The Sports Rumors

You Might Not Want to Read This if You’re a Dallas Fan

My intentions were to write this piece yesterday, but I obviously didn’t get around to doing so. I wanted to hit on a few topics and throw my valuable two cents out there, starting with this past weekend’s dvisional round of the playoffs.

The Patriots won’t, can’t, be stopped. The Jaguars put everything they had out there and Tom Brady responded by going a nearly perfect 26-28. I’m not going to harp on this too long and I’ll leave it at this; The Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl by double figures.

For all the love Ladanian Tomlinson gets for being a team player and being focused and devoted to the success of the team, he sure didn’t look like he was really interested in what was going on in the third quarter when he was seeing laughing and joking with a buddy on the sideline. I would have much rather seen him hanging around the coaches and watching the game with some interest. His team was losing at that point; it wasn’t like they were up 20.

While I’m on the topic of LT, I wanted to get another thing off my chest. Last year, he whined like a pansy about how the Patriots showed “no class” by dancing on the field after beating the Chargers. He went on to say that it was a reflection of their head coach. Well, LT, your team puts itself out there to be ridiculed and mocked the way they dance and celebrate after every god damned play, including yourself at times. Luis Castillo and Shaun Phillips go out of their way to do ridiculous, and unpleasant to the eye, dances. No one wants to see two fat asses dancing jiggling on the field after stopping a runningback for a one yard gain. And don’t get me started on Philip Rivers and the amount of trash talking he does considering he’s an average, at best, quarterback. If you’re going to go out there and dance and celebrate like idiots after every play, then don’t whine to the media when you get stomped by New England next week and they mock your absurd and unnecessary shows of celebration.

The legend of Brett Favre continues. I can sit here today and admit that I was 100% wrong in the offseason to say that he should have retired. I now have come around to agree that Brett should retire whenever he wants to. He has earned it. The level he has that young team playing at, along with himself, is nothing short of remarkable. I don’t think the game against the Giants next weekend will be close, despite the Giants amazing road record. I have the Packers winning by a landslide, only to go on to lose to the Patriots. But if there is anything I’ve learned this season, it’s that you never know with Brett Favre. I wouldn’t be shocked if he somehow pulled the miraculous upset. I really wouldn’t.

Now to “America’s Team”. For a second straight year, the Dallas Cowboys choked in the playoffs. It would take an entire page to cover all of the subplots associated with this team, so I’ll just hit on the main ones. Tony Romo brought this on himself. Yes, he has the right to do whatever it is that he wants to do in his free time. Yes, he’s a grown man who can choose to spend time with whomever he pleases. But there are times where you have to look at all of the possible outcomes of your actions when you are affecting as many people as he does. You have to realize that fans have invested millions of dollars all season long for tickets, merchandise and other things related to the Cowboys. You have coaches, players, an owner, that have all put years worth of work in to get to this point. Your team is in the best position to get to the Super Bowl. Now, that being said, you know that your team struggled its final month going into the playoffs. You know that there are things that you need to improve on in order to ensure a successful run. A trip to F’ing Mexico can wait! A trip with a celebrity girlfriend who notifies all the tabloid magazines about her whereabouts before she even reaches there, CAN WAIT. Spending time with Joe Simpson and the rest of the strange Simpson family, CAN WAIT. You have an obligation to a team and a city that is paying you millions of dollars to win in the playoffs, not just the regular season. Make a wise decision, especially knowing how last year ended, and spend your free time studying a little harder so that you don’t play as terrible as you did on Sunday in the most important game of your career up to this point. Using your free time to better yourself shows maturity and devotion. Well, Tony Romo dug his own grave and now he can go party the rest of the damn year with whoever he wants. You know what separates the great ones from the fads? Dedication 365 days a year. You can’t convince me that Tony Romo is as dedicated to the Cowboys as he should be in order for them to win a title, even if you cry in a press conference about it.

