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Even the local press really tries to mark T.O. a problem...


SKOOBY

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When has he not been in stellar shape?? He is always ready to go and play hard so what is the problem?

 

"I've never gone to a voluntary workout... I have a personal trainer... I take pride in coming into camp in shape... If I'm in the area, I tend to stop by the facilities and work out with the guys. You know, I'm looking forward to that type of stuff."

 

http://www.wgrz.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=65290

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its amazing how everyone makes it out to be so horrible he chooses not to attend team activities that are voluntary. Voluntary, as in if you choose to attend fine, if not fine...

 

I am sure if your boss told you showing up to work for the next 3 months is voluntary and you will still get paid if you choose not to, the chances of you showing up are slim and none. Would all your peers then yell at you because you chose not to show up when you didn't have to? Mine would probably be cursing me out and trying to find out how they could apply for my job...

 

The media has so little to actually talk about, they have to make a huge deal out of something that is less than nothing...

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its amazing how everyone makes it out to be so horrible he chooses not to attend team activities that are voluntary. Voluntary, as in if you choose to attend fine, if not fine...

 

I am sure if your boss told you showing up to work for the next 3 months is voluntary and you will still get paid if you choose not to, the chances of you showing up are slim and none. Would all your peers then yell at you because you chose not to show up when you didn't have to? Mine would probably be cursing me out and trying to find out how they could apply for my job...

 

The media has so little to actually talk about, they have to make a huge deal out of something that is less than nothing...

 

 

That is precisely it when it comes to Terrell Owens. Everything he says, or does, is over analyzed and blown out of proportion.

Some of the stuff he is criticized for, by the media, is legit, but most is not. This is how he becomes a distraction everywhere he goes. He kind of embraces the controversy, because he loves the attention.

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its amazing how everyone makes it out to be so horrible he chooses not to attend team activities that are voluntary. Voluntary, as in if you choose to attend fine, if not fine...

 

I am sure if your boss told you showing up to work for the next 3 months is voluntary and you will still get paid if you choose not to, the chances of you showing up are slim and none. Would all your peers then yell at you because you chose not to show up when you didn't have to? Mine would probably be cursing me out and trying to find out how they could apply for my job...

 

The media has so little to actually talk about, they have to make a huge deal out of something that is less than nothing...

Some guys have NO self discipline, they will show up to training camp FAT & OUT of SHAPE (see Mike Williams) without the structure of "voluntary" workouts. TO is not one of those guys.

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its amazing how everyone makes it out to be so horrible he chooses not to attend team activities that are voluntary. Voluntary, as in if you choose to attend fine, if not fine...

 

I am sure if your boss told you showing up to work for the next 3 months is voluntary and you will still get paid if you choose not to, the chances of you showing up are slim and none. Would all your peers then yell at you because you chose not to show up when you didn't have to? Mine would probably be cursing me out and trying to find out how they could apply for my job...

 

The media has so little to actually talk about, they have to make a huge deal out of something that is less than nothing...

Again: I hate all generalizations. Guessing Bob DiCesare does, too:

Football work in March is truly a stretch

 

What’s today? The 24th of March. Four months from the start of training camp. Five-and-a-half months to the season opener. What other sport encourages its players to commit themselves virtually year-round to the mind-numbing rigors of preparation while promising in return a scant 16 games spaced over fourth months?

 

The NHL’s offseason can be a blink (although, it seems, not so here this year). The NBA’s offseason, too. But those small windows of downtime are preferential to voluntary workouts conducted in March, soon to be followed by the voluntary (wink-wink) Organized Team Activities, which give way to the drudgery of training camp as the precursor to a preseason where veterans play sparingly and avoiding key injuries is paramount.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick, the new backup quarterback, noted that he left steamy and sunny Arizona for cold and sunny Buffalo to participate in the team’s stretch and lift. Such is the sense of obligation for those who play a position requiring intense study. Apparently not even a Harvard education affords shortcuts in that regard.

 

But if you’re T. O.? Here’s hoping he was running the beaches in Aruba, honing his cardiovascular stamina amid scenery that trumps, and by more than a little, the pictures of Buffalo Bills greats that adorn the field house walls. Or perhaps he was pumping iron with friends in warmer climates, or trying to master the expert fingering on Guitar Hero.

 

No matter what kept him away it’s only right to acknowledge that when you’ve been in the league forever and put up numbers that astound, when history suggests you’ll report in exemplary condition, you are most definitely entitled to self-supervision 5 1/2 months before the first meaningful kickoff.

 

The immense attention this signing has wrought astounds. By early Monday afternoon the scroll was running across ESPN, informing all the world that T. O. had skipped this first optional session, never mind that so too did some 30 of his teammates.

 

Someone asked Hangartner, tongue in cheek of course, how it felt that T. O.’s signing had overshadowed his own. The center followed the lead, responding, “I’m pretty angry about it, really.”

 

And then Hangartner returned to the workout area, more reps forthcoming, the start of the season still almost a half year away and not-so-fast approaching.

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... If I'm in the area, I tend to stop by the facilities and work out with the guys. You know, I'm looking forward to that type of stuff."

 

I got a laugh out of this one.

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When has he not been in stellar shape?? He is always ready to go and play hard so what is the problem?

 

"I've never gone to a voluntary workout... I have a personal trainer... I take pride in coming into camp in shape... If I'm in the area, I tend to stop by the facilities and work out with the guys. You know, I'm looking forward to that type of stuff."

