Owens declines HoF Ceremony Invitation

[LaserFocus]

15 hours ago, MSURacerDT55 said:

 I'm not a TO fan but for him to average 71 catches for 1,062 and 10tds for a 15 year career, that screams as professional as possible. He was paid to produce and he did that at the highest level. Who cares what your definition of a "professional" is, he did what he was compensated to do, there are plenty of "professionals" who couldn't even make the final 53 man roster after camp. People can say whatever they want to say about him but there is no questioning him or his effort on the field which is the most important, this is the same guy who had 9 catches for 122 in the Super Bowl on a broke leg, that's called going above and beyond the call of duty. He wasn't paid to be friends and be a nice guy, he was paid to be a beast on the field, which is what he was.

Owens wasn't paid to be an idiot, yell at his QB on the sidelines, pull a high school stunt on another team's logo, or drain the energy of most of the teams he played for over the years. His needless distractions weren't helpful, and it's unfortunate we didn't see more of the guy who played injured in the SB. It's not all about stats people, that's why we have a selection process. Having to wait three years isn't a long wait with a player of his baggage. 

Make no mistake, Owens will be booed heartily at the HOF ceremony, and like all his other antics, it was self-induced. A self-aware 44 year old with a troubled past and bleak future, would understand the HOF ceremony would be a golden opportunity to improve his own personal brand. Owens has no skills, and has added to the inequality problem with his role as an absentee father. As things stand right now, this story isn't going to have an happy ending.

And for anybody saying screw the NFL, keep in mind numerous players like Warrick Dunn. The NFL helped provide Dunn with a great standard of living, and Dunn has been giving back to the community for years.

[Small Town Values]

15 hours ago, lancerman said:

No he actually doesn’t they all retired higher than he did in the hierarchy 

Nobody post Jerry is finishing their career leading in any of the major receiving stats. Top 5 is about as good as you can hope for. Hell, a lot of HOF worthy receivers won't touch the stats left by T.O. & Moss.

 

[jcvoodoo]

Again, being a professional is not ENTIRELY about stats. I agree that stats play a major role in contract negotiations, the draft, HoF balloting, etc. YES, T.O. was very good at producing on the field. But, it takes more to be a true "professional." Enough said...

[lancerman]

5 hours ago, Marc MacGyver said:

Nobody post Jerry is finishing their career leading in any of the major receiving stats. Top 5 is about as good as you can hope for. Hell, a lot of HOF worthy receivers won't touch the stats left by T.O. & Moss.

 

And only one guy post Jerry is in first ballot and he’s largely viewed as number 2

[MSURacerDT55]

9 hours ago, LaserFocus said:

Owens wasn't paid to be an idiot, yell at his QB on the sidelines, pull a high school stunt on another team's logo, or drain the energy of most of the teams he played for over the years. His needless distractions weren't helpful, and it's unfortunate we didn't see more of the guy who played injured in the SB. It's not all about stats people, that's why we have a selection process. Having to wait three years isn't a long wait with a player of his baggage. 

Make no mistake, Owens will be booed heartily at the HOF ceremony, and like all his other antics, it was self-induced. A self-aware 44 year old with a troubled past and bleak future, would understand the HOF ceremony would be a golden opportunity to improve his own personal brand. Owens has no skills, and has added to the inequality problem with his role as an absentee father. As things stand right now, this story isn't going to have an happy ending.

And for anybody saying screw the NFL, keep in mind numerous players like Warrick Dunn. The NFL helped provide Dunn with a great standard of living, and Dunn has been giving back to the community for years.

Who cares, he did his job ON THE FIELD to the highest level, he's not going to live his life according to what you think or how you think he should live, he did it his way. You can try to add all the sauce you want to his off the field antics, it still will not negate the fact that he is/was a great ON THE FIELD. I chose not to get all up in arms about what he did because I'm smart enough to know that the league has bad guys, i'm not going all of the sudden get upset or offended when a bad guy does bad things. Basically what I'm saying is that I can differentiate what he did ON THE FIELD from what he did off the field (which I don't care about) because this is entertainment.

[NFLExpert49]

10 hours ago, LaserFocus said:

Owens wasn't paid to be an idiot, yell at his QB on the sidelines, pull a high school stunt on another team's logo, or drain the energy of most of the teams he played for over the years. His needless distractions weren't helpful, and it's unfortunate we didn't see more of the guy who played injured in the SB. It's not all about stats people, that's why we have a selection process. Having to wait three years isn't a long wait with a player of his baggage. 

Make no mistake, Owens will be booed heartily at the HOF ceremony, and like all his other antics, it was self-induced. A self-aware 44 year old with a troubled past and bleak future, would understand the HOF ceremony would be a golden opportunity to improve his own personal brand. Owens has no skills, and has added to the inequality problem with his role as an absentee father. As things stand right now, this story isn't going to have an happy ending.

