Breaking My Own Rule Regarding T.O. -----> This Is A Gas!

[Rome]

Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005

Two words are all that's needed from T.O.

By Bob Ford

INQUIRER SPORTS COLUMNIST


Terrell, here's the good news. This thing can still turn out just fine for you here in Philadelphia. Right now, you're about as popular as a parking ticket, but there is a ladder that can get you out of the deep hole you've dug for yourself.

The bad news is, you ain't going to like it.

When you arrive at training camp tomorrow, or maybe Tuesday after you've had a chance to settle in, there will come the moment - if you're smart - when you agree to share your feelings with the microphones and notepads that will be following you like dogs after a pork chop.

The secret will be two little words. I lost.

As in: "Every athlete knows what it's like to lose a game. We have to adjust and move on. That's what happened to me. I tried to get a better contract and make some more money, but I lost. The Eagles paddled me good and I just have to accept that. No hard feelings. You can't blame me for trying. But now it's time to get ready for the football season, have another great year, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."  Yeah, that'll happen.[/b]   

Look straight in the cameras and throw yourself on the mercy of the court of public opinion. Tell people that you and your agent, Johnny Brain Surgeon, made a huge mistake. Who can blame you? There isn't a soul among us who wouldn't ask for more money if we thought we had a reasonable chance to get it.

Admittedly, you chose a somewhat hammer-headed method of doing so. You and Johnny badly overestimated your worth and popularity and underestimated the resolve of the Eagles to continue doing business exactly as they intend. You insulted the intelligence of the locals, who might not know much, but they can count to $9 million, which is the size of the signing bonus you banked just last year. They can count to $3.5 million, which is the pittance you will have to scrape by on this season. They'll never get there themselves, never even close, but they can count that high.

Coming forward and saying you were outsmarted won't be easy - but look around. You are in training camp. You have the same contract you did before. The Eagles won.

You know what that means?

You lost.

Oh, sure. There are other options open to you that don't include the two magic words. You can become a royal pain in the hip pads. Let's see. You could suffer a quick ankle "injury" and refuse to practice until it felt fully healed to you. That could be, oh, the fifth week of the season, or the 10th, or maybe the playoffs.

You could make little sniping comments to the media about the organization, the coaching staff and your teammates. Hey, why not? You weren't the one who got tired during the Super Bowl. In fact, it took a couple of months after the big game for your act to get tired.

You could practice but only half-heartedly, all elephant legs and alligator arms. Every time the ball didn't come your way, you could put your hands on your hips, stare at the ground, and walk slowly back to the huddle. Or you could keep alive the Freddie Mitchell tradition of doing jumping jacks to draw attention once you got open. That was always good for a laugh.

None of those options are particularly recommended, however. As painful as it might be, this is the time for humility and perhaps even an apology.

As in: "I'd like to tell the fans of the Philadelphia Eagles that I'm sorry my contract demand gave a sour taste to what should have been an off-season in which the trip to the Super Bowl was remembered fondly and the coming season was viewed with eager anticipation. Please judge me by what happens from here on out. I pledge to make you proud I'm still an Eagle."

Now is that so hard? If you said it and lived up to it, people would forgive, although not forget entirely. Catch that first touchdown pass of the season, get the team moving in the right direction, and you can be the toast of the town instead of being burned at the stake.

This is your moment. This is your chance. Mess this one up and there might not be another, and the list of NFL general managers willing to accept your selfish, 32-in-December, coming-off-injury, high-maintenance, locker-room-nightmare hide will shrink ever smaller.     Holy crap.  Tell us how you really feel, Bob.[/b]

Just repeat after me: I lost. I lost. I lost.

Sometimes the truth hurts.

Dizzzzzzzzzam!  Alright, Bob!   

[QB Eagles]

Honestly, who cares about this bullshtein? TO doesn't care what advice Bob Ford has for him. This whole episode is nothing but filling up space on the sports page and air waves with meaningless opinions of writers, loudmouth radio hosts, and fans. Opinions that change absolutely nothing, other than making the person expressing them feel like a big shot. The byline says Ford is a sports columnist. Maybe he should be writing opinions about sports (that is, about the actual play of spectator games), not giving lectures on manners.

This isn't a defense of TO, who's been a douchebag through this whole thing. It's just frustration about a whole summer in the media that has been spent milking a situation in which jack squat has changed. Nothing "new" about any of this "news".

Bring on the farging football already. I'd rather watch the damn Phillies than read anymore of this Philly sports media circle jerk stuff.

Also, "Johnny Brain Surgeon"?

[General_Failure]

Zzzz...