Owens declines HoF Ceremony Invitation

[NFLExpert49]

1 hour ago, LaserFocus said:

It's classless beyond words, because the HOF isn't just about receiving notification about being elected. Owens could have easily celebrated at both Canton and at another location later. As far as this idea he's upset about not being a first ballot, who cares? That would be extremely petty, the HOF doesn't have special sections for first ballot inductees. Any person knows his troublemaker history was going to be an issue, the wait wasn't very long at all. Owens has succeeded in making his HOF induction an afterthought, out of sight out of mind. And since this is all about TO, we won't be seeing him at future ceremonies.

Selfish act, and I hope the HOF keeps the gold jacket. This will also affect past, current, and future potential HOF players with a troubled past. No good excuse not to attend the ceremony and be grateful for the honor. Owens hasn't been successful in his post-playing career, and this is another misstep.  

It has nothing to do with not being in first ballot. It's about the fact that the same people who lied about him for more than a decade were publicly using their lies as justification for not voting for him. 

He never actually did any of the things he got bashed for. We can go down a list if you want. 

Also, the HOF is a purely individual award where the credentials are 100% based on on field performance. It's not something to be proud of humanity-wise...it's just an acknowledgement that you were great at a sport. That's why O.J. Simpson is in there. 

This isn't the Nobel Prize. 

[EaglesPeteC]

This is the HOF equivalent of doing shirtless situps in his driveway

[NFLExpert49]

16 minutes ago, FourThreeMafia said:

 Locker rooms destroyed... 

TO -  2

Harrison -  0

Nope. Media-created narrative nonsense stemming from his vilification after going to the star in 2000. Owens's former teammates speaking on his behalf to Matt Maiocco is the only reason he was inducted into the HOF this year in the first place. The voters were never going to change their minds before that.

Also...

First team AP All-Pro selections: Owens 5, Harrison 3

Product of Peyton Manning, who could make a monkey into a 1,000 yard receiver: Harrison 1, Owens 0.

Attempted murders: Harrison 1, Owens 0.

Attempted choke outs of teenagers asking for his autograph: Harrison 1, Owens 0. 

[Calvert28]

ATTENTION Eagles fans, to show our appreciation for your fan base. We the Cowboys Nation wish to let you change the cover of Madden 18 to put TO in a Eagles jersey. I mean it's only fitting, yall won the Super Bowl and all. Yall deserve it. So have at it.

[JAF-N72EX]

16 minutes ago, Malik said:

TO and Cris Carter don't belong in the same sentence man. 

All you people are being mad disingenuous. What other player in the hall that is near universally considered the 3rd best at his position ever snubbed for the hall of fame for consecutive years. 

Don't even bother.

TO deciding not to show up is a non-issue, but everything has to evolve into some sort of controversy nowadays. People feed off of it and look for it in any way that they possibly can.  

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Schefter had a good point. This is basically a new team he's joining for the rest of his life. It's a golden opportunity to join a new fraternity, and build relationships that can lead to business associations or other positive avenues. Owens is going to do what he wants to do obviously, but it seems like this is a mistake. Especially after all the chirping he did about why he should have been inducted. 

[lancerman]

54 minutes ago, JustAnotherFan said:

So I assume that you, personally, know his motives behind electing to not be there?

Presumably what everyone said it was. He was a distraction who made it all about him and was a team cancer that actively hurt multiple teams. 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Oh my goodness. The story Irvin tells at the end here is worth watching the entire video for. 

 

[JAF-N72EX]

20 minutes ago, PapaShogun said:

Schefter had a good point. This is basically a new team he's joining for the rest of his life. It's a golden opportunity to join a new fraternity, and build relationships that can lead to business associations or other positive avenues. Owens is going to do what he wants to do obviously, but it seems like this is a mistake. Especially after all the chirping he did about why he should have been inducted. 

Shefter being Shefter - vastly over-stating a point in order to try an look good.

The whole "new team" aspect.....please. The venues, businesses, appearances and everything else he mentioned can still be done with or without TO showing up.

7 minutes ago, lancerman said:

1 hour ago, JustAnotherFan said:

So I assume that you, personally, know his motives behind electing to not be there?

Presumably 

Ok then.

[43M]

37 minutes ago, NFLExpert49 said:

Nope. Media-created narrative nonsense stemming from his vilification after going to the star in 2000. Owens's former teammates speaking on his behalf to Matt Maiocco is the only reason he was inducted into the HOF this year in the first place. The voters were never going to change their minds before that.

Also...

First team AP All-Pro selections: Owens 5, Harrison 3

Product of Peyton Manning, who could make a monkey into a 1,000 yard receiver: Harrison 1, Owens 0.

Attempted murders: Harrison 1, Owens 0.

Attempted choke outs of teenagers asking for his autograph: Harrison 1, Owens 0. 

Keep telling yourself that, Mr "Expert".     There are alot of facts that you conveniently ignore....but you do you.

