The Draw Play

Have you ever seen those gifs of cats clawing and whining to be let outside and then once the owner opens the door, they just sit there and don’t go? Terrell Owens’ response to his HoF induction reminds me of that.

T.O. 100% belongs in the football hall of fame. I’m glad he made it. He’s unquestionably one of the greatest football players in history. I really don’t think that can be disputed, even by his haters. T.O. could play some goddamn ball. But man he is such a turd.

There’s a part of me that kind of respects how he apparently will not attend the hall of fame ceremony and will celebrate his own way. I like watching stuffy old shirts get told off, it’s delightfully punk. T.O. has always gone to the beat of his own drum and enjoyed life on his terms, and celebrating somewhere else is very much in the T.O. brand. Not giving these old codgers the satisfaction of grovelling and playing their game. Doing his own thing. I can kind of respect T.O. for that.
At the same time it’s also hard to not see this as another instance of him being kind of a giant baby turd. If being in the Hall of Fame is this important to you, then you should have actually tried to be less of a shit. TO could have have been a better teammate. This nonsense is all politics. The Hall of Fame is ultimately meaningless in the grand scheme of things, getting recognition will always be about appeasing those gatekeepers instead of some objective measurement. T.O. was always hyper scrutinized and many many times unfairly (A lot of his on field antics are hilarious and fun), but a lot of it was scrutiny he brought upon himself, too. He never seemed to make much of an effort to not appear like a selfish turd. When you act like that your whole career can you really be upset that people don’t take it well? It’s also not like this act of defiance is going to mean much. It’s probably going to justify to all the voters and haters about why they kept him out in the first place. No real change will come of this outside his small moment of pride in sticking it to the man.

I understand his desire to not give the old fogies of the HoF satisfaction of submission, but I also wonder if he’s not going to really regret not getting his chance at the podium with his gold jacket. Not many players get that opportunity and he deserved it, will his act of defiance hold the same sense of satisfaction years later, when he could have shared a stage with legends in a final moment and then just partied like a madman the next day? I hope he finds the same level of satisfaction in his own way.

Honestly I think I’m just bitter that I don’t get to see a Terrell Ownes HoF speech. Man that would have been so classic. I was hoping he’d pull a sharpie out of his gold jacket and sign his own bust’s head. Instead he’s just gonna be shirtless at a party somewhere. It will probably have an infinity pool. He’ll probably have a good time. But a chance at a once in a lifetime event will be missed for a fairly bleh act of defiance.