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December 15, 2005
The Eagles' Dirty Laundry (Like in the Commercial with Swoop and the CBs, Only Different)
Just in case you didn't read through the complete text of the T.O. arbitration
So, gigantic Eagles geek that I am, I remain a bit shocked at the lack of response in the press and among fans to the text of arbitrator Richard Bloch's T.O.-and-the-players-union-versus-the-Eagles decision. Here we are, three-and-a-half weeks after the decision was released, and the papers are still talking about T.O. and how he divided the Eagles' locker room, blah blah blah. This week it was his freakin' birthday party. The national and local blathermonkeys continue to prattle on about T.O., and 5, and Andy Reid, and what happened to the Eagles, etc etc, extending the debate (and the soap opera) that by all accounts ended over a month ago.
The thing is, there really isn't much of a debate. T.O. definitely screwed up the Eagles season. How so? Well, just read the arbitrator's report. Turns out the Eagles legal team (and we'll return to that topic in a future posting) really did a great job of meticulously documenting all of T.O.'s alleged transgressions. It's all there -- all the dirty laundry and accusations dating back to last spring. It's really fascinating reading.
Of course, one could also argue that it's "really boring" and "kind of juvenile" to pick through a document like this to decide "who's right and who's wrong" w/r/t what is essentially Brad-and-Angelina for the male 18-to-34 set. But I wouldn't argue that. Instead, I'm going to give you the highlights from the document (linked above and right here) along with my commentary. This just means I'm copy-pasting and adding comments. Text from the arbitrator document will be in italics, and I've bolded the extra-juicy bits. I'm sure you'll find it enthralling -- enjoy!
Our story begins just after last year's Super Bowl loss; you remember, this was the whole "I didn't get tired" thing:
In his quest to secure a new agreement or to have the team release him, Mr. Owens embarked in what the Club accurately characterizes as a "nearly non-stop pattern of disruptive misconduct." In an ESPN interview on April 12, 2005, the Player commented provocatively on his contribution to the Super Bowl and his own efforts to get back in shape after a broken ankle:
"I played every snap they allowed me to play. I wasn't even running until, like, two weeks before the game. But I made sure I was in the best shape possible. I wasn't the one who got tired in the Super Bowl."
That comment was perceived by many, including Head Coach Andy Reid and quarterback Donovan McNabb, as a slap directed at McNabb.
Aight. We'd heard that before. But then came the contract dispute and the skipped minicamps and the rumblings that T.O. wanted more money:
Rosenhaus and Owens were unequivocal in letting the team know that Owens' happiness was tied toward renegotiating the contract. Coach Andy Reid testified as to their communications to him:
A. [Drew and Terrell said] ... that things weren't going to be pretty if he did come to camp. Somewhere in there, you know, T.O. mentioned that he knew how I was wired and the discipline that I asked of the Players, and that I wouldn't be happy with what I saw.
So this is juicy...we all suspected that threats were made, but T.O. never really made them this explicit to reporters. I see. Very juicy. Oh, but it gets better. Turns out Andy Reid and the Eagles were about to embark on an exceptionally detailed campaign of backside-covering in which they would capture, in writing, every T.O.-related incident and transgression. See below the first of many charming Andy Reid missives to T.O.:
Dear Terrell:
In light of the numerous recent conversations you and I have had, I thought it was important to communicate with you in writing. I have been intending to do this for quite some time, and after the angry and threatening statements you made in our telephone conversation last night, it became clearer that this correspondence was necessary.
In our recent conversations, you have repeatedly threatened to do things and act in a manner that would be destructive to both the Philadelphia Eagles and to your own career. These are things that are not only inappropriate, but are in conflict with both the promises you have made to me and the obligations under the contract you have signed with the Eagles. You have repeatedly threatened to disrupt our team and to do whatever it takes to force us to cut or trade you, including breaching many provisions of your contract. Last night you specifically told me that you had no intention of coming into training camp and trying your best while you feel you are being underpaid. Although this was the most extreme comment, it is one of many such comments you have made to me and others within the organization. This letter is meant to inform you that if, in fact, upon arrival at training camp you carry out any of these threats, the team intends to use all available fines, and contractual remedies to deal with this behavior. Your stance is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
As we have discussed previously, you breached your contract by refusing to report to the club's mandatory mini-camp. Your refusal to report is a default under the Signing Bonus addendum in your contract. In accordance with the terms of the Signing Bonus addendum of your contract, the club hereby demands repayment of $1,725,000 (i.e., the portion of your Signing Bonus that you are required to repay to the club as a result of your breach) by August 12, 2005. Should you fail to repay that total amount by August 12, 2005, we will begin deducting the above amount in equal installments from your game checks, and any other compensation owed to you by the club, or we will initiate a non-injury grievance for repayment of money owed to the club due to your breach.
Please be advised that any additional breaches of your contract and/or violations of club rules will result in the club imposing fines against you in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement and club rules. Repeated violations of club rules will result in escalation of the discipline imposed by the club and increasing fine amounts, up to and including you being fined and/or suspended for Conduct Detrimental to the club.
Sincerely,
Andy Reid
Executive VP Football Operations/Head Coach
cc: Drew Rosenhaus
Well well! T.O. threated to ruin the team if he didn't get more money, and definitely promised that he would half-ass it in practice if they made him show up for camp. Hmmm. How much would that letter have been worth to Las Vegas four months ago? Of course, Vegas probably knew something was up when T.O. got suspended in the middle of camp (leading to the sit-up thing in the driveway...sigh...it seems so long ago):
Owens would interact with some teammates but not others, including Donovan McNabb, according to the record. His antics were affecting the team. There was, says Coach Reid, a lot of tension: "The Players felt it, the coaches felt it. I think on both sides of the ball, it was a different feeling. I had Players coming to me talking to me about the situation and it just wasn't real healthy. I tried to make that part work."
