Head coach Bill Parcells was at his off-season home in Jupiter, Florida when the Dallas Cowboys signed wide receiver Terrell Owens March 18. My guess is he will want to send the Cowboys new $25 million investment to Jupiter, outer space, halfway through the season as Owens starts his annual complaining when the team is not winning.
There has never been a bigger crybaby in professional sports than Owens. It is impossible to please this guy. Even if his team is winning, like the Philadelphia Eagles did in 2004, he will find something to complain about. He does not get enough balls thrown his way, the play calling does not fit him or the quarterback is not good enough.
It will be very interesting to see how a no-nonsense coach like Parcells will deal with the enigma that Owens is. His ability to destroy something promising for his personal agenda is mind-boggling. Teaming up Parcells and Owens is like having Bobby Knight coach Latrell Sprewell. Somebody is going to get choked.
In the beginning of his career, Owens played with Steve Young for the San Francisco 49ers and then he played with Donovan McNabb for the Eagles. Most of the complaints Owens had while playing for the 49ers was after Young retired and was replaced by Jeff Garcia, who recently signed with the Eagles.
In Dallas, Owens will be catching balls from veteran Drew Bledsoe. Hopefully he stays healthy, or it will be a long season for the Cowboys.
It was widely speculated that Owens would have a tough time finding a good contract like the three-year $25 million contract the Cowboys gave him, which will pay Owens $5 million in bonus and $5 million in salary this season.
That is an investment that can turn out to be as good for the Cowboys as it is for Owens. With Owens, the Cowboys offense gets a boost that can carry them far into the playoffs. There still is plenty of time for them to add another quality quarterback in the draft or free agency to back up Bledsoe if he were to get injured. If Tony Romo will be substituting for Bledsoe, things could get ugly fast.
Owens is one of the top two receivers in football along with Randy Moss of the Oakland Raiders, but only when he keeps his mouth shut. When he starts talking and lets the whole world know how bad he thinks his teammates and coaches are, Owens might as well open up Pandora’s box in the locker room.
Nobody in recent sports history has been able to cause as much bad energy within an organization as Owens has. He essentially divided the Eagles into two camps, one on his side and the other on McNabb’s, and it was all for money.
Owens was not happy with the $49 million contract he signed with the Eagles in 2004, so he began to pout his lip. When they lost the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots that season, his lips started moving and they have not stopped since.
When Owens later fired his agent and hired Drew Rosenhaus, who obviously wanted to renegotiate the contract so that he could get his commission, things got worse. A media war between Owens and McNabb started after Owens repeatedly chastised his teammate for not playing well enough in the Super Bowl. It ultimately led to Owens being suspended and released by the Eagles.
There is a small possibility that Owens has learned from his mistakes and will keep his comments to himself, or at least out of the media. That chance drastically decreases if the Cowboys do not win enough games this year to keep the receiver happy. He will definitely be on his best behavior for the first part of the season, but keep your baby monitors on for the second half because my guess is a certain little cowboy will be crying on the field.
Johan Mengesha can be reached at johan.mengesha.61@csun.edu.
