by Steven Gomez

Created on: February 27, 2009   Last Updated: March 01, 2009

Any notion of kicking Terrell Owens out of the NFL is borne solely out of the media sensationalism that has villianized him since the day he autographed that football for his agent after a touchdown catch for publicity. Sure, T.O. has fed into the sensationalism as much as the mainstream media has worked to create it, but nothing he has done is worthy of a suspension, let alone a permanent ban from the league.

Consider the offenses for which a player would net a suspension from the league: illegal drug use, fighting, illegal, malicious hits, gambling, multiple instances of those aforementioned offenses.

Now consider the offenses T.O. has committed: provocative touchdown celebrations, contentious post game comments about his teammates, complaining about problems with his team, occasional fights with teammates, getting traded a couple times as a result of his comments, plus an isolated prescription drug overdose.

The worst of those offenses are the fights with teammates, never acceptable and certainly worth some sort of fine or brief suspension, and critical remarks of his team, which gets into freedom of speech issues but team fines as a result are certainly understood.

However, neither of those offenses measures up to fighting, or using steroids, trying to fix a ballgame or trying to end a player's career. T.O. may get on a lot of fans, teammates and management's nerves, but nothing he has done should warrant a long or permanent suspension. To say he has two strikes against him in the first place is a bit harsh.

And all this never minds T.O.'s talent and what it brings to his team. He remains one of the league's best wide receivers, let alone the best on his current team (the Dallas Cowboys). He continues to step up time and again with big games. In fact, many of his critical comments concern how often the ball's being thrown to him, and one can understand a receiver of his talent wanting as many opportunities as possible to make plays. Many of his voiced frustrations invoke how badly he wants to win, and he may not express himself in the most productive or tactful way. However, it's clear he's not doing so purely out of malice, but competitive spirit.

If Terrell Owens already has two strikes against him, then I have to question the umpire's strike zone. T.O. certainly has done a lot to attract the media's negative attention and any annoyance his team has with him is understandable, but the media and his team owe it to him not to blow their frustrations out of proportion.

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