Did I mention I hate Dr. Z?

In this festering piece of excrement Dr. Z takes a courageous, iconoclastic Anti-Terrell Owens stance and weighs in once again with why his hall-of-fame vote should be taken away.

This is mostly just the usual bluster, with Dr. Z hypothesizing that when athletes explain that they "made the wrong decision," maybe just maybe they, according to Z, "made the decision that is normal for them." That is to say, huh?

But what really interests me is this anti-Owens malarkey. I might as well come clean: I generally am in favor of Terrell Owens. I don't buy into the "most NFL players are good guys" bullshit. I don't believe that Ricky Williams is the only NFL player who smokes marijuana regularly. I don't buy that Bengals players are the only players that hit their wife. I don't believe [insert scandalous player here] is the only player to [take part in scandal]. I also think that writers who think that's the case are borderline retarded.

At any rate, Terrell Owens is an asshole. He's a huge asshole, and has caused a lot of distraction everywhere he's been. He also happens to be one of the premier wide receivers in the NFL. He also happens to have been one of the premier wide receivers in the NFL for a number of years. Does that make him a hall of famer? Maybe, maybe not. Dr. Z has an opinion on this of course.

Kipps of North Bay, Ontario, says that if I'm anti-Randy Moss, then surely I have to have kinder feelings toward Terrell Owens, whose on-field commitment cannot be questioned, despite "Peter King's crying about his alligator arms." Waddya mean, crying? Put me down as agreeing with Peter. In San Francisco T.O. would give up on patterns and passes that called for him to extend himself in ways he didn't care for. He was notorious for that. And then he'd blame Jeff Garcia, of course. He wasn't as bad in Philly and Dallas, but you could see it every now and then. But here's the thing I don't like about him. He's a bully. He's got a mean streak. You'll notice that whenever he went after someone, it was when the person was in a weakened situation.

Have we mentioned yet on this "blog" how much we love unquantifiable, anecdotal bullshit?

Well in case we haven't, we do love it. Peter King and Dr. Z claim that Owens is a pussy who quits on routes...

Huh? I've never heard that once in my life, and I've never once seen it to be the case. Perhaps if Dr. Z could provide even one example of this, I might be able to put out of mind the unequivocal FACT that Owens not only played with an injured ankle in the Super Bowl but that he also played the majority of last season WITH AN INJURED HAND. But instead we just get these vague claims that Owens "has alligator arms," and "quits on routes." Wonderful.

Also "he's a bully"? He goes after players in weakened situations? Can you elaborate on that a little more, Dr. Z?

He took heavy shots at Garcia when the QB was struggling, even questioning his sexuality. He kept a careful eye on Donovan McNabb, and waited until he showed weakness, following the Super Bowl loss. Then he went after him. And now that Bill Parcells has retired, tired and discouraged, Terrell has begun to open up with his sniper fire.

Are you fucking serious? I'm not defending Owens's loud mouth, but let's not rewrite history. Owens is a fucking loudmouthed turd irrespective of the "weakness" of his target. He was asked his opinion on whether Garcia was gay in a Playboy interview, he didn't call a press conference....And why would he NEED to criticize McNabb before the QB pulled one of the more unsung chokejobs of all time? And Parcells's retirement making him "weak"? Hardly--if anything he's more respected now than ever for what he did for the Cowboys...and furthermore, I remember Owens repeatedly ripping Parcells through last season...at one point, saying about a pre-playoffs meeting that he didn't listen to what Parcells had to say because the guy didn't have anything to teach him.

Owens is a lot of things (moron, mental case, jackass, bad teammate) but bully? That's a fucking stretch even for Z. Now keep in mind, I'm not saying Owens belongs in the hall. His numbers aren't all that much better than a number of receivers who aren't in. However, it seems likely that by the end of his career he will have established himself as one of the top 3 (if not the top) receiver of his era. However Z seems to have already made up his mind:

Hall of Fame? Not if I'm still a selector.

Then let's do something about that. Please. Take away Z's HOF vote. He obviously thinks it's the hall of polite or the hall of not-Brett-Favre.