Probably mad he wasn't a first ballot HOF-er which is a travesty. I'd be too especially if I was being inducted with criminal first balloters.
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http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23723959/terrell-owens-declines-invitation-pro-football-hall-fame-induction-ceremony

Terrell Owens won't attend Hall of Fame induction ceremony
12:48 PM ET
ESPN

Terrell Owens, who was selected for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, has declined an invitation to attend the induction ceremony, he said Thursday.

"While I am incredibly appreciative of this opportunity, I have made the decision to publicly decline my invitation to attend the induction ceremony in Canton," Owens said in a statement released Thursday. "... After visiting Canton earlier this year, I came to the realization that I wish to celebrate what will be one of the most memorable days of my life, elsewhere."

Owens, who said he has let the Hall of Fame know of his intentions, added he will announce "where and when" he will celebrate his induction at a later date.

"We are disappointed but will respect Terrell's decision not to participate in the enshrinement," Hall of Fame president David Baker said in a statement. "While unprecedented, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the nearly 5,000 volunteers and the entire community are committed to celebrating the excellence of the Class of 2018 that will kick off the NFL's 99th season."

Baker said the Pro Football Hall of Fame would have no further comment on Owens' decision.

A finalist for the past three years, Owens had been a hot-button candidate with his own public criticisms of the board of selectors after he had not been chosen for the Hall in 2016 or 2017.

Owens was selected for enshrinement in the class of 2018 along with Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher and Brian Dawkins. They will be joined by Bobby Beathard (contributor) and seniors committee nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.

The enshrinement ceremony will be Aug. 4 in Canton, Ohio.

"I wish to congratulate all past, current and future inductees," Owens said in the statement. "It is quite an honor to be part of such elite company. This honor is something that I will cherish forever."

A third-round draft selection of the San Francisco 49ers in 1996, Owens ranks eighth all time in receptions (1,078), second in receiving yards (15,934) and third in receiving touchdowns (153). He played for the 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals in a career that spanned 15 years.

to Baltimore and instead chose Philly.

Otherwise, he's the only one I'd want to hear from.

there was a time when I hated TO, that has faded. I just remember the good times. McNabb will always be a disappointment to me.

seeing what t.o. did to get back healthy and perform vs how mcnabb tapped out.

mad folks still got love for t.o.

i dont think he can handle the indifference and probably boos he'd receive from the traveling fans compared to the other 4 players getting inducted.

also he probably would've had to do his speech first anyway

by so many people..

then he finally gets in...

and proves in the end he was exactly who we've been saying he was...


and this is WHY he wasn't first or 2nd ballot hall of fame...

we know about him.

at the fucking SB

Murder.

Did T.O. steal your girl or something?

>at the fucking SB
>
>Murder.

Ray Lewis never attacked any of his teammates publically...never divided a locker room......



>Did T.O. steal your girl or something?

lol....

TO couldn't take my girl.... My wife don't dig buster azz cry baby n*****.

>>at the fucking SB
>>
>>Murder.
>
>Ray Lewis never attacked any of his teammates
>publically...never divided a locker room......
>

By the time he left, mofos couldn’t stand him.

And again, you haven’t heard of any times he’s divided the locker room.

Dude, bye.

criticizing your teammates multiple times on national tv for no good reason other than to be a bitch..

that impacts your teammates...

It's not about the man. I'm so tired of these white sports writers telling us otherwise.

I mean, my boy Warren Sapp is a degenerate, as you all know. Despite that, 1st ballot HOF.

Really no good reason T.O. shouldn't have been the same...and this is coming from someone who rooted against him with every team he played for.

>It's not about the man. I'm so tired of these white sports
>writers telling us otherwise.
>
>I mean, my boy Warren Sapp is a degenerate, as you all know.
>Despite that, 1st ballot HOF.
>
>Really no good reason T.O. shouldn't have been the same...and
>this is coming from someone who rooted against him with every
>team he played for.


give me some examples in modern sports where a guy who so publically attacked his own teammates...over ...and over again.... so petty and publically... give me a like example of someone who did that and got elected first ballot into ANY sport hall of fame....

>by so many people..
>
>then he finally gets in...
>
>and proves in the end he was exactly who we've been saying he
>was...
>
>
>and this is WHY he wasn't first or 2nd ballot hall of fame...

Not a single word makes any sense, at all.

He was an all-time great player of the game of football
by every single conceivable actual measure. He did his
job better than almost every player to play his position
to ever live, save like 5 or 6 (tops).

He deserved to be first ballot.

The Hall of Fame has been populated by assholes and
terrible people since forever. TO isn't even in the top
25 percentile of bad people.

