T.O.'s Career Ends With Everyone Watching

There was something sad about Terrell Owens' open job audition Wednesday. Sure, Owens is a complete idiot, and no reasonable human being would expect NFL teams to fall over each other to sign a 37-year-old wideout coming off an injury with just 10 weeks left in the season. But it was still sad to see an act of such naked desperation.

Of course no one from the NFL showed up at the workout. Of course only media were there. The event was a perfect microcosm of Owens' career: Many people paid attention but ultimately there was nothing to see.

The NFL's Bucky Brooks actually went to the trouble of attending the session and do a full scouting report on the ex-Eagle, a job I'm sure Brooks was just ecstatic to be assigned. Anyway, his assessment was blunt:

Owens is not at a point physically where he can make an immediate contribution to a team. The combination of age, character and injury history will certainly make him a tough sell to teams looking to add a veteran playmaker for a stretch run.

Agent Drew Rosenhaus went so far as to plant the idea that the Titans were interested in Owens (I doubt it), and Owens sent out TWO copies of the workout tape to every team, just in case they lose the first one or something. It's like the scene in Hustle & Flow when Terence Howard finds his demo tape in the trash can at the nightclub. Owens' workout Tuesday was sad proof that he's the only one left who doesn't know his career is finished.

It should be noted that Owens had a perfectly good season last year in Cincinnati, and had no public outbursts of any sort. And Donovan McNabb's woes over the past two seasons have perhaps vindicated Owens for some of the criticism he leveled at Donovan when the two played here with the Eagles.

T.O. was a very good receiver who will ultimately be remembered for empty media spectacles like Tuesday (I'm surprised he didn't hold the workout in a driveway), rather than for the things he accomplished on the field. It's a fun little irony: Ask everyone to pay attention and they will for all the wrong reasons.

Good luck for the rest of your life, T.O. Your days in the NFL are over.

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