The Double Standard of Terrell Owens

by Gene

Far be it for me to ever stand up for a professional athlete whom I despise, but today I am forced too. That player is Terrell Owens, and for the better part of two weeks, unless you lived under a rock, it was impossible to ignore him.

Say what you want about Terrell – that he’s got an ego bigger than Barry Bonds’ head, that he points the finger to everyone other than himself, that he thinks he’s bigger than the game – the one thing you can’t say is that he was being selfish for playing in the super bowl.

Only six weeks ago, Owens was by all accounts done for the year, coming off a gruesome injury against the Dallas Cowboys. Shortly after the injury, surgery was performed and screws were placed in his foot. All hopes of seeing Owens on the turf again this season naturally faded away. Or did they?

Two weeks ago, Owens guaranteed that he’d play in the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. But instead of being praised for his toughness and his desire to help his team win a championship, he was ripped from coast-to-coast for being a selfish player determined to wreck his own career for the glory of the headlines.

Why was this the case? Why was T.O. held over the flames for doing something that had any other player tried, these same writers would be praising him. Imagine if Brett Favre, a former pain kill addict and alcoholic, or Ray Lewis – charged in murder - decided to throw caution to the wind and try to play in the biggest football game in the world this year? You don’t think the media wouldn’t have embraced this? If so, you are kidding yourselves.

So why the T.O. backlash? Maybe it’s as simple as a player losing all benefit-of-the-doubt due to his previous actions? Or, maybe it’s something much worse, a racial backlash? One can’t quite help but wonder if the public and media would have been as outraged at a player over a Desperate Housewives promotion and playing injured in the Super Bowl if his name were Brett Favre or Tom Brady. That’s just the simple truth.

But the fact of the matter is, is that what T.O. did yesterday was nothing short of amazing. For him to receive over 125 yards was astounding, especially against that defense, I don’t care how good you are. Running in practice is one thing. Running with the New England Patriot defense chucking you at the line of scrimmage and hitting your legs, that’s something different all together.

And for once, I’m standing up for T.O. and praising his actions. Will his heroic performance be able to change his standing amongst the majority of the American public? Who knows? But one thing’s for certain, the public has proven that it will forgive off-field misbehavior much faster than any harm you or your ego caused on it. T.O. is a shining example of that.