IN ADDITION TO THAT:

He is DECIDING to not attend, which is HIS RIGHT. He will
celebrate his own way. It isn't "self centered" at all,
and I found his statement to be gracious and professional.

"So you gonna just stand for someone to disrespect you, and then show up because they finally giving you the credit you actually earned?"

.

dude is a GOAT, regardless of how you think about him
no one would say the same of Randy Moss, confirmed GOAT

glad WRs don't get hit with the "rangz" argument the way QBs do

because 2 of the top 3 (you know who the other one is) were basically flip-sides of the same coin professionally

as opposed to a "you had one job to do" position

Terrell Owens relationship with his teammates is fairly unique in terms of hall of fame candidates...

sure guys had off the field issues...Ray Lewis.... Lawrence Taylor...etc....


pointing to those types and saying they were first ballot so TO should be first ballot is completely missing the point...


Terrell's relationship with is teammates ..... publically insulting and attacking 2 different QBs...2 different teams.... publically insulting and attacking Ray Lewis character, after changing his mind about joining the Ravens....


you see.... YOU may choose to ignore these factors regarding his hall of fame voting.... but to pretend as if they play no part in how the NFL community views him is just simply ridiculous....


fans of TO want to ignore that..and pretend as if it plays no part in whether he got in or not..

but it did play part....

and at the end of the day...his shunning the hall of fame is in the same tradition of his attacking others, to prop up himself, or to make himself into a victim....

MEN don't respect that in other men...particularly men who are supposed to be brethren in battle, so to speak...

go ahead and speak about his numbers...his accomplishments..certainly hall of fame worthy....first ballot even..

but this dude was a selfish poison in a locker room..with his teammates...unwarranted public attacks......

what other former player had that baggage going into hall of fame voting??? again..that's not off the field stuff...that's inside the family stuff...and TO had that cloud over him...and he still does.

his attitude shouldn't impact what he did on the field.

A lot of these cats with votes aren't mature enough to differentiate between being a baller and being a doucebag. The power they wield will ensure that anyone who's been unkind to them as he has, will pay the price. My issue is that he should go to accept and be honored as member of the best HOF in sports. He can flat out snub the media all week if he wants, but he shouldn't get so caught up in his feeling that he doesn't acknowledge just what a major accomplishment it is to be elected.

https://goo.gl/images/pqXdqs

and address it

Tell theses folks to their face how you really feel...because he's right

I want him to use his speech to talk about it.

impact how he is viewed by his teammates..


it's simply not real life that your attitude with people doesn't impact your dealings with those people...

and the HOF is about putting the best players in it.

Not the nicest or friendliest.

Don't invite him to team functions or let him back into the FO but Hall of Fame? Yu can't get personal with the Hall.

>by so many people..
>
>then he finally gets in...
>
>and proves in the end he was exactly who we've been saying he
>was...
>
>
>and this is WHY he wasn't first or 2nd ballot hall of fame...


Don't see a lie. Anywhere.....

You don’t have to fuck with TO to appreciate that the reasons the voters kept him out until now were bullshit and deeply, deeply racist. If TO wants some get back, how can you get mad?

>You don’t have to fuck with TO to appreciate that the
>reasons the voters kept him out until now were bullshit and
>deeply, deeply racist. If TO wants some get back, how can you
>get mad?

LOL there are definitely reasons to snub TO besides racism.


As has been pointed out many times here, he was a terrible teammate in many ways.



This is why you don't see as many guys running to his defense as you would if it was…Steve Smith, or hey, Ray Lewis.


TO is great, and yes some people may have snubbed him due to racism but come on, I saw the guy play and I fuck with his game and think he WAS deserving of first-ballot but I am more up in arms about how hard it is for DBs to get in than I am about this.

That said, if T.O. doesn't want to show up I can dig it
I watched Tim Brown wait too. And if I needed one play, and it HAD to be caught, I would take Tim Brown over T.O. every time.

T.O always always had drops at the worst time. It's like why I wouldn't want Chris Webber, a player I loved, on the court for the last play in a Championship game.

Plus, if anything goes wrong on that play, T.O. gonna throw somebody under that bus.


T.O. better than Brown all things considered, but yeah, I'm sticking with my original statement.

that's a new one..


no race card plea copping for TO..

he's literally manifesting the reasons why he wasn't first ballot by shunning the hall of fame..

the HOFers are a team..... TO gets selected to the team....the highest honor in the game... Once again he pisses on his teammates and gets in his own feelings....

he's showing why he wasn't first ballot and it ain't got shit to do with racism

there are 5 modern WRs that went 1st ballot to the hall

Raymond Berry - YT
Lance Alworth - YT
Paul Warfield - black
Steve Largent - YT
Jerry Rice - black

For a position that is dominated by black athletes...there appears to be a disparity in 1st ballot hall entries

Jerry is obviously the bar...but are Moss and T.O. really that far away from errybody that they have to wait

Art Monk

hell, even Michael Irvin had to wait

I mean, looking at that list, race looks like a factor to me

...and as somebody pointed out in this thread...where are the first ballot CBs...?

