A situation Owens can't make go away

By Charles Farmer
Contributing Columnist
Columbus Post

If you are like me, then you are probably tired of hearing about the sports drama known as the Terrell Owens Show. For quite some time, we have been inundated with the antics of the Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver.
An independent arbitrator was brought in to decide Owens’ fate for the rest of the 2005 football season after the Eagles suspended him without pay for actions considered detrimental to the team.
The arbitrator ruled in favor of the Eagles, who wanted to make sure that Owens didn’t play football for the rest of the season, particularly for another team.
The one constant thing that I’ve noticed about Owens is that he has had several concessions made for him throughout this long, drawn-out scenario.
In my opinion, Owens’ recent troubles stem from his last season (2003) in San Francisco, when Owens decided he didn’t want to play for the franchise anymore, and had the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent by filing the proper paperwork with the National Football League office, which would have voided the last three years of his contract.
David Joseph, Owens agent at the time, missed the deadline to file the paperwork, which would have allowed the wide receiver to name his own price in the free agent market. Joseph filed a grievance claiming that he didn’t receive proper notification about the deadline, but the NFL’s Management Council stated that it was clear that the Owens camp had been informed, which left the wide receiver stuck in San Francisco.
Did this lead to Owens’ ongoing campaign to recover the money he lost (including a signing bonus of more than $15 million) by not becoming an unrestricted free agent, by any means necessary?
The Owens camp continued to raise a stink, saying that he didn’t intend to return to San Francisco and a trade was put in place that would send the wide receiver to the Baltimore Ravens.

For more, please subscribe to the Columbus Post.