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Buffalo Bills Wide Receiver Terrell Owens, January 4, 2010. Photo copyright James P. McCoy, Buffalo News, all rights reserved
I don’t talk sports that much here because it’s not the primary focus of the blog (unless I do voice over for a sports team or if it’s about the Olympics because of my logo fascination therein). Also, the sports I really like are golf and hockey (I play the former not the latter albeit very infrequently). As far as the Buffalo Bills are concerned, I am certainly a fair-weather fan.
I also don’t talk that much about Buffalo, NY here because unless you are from the area, you probably don’t care. But today for truly a brief moment, I hope you read this digression.
The picture above this post was taken by the Buffalo News‘ James P. McCoy and shows Buffalo Bills wide-receiver Terrell Owens on January 4, 2010 holding a newspaper picture of him taken on January 3, 2010 during the Bills-Colts football game in which Owens scored a touchdown. I couldn’t find the picture he’s holding on line but it is a tremendous photo of a truly excited football player scoring a touchdown while playing a meaningless game in a blizzard. In the photo Owens is celebrating his 41-yard reception, good for six points in the game which simultaneously moved him into third place on the NFL’s all-time receiving yardage list at 14,951.
At the beginning of this past season, the Buffalo Bills signed the infamous wide receiver Terrell Owens to the team. This was a player who was bigger than life for his on-field performance (very impressive) and his off-field chatter (very unimpressive). It seemed clear to me that the Owens signing was an opportunistic move by the Bills to sell tickets (which is their job) and the area would have to put up with the seemingly bombastic Owens for one year.
The Bills season is now thankfully over. I will not take you down the disastrous path that led to the team’s 6-10 finish (others will, ad nauseam, oy vey!) But I would like to note that Mr. Owens’ public persona was professional, courtesy and patient throughout the entire year here in Buffalo. At a time and place where he could have been easily excused for mouthing off and getting angry via on-field antics or through the media…he did not. He played well (not amazingly well as he has admitted) but he did his job with very little (if any) complaint.
Based on how I had seen him perform elsewhere, I thought when he came to the Bills, Terrell Owens would be a pain in the ass to deal with and to have to listen to via our local media. I pre-judged him harshly in the privacy of my own head. He proved me completely wrong and I would like to first publicly apologize for judging him and then thank him for being a part of our team.
If both sides see fit to stay together in 2010, based on his performance and behavior this season, I – for one – would be glad to have him on our team.
Tags: buffalo, silliness by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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