Quick Hits on Terrell Owens: Popcorn, Press Conferences, and Public Feuds

00:00:28 Speaker 1: Quarterbacks are the undisputed stars of football. They make the most money out of all positions, generally act as the de facto representatives for their teams and media appearances, and win the most prestigious awards. For instance, the NFL's Most Valuable Player Award has gone to a quarterback twelve consecutive years, and of the fifty four undisputed offensive MVP winners ever, fifty were quarterbacks and four were running backs. Well, quarterbacks are clearly valuable. It's a bit shocking to realize not a single wide receiver has ever won an MVP, not Jerry Rice, not Randy Moss, and not Calvin Johnson. Despite this lack of positional success in terms of awards, wide receivers have constantly held the mantle as the position group with the most popular, polarizing, and oftentimes controversial figures. Put it this way, quarterbacks are like the leading actors in a film, the Tom Cruises and the Denzel Washington's, and wide receivers there the character actors who dominate scenes and when you think about the movie later are the first to come to mind, like JK. Simmons as j Jonah Jamison and Spider Man he's not Spider Man, but when he's on screen, it kind of feels like he's the main character. Or perhaps an even better example, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in the Silence of the Lambs. His character is only on screen for sixteen minutes, yet you can't help but see him every time you think about the movie. And while most receivers tend to fall into the loud and proud category like Terrell Owens, some are more reserved, like Larry Fitzgerald and Calvin Johnson. For those two, I view them like Robin Williams performance and Goodwill Hunting, subtle yet equally as captivating as other more boisterous supporting roles. So my main point is just that wide receivers are quite unique in the world of sports, even compared to other sports. It's hard to think of a position group so uniquely filled with so many interesting characters. And on today's quick Hits episode of Sports Dot MP three, I'll be diving into a few unforgettable soundbites and controversies surrounding one of the NFL's most electric, larger than life pass catchers, Ever, Terrell Owens. So without forther or a do let's get into it. If you know who Terrell Owens aka T is, you probably have a strong opinion about him, and I'm guessing it's not that you love him. Playing in the NFL from nineteen ninety six to twenty ten, to amassed fifteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty four receiving yards, the third most of all time, and one hundred and fifty three touchdown catches, also the third most ever. And yet, almost unbelievably, his personality might be more memorable than his playing stats. He was, without a doubt, one of the most attentions seeking and attention grabbing players of all time. His press conferences were like many ESSNL skits, and his touchdown celebrations were nothing short of cinema props. He had them, outrageous dances, he did them, iconic soundbites, He said them, a lot of them. A crucial part of what makes to so unique, especially compared to some of his peers, is his combination of skill and personality. An average or even slightly above average receiver might score five touchdowns in a regular season, meaning there are a handful of opportunities to break out an absolutely wild touchdown celebration every year. When you factor in that an average NFL receiver's career last it's about two point eight one seasons, and round that to three, you could say that a decent receiver might have fifteen touchdown celebrations in their entire career. Too had ten times as many touchdowns as that. So his celebrations were not only must watch TV, but frequent must watch TV. And that's the one of a kind combination that made Terrell Owens Terrell Owens. It's basically impossible to pick a single one of Too's numerous sound bites and say that that one is the most memorable, so instead I'll focus on the one that best captures who he was an entertainer. Even his most staunch haters would have a hard time arguing that he wasn't an entertaining player to watch on the field or off it. He was, by all accounts, a player you did not want to miss, regardless of if it was a playoff game or a preseason press conference. In two thousand and six, after he was released by the Philadelphia Eagles following some controversial comments he made about the team's starting quarterback Donovan McNabb, Owens signed a three year deal with the Dallas Cowboys. Before the season started, he was asked by a reporter what the season would hold, and his short response would become the stuff of legends. All he said was get your popcorn ready, and it really stuck. Here's the quote, in his own words, gets your popcorn ready to went on to score an NFL leading thirteen touchdowns that season, living up to his promise. Yet the following season in two thousand and seven would be even more entertaining. With the five and oh Cowboys facing the five and oh Patriots in Week six, the ever talkative Owens