Terrell Owens - Drew Rosenhaus Circus in Philadelphia

Update: Arbitrator denies Owens' appeal to suspension

The continuing saga of Terrell Owens continued this week with the Philadelphia Eagles suspending the controversial receiver and vowing not to play him for the rest of the season. This suspension is just the latest incident in the player's seemingly never ending public criticism of the Eagles, the team's management, Coach Andy Reid, and lately, quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Background
The first thing you need to know to understand the fervor regarding Owens is that he is a great player. He is one of the top-tier players in the NFL. He is not just talented, he is someone who can carry a team to the Super Bowl, which he did last year. For all his talent, his ego is always one step ahead of him. This ego led him to fire his longtime agent, David Joseph, in the off-season. He immediately hired hatchet-man and fellow megalomaniac, Drew Rosenhaus to get the Eagles to re-negotiate his contract, the $49 million deal he just signed in March 2004, for even more money. If you have seen the movie Jerry Maguire, you know what kind of agent Rosenhaus is; he was the model for the character Bob Sugar, the uber-ambitious, slimy sports agent. Jennifer at StinkyKitty analysis seems fairly accurate: "If ever there was a guy that got so indignant and said shit that no one ever believed, it's that guy."

Owens has been a handful for years. His truculent public comments and behavior have been a problem for years but they have moved into a new, clearly self-destructive phase since moving to Philadelphia. He has repeatedly criticized quarterback Donovan McNabb in the off-season, most notably when he suggested that the Eagles loss in the Super Bowl was McNabb's fault. His criticism of the Eagles management, criticism of hometown hero quarterback Donovan McNabb, pleas for a new contract and his threats to sit out the pre-season until he is offered a new contract eliminated the last holdouts in the pro-Owens fans in Philadelphia. He has been infamous ever since.

The Last Straw
Things seemed to be settling down in Philadelphia in the last few weeks. The Eagles have been playing well and the off-the-field animosity between Owens and the rest of the team seemed to take a back seat to actually playing football. That is until last week. Owens made some very critical comments in an interview with ESPN.com. In the interview, he said that the team showed a "lack of class" when they did not celebrate the achievement of his 100th career touchdown catch and, shockingly, also said the Eagles would be better off with quarterback Brett Favre instead of Donovan McNabb.

It is important to remember that football is a team sport. Like basketball and hockey, football requires an entire team of exceptional, hard working players to succeed. The team atmosphere is very important in these sports. Consider the talent of the '03-'04 Los Angeles Lakers: Shaq, Kobe, and Malone; all the talent in the world and still they didn't win because the corrosive nature of the Shaq-Kobe relationship soured the entire team.

Additionally, Owens positionas a wide receiver is one that is totally dependent upon the quarterback. He cannot make amazing catches without McNabb getting him the ball. The one player on the team you would think TO would not want to criticize, the quarterback, has been his most consistent target.

After TO's comments in the ESPN.com interview, the Eagles management demanded an apology of Owens. The team demanded Owens apologize to the organization, McNabb and the rest of the team in person in a meeting on Friday. When he failed to do so, choosing instead to read a half-hearted statement to the press, the club suspended him for Sunday's game. The team then announced on Monday that they had decided to suspend him for 3 more games and planned to deactivate him for the rest of the season. Coach Andy Reid said the decision resulted from "a large number of situations that accumulated over a long period of time, during which Terrell had been warned repeatedly about the consequences of his actions." The 4-game suspension will cost Owens at least $800,000 in salary. 

Rosenhaus - Owens Circus Ensues
Faced with the Eagles decision to bench him for the rest of the season, Owens made a direct, and seemingly heartfelt, apology to McNabb, Coach Andy Reid, Eagles fans, the Eagles president and team owner. By all accounts, if Owens had made this statement to the team of Friday, he would not be in the position he is in right now. He would have played Sunday against Washington; instead, his season is over and his future very unsure.
[Video: Owens apology on Tuesday - 4Mb]

The goodwill garnered by Owens in his apology was destroyed when the Drew show began. Agent Drew Rosenhaus took over when he used the pretense of answering some reporter's questions, more than half of which he ignored, to grandstand for the media. Brushing aside reporter's questions that put Owens or Rosenhaus in a bad light, Rosenhaus tried to spin the complete failure of Owens' too little, too late apology into 'Owens, the victim' and 'Owens, the misunderstood'. When reporter's asked Rosenhaus a question that put his actions or that of Owens in a bad light, or a question that even he couldn't spin, he brushed it aside with an arrogant "Next Question." Here are some of the reporter's questions he didn't answer:

"Drew, had that statement [Owens apology on Tuesday] been read on Saturday, do you think he would have been suspended?
[Rosenhaus:] (ignores the question...)

"Did you make a mistake by having him [Owens] renegotiate his contract mid-term?"
[Rosenhaus:] "Next Question!"

