It’s always great when celebrities forget that they’re still human beings.
Some actors, musicians, athletes, etc. get so gassed up on themselves and the fame that they seem to lose all touch with reality. And it’s not great in the sense that they’re doing something positive by behaving disgracefully, but that they give us an eye-opening look at just how ridiculous people can be. They’re like psychological case studies that receive media coverage.
The most recent example of a celebrity doubting his own imperfection is everybody’s favorite narcissistic wide receiver and frequent visitor to the land of denial, Terrell Owens.
Check this out. Foxsports.com reported on Nov. 3 that Owens got into a fistfight with Eagles’ former defensive end Hugh Douglas at the team’s training facility, which contributed to his indefinite suspension from the team. And it wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment type of brawl, either.
Apparently Owens was lounging in the pool, rehabilitating his ankle, when he and Douglas began to argue. Owens was so angry that he got out of the pool to put on his shoes so he could fight Douglas without slipping. Then, after they went at it, he walked into the locker room to announce to the rest of the team that anyone else who wanted it could get it, too.
How unbelievably lame is that?
Owens apparently still believes that he is in high school. This guy is an internationally famous athlete and a multi-millionaire, but he is by no means above rolling around on the floor with another grown man.
Now, this is probably no big shock to you if you follow T.O. because you know how T.O. is. But to anyone who doesn’t follow pro sports, whether it’s because you’re sick of athletes who act this way or you genuinely don’t care, you really ought to follow him.
To call Owens eccentric doesn’t at all do him justice. Believe me, this dude is like a character from a movie. Or better yet, from a cartoon. He’s so unbelievably stuck on himself that you just want to shake him and repeatedly yell, “Who do you think you are?!”
Let me put it like this: if the NFL were a cartoon, Terrell Owens would be Snidely Whiplash. Not because he ties people to railroad tracks, but because he’s so unapologetically self-serving that he seems willing to do or say almost anything if it leads to glory, money or self-gratitude. If tying people to train tracks brought any of these ends I’m sure Terrell would be spotted on a regular basis kidnapping people in his Team Jordan cape and top hat.
To put it another way, if the NFL were the music business, Terrell Owens would be 50 Cent.
If the NFL were a sitcom, Terrell Owens would be Dan Fielding from “Nightcourt.”
If the NFL were a video game, Terrell Owens would be Johnny Cage from “Mortal Kombat.”
And if the NFL were the NFL, Terrell Owens would be the productive version of Keyshawn Johnson.
To be fair, Owens is an exceptional football player. He’s considered by many to be the best receiver in the league. Thus, he’s given a large amount of leeway to behave the way he does and spout his T.O.-isms in interviews. And, in case you’ve never seen a T.O. interview, he usually just talks about why it’s not his fault. Regardless of what it is, T.O. didn’t do it.
It’s almost hard to imagine that people like him walk the earth.
How does a man go through his entire life and completely avoid picking up any humility along the way? I mean, everyone trips and falls on the sidewalk now and then. Everyone gets clowned by his friends. Everyone makes stupid mistakes. And everyone loses eventually. These are the things that remind us that we’re not as infallible as our egos would have us believe.
Terrell Owens may be the most humble man on the planet behind closed doors, but when the cameras are on him he’s bulletproof. He acts as though he’s incapable of being wrong.
Hopefully, this latest incident will make Owens realize how absurd he seems to the rest of the world. But it will probably just be another chapter in the continuing saga of a delusional celebrity.