 

http://www.wgrz.com/sports/story.aspx?storyid=65290

Why in the hell would he be in the Buffalo area if not to practice? The nightlife? It isn't the fact that he wont be in shape, because he will. It is in that it is his first year with a new offense, new teammates, new coaches, new fans, new city, new facilities, etc. For someone who complains that he gets an unfair shake as far as being a good teammate, and he always complains about that, you would think he would try to dispell that, and showing up would be the best way to do that.

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The media has so little to actually talk about, they have to make a huge deal out of something that is less than nothing...

with all due respect, let me dip my toes into this one, and provide some humble perspective for what it's worth.

based on a very unscientific survey, the media isn't the only one with "so little to talk about."

you passionate folks on this board have certainly covered the terrell owens subject from just about every angle as well.

by my count, there have been 12 pages worth of owens postings on this board since march 7, the day he signed with buffalo: from "the wit of owens," to "i'm not sure if i'm psyched or pissed," to "i hope TO loses his mind," to "TO jerseys!" and that's from a very brief perusal.

and there's no way of telling how many times owens has actually been mentioned on this board because the search function here is limited to only the first 1000 results, which go back only to 2004 ( just what kinda show you runnin' here, lori? :unsure: ). i think it would be safe to assume that there were at least a few more -- hundred, thousand, hundred-thousand? -- mentions dating further back.

 

i'd also hazard a guess that not all the posts pre-buffalo were glowing tributes to owens, or questioned whether the media was blowing things out of proportion because there was nothing left to talk about. there is a car-wreck quality to celebrities such as this, and rubber-necking from afar is part of the amusement.

and, in case anyone didn't read the rules, the goal posts don't change when owens winds up in your backyard.

no shocker either that, according to the statistics here, the most members to be on this board at the same time ever just happened to take place at around 6:52 p.m. on march 7. ... hmm, what happened then? bills win a super bowl? make the playoffs? fire jauron? ... nuh, uh.

 

t.o. is, as someone recently and aptly put it to me, is "a walking twitter.com." (thanks, kelly, i'd like your permission to use that on the wire at some point this year.)

his attention-grabbing aura transcends sports, and in this 24-hour info-tainment, tmz-driven celebreality media business of ours, that makes him a very heavy player (personal trainer, aside). think johnson-flutie made national headlines back in the day? that's cat stuck in a tree stuff, compared to the mountain-moving potential t.o. could generate by simply tying his shoe.

 

i was in albany a few days after his signing, when someone outside the sports business asked me what the big deal was all about, after i had noted that my life for the next 10 months was going to be far busier ... i might have said `living hell,' but i might be paraphrasing.

i responded by saying, 'imagine brittany spears moving in next door.'

 

t.o. sells, because he has the rare mix of a sparkplug personality and, as the kids put it these days, mad skills (or was that last week's term?).

and it ain't going to slow down, folks.

all of this news has been so far generated during the offseason. good god, wait until june, or the first day of training camp, or the first game ... or even the last one.

 

it doesn't make it right. but it also doesn't mean the media's the only one fueling this runaway train.

 

as i wrote the day after his signing, buffalo has never had an athlete such as this. t.o. might well be the first player i've covered in this town to have not only one publicist, but an actual team of publicists. and, for good and ill (to steal a line from the late Doctor Hunter S. Thompson), he becomes the city's third franchise, meaning us folks in the media trenches have to devote nearly as much time covering owens as we do the sabres and bills.

simply tracking every rumor can be a 24-hour exercise.

 

i'm not complaining. this is part of the job description, and if i can't look forward to the season ahead, then i might as well get out now.

doesn't make the task any less daunting, fair, unfair or futile.

but to say that the media is making something out of nothing, well, i think there's a lot of that going around and not strictly limited to us in the business.

 

we are what we eat, so welcome to a brave new world.

 

jw

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Wow -- good stuff, John. As a mutual friend keeps telling me, "News is what people are talking about," and I can't count the number of times I've been asked about Owens in the last three weeks. And this is in a small town in northern Pennsylvania.

 

I was at the Bonnies game when I got the text about the presser the day he signed, and when I got home, the "most users ever" stat was the first thing I looked at. (For the record, the previous high of 1,450 was from the day Donahoe left/was pushed out the door.) Just imagine what that number would have been if the news hadn't hit on a Saturday afternoon.

 

Before the Owens era began, I was actually thinking about trying to get credentials for a day or two at SJF -- nothing special, maybe snag a couple of interviews with the rookies while staying out of the beat guys' way. Now? Fat chance. The place is going to be a zoo, with all the "national" guys parachuting in. Oh yeah, and the VH1 camera crew ...

:unsure:

 

 

(Note: yes, unfortunately, the archives do only go back to 2004, and a hard drive crash wiped out the entire 2007 season. And while I do help run the place, SDS is the head honcho here ...)

 

Add: And I think Joe Mesi copyrighted "third franchise," didn't he? :huh:

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Of course they talk about him. Not only has he brought it upon himself, but he is also the biggest talent to be signed by this team since Bledsoe. Owens is such a polarizing figure that people are going to read about him regardless of the story.

I do feel however that he could use as much time as possible working with the other wide outs and Edwards. While he may be in excellent physical shape, timing is a whole other issue.

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And what we eat all comes outh the same in the end.

 

Don't agree with the 'have to', BTW...

During his chat this morning, I asked Mark Gaughan whether T.O.'s presence would force changes in The News' Bills coverage. His reply: "I think we will have to change a bit, in the sense we have to react every time he sneezes."

 

People are going to talk about him no matter how much ink or airtime he gets. Heaven forbid something happens when the beat guys aren't on the clock, because if they actually miss one of those sneezes, they'd never hear the end of it.

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