That is, as the league has transitioned to a forward pass league...to a pass first league...you would think there would be more acknowledgements for said transitions at primary positions on both sides of the ball

?

>there are 5 modern WRs that went 1st ballot to the hall
>
>Raymond Berry - YT
>Lance Alworth - YT
>Paul Warfield - black
>Steve Largent - YT
>Jerry Rice - black
>
>For a position that is dominated by black athletes...there
>appears to be a disparity in 1st ballot hall entries
>
>Jerry is obviously the bar...but are Moss and T.O. really that
>far away from errybody that they have to wait
>
>Art Monk
>
>hell, even Michael Irvin had to wait
>
>I mean, looking at that list, race looks like a factor to me
>
>...and as somebody pointed out in this thread...where are the
>first ballot CBs…?

There are barely any DBs at all.
>
>That is, as the league has transitioned to a forward pass
>league...to a pass first league...you would think there would
>be more acknowledgements for said transitions at primary
>positions on both sides of the ball
>

Maybe it will happen. It should, but I don't think it's about race. RB is an almost entirely black position and they get more HOF love than safeties, which has been a whiter position.

enshrined, respectively

Does that sound right to you?

Offensive lineman have the most inductees...surprise, surprise

Here's the list for next year

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/pro-football-hall-of-fame-ed-reed-tony-gonzalez-headline-possible-2019-class/

You can almost see it coming

Let's revisit...

DB's don't get in. It's a long time pet peeve of mine that I have voiced on these boards.

There are five starting offensive linemen on every team.

One RB. One QB. Two receivers. Correlation does not mean causation.

Part of the reason why there are lots more defensive linemen than safeties.


And what RB would be in since LT?

Edgerrin James not being first-ballot is some kind of crime?



First ballot on that list I think Ed Reed has a solid chance despite the hating on DBs, and Tony G probably goes first ballot too…maybe?

who cares about celebrating at that red neck hot spot? TO got robbed two years back he is a first Ballot HOF period not no 3 years

and that happens all the time right???

guys elected to the hall of fame, insult fellow hall of fame members with insults regarding drugs, right??

yep.....


remember all those players who took shots at LT's drug problem?? or Warren Sapp's issues with females?? or all the guys that get voted into the hall of fame and take shots Orenthal Simpson???

you remember all those guys?????


yeah because there are none.....

there's a level of class, maturity and respect that men voted into the hall of fame manifest towards the hall itself, and their fellow players..

and just like TO couldn't seem to apply that same respect to his own teammates ..childishly and publicly insulting them..... now he's given the highest individual honor in the game, and he's doing his usual thing...

they need to re-nig on his selection and give it to Ike Bruce, or Roger Craig...


and the funny thing is..this guys is still working out to make a comeback.... again, not understanding how his actions have long ago soured NFL teams to his antics...

Has a more talented player ever alienated more of his coaches, teammates and peers than Owens?

I mean, this guy basically couldn't get a job in the NFL anymore PURELY because of his antics; not off the field, or on it…but in the locker room!


It's really wild. He the GOAT of bad teammates, it's actually kinda amusing to see him stay true to what he has been doing the whole time.

TO didn’t appreciate Irvin putting up the texts he sent him on social media.

Just listen to any ex-player talking about this.

T.O. literally just proved what everyone always thought about him.


Only first ballot HOF wideout is Jerry Rice.

yes, T.O. is responding to Irvin.

You're comparing Ray Lewis getting arrested, and eventually acquitted for murder….


to Terrell Owens publicly shittin on teammates...multiple times over the years....for reasons that seem not to warrant the type of public shittin he's doing.


we're talking about TO being selected into an exclusive fraternity of fellow football players...


and you're comparing Ray Lewis..or whomever being arrested...

to publicly insulting and attacking ones teammates over the course of years..


It seems pretty clear to me why TO's actions would impact his selection...particularly since he is...again...shitting on his soon to be fellow inductees again....continuing a pattern from his playing days.



I'm not seeing why anyone wouldn't agree that TO's actions would impact his selection to the hall of fame more than Ray Lewis...


since again we're talking about a person being selected would be joining another Football "Team" ..of Hall of fame members...




and since we talking Ray and TO.... I recall TO for no reason speaking on Ray Lewis double murder charge at a press conference as a way try and make himself look better..... I recall Ray Lewis response to that...and the high road he took, and turning it into something about Black men not quarreling publicly..and the impact of that on young people.... I miss that Ray Lewis....he's not that guy anymore really...… but anyway...that incident showed Terrell Owens to be a really petty and low class person ….. really not becoming a Black man of character at that moment to speak on a guy who considered you his friends "double murder" at a press conference in a flippant manner....

