Owens dials wrong number

By Anthony Bialy  |   Tuesday, March 17, 2009  |  Comments( 66 )

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Terrell Owens could have just worn 18, but then he wouldn’t be acting like Terrell Owens. The newest Buffalo Bill is keeping his old number, 81, even though it means taking those digits off someone else’s jersey. Writing off his swipe of James Hardy’s 81 as a trivial issue doesn’t work: Failing to look for signs of trouble with the thieving player is the equivalent to admitting to not knowing who Owens is.

Flexing his eminent domain powers is the first way Owens has made himself disruptive this stint. He would have appeared selfless if he had just let the currently obscure Hardy stay at 81; of all players, Owens should be most acutely aware of how perception can affect a career. But why would he do that? It’s easier to make the team that took a chance on him change for him. Maybe he can make a fresh start with his fifth team.

When it came to his jersey, Owens clearly pouted until he got his way, creating an issue that’s about more than exterior superficiality. The number grab plays into the hands of people looking for evidence that he sees his new team as his support act. It’s like being on a blind date with someone who’s rude to a restaurant staffer; it reveals something deeper than the incident itself, namely how the other person treats other people. Owens apparently regards Hardy like a busboy in his path who needs a cane whipping.

The wideout has already missed his first chance to show he can alter his own tendencies for his team’s good. Altruistically taking an available number would have symbolized a personal renaissance. He would have demonstrated that he was planning to stop acting like an absurdly flamboyant brat; it would have instead appeared that he was making an attempt to figuratively join the team. But he’s already crushing hopes that he’ll emerge as nothing more than a congenially extroverted teammate; in lieu of that, he’s showing that he plans to stick with what doesn’t work.

Hardy may be saying all the right things about the misappropriation, but that’s a reflection of him, not the distasteful situation; besides, he doesn’t have the clout to whine even if he wants or deserves to. Flipping to 18 would have been a way for Owens to respect the roster he’s joining, not to mention that it would have specifically demonstrated regard for a younger player. But he went the other way and initiated his first bit of commotion. Yeah, it’s just the first.

Why would anyone expect anything different from a player who’s established who he is? He’s taken great pains to push his insufferable image going back to when he slammed that football on Texas Stadium’s center star. Of course he’s going to make himself troublesome, and it’s unsurprising that this time he started before the first offseason workouts.

If insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results, the Bills are the NFL’s lunatics for signing him. Owens making other people adjust to his wants is just the earliest storm cloud in a brewing tempest. When it comes to this particular player, it’s about more than a numeral.
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CommentsComments: 66  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
bILZrok		09:37 AM
03/17/2009
I must have missed the outrage that was felt by the unproven rookie busboy when his jersey number was given up to the proven...
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No.2
moejoe01		09:56 AM
03/17/2009
Busboy Hardy should earn his jersey numerals first. He caught one memorable pass (end zone) last year...other than that ,the...
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No.3
Goose		10:25 AM
03/17/2009
All right enough already with the TO negativity--AB you have made your point that you hate the signing. A lot of us did at 1st...
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