“It’s a slave system. Make no mistake about it. Slavemaster say you can’t do it, don’t do it. They’ll make an example out of you.”
Warren Sapp

Due to the recent events and some of the utter venom that I have seen spouted in reference to this brother, I just need to give my take on him. He is the supreme example of an issue in the NFL, it affects many black players but, I call it the T.O. vs. Favre syndrom. So let me just break down a few issues around this man.

1) San Francisco:

I really don’t care about him standing on the Star in Dallas. People say it’s show boating…my issue with the whole touchdown celebration debate is this: all the things they say about touchdown celebrations are also true of the things people do after they sack a quarter back, except with touchdowns the guy who is a good arm away from being as athletic as the kicker didn’t just get smashed.

I feel really strongly about the yelling at the co-ordinator issue not because I think it’s wrong but, because a few quarterbacks including Rich Gannon have done it…in recent weeks he’s been commentating games and they played a clip of it and laughed about it. I don’t remember it being a big issue. The difference? Gannon was yelling at John Gruden…the HEAD coach. Remember when Keyshawn did it? It was a really big deal.

The Garcia comments? Honestly when I first heard him speak I thought Garcia might be gay. Him bringing a Playboy Playmate associate to practice after the comments didn’t convince me otherwise. All the gay guys I know about are friends with hot women.

2) Baltimore

I would have liked to see T.O. here but, I can’t blame him for not coming…two words: Kyle Boller.

2a)Philadelphia

Following McNabb on the sidelines: Alot of people said he needed to leave him alone, for real in a situation where you’re down it’s really the quarterbacks job to motivate the offense. When someone else has to try and get to the QB that is a good sign you’re about to lose. Plus, I can’t see anyone else trying to talk a teammate back into a game and getting bashed for it. Even though I kinda like McNabb that’s a situation where I have to see he needed to get the hell over it and playball. Anybody trying to talk them up was something to latch onto not walk away from.

I’ve already gone over how I feel about contract situations in the NFL. For those physically unable to check the link, NFL players have the worst contracts…of any person drawing a salary basically and this in a sport where the nature of what you do can end your career easily. I say get what you can when you can. My logic: Javon Walker, Troy Brown and even Tom Brady. $49 Million for 7 years. In a sport where players no longer get to the 7th year before teams want to restructure your contract making you wait further for your back loaded payoff…unless they cut you before it comes.

Something I’ve always been wondering…how the hell does one person hijack a team of 53 grown ass men, an entire coaching staff and the administration of an organization? I can eliminate one jerk from my life so if T.O. was such a problem why couldn’t the Eagles? From what I remember hearing there were Eagles players on his side and McNabb wasn’t really speaking up. If you want to talk about hijacking a team then I submit Favre. Nobody has had a whole team and city waiting with bated breath like #4…and he had a horrible season last year!!!

Everyone said he threw McNabb under the bus by saying he was out of breath during their last drive in the Superbowl. As I remember it one of the offensive lineman said it right after the Superbowl, somehow though by repeating it months later T.O. is the perp.

Push-ups in the driveway. Who the hell cares, my neighbors do a lot more than that…the media just doesn’t bother to show up…the media doesn’t bother to show up when someone gets shot on my street either so…

3) Dallas

As far as I’m concerned there was no issue with him in Dallas this year. Look at Steve Smith he had a Hamstring issue and didn’t get back from it until this past sunday. I think that is the best place he could be, Bill Parcells don’t take no mess and unlike most of the coaches and owners in the league he will step right to you and let you know what’s up. I think that’s something T.O. can respect. Plus his biggest problem with a player is when they don’t work hard or perform and that’s never been a problem for T.O. unlike some other players *cough*Randy Moss*cough* I could name.

In regards to the reported “suicide attempt” alot more facts have come to light to disprove that theory. The first thing happened before the incident itself. Sunday night when they reported on Chris Simms, it sounded like he was in the hospital dying and demons and angels were in the hall outside of his room playing rock, paper, sicssors for his soul. Not a half-hour later Chris Mortensen was basically spitting on the early reports in his tone and saying that dude was having his spleen removed. Another thing that stood out to me was the comment “negative reaction to painkillers”. I recalled it mentioned before that Owens doesn’t get down with a lot of unnatural substances and he tries to keep his body pretty pure. I know a lot of people who don’t down meds and have issues when they have to take them. Hell I’m allergic to Aspirin and can’t take Sudafed. Most importantly this seems like the perfect thing for to happen to the media. Let’s get it straight…sports media does not like T.O. (shutupandplay) so any kind of chink in his armor is something they would love. I’m not saying dude doesn’t have any issues. The things he’s said about his childhood let’s me know he does. The thing is I think alot of his issues would make suicide unthinkable to him. A father who was raised by his grandmother and had absentee parents…he’s the type that seems like he’d continue doing what he’s doing. Working as hard as possible to prove his worth despite what anyone thinks of him. I think he’d maintain just to spite the media.

The biggest thing I learned from all of this was just how sad alot of the American public is. I saw a whole bunch of people saying things like too bad he couldn’t get the job done and all types of shyt. He plays a game people, the main way his actions affect me are by letting me know just how much disruption a black man with money and a willingness to speak his mind can cause…he bothers the hell out of America.