Which leads me to Terrell Owens. I saw right through that press conference and you should too. I’m not buying this, “that’s my quarterback, that’s my teammate” garbage. If this was Chad Johnson or Reggie Wayne or someone, then yes. But I’m supposed to believe the words of a guy who has publically humiliated every single quarterback that he has played with since becoming a star? I’m supposed to believe the guy who upset Jerry Rice, the best receiver to play the game, because he ran his mouth too much and showed no respect for anyone…not even Rice himself?! Now he’s crying for Tony Romo?! Get the hell out of here. If there is a master of publicity stunts in this world, it’s Terrell Owens. No one even brought up Romo at that point in the press conference. He wasn’t even mentioned! And Owens just goes into this highly emotional state of defending his quarterback?! Please. You should cry about how you had zero second half catches and couldn’t shake single coverage instead of shedding tears and defending your Joe Namath-wannabe quarterback who was partying in Mexico when he should have been partying with his playbook.

One more thing I wanted to throw out about TO that I just remembered. He was talking about “losing as a team” after having a bad game himself. Funny that when he had that hell of a performance in the Super Bowl in which he caught 9 catches for 100 plus yards and lost, he didn’t find that the Eagles lost as a team. He found it necessary to call out McNabb for being tired. You think if he had 10 catches for 145 yards and 2 TD’s against New York and the Cowboys lost, he would still say “we lost as a team” with tears streaming down his face? I think not. I know not.

Romo’s Growing Pains

I have to admit, I am a little surprised at the press the TO-Jessica Simpson “feud” is getting. When Owens first made the comments, I laughed and said, “He just summed up what everyone was thinking,” but little did I know that it would be a topic of discussion on every sports and entertainment radio station. It’s also the leading story on television shows. I flipped from Sportscenter to ESPN News and then scrolled down my guide, only to find that this was a story on the E entertainment channel. In the words of my buddy Colin, “Are you… are you freakin kidding me?!?!”

This story, if you want to call it that, has been debated with a lot more emotion than I would have ever imagined. More people have an opinion on this than they do on Clinton-Obama.

How do you feel about the recent comments made by Senator Clinton about Obama’s lack of experience in the public eye?

I…I don’t know.

How do you feel about Terrell Owens recent comments on Tony Romo’s celebrity girlfriend, Jessica Simpson?

That son of a bitch! Let me tell you… First of all…

I have heard people bashing Romo saying that he brought this on himself by making the decision to bring Simpson to the game. I heard people taking the opportunity to bash TO and talk about how he is ruining yet another team. I’ve heard people defend TO and saying he is a leader on that team and speaking for the players. What made the most sense, however, was a comment about the decision Romo faced. Tony Romo should have known that if he brought Jessica Simpson to the game, he was going to have one of two scenarios play out:

Scenario 1: He plays extremely well and Jessica Simpson is the new good luck charm in the eyes of Dallas fans.

Scenario 2: He plays bad and Jessica Simpson is seen and hated for being bad luck.

Well, scenario 2 has definitely played out the way it would have been anticipated, if not worse. Romo should have known this ahead of time and it was a risk he was willing to take. Now he will suffer the media and fan backlash. I don’t feel bad for him. You want to know why he’s beneath Tom Brady both as a ball player and as a celebrity? Because Tom Brady knows how to handle different facets of his life, despite when people try to make him lean one way or the other. You don’t see Brady’s personal life EVER become a distraction, even when the media tries its very hardest to make it so. The lovechild he had was talked about so much, but never by Brady. Situation diffused. The Victoria’s Secret girlfriend was talked about constantly by the media at first. Never by Brady. Situation diffused. Tony Romo comes off as a good guy but he needs to learn how to handle his new celebrity status and make wiser decisions when he’s in the public eye. He could take a cue from the guy in New England.

(Two separate videos showing Tony Romo coverage…)

Owens to Jessica Simpson: Stay Away

Terrell Owens has gone on the record about how he feels about Jessica Simpson, and he didn’t hold back.

“Right now, Jessica Simpson is not a fan favorite — in this locker room or in Texas Stadium,” Owens said Wednesday.

“With everything that has happened, obviously with the way Tony played and the comparison between her and Carrie Underwood, I think a lot of people feel she has taken his focus away, other than that, she was high on my list until last week.

“Oh, I got a message for her when we make the playoffs. Just stay tuned,” he added. 

Not a Terrell Owens fan myself, but I’m glad he said what was on everyone’s mind.  It’ll be interesting to find out how Romo reacts to these comments, but they are true.  It’s simple…keep people who know nothing about football out of Texas Stadium; or any stadium for that matter.

