| | So, should we be fair to Terrell Owens, congratulate him for his
sensational afternoon against the Chicago Bears on Sunday and leave him be?
Or should we hold it against him and demand more, just for the hell of
it?
|  | | Terrell Owens has had quite a season -- from dancing on the star in Dallas to 20 catches on Sunday. |
Oh, it's the Christmas season. Let's go with option (b).
Owens, the San Francisco 49ers' down-market Jerry Rice now that the real
deal is preparing for a new team and a new world, had the day of every wide
receiver's life Sunday, a day so good that it passed ridiculous on the way
back.
Twenty catches. Twenty. Two more than the previous record held by Tom
Fears, four more than Rice managed on his best day. Two hundred eighty-three
yards, more than 11 entire teams' entire total and more than 26 teams' entire
passing attack.
It was, frankly, way over the top, even by 49er standards, most of which
were set by the man he is now expected to become -- J. Lee Rice.
And, goofily enough, it came on the day that Rice was making his peace
with the part of San Francisco he still likes -- the fans.
Rice played his final game at Candlestick Park on Sunday, at least as a
49er. We know this because the 49ers don't want him back and he doesn't
really want them back, either -- a confluence of wishes that will make
everyone but the fans happy, and when did anyone take them into account?
He even had seven catches, as many as he's had all year, and all the
other hoop-de-blah that the organization should organize for someone they
will see the back of come June. His daughter sang the National Anthem
(smartly, no mispronunciations, putting her well ahead of the anthem
standard), he took a victory lap, he gave a postgame speech, he even
harangued a sideline radio reporter during the game.
But what of Owens, who has had an entire career in one year? He's the
guy who stood on the star at Texas Stadium to celebrate a touchdown and
nearly sparked a riot. He's the guy who has run hot and cold over the years
depending on how often he gets the ball (again, another Rice trait). And now
he's the guy who caught 20 balls in a game and still only rated sidebars in
the Monday morning blats.
Well, enough's enough. Owens has done all he can do to get our
attention, up to but not yet including a pants-dropping, and it seems only
fair that we give him that attention.
Starting with, "Well, now what?"
Owens has tried. Lord, he has tried. Now, without Rice to bump him to
the second ring, he had better have more ready for us.
|
“ |
Owens has come from far off the pace to involve himself in the
debate (as to who is the next Jerry Rice). Not just because he could catch 20 passes on Jerry Rice's big sendoff (after all, the 49ers were playing Chicago), but because he has a nascent sense of the absurd, the annoying, and the incredibly self-involved. In short, he could make you watch -- just the way Rice did in his
day. ” |
True, Rice had already been supplanted in the public mind by Randy Moss,
who is his own show, and there is a group of other potential silver medalists
as well -- St. Louis' Isaac Bruce, Indianapolis' Marvin Harrison, reliable
Jimmy Smith of Jacksonville and the often mythical Keyshawn Johnson of Tampa
Bay.
But Owens has come from far off the pace to involve himself in the
debate. Not just because he could catch 20 passes on Jerry Rice's big sendoff
(after all, the 49ers were playing Chicago), but because he has a nascent
sense of the absurd, the annoying, and the incredibly self-involved.
In short, he could make you watch -- just the way Rice did in his
day.
But we can't rely on Owens to catch 21 balls this week in Denver. We
can't even rely on him to catch 21 balls ever. Plus, he was chastened after
the crudstorm he rained upon himself by grabbing God's attention while
standing on the star in Irving, and we doubt he'll ever have something better
than that anyway.
So what next for T.O., as he likes to be known? If he can't outdo
himself in the box score, if he's out of Hall of Famers to upstage, if he
can't do anything more incendiary than desecrate a logo already soiled plenty
by its own representatives, what are we members of Short Attention Span
Theatre to demand of him?
Frankly, we don't know. What do you ask of the man who's already given
you his A-game, all in one year? More of the same? Something completely
different that doesn't involve a lawyer?
Frankly, we're stumped. But now that Rice is gone, Owens is free to
fully explore his inner rascal. There will be none of that clucking
disapproval from the old master any more. Owens will be the one thing he has
never been in his career -- on his own.
Can't wait, though. Whatever it is ought to be a real hoot.
Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
Tuesday Morning Quarterback
Murphy: Worshipping the shrine of No. 80
On Rice's day, Owens has record outing in Niners' win
San Francisco 49ers team page
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