And for anybody saying screw the NFL, keep in mind numerous players like Warrick Dunn. The NFL helped provide Dunn with a great standard of living, and Dunn has been giving back to the community for years.

Owens never yelled at his QB on the sidelines. Not even once (unless you count him trying to encourage McNabb during the Steelers game in 2004).

Also, "drain the energy of most of the teams he played for over the years?" Owens's teammates fed off the energy he provided. Why don't you actually listen to what his actual former teammates said instead of just making stuff up? 

[DontTazeMeBro]

Love it. Tell those sanctimonious HOF voters to go screw themselves

[Soko]

We should change it to the “Hall of Professionalism”, I guess...

[lancerman]

1 hour ago, Yin-Yang said:

We should change it to the “Hall of Professionalism”, I guess...

People BS about the Hall all the time. "It's not he Hall of Stats it's the Hall of Fame", "but he has incredible stats", "if you can't tell the story of the NFL without them they are in". It's just stupid. 

And honestly, TO got in, so everyone should just get over it. Everyone's mad at the voters in yet they put him in

[Soko]

45 minutes ago, lancerman said:

People BS about the Hall all the time. "It's not he Hall of Stats it's the Hall of Fame", "but he has incredible stats", "if you can't tell the story of the NFL without them they are in". It's just stupid. 

Subjective, true. But at least stats - to some degree - tell a story about what the player produced on the field. “Professionalism” does not. There are tons of guys who are mature and carry out their job in a professional manner that are JAGs in the league. That aren’t any guys in the top tier of all time stats that weren’t elite players (or at least, insanely consistent high end players for a long time). 

If you had to pick one, it makes a lot more sense to enshrine players based on statistics than it does professionalism. 

45 minutes ago, lancerman said:

And honestly, TO got in, so everyone should just get over it. Everyone's mad at the voters in yet they put him in

TO’s been polarizing for his entire career, so no surprise he is now. He should’ve been a first ballot based on his actual play (which really should be the most important factor here, whether you believe he was cancerous or not). He felt disrespected and instead of taking it to the chin, he does a typical TO move and says he won’t even show up. It’s a story, and the voting process has been jacked for quite a while - no surprise people are mad about it.

[showtime]

3 hours ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

Love it. Tell those sanctimonious HOF voters to go screw themselves

You think the Hall of Fame voters care about Terrell Owens?  I don't think so.  The people that he's 'screwing' is his family, friends, coaches, teammates, fans and everyone else who helped him along the way and/or supported him.

[DontTazeMeBro]

16 minutes ago, showtime said:

You think the Hall of Fame voters care about Terrell Owens?  I don't think so.  The people that he's 'screwing' is his family, friends, coaches, teammates, fans and everyone else who helped him along the way and/or supported him.

The voters are “journalists”. Journalists are the most self important people in the world. They think everyone is obligated to get in front of them and answer their questions anytime they want and they get extremely butt hurt if you refuse 

[lancerman]

2 hours ago, Yin-Yang said:

Subjective, true. But at least stats - to some degree - tell a story about what the player produced on the field. “Professionalism” does not. There are tons of guys who are mature and carry out their job in a professional manner that are JAGs in the league. That aren’t any guys in the top tier of all time stats that weren’t elite players (or at least, insanely consistent high end players for a long time). 

If you had to pick one, it makes a lot more sense to enshrine players based on statistics than it does professionalism. 

TO’s been polarizing for his entire career, so no surprise he is now. He should’ve been a first ballot based on his actual play (which really should be the most important factor here, whether you believe he was cancerous or not). He felt disrespected and instead of taking it to the chin, he does a typical TO move and says he won’t even show up. It’s a story, and the voting process has been jacked for quite a while - no surprise people are mad about it.

Again I will maintain that based off his play and the high standards for what a HOF WR getting in first ballot is, he did not belong in the same class. Again Berry could have called himself the GOAT when he retired. Warfield was the best of the first decade of the Super Bowl era. Largent could have called himself the GOAT. Rice put all stats out of contention for at least a couple of generations. Moss is largely seen as the best of his era and the best ever athlete at the position. 

Id honestly put TO a step below them. 

[lancerman]

2 hours ago, DontTazeMeBro said:

The voters are “journalists”. Journalists are the most self important people in the world. They think everyone is obligated to get in front of them and answer their questions anytime they want and they get extremely butt hurt if you refuse 

.... that’s their job..... when you refuse you are literally impeding in their job. 

[CKSteeler]

Ray Lewis killed a guy. Randy Moss stole from Oakland. Michael Irvine stabbed a teammate in the neck, among many other things. But Owens and Owens alone is attacked based on a supposed lack of professionalism...