TO's dance entertaining, but it won't make him a legend

Terrell Owens has made headlines of his own despite helping the Eagles to an undefeated record and yet another year of hope for the city of gridiron heartache. So how on earth could one man’s end zone dance and whiny comments send the only undefeated team in football to page 3?

TO is one of the best in the game today (I still put Marvin Harrison ahead because he shuts up and plays football). Will he be a legend? That remains to be seen. These antics he comes up with, whether its a sharpie or a dance or instigating a fight on the Dallas midfield will be immortalized on a few NFL Film blooper reels or maybe even Cheap Seats on ESPN classic. But what Owens has in charisma and tabloid press is equivalent of a pop singer, full knowing their skills won’t dub them “diva” worthy, so they must go the other, easy way of shocking behavior and press conference banter that keeps the editor assigning his best men in hopes of another flare up.

But truth be told, despite his consideration as one of the most talented receivers today, he still won’t go down as a one of the best. Why? Ask Jerry Rice, Lynn Swann, Michael Irvin even. They won championships. And especially in the colorful Irvin’s case, when it came time to bring it, Irvin delivered. He was clutch. Owens on the otherhand, displaces blame amongst his teammates and coaches, anything but him. He’s a special talent, but not a “great one". He puts up astonishing numbers and demands secondary respect, but he’s not your go-to guy. And Harrison and even the matured Randy Moss have the potential to surpass him in the history books as class acts. Moss, for all his troubles in college and early in his career is shaping up to be special. He respects the brotherhood of the NFL at least, and doesn’t send low-blows to one of the scariest physical specimen in sports today.

Perhaps Moss is the fine wine, only getting better with age, yet Owens is nothing but a skunky can of Keystone Light left out in the sun, maturing into nothing but a insecure, attention-starved wideout who may end up scorned by the media and players alike. You better believe every peer of Ray Lewis has a giant bulls-eye on Owens for the rest of the season, probably even career.

Owens came to Philly to lead a great team to deserved greatness, but he may be the one intagible that holds them back, once again. Let’s hope McNabb and Co. can use the second half of the season to divert attention away from Owens’ antics to their run at finishing what has so painfully gone on too long, like the end of a bad murder mystery.