I guess in your world words impact you more than actions

Can you cite these public criticisms of team mates for me?

Post the quotes from team mates stating how terrible T.O. was to be around, please

Here's some defending T.O.

Terrell Owens a 'Great Teammate:' Players and Coaches Defend T.O.'s Character

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1584791-terrell-owens-a-great-teammate-players-and-coaches-defend-his-character

Bad teammate? Terrell Owens isn't in the Hall of Fame yet for a pretty silly reason

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/ct-nfl-terrell-owens-hall-of-fame-analysis-spt-20170213-story.html

"One could also argue that the Hall of Fame is littered with bad teammates like, say, Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, who once stabbed a teammate in the neck with a pair of scissors in a training camp fight over whose turn it was to sit in a barber's chair. The gash, a few inches away from veteran offensive lineman Everett McIver's carotid artery, required 18 stitches to heal."

You're turning a media problem into a football problem

But yes, it really is silly to compare statements (which I would love for you to post in a reply)

To criminal activity like murder, drug possession, solicitation, etc...

You keep replying about divisive behavior effecting teams and team mates IRT T.O.

but fail to acknowledge HOF players transgressions that are far worse

like morally, ethically and legally worse

i.e if that is your reasoning, it doesn't hold up given recent examples.

Let me help you out

The playboy interview IRT Jeff Garcia was during the offseason in which he was traded

=/= team mates...go...

ok champ..

you re-writing history now...

lemme guess..

you're an Eagles fan who blamed McNabb, so you're just going to pretend like TO didn't cry after McNabb said his team would keep on fighting after TO got hurt

Stabbing a teammate in the neck

see reply 48, which you didn't reply to

I'm genuinely interested

Post em up.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23783843/jarvis-landry-good-bond-ryan-tannehill

Jarvis Landry said Wednesday that he hasn't heard from quarterback Ryan Tannehill since he was traded by the Miami Dolphins to the Cleveland Browns and that he isn't that surprised, based on their relationship as teammates.

"I'm not surprised. We didn't really have a good relationship anyway, so I'm not surprised," he told NFL Network.

Landry made headlines last week when he told Cleveland.com that his quarterback situation with the Browns (Tyrod Taylor, Baker Mayfield and Drew Stanton) is "a lot better than what I had in Miami." That was taken by many in the media as a shot at Tannehill, but Landry said Wednesday that wasn't the case.




Anytime you want to post those T.O. quotes...anytime...

Dudes do this all the time for the draft.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23986200/terrell-owens-give-pro-football-hall-fame-speech-university-tennessee-chattanooga

Terrell Owens announced on his Twitter account Tuesday that he will make his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, on Aug. 4.

The former wide receiver had previously announced that he would not attend the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony in Canton, Ohio scheduled for the same date.

"After giving it much thought, I have realized just how much I want to celebrate what will inevitably be the best weekend of my life at a place that means so much to me," he said in his statement.

He will give his speech on campus at McKenzie Arena, scheduled to begin at 3:17 p.m. ET. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton begins at 7 p.m.

"I'm proud to be a Moc, and I'm honored to be able to share this experience with my family, friends, teammates and fans at the place that provided me an opportunity beyond high school and where I truly began to find myself as an athlete. Thank you to everyone who has supported my celebration decision. I look forward to seeing you all in Chattanooga," he said in the statement, ending with his catchphrase "Getcha popcorn ready!"

Owens was selected for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2018 along with Ray Lewis, Randy Moss, Brian Urlacher and Brian Dawkins. They will be joined by Bobby Beathard (contributor) and seniors committee nominees Jerry Kramer and Robert Brazile.

A finalist for the past three years, Owens had been a hot-button candidate after offering public criticism of the board of selectors when he was not chosen for the Hall in 2016 or 2017.

A third-round draft selection of the San Francisco 49ers in 1996, Owens ranks eighth all time in receptions (1,078), second in receiving yards (15,934) and third in receiving touchdowns (153). He played for the 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals during a career that spanned 15 years.

Owens played for the Mocs from 1992-95 and had 133 catches for 2,320 yards and 19 touchdowns. He ranks second in career receiving yards and third in touchdown receptions at the school.

Well that took an interesting turn

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24720441/group-hall-famers-threaten-boycott-induction-ceremony-nfl-provides-health-insurance-annual-salaries

So the existing HOF members are still good teammates...right...?

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