Owens running his mouth some more
Defensive Owens alludes to murder trial
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Terrell Owens might offend some people with his behavior on the field, but he was sounding mighty defensive Wednesday, and the way he went about sticking up for himself might end up offending even more people.
Asked about the mock Ray Lewis dance he did after scoring during Philadelphia's 15-10 win over Baltimore on Sunday, and about the criticism that followed, the receiver explained his consternation at being considered a bad guy, alluding to the Ravens linebacker's murder trial as he marshaled his arguments.
Speaking at his weekly news conference, Owens said: "You have a guy like Ray Lewis, who, I mean, I thought pretty much he was my friend. I mean, this is a guy, you know, double-murder case, he could have been in jail.
"Seems like the league embraces a guy like that. But I'm going out scoring touchdowns, having fun, but I'm the bad guy," he said.
Owens said Wednesday he received several "hate" e-mails through his Web site from people asking how he can embarrass Lewis by imitating Lewis' dance.
Owens and Lewis have been trading verbal barbs -- mostly through the media -- since the offseason, when Owens jilted Baltimore before getting traded from San Francisco to Philadelphia.
Shaking his head in disgust, Owens said it's discouraging to get put in the mold "that I'm the worst guy that ever put on a uniform in the NFL."
"At times, it baffles me. I've never been in any off-field problems," he said.
The Ravens responded quietly but acerbically Wednesday afternoon.
"Like the rest of the NFL community, we would expect nothing less from Terrell Owens," said Kevin Byrne, Baltimore's vice president of communications.
Re: Owens running his mouth some more
I thought the media was severely over-hyping the feud between Ray Lewis and Terrell Owens in the days leading up to this, but now it's Owens who just went too far. He said earlier in the week that he had respect for Lewis, but to say this now shows otherwise. The dance was pretty funny, but bringing up the double-murder case is just trying (crying) a little too hard for attention and is a slap of disrespect to the man.
Quote:
"Like the rest of the NFL community, we would expect nothing less from Terrell Owens,"
I think we can all agree on that.