took a different approach with reporters. When they went to find him at his locker room before the game, he wasn't there. Instead, he left a tight written, poster sized note at his locker room that said the following quote, Dear reporters, due to the magnitude of this week's game and high volume of questions for the original eighty one about the other eighty one, I will be taking all questions immediately following Sunday's game. Sincerely, Terrell Owens PS. Get your popcorn ready. End quote. Owens, who wore number eighty one, was referring to Patriots receiver Randy Moss, who also wore number eighty one. TiO would end the game with six catches for sixty six yards and a touchdown while slightly outplaying Randy Moss, but the Patriots won forty eight to twenty seven, so it was not a great team showing. A few months later, in Week thirteen, with the Cowboys facing the Green Bay Packers, Owens would pay homage to his iconic popcorn SoundBite with one of the most memorable NFL touchdown celebrations of all time. After scoring a ten yard touchdown, Owens ran up to a Cowboys fan in the stands, grabbed a box of popcorn that the fan was holding, and poured it into his face mask. Now, props were nothing new for his celebrations, as he had already pulled a pen out of his shoes and signed the ball he scored with during a game, and had also grabbed the pomp pomps from a cheerleader and started dancing as another celebration. But this one was perfect. It was funny, memorable, and played right into everything he'd been saying that season about getting your popcorn ready, Get your popcorn ready. If anything, it was just the magnum opus of his celebrations, and it was so memorable that the NFL ranked it as the second best end zone celebration ever, despite the fact he would get fined if he did it in today's league. In terms of on field ability, Owens is in truly rarefied company, sitting next to Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, and Larry Fitzgerald in all time receiving statistics. Yet his box office persona did come at a cost. For all the entertainment and on field excitement he provided, he also left behind chaos and split locker rooms in his wake. To's playing career follows a fairly standard pattern. He'd join a team and press everyone with spectacular performances, drop increasingly audacious celebrations and quotes while dominating opposing teams, and then slowly but surely, he'd stir up some drama about his own quarterback or teammates, implode, and eventually leave the team in dramatic fashion. Remember how I mentioned too left the Eagles and signed with the Cowboys in two thousand and six. Well, the circums his behind his departure were less than typical. His first season on the Eagles was in two thousand and four, and considering he scored fourteen touchdowns in fourteen games, it would be pretty shocking to find out that a team led a player of that caliber leave the team the following season, let alone leave the team to join a fierce rival. So what happened well, In short, Too had issues with Donovan McNabb, the Eagles star quarterback, and he made sure everyone knew it. Towards the end of the two thousand and four season, Too sprained his ankle and fractured his fibula. The injuries required surgery and the team's trainer to cleared him out for the remainder of the season. However, after the Eagles advanced to the Super Bowl, Too went against the advice of his doctors and suited up to play against the juggernaut New England Patriots. When the game was finished, the Eagles had lost, but it certainly wasn't To's fault, as he finished the game with nine receptions and one hundred and twenty two receiving yards. In the following months after the Super Bowl, information came out from a few Eagles players that Donovan McNabb was apparently extremely ill during the game, so sick he could barely call it plays in the huddle during the fourth quarter. As for too, he made a number of media and interview appearances that called out and blamed McNabb for the loss. Claymane the QB was simply too tired. In one interview with ESPN, Owens said quote, I played every snap they allowed me to play. I wasn't even running until like two weeks before the game, but I made sure I was in the best shape possible. I wasn't the guy who got tired in the Super Bowl end quote. McNabb, in typical quarterback fashion, opted to take the high road with his at the time teammate, who was, by the way, threatening to sit out of the team's training camp in order to negotiate a significantly higher contract. When McNabb was asked if he would have a problem playing with Owens if the receiver did return to the Eagles, he said, quote, when I'm on the field, it doesn't matter who I'm throwing to. If I'm throwing it to you, you can catch it. If you catch the ball, you get first downs. And that's what I'm happy about. What bothers me is when you get out, lash out and say whatever end quote. The offseason media circus surrounding the contract negotiations and Too's comments about McNabb reached a fever pitch after he and Eagles coach Andy Reid reportedly got into a heated argument during training camp, leading Reid to send Too home for a few days. In response, Too held public workouts in front of his mansion during those off days. He was interviewed by Sports Center's Rhys Davis around the time, and a few of his answers are pretty illuminating. THEO why did you work out in your driveway yesterday? 