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Terrell Owens: Tears of a Clown

By Stephanie Haughton
Black College Wire

When you hear the name Terrell Owens a number of things come to mind - competitor, show boat, controversy. But after the Dallas Cowboys went down to the New York Giants 21-17 in a disappointing playoff loss on Sunday, T.O. can add one more adjective to this list: drama queen.

The Famuan Stephanie Haughton

An overly emotional Owens teared up behind his dark sunglasses during Sunday's press conference after fielding personal questions about teammate quarterback Tony Romo's pre-game activities south of the border.

Before Sunday's game Romo took a much debated trip with celebrity girlfriend Jessica Simpson. The media lambasted the decision for a week leading up to the game. The criticism compounded after the Cowboys blew a fourth quarter lead and lost their sixth playoff game in a row. And in honor of his beloved QB, Owens chose to let out an emotional bellow of support.

"This is not about Tony," Owens said, sniveling. "You guys can point the finger at him. You can talk about the vacation. And if you do that, it's really unfair. It's really unfair. It's my team. It's my quarterback. If you guys do that, man, it's unfair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man."

What a joke - what's next a movie deal?

I must say, there's one person I wouldn't mind being right now and that's T.O.'s publicist.

This was a great public relations move. The 6-foot-3, 218 pound wide receiver who has always been accused of being a selfish player showed a touch of his human side through thoughtful sobbing. But when is it too much?

Cover of Owens' autobiography

To be honest tears are expected following a disappointing loss.

Even the tear ducts of the toughest athletes shed a little water when they lose a big game. But tears are not a viable option when defending a teammate. Perhaps it was Owens' attempt to deflect the growing media attention from his quarterback. If that was the case, it was a valiant effort. But nevertheless, it was still over the top.

It's not far-fetched to label T.O.'s outburst as soft. Locker room emotion has its limits. It's OK to hug a championship trophy. Maybe even slap a teammate on the backside. But crying in another teammate's honor is unacceptable.

Articles in the "Voices" section represent the opinions of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Black College Wire.

Stephanie Haughton is a student at Florida A&M University. This article originally appeared in The Famuan.

Posted Jan. 16, 2008