JAG’s Sports Blog

I know many fans are laughing and applauding with satisfaction that Owens got what he deserved and it’s about time that someone stood up and sent a message to T.O. and all the other spoiled athletes that think they’re so special and entitled to do whatever they want without any consequences. The question you have to ask yourself is whether Philadelphia will be a better team this year or any other year in the near future? I think the answer is no and it’s not based on winning in arbitration against T.O., but on how they will deal with the victory for this season.

The Eagles are absolutely finished in this football season and there can’t be any satisfaction in saying we’d rather lose as a team as opposed to putting up with T.O.’s negative behaviors and maybe winning some games. The Eagles could be viewed as petty and vindictive if they choose to deactivate Owens rather than releasing him. If the team keeps choosing to say they want to move on, why bother paying a player to stay at home and away from the football team. Moving on to me means cutting the strings completely, especially when your season is all but finished with your starting quarterback being done for the season physically and/or performance wise.

Many fans hate to believe this, but a lot of players on that Eagles team actually like T.O. and would have accepted him back to play. Players will probably accept more than fans, coaches and other observers might because their goal is to win and no one can question T.O.’s ability as a player. To suspend T.O. is one thing, but to keep him on the team and pay him to stay home comes off as vindictive and only goes to make players on the their team and other teams believe what Owens said about the organization being classless. I didn’t say it’s right or wrong, but perception is everything in almost any profession or relationships. Brian Westbrook finally got his new contract done and Philadelphia may be viewed as cheap and wanting to squash players if their top guys can’t get along with management, get paid for their obvious talents on the field and fear punishment when they disagree.

Management has every right to suspend and deactivate Owens for “conduct detrimental” to the team, but it hasn’t been that long a time that the Eagles were only an average team and looking for big name players to help get them over-the-top. Their window of opportunity is beginning to close as the Buffalo Bills can attest to and that’s a very painful realization in sports. I believe that’s one of the main reasons the Eagles are playing such hardball on T.O. They believe this is a lost season and know they can’t keep him for the future and hope he gets in line with management’s expectations and wishes. The Eagles will cut the last 5 years of this contract, but then again, any contract can be cut whenever a team wants to. Contracts are all about the signing bonus. Owens can determine if he got what he wanted depending on what kind of signing bonus he gets from another team next year. That’s the only guaranteed money players get unless an arbitrator says they have to give it back.

The Eagles are just as much to blame for this and now they want to show how tough they can be and how you’d better stay in line or else. T.O. loves him some me and that was no secret at all when they got him. Signing a stupid contract when you know you’re one of the best players at your position is your problem, but the team should realize the consequences also. Eagles management viewed it as a great deal, while Owens was a ticking bomb waiting to off when he rehabilitated his body to have a great Super Bowl and almost lead them to victory. He was a difference maker, but Donovan McNabb came up a little short that game. A good teammate will lift his quarterback instead of bashing him, but then again, didn’t we already see this scene played out in San Francisco with Jeff Garcia?

Like it or not, Philadelphia has won the wrong victory in this situation. In professional sports, the only victory that counts in the end is on the field, not in the court when your team is eventually a weaker product. Philadelphia won the battle on this issue, but lost the war on missing the playoffs and spending a million dollars just to get even with a player when he can’t do anything else for you to help your team win. They’d rather make sure T.O. can’t help anyone else win the Super Bowl since we know they’re not going to this year. How much would you like to bet whatever team Terrell Owens plays for next year, winds up playing the Eagles in 2006? Will he celebrate or will he explode from keeping it all in after a score? The Philadelphia Eagles and Terrell Owens are the big losers in this dispute, but who will come out on top next year or even the year after that?

Richard Bloch’s decision could affect negotiations in the future also because he decided to go beyond even what the Eagles requested. When an arbitrator takes it upon himself to teach players a lesson, I expect players to go hardcore because they may not know if they’re next when a dispute happens with management. Fans can rejoice now, but the end result may be more holdouts and mediocre talent for your teams if everything is done on general purpose to teach players a lesson and just be satisfied with whatever we do for you.

I shouted out, so why don’t you shout back and tell me what will be the final chapter in this saga? I really think the Eagles and their fans will eventually be the losers even though it looks like they’re getting the last laugh.