And I never claimed Harrison was some kind of saint...but he never destroyed a locker room like TO did....regardless of how much you try to ignore reality.   Acting like it was just media created nonsense shows how clueless you really are Mr "Expert". 

[Ragnarok]

I view this about the same way I view a Joe Thomas or Baker Mayfield not attending the draft when they know they'll be a top 5 pick.

It's his day, let him celebrate how he wants.  

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Just now, JustAnotherFan said:

Shefter being Shefter - vastly over-stating a point in order to try an look good.

The whole "new team" aspect.....please. The venues, businesses, appearances and everything else he mentioned can still be done with or without TO showing up.

Ok then.

You're not meeting your new teammates or sharing a common bond with them that you never had before. You're closing doors to potential new relationships. 

I don't think what Adam Schefter said was an overstatement. It's just the plain truth. 

[TecmoSuperJoe]

7 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

I view this about the same way I view a Joe Thomas or Baker Mayfield not attending the draft when they know they'll be a top 5 pick.

It's his day, let him celebrate how he wants.  

I don't think it's the same at all though. They knew they were going to get drafted. They didn't campaign to be accepted. Owens getting in Canton could have been delayed for who knows how long. And Owens really did want to be enshrined in the HOF. 

I guess they're just going to mail his gold jacket to him now? Honestly wondering how that will work. Also, it will be interesting to see how much Owens' profile is glossed over at the HOF. Even for people that have since passed, their family and friends show up for them. I don't think anyone is going to show up for Owens since he's alive and well, but won't be attending. Maybe they just play an NFL Films video for him, and then move on. Awkward. 

Owens can celebrate his own way obviously, but it's just odd that after all the campaigning he did for wanting to get into the HOF, even making his own fake HOF gold jacket with all his stats on it...he won't show up to get the real jacket now. Hopefully it doesn't come out later that it's money related. 

[lancerman]

37 minutes ago, Malik said:

TO and Cris Carter don't belong in the same sentence man. 

All you people are being mad disingenuous. What other player in the hall that is near universally considered the 3rd best at his position ever snubbed for the hall of fame for consecutive years. 

When Cris Carter retired where would you have ranked him? 

-He's currently 6th all time in reception. Jerry Rice was the only receiver ahead of him when he retired.

-He's currently 13th all time in receiving yards. Players ahead of him that were after he retired include.... Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Steve Smith, Tony Gonzalez, Isaac Bruce, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Terrell Owens. In his era when he retired he was 4 of all time behind Rice, Lofton and Brown

-He's 4th all time in TD's. Moss and TO got there after he retired. Jerry Rice was the only player ahead of him when retired. 

So let's keep count Cris Carter waited and he retired 2 of all time in receptions and TD's behind Rice (the GOAT) and 4th in yards. He also has 2 of the top 10 reception seasons (TO has none) and is tied for a top 5 TD season (TO is behind him there as well). And once again, he was higher in all of those at the time of his retirement. 

So..... no that's bs. When Cris Carter retired, he statistically had an argument for 2nd best of all time. 

But that's not even the primary point. EVERYONE whose followed the HOF knows that because of statistical inflation there was a massive backlog of WR's and the position has struggled getting on early ballots. There were so many debates between old timers and new guys with better stats because it was impossible to compare them. 

You know how many players at the WR position in the last 20  years got in first ballot? Rice and Moss.... they both are better than TO. In fact, lets do one better. Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, Steve Largent, Paul Warfield, and Ray Berry were the only 5 WR's inducted into the HOF on the first ballot since 1970. 

Poor TO. I don't need to hear how it's disingenuous. Learn the history of it before you spout that nonsense.

 

[NFLExpert49]

2 minutes ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Keep telling yourself that, Mr "Expert".     There are alot of facts that you conveniently ignore....but you do you.

And I never claimed Harrison was some kind of saint...but he never destroyed a locker room like TO did....regardless of how much you try to ignore reality.   Acting like it was just media created nonsense shows how clueless you really are Mr "Expert". 

Apparently you think you know better than Owens's actual teammates how he was in the locker room. 

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/owens-unlikely-hall-fame-supporter-steps

https://owensdefense.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/what-a-horrible-teammate111/

 

By the way, the whole "he divided/destroyed the locker room" narrative began in 2005 only after the Eagles had suspended him because the reporters couldn't find any players to tell them they didn't like Owens. So since they couldn't say, "Owens's teammates are glad he's gone/they hate him," they changed it to, "this locker room is divided!" Divided = not one player would say anything other than, "I mean, he's a cool guy. I wish they could work things out" or, "whether he's here or not, I just want to move on. I play with whoever is here, and he's not here right now."

This was purely McNabb taking offense over an out-of-context clip from the Graham Bensinger interview (the clip they showed was actually him addressing a follow up question after he had said the Eagles' record would be better if Donovan McNabb were healthy. They edited that part out to make it look like he was saying "Favre > McNabb").