"Is it pretty damning when the quarterback of a team [McNabb] says we'd be better off without him [Owens]?"
[Rosenhaus:] "Next Question!"

"Drew, why didn't he read the full apology like he was supposed to [before the whole team on Friday]? Your client would not be in this mess had he done that."
[Rosenhaus:] "Next Question!"

[Reporter David Henry]"What have you done for him [Owens] other than getting him kicked off the team?"
[Rosenhaus:] "Next Question!"

[Video: Rosenhaus' comments & spin - Large,  13Mb]
Rosenhaus' efforts might have been the final nail in the coffin for Owens as he seemingly made any reconciliation between the Eagles management and his client impossible. How could this smart and experienced agent not see how his comments would play on TV? How could he not see that his bombastic comments would garner derision instead of sympathy? How could he not see that it would be his ridiculous comments that would be the reporter's soundbites instead of TO's apology? His hypocrisy was fully consummated in his flustered comment about the focus of the press conference: "It's not about me!" Yeah, right.

Given the situation Owens is in now, and the long-term damage this Eagles fiasco will have on his future career, Drew Rosenhaus has not been worth the trouble. He hasn't gotten Owens a new contract, Owens may lose 1.8 million of his signing bonus as a result of his suspension, in destroying his goodwill with the fans in Philadelphia he has lost untold millions in local and national endorsements, and he cannot even get the Eagles to take TO back. Not bad for 6 months work. Once known for tough contract re-negotiations and his 'Show me the money' attitude, Rosenhaus' career may never again be as successful as it once was.
[ video: PTI-should T.O. fire Rosenhaus? ]

Analysis
I wonder what will be the fallout from the whole surreal self-destruction. Clearly, Terrell Owens will have plenty of time to think about what has happened and how did things get so screwed-up so fast. Brentt from ParadigmBlog wonders the same thing:

I have to wonder if TO realizes what the hell has happened. He's always been eccentric bordering on destructive.  But think about where he's come in 9 months.  He was a fucking hero, a stud, a superstar at the end of last season.  He came back from a broken leg to record time to help the team he carried to the Super Bowl win.  Now, he's the epitome of pariah.  An outcast loved by none, hated by all.  He's not going to get the long-term contract he wanted.  He's been permanently labeled a malignancy so no team is going to want to take him on.  He's totally fucked.

The fake media also found it hard to keep away from the Terrell Owens mess. Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report made 'T.O.' the word of the day. T.O. stands for 'Totally Obnoxious' not Terrell Owens; I couldn't agree more. [Video: The Colbert Report]

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser from Pardon The Interruption on ESPN have been discussing the TO drama for months. This latest T.O. chapter has showed that these two are great sports journalists and commentators. Michael Wilbon argued that the only way that TO would be welcomed back to the team is if Donovan McNabb, Owens consistent target of public criticism, initiated a process to restore him to the team. This seems unlikely to happen though as McNabb has been reported as saying that the team would be better without Owens.
[video: PTI - Should the Eagles Take TO Back?]

Wilbon summed up the entire circus pretty well:

"This guy [Owens] has had multiple chances all weekend long to apologize before today and he didn't do it. He's never been a team player. He doesn't know what team player means. There no way, shape or form he understands that. He's a fraud. He apologized this time because someone called his bluff. He's been dancing back and forth in the playground saying 'You can't hit me, you can't hit me.' Well, they did hit him, they clipped him and now he wants back in. That's what this is about."

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Technorati Tags: Terrell Owens, Eagles, Drew Rosenhaus, next question, ESPN, PTI, Pardon The Interruption, Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, Colbert Report, video.

Comments

[Ezelle]

You really need to know the whole story and how the NFL works. The Eagles paid Owens 600,000.00 base salary 2.3 million signing bounus then about 6 million in other bonuses for helping them reach the Super Bowl. Now this year the signing bonus goes away and he basically playing to perform to get his other bonuses. They refused to renegotiate his contract. You see the Eagles will use you up then trade you. The lump of Terells Contract comes in "06". It wasn't about more money it was about restructing.

http://poochcoast.blogspot.com/2005/05/dont-hate-congratulate.html

[Commando Dave]

Good stuff man!

I've got the sound of the press conference broken down...all the way down @ http://johnclaytondammit.net/news.html

[EaglesFan]

http://www.firedrewrosenhaus.com

[Brian]

Great post.

In an interview yesterday, Eagles DB Sheldon Brown acknowledged how badly Rosenhaus bungled the front-lawn press conference, and only half-jokingly advised T.O. to switch agents. If Brown realizes how poorly Rosenhaus came off during the Q&A, don't you think some other players around the league are thinking the same thing? Rosenhaus looks very bad right now, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that his clients may think twice the next time he suggests a holdout or renegotiation. Because I'm a vindictive person, I'm rejoicing in all of the negative press that Rosenhaus has brought on himself.