00:13:00 Speaker 2: Hey, you know, I just figured. You know, they gave me the week off to Wednesday, so you know, it's just a way of me to just stay in shape. And plus, you know, I had a lot of fans out there. You know, I just want to keep keep them entertained. 00:13:14 Speaker 1: So how do the problems that you're having now with your teammates and management in Philadelphia compared to some of the problems you had with teammates and management in San Francisco. 00:13:24 Speaker 2: First of all, let's get it clear, I don't have a problem with teammates. It may be a couple of guys that I have a problem but don't try to categorize it as the whole team have problems with me. You know, if you ask the right guys, you know you're gonna you're gonna get the true answer for about who I am as a person and who I am as a teammate. But if you ask your particular guys who I knew you? You know you guys are gonna ask, then that's when you're gonna get the answers of you know, I'm a distraction. You know we don't need this. 00:13:53 Speaker 1: And they even asked Jerry Rice, who many consider the greatest ever player of all time in all the football, not just among receivers but among all players, and who was actually teammates with Owens for a few years on the forty nine ers, what his thoughts were on the situation, and he pretty bluntly called out too, it's out of control. U. 00:14:17 Speaker 2: T O is a great, great football player. But I don't feel like you. You bigger than the team and U. 00:14:25 Speaker 1: So I think it should be addressed and it should be dealt with. Here's what to said in response. 00:14:32 Speaker 2: It doesn't bother me because I've been in the locker room where he's going on, where he's going off on Marty Morning, Wig who's now with the Eagles. And you know there are situations where people, you know, said that he was bigger than a team. So you know, it doesn't it doesn't bother me. I still have the utmost respect for Jerry. 00:14:50 Speaker 1: Owens did return to the Eagles that offseason without any more controversy, and the first half of the season went extremely well, with Owens sitting second among all NFL receivers in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns through Week seven. After a loss to the Cowboys on October ninth, things started to unravel, and they unraveled pretty quickly. Immediately after the loss, Owens was spotted wearing an old jersey of former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin on the Eagles team plane, and less than a month later, Owens then got into a fistfight with team ambassador Hugh Douglass after Hugh reportedly said some players on the team were faking injuries, which was a not so subtle shot at Owens. The very next day, a student journalist interviewed Owens, and the star receiver made a series of jabs at McNab and the Eagles, including agreeing with a statement that the Eagles would be undefeated if their quarterback was Brett Farv instead of McNabb. Shortly after the interview aired, Owens was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. He was given the option of reading an apology to McNabb and the team in a press release, and did, but he purposefully didn't read the part of the statement that apologized specifically to McNabb, leading the Eagles to suspend him for the remainder of the season. And let me just stress, this is the Eagles suspending their best wide receiver in the middle of the season for the comments he was making. Think about that happening today pretty nuts. Owens then held a news conference at his house in which he did apologize to the fans, Eagles, and McNabb, but it was, as they say, too little, too late, and he was released on March fourteenth, two thousand and six. Four days later, he signed with the Cowboys. Terrell Owens turned slant routes into spectacles, touchdowns into comedy sketches and press conferences and too must watch entertainment. He had the talent to take over games and did just that dozens of times, regardless of who was throwing him the ball and who was guarding him. He was the NFL's Icarus, constantly flying higher and higher until inevitably he scorched himself by soaring too close to the sun. But instead of falling into the ocean, he turned his teammates against him. He's inarguably one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the sport, yet he never won a Super Bowl. That's the paradox of too. And as for his legacy, well, love him or hate him, one thing will always be true. When he stepped into view, you had to have your popcorn ready, and that, folks, does it. For today's quick Hits episode of Sports Dot m P. Three, I'm your host, Will Gotchell and I'll be back next Thursday with a new episode. Thank you all so much for listening, Have a wonderful weekend, and I'll see you next week. Peace.