So I ended up having to monitor the Colts-Pats game online while I, ahem, studied. The Colts looked impressive, and I do enjoy seeing them play well, with special attention to former Syracuse standouts like Marvin Harrison & Dwight Freeney. I can't help shake the feeling though that Peyton Manning is a huge dork (albeit a very rich dork) and the rest of the 'cool guys' struggle to try to be friends with him.
Anyway...
With the NFLPA stepping into TO-gate, armed with one argument that it would be overly harsh to deactivate Terrell Owens for the remainder of the season, I have yet to see a good reason why his situation in this particular regard is any different from Keyshawn Johnson & Tampa Bay a couple years ago. Yes, the 4-game suspension and no-pay part is different, but why is the Players' Association targeting the deactivation too, when the Eagles fully intend to pay him to sit him out?
The PA says it's overly vindictive. I say it is not vindictive, but is instead strategic. The one reason that I have yet to see put forth by the media is that the Eagles, by keeping him on their roster, are essentially preventing him from jumping to a competitor mid-season (such as Atlanta) whom they may encounter in the playoffs. This happens all the time in big business, where as part of a severance package a company mandates that the former employee be prevented from signing on with a competitor for a year. TO has demonstrated his vengeance a number of times, and if the Eagles did make the playoffs, to see him lining up along side Brunnell or Vick in the playoffs could be potentially disastrous for Philly. (though seeing TO trying to catch Vick's one-hoppers and then TO sniping him out on the sideline while Arthur Blank tries to protect his adopted son Ron Mexico would be pretty hilarious. "Shhh, Michael, shhh...it's alright. No, he isn't allowed to criticize you. Nobody is.") It seems to me that the Eagles are not necessarily being vindictive here, but coldly calculating as they always are. They're essentially saying, "we're not going to enable you to hurt us anymore this year from ANY front, be it our team or anybody elses'."
Lastly, it's pretty amazing to watch the reactionary media go from, "Philly, you have to suspend this guy!" to, "Ok, he apologized, why are you sacrificing future wins simply b/c of principle?"
Here is a lesson from the father of a one year old: obedience occurs when the child responds to the parent's request promptly and fully. Partial obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. The Eagles requested that TO apologize to the organization, the coach, and the QB. He did none of those things. So they suspended him. Only after the fact did he issue a seeming heart-felt apology (and I honestly do believe he was contrite. TO may be a lot of things, but I don't think he is a liar).
Now, was this apology an act of compliance? No, it was not. If you ask your child to wash the dishes, the child does not, so you suspend TV privileges, and only after the fact does the child do the dishes, has the child obeyed? No, the child has not. By the parent thinking that the child has obeyed, the parent has enabled the child to think that disobedience will never be disciplined. If you don't mean what you say, the child will not respect your authority. So it goes with players like TO. It was absolutely necessary for the Eagles to suspend him in a manner they had laid out as early as spring training. If they hadn't, they would have only weakened themselves and hurt the franchise. They are fully justified in their appointed discipline from both a compliance as well as an economic standpoint, and it will be interesting to see how the PA, and I'm guessing a future arbitrator, will resolve the dispute.
______
post script - the media also likes to trumpet how the Philly fans can happily cling to their 'principles' while sitting home from the playoffs come January. I can't claim to be a lifelong Eagles fan, but I personally feel that upholding justice has more far reaching benefits for the franchise than making the playoffs this year and sacrificing their business model and team concept. B/c let's face it- they ain't winning the Big Game with this group.
