By ALL football metrics
Terrell Owen is a 1st Ballot HALL OF FAMER (full stop).
Sports and by extension
football is one of the last remaining meritocracies. Terrell Owens is a top 3 wide
receiver of all time, and the fact that he had to wait 3 years to get into the
Hall of Fame is asinine, and can only be reasoned as a heavy handed attempt to
teach some dumb life lesson. Which begs the question...is that how voters
should use this “privilege” and, if so, how do they pick and choose when to use
it?
No human let alone football
player is flawless. The halls of “Football Heaven” are littered with imperfect
humans that ran afoul of law and human decency. It's funny because to my
recollection TO has never crossed either boundary. His worst transgression is
being brutally honest. So in essence his transparency is/was seen as a football
flaw. The hypocrisy of it all is these same voters (sport writers) who
overlooked TO in his first 2 years of eligibility were all too happy to run to his
locker after a game for a quote to support their own careers.
The arguments against TO is
that he never won anything, was a malcontent, threw his QB's under the
proverbial bus (bad teammate), and was a ME first player (bad person).
The argument for TO is he's
football famous/infamous and was a helluva player.
“I love me some me”
“They hate to love me”
“Get your popcorn ready”
Basking in the Star
The Pom-poms
Sit-ups in the Driveway
The Sharpie
Look…Terrell Owens was
inevitably going into the Hall of Fame...my argument is that his career should
have been crowned with the honor of 1st ballot status, setting him
apart in the pantheon of NFL greats. Recent history suggest he's 1st
ballot material. Since 2015 the Hall has tapped 7 players as NFL royalty...
Junior Seau
(Never won anything, Not top
3 at his position). Often accused of freelancing on the field and not doing
what coaches instructed him to do.
LaDanian Tomlinson
(Never won anything, Not top
3 at his position). Sat out AFC championship game with knee injury (didn't need
surgery to fix) when his teammate Philip Rivers played that same game with a
torn ACL
Randy Moss
(Never won anything) Has
confessed to taking off plays.
You can't tell me Terrell Owens
is not in the class of these 7 players. In fact I could reasonably argue he
would be 2nd on this list behind Ray Lewis. His contemporary Randy
Moss has somehow made people forget about his worst football transgressions. He
slipped in the 1998 draft due to character issues. He's been arrested. He
basically said he plays when he wants to. He slept walked through the Oakland
years, and as a football player he wasn't a fan of going over the middle. Think
about it...how many of his highlights are between the hashes. In 2010 the NFL
voted Moss the 65th greatest players of all time…at the time he had
99 fewer receptions, and 800 fewer yards than Terrell Owens who was not on the
list.
The Hall of Fame should be
ashamed of itself. Recently they've made the excuse that there was a backlog of
WR's but they never say that about other positions...and so great players like
Michael Irvin, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Marvin Harrison, Tory Holt, have to
wait. This makes no sense. WR's play the most dependent position in football, they
also have to share opportunities with TE's and RB's. There are 5 pass catchers
on every play. For a WR's to distinguish himself and dominate is rare, and
should be rewarded. The backlog argument doesn't hold water in the case of
Terrell Owen because the HOF didn't even enshrine a WR in 2017. In 2016 they
chose Marvin Harrison over TO (questionable), but why couldn't they have gone
in at the same time, and move Kevin Greene to 2017. What was the rush for Kevin
Greene?
The other empty argument is
that the NFL has become a passing league and WR's numbers are inflated, but if
that is the case wouldn't that adjust QB's HOF benchmarks. Recently Warren
Moon, Favre, and Kurt Warner have had stress-free candidacies. And I bet you
dimes to donuts, Big Ben, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Drew
Brees, and Tom Brady are going to have NO BACKLOG 5 years after they retire.
Terrell Owens was voted to
the HOF in 2018...in his 3rd year of eligibility. He chose not to attend
the ceremony in Canton this weekend. He will celebrate with his friends and
family at his alma mater in Chattanooga TN. His critics are roasting him for
his decision. They can't believe he'd make this decision during the biggest day
of his career. Funny...the top draft pick in 2018 decided to not attend the NFL
draft on the biggest day of his career and the media hasn't displayed any
outrage. Joe Thomas did the same thing in 2007 and no one said boo shit.
Hall of Fame voters have
made this thing person, and it should be about football only. They chose to put
Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens in the same class when they could have easily put
TO in 2016 or 2017. They did this because they wanted to make TO share the
spotlight with his chief rival thinking he is the lesser of the two (questionable/debatable).
But the most egregious thing
the HOF did, and in my opinion the reason why TO told them to kick rocks is
they had the temerity, the audacity, the unmitigated gaul, to put another
TERRELL in the hall before him. There is no way Terrell Davis is a HOFer. No
disrespect. The fact that they put Davis in in 2017, and had room for No Wide
Receiver was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I don't blame TO. It's the
ultimate disrespect.
There are some bad people in
the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You have to be a little off to play such a
violent sport. We can't expect these people to be perfect. Terrell Owen was a
great football player. He dominated at the highest level, he went over the
middle, he played hard. The Hall of Fame voters should put the greatest weight
on football, and not personality. They are playing god/parent when they
shouldn't. Because of personal animus TO was not given his football crown, and
the financial benefits that come with it. I implore the writers to just do their
job, and leave parenting and teaching lessons to other that are better
qualified.