Terrell Owens… So Annoying

I used to like Terrell Owens.  I really did.  Ask people I know.  I would defend him for no reason; even when I knew he was wrong.  When the McNabb-TO thing went down, I was the guy saying, “Well McNabb wasn’t helping the situation either.  He should stop being such a kiss up to management and stick to being a quarterback.”  When the TO “suicide” thing happened, I was the guy saying “Leave Owens alone… It’s wrong to constantly rip him in the media.  He’s losing his mind.”  But enough is enough.  What is his deal?  What is his problem?  First, he called out Randy Moss for no apparent reason.  Randy Moss doesn’t talk trash about anybody, ever.  Say what you want about him, but the guy doesn’t mouth of about other players for as long as I’ve followed him.  TO went out of his way to call him “The Other 81”.  Well, Terrell, “The Other 81” has 82 catches for 1264 yards and 19 touchdowns to your 74 catches for 1270 yards and 14 touchdowns.  It also should be pointed out that “The Other 81” doesn’t even play the entire game because his team is winning by 45.  So if anything, YOU are the other 81.  But that’s not what ticked me off about Owens. 

Keyshawn Johnson made a point that Bill Parcells should deserve some credit for the Cowboys being 12-1.  After all, it was Parcells who brought in a lot of the players who are on the team now.  It was Parcells who got the Cowboys to their first playoff game in years, nearly pulling off a road upset in the first round had it not been for Tony Romo’s butterfingers.  It was Parcells who had the Cowboys on the right track, whether you liked his style or not.  I didn’t like some of Parcells ways, and I definitely was never a fan of his.  But you can’t argue good coaching when you see it.  The guy was a winner.  What is Wade Phillips signature stamp on this team?  You tell me.  What has Phillips done or who has he brought in of significance that makes you say “Hey, that is Wade’s team.”  He was supposed to be a defensive guy right?  Well, what’s Dallas’ biggest weakness?  The defense.  “But Shaun, look at the Cowboys offense.. look how explosive it is.” Yeah, that’s the work of future NFL head coach Jason Garrett, not Phillips.  Everytime I see Phillips on the sideline, it’s after a touchdown and he looks like the Pillsbury Doughboy getting poked.  When there is a critical offensive play, they show Garrett or Romo; not Phillips.  And name a player that is making an impact on Dallas that was brought in by Phillips.  I dare you.  Can’t think of anyone can you?  My point exactly.  Bill Parcells, love him or hate him, put together this team.  I’m not saying go give the guy a championship ring if the Cowboys win the Super Bowl.  I’m just agreeing with Keyshawn’s very rational statement that Parcells deserves some credit. 

Now Owens took this chance to destroy Keyshawn and ran with it. 

“I challenge him to come down here and take my job. ESPN producers, let him go.”

Asked in the locker room why Johnson would take the position he did Sunday, Owens said: “I’m probably the reason he’s in the booth now. He’s going to be a hater and throw me under the bus because he has to defend Bill. He won a Super Bowl and all, but you’d have to check the roster to know he was even on the team.

“We came out in the same year. He was a first-rounder and I was a third. Go compare our stats. He couldn’t come down here now and be a third or fourth receiver on this team. Just compare our stats.”

“It’s not a matter of me giving or not giving Bill credit,” Owens said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “Everybody wants to make a big deal, that this is the team he built. It doesn’t matter. … My thing is give credit to Wade [Phillips]. The difference between Wade and Parcells is this: Parcells, he didn’t use me as a playmaker; Wade, he got the staff, and that’s what I’m being used as.

“Plain and simple, without trying to be negative or anything. I’m being used as a playmaker, and as I said, the proof is in the pudding.”

And then back to delivering a verbal barrage at Johnson:

“Those guys are probably talking about me, chopping it up, drinking coffee,” Owens said. “They can have their little pity party and talk about me all day long. It doesn’t bother me. There’s a lot of people on the ESPN panel and across the country that has observed what has happened this year versus last year. And there’s a lot of people that just don’t want to give credit for what Wade has done and what wasn’t done last year. That’s it. I’m not trying to be negative.”

Seriously?  Was that all necessary?  And you want to talk about being used as a playmaker?  Dude, you dropped the most balls in the NFL last year!  Maybe if you caught them like you are this year, your stats would’ve been better.  I would love to continue this story folks but I just got word that Roger Clemens is going to be one of those named in the Mitchell Investigation.  That’s of more importance at this point.  As for Terrell Owens, screw you you selfish team wrecking prick.