Not only has Philadelphia Eagles' wide receiver,
Terrell Owens, become one of the most egotistically and selfish athletes of our time, but also the unfortunate creation of our society.
The precise words that Owens is uttering could have been read in any place of employment from the busboy at the Olive Garden to the heavily pierced, tattoed kid at the record store.
"Talk to me like a man!"
"You don't know me!"
"I'm not paid to talk to you!".
These are just some of the common phrases that were barked from Owens' lips, but the division is so stark down racial lines that it begs to question, has society so broken down to where the behavior of unskilled labor has seeped to supposedly highly-skilled worker or is it the other way?
Owens' protestations have white people denouncing his actions under the pretense that his position is akin to an underling at any job in America. Would you talk to your boss like Owens did? Would you tell him to shut up? Invariably, most would conclude such behavior would illicit walking papers before the day was over.
Of course, most realize that being a professional athlete contains a whole different set of rules and exorbitant amounts of money, nonetheless, the hierarchy of the workplace is still prevalent.
The divide is further created when the national media has portrayed the Eagles' handling of Owens, in a human resources sense, as compiling a cache of Owens' on-the-job indiscretion, big and small, as evidence that they are trying to get rid of him for any cause.
Minorities, namely blacks, will tell you that they see this happen all of the time. The boss begins watching the employees every move. Whether they're late one minute, wore the incorrect shoes or say just one crass word; termination is quick.
In terms of America today, this is what has become so prevalent, nothing is real and division is utilized so well to control people against their wishes. The White House does this effectively by focusing on gays, abortion, and a clinically dead woman in Florida, to name a few, as the most pressing issues of our day. While these stories illicit wars between liberals vs conservatives and secular folks vs. churchgoers; the deficit skyrockets, gas is $2.75 and a billion dollars a day is spent on a war fought under deliberately false pretenses when noboby is paying attention.
The persona of Terrell Owens has twice been created, once by himself and now by his agent,
Drew Rosenhaus.
The first incarnation of Owens was created to build a brand name attached to his phenomenal receiving skills. Almost a generation ago, Michael Jordan did the same to go from the greatest basketball player of all time to one of most recognizable faces on earth.
The Owens that playfully punched the padding of field goal post after a touchdown, artfully signed a football in the endzone with a well-placed Sharpie and taunted America's Team by celebrating on their beloved star logo, were premeditated antics developed to get his face on SportsCenter and the columns of every newspaper and blog.
The new Owens began with the addition of Rosenhaus, the youthful-looking agent with the smarmy smile of a crooked used car dealer.
Owens' previous agent sought to enrich his marketability in the Jordan sense by appealing to as many people as possible. Owens' escapades were harmless is hindsight and always had an element of comedy attached.
This method obviously did not bear fruit and when his agent flubbed sending forms for free agency to the NFL on time, it gave Owens the opportunity to bolt.
Rosenhaus, conversely, has positioned Owens to become this generations athletic martyr; a self-centered and spineless version of the honorable Muhammad Ali. Owens and Rosenhaus are attempting, like the Bush administration, to divide the court of public opinion, in this case, by using race.
It started with the inflammatory opening of Monday Night Football last year that featured Owens and a flirtatious, scantilly-clad
Nicolette Sheridan that was too upsetting to many American's narrow-minded view of interracial relationships.
In the last week, Owens and Rosenhaus appeared live on ESPN numerous times. Each time reiterating their demands and each time adding a new wrinkle to further divide Americans along race and socio-economic lines. In one case, even lying.
In addition to Owens' manipulation of workplace lingo, many have latched on to the lie perpetrated by Owens and Rosenhaus that the Eagles asked him to sign a medical waiver before last year's Super Bowl.
Given that Owens performed so well in the Super Bowl while still rehabbing his injury, this false claim furthered showed that the Eagles were ungrateful of his contribution and planned to push him to the wayside if he reinjured himself.
The positive side to all of this virtual reality is that some of the creations of other sports have begin to be chipped away. The pharmaceutical creations of Major League Baseball have just begun to be unveiled as athletes of very questionable integrity and verifiable cheats. They could be well on their way to ruining the hallowed traditions of the game.
Players like Terrell Owens have become bigger than the game of football. The poison of their ways has already made the leap from the gridiron to everyday life. Whether is consumes our society or not will not be known until well after the Eagles decide to renegotiate T.O.'s contract or not.
