. continuing to play for the team pretty much unimaginable. But perhaps the Eagles feel they can mandate less-disruptive behavior by threatening to come after the money, in the wake of what most people would consider a suspension - even if the two-sentence statement the organization issued last night didn't use the "s" word. (A source close to the situation confirmed the omission of that word was intentional, probably for reasons relating to the collective-bargaining agreement, which apparently gives Owens the right to file a grievance and be heard by an abitrator).

"Terrell was never told, 'You're suspended,' " Owens publicist Kim Etheredge said last night.

Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was in New York to tape "Late Show with David Letterman." Rosenhaus did not return calls from the Daily News, but he told the Associated Press: "Basically, the coach [Andy Reid] told him he should take a rest and get some rehab and [Reid] would get back to him in a few days."

It's all very murky and confusing. We know this for sure: Owens and Reid exchanged sharp words after the morning practice. The immediate cause was Owens' refusal to go to the Lehigh autograph tent with the rest of the wideouts Sunday and yesterday. But sources close to the situation said the confrontation had been building since Owens reported to camp 9 days earlier. There were several conflicts, including an interaction with offensive coordinator Brad Childress Tuesday night in which Childress greeted Owens and was told, "Don't speak to me unless I speak to you," sources said.

After yesterday's argument - which did not occur in a meeting, several sources close to the situation said, contrary to early reports - Owens was "sent home," according to the team's sparse statement. He spent the late afternoon and early evening frolicking on his Moorestown, N.J., lawn, eventually preening shirtless in front of a horde of TV, radio and newspaper reporters.

"Terrell Owens has been sent home from training camp due to undisclosed team issues," the statement said. "He is expected to return to the team on Wednesday, Aug. 17."

Neither Reid nor team president Joe Banner could be reached for comment.

Owens was more expansive.

"I'm not going to get into the altercation, because if the truth needs to be told, then that's what I'll do. If he wants to be a man about it and have me go on the air and really tell people what happened, then I can," Owens told Comcast SportsNet's Neil Hartman, outside Owens' house. "But it was a difference of opinion. I think the report is now that I was blowing my fans off. That's not the case. The fans of Philly have been great. In training camp, they've been great. When I'm out there on the field, I'm tending to my business. They're telling me to go out there and perform and practice and that's what I've been doing. Just because I don't talk to everybody, you know, that's up to me."

Officially, the Owens and Eagles camps expect that T.O. will be back at practice a week from yesterday, when the team convenes at the NovaCare Center for the first time this training camp, following Monday's preseason opener at Pittsburgh. The Eagles said so in their statement, and Etheredge said last night: "Yes, they asked him to return on Wednesday, and he will."

And certainly, in the wake of Todd Pinkston's season-ending Achilles' injury, it is getting harder for the Eagles to credibly contend they will be Super Bowl contenders with or without Owens.

But unofficially, it sure seems something has to change in the dynamic of this relationship for it to continue. Reid has been proud of his team's ability to not be affected by huge distractions in recent years, but this has the potential to go way beyond anything his team has faced.

After the Comcast interview, Owens was asked in a group interview if the relationship was becoming too bitter for him to continue with the team.

"No comment," he said.

One Eagles player said last night that defensive players mostly didn't know anything about the problem when the team gathered for dinner last night. Then their cell phones started going off, with friends around the league wanting to know what had happened. The defenders sought out some teammates on offense, who filled them in, though no one had many details.

The player said he wasn't at all surprised that someone who spoke back to Reid would be sent home for a week.

"Nobody second-guesses or says anything [back] to coach Reid," the player said.

Owens' view apparently is that as long as he practices and plays hard, he'll decide how he interacts with Reid, Childress, or teammates he doesn't like or trust.

"It was just a difference of opinion," Owens said in the Comcast interview. "I was defending myself."

Owens also said in that Comcast interview: "I think some people are kind of ticked off because I haven't really said too much, but they don't pay me to go in there and talk to everybody and be friendly to everybody. They pay me to play and they pay me to perform. So that's what I've been going in there and doing. When I haven't been outside signing autographs, it's because I've been on the inside rehabbing my groin, and that's what happened today. Not to go into further detail about the altercation, but that's the extent of it."

Both Owens and Etheredge insisted yesterday that Owens' return from a broken fibula to play in the Super Bowl was sparked by his regard for his fans, that he meant no disrespect by not signing autographs at Lehigh.

There were reports that yesterday's flashpoint actually was the workout Owens held on a Lehigh field with assistant athletic trainer Chris Peduzzi, as Owens sat out practice with a groin strain for the fifth time in 6 days. Owens ran and pivoted and seemed very close to being healthy. He even made a joke within earshot of reporters, murmuring, "lousy quarterback" when a sideline pass from Peduzzi - a former Virginia Tech linebacker - was overthrown.

Speculation around the team held that Reid wasn't pleased to see Owens looking spry in a solo workout when he couldn't practice with the team, but a source close to the situation said the workout was not an issue.

"I've had fun at camp," Owens told Comcast. "I may not look like it at times, but like I said, it's all business with me. When I'm on the field, I perform, I practice hard, and that's what they ask of me... and that's what I've done.''