How foreboding! Also, what's up with the touchy-feely management stuff from Andy Reid?
The year before, according to the Coach, Owens "was great" about attending things such as autograph sessions, which are mandatory. However, as part of his protest, the Player refused to do these. Reid testifies to a confrontation in early August:
"I went up to him and he was in a corner area where there weren't any people around. ... I didn't want to put him on the spot in front of anybody. I don't do that. That's not my style. I said hey, listen, I don't know if you've heard what I said, but you've got autographs today, it's Receiver's day up. And he said I'm not going to do it."
The suspension, of course, came with yet another letter but it wasn't as good as the one that Reid sent after the driveway fiasco; this one is quite the gem:
Dear Terrell:
When I sent you home on August 10, it was my hope that you could cool off and return with a renewed attitude and focus. I attempted, in a non-provocative way, to give you a chance to start from scratch. Since that time, you have made a spectacle of this situation, continued to criticize teammate and coaches, and made false statements to the media. I am trying hard to work with you and give you the benefit of the doubt; you are making that almost impossible.
In my initial letter dated July 26, 2005 I notified you that your threats to me during a telephone conversation that "when (you) report to training camp you plan to be disruptive and act in a deviant manner" was an unacceptable stance and would be dealt with accordingly.... Most concerning is your statement that you will not change your behavior when you report back to camp on August 17, 2005. Clearly you have followed through with your threat from our phone conversation and your actions have been totally inappropriate and detrimental to the team. I am now putting you on notice a third time, that this is a violation of Club rules which allows the Club to impose fines against you....You cannot expect me to continue to warn you and not take significant action if this continues.
...Failing to appear at two mandatory autograph signing sessions, is a violation of paragraph 2 and a clear breach of your contract. Your actions will not be tolerated any longer and we will deal with any further violation by using all and any avenue available to us.
Lying about signing a non-existent waiver is certainly not constructive in terms of our relationship, and does not further anyone's goals. Especially since the reality is that we bent over backwards to make you aware that we were more than willing to share the risk with you....
...I have been very clear in what we deem to be appropriate and inappropriate behavior on at least three occasions now, and I advise you to take my words to heart.
Sincerely,
Andy Reid
Executive VP Football Operations/Head Coach
cc: NFLPA
NFL Management Council
So this is the point where T.O. might have figured out that these dudes weren't going to budge. Sure, they wanted him to play nice and they gave him plenty of chances to set things right -- but they were obviously setting him up in a very legal/ corporate way. Maybe he intrepreted those extra chances and soft style from Andy Reid as a signal that they would eventually cave; I would have seen all that legalese and worried that the fix was in. Also, I never trust when people are extra nice or soft-spoken like that; can't be helped, I'm a primate.
Apparently, the suspension softened T.O. a bit and he started to play nicer in the sandbox. But not that nice:
Owens was continuing to defy the Coach and the team by, for example, repeatedly violating the dress code and parking in coaches' spaces and in handicapped spots.
Parking in the handicapped spot? Seriously, dude. That's just not very cool. The amazing thing is that the Eagles and Reid kept indulging this dude. Or, rather, the amazing thing is that they really thought that they would make it through the season indulging this dude who was obviously/ desperately trying to screw things up.
Because then came the whole blowup thing with the Michael Irvin and the interview about Brett Favre and "lacks class" happened, along with the completely sublime apology subplot. Fantastic. The details:
Following the interview, the Coach again confronted Owens and told him "he couldn't do those things" and that he was going to have to suspend him. But, Reid proposed a way out. First, the Coach said Owens would need to apologize to the organization publicly. Second, he told Owens to "get with the quarterback and work this thing out. Work it out." Later, testifies the Coach, he learned of more players being upset. He reviewed the transcript, found supportive comments that Owens had made and spoke to him again. He told Owens:
Hey, man, there were some good things in there. But these things right here are wrong. And this team right now, that locker room isn't right. It's just not right. It's just not right. There's too much questioning going on. And a lot of it right now is they are questioning you. And let's just get it straight, or I have to suspend you.
Wait, was Andy Reid actually this polite about all this? He isn't just screaming at T.O. and firing him? Andy Reid, where are your dominance instincts? You should be destroying this guy. What's this namby-pamby respect-everyone's-feelings nonsense: this guy was being a jerk.
It was at that point, testifies the Coach that he added a third requirement:
I said you need to stand in front of that team and let them know what you meant, and get this thing settled. I even gave him examples because that's not an easy thing for him to do. But I thought it was important. I just thought at that time the team needed to hear -- again, this is a veteran Player they look up to as a football Player and just say, hey, listen -- one of the examples I gave him -- this thing didn't come out right. It didn't come out the way I wanted it to. I even told him it does not need to be a tear-jerker team. I don't need that. I just need it set straight. It didn't come out the way I wanted it to, and it won't happen again. I'm staying away from the TV's and all the radio and so on. I'm staying away from it all. It's not going to happen again.
So all you have to do is say sorry. Nothing dramatic. Talk like I do at my press conferences. "This thing didn't come out right and we'll get it fixed." Just say it was an accident and I won't do it again. You don't even have to think about what to say. You cool with that?
Apparently not.
But the Player rejected the offer, telling the Coach he couldn't go to McNabb and didn't feel comfortable appearing in front of the team. The Coach solicited Rosenhaus' assistance, and the agent prepared a statement, including an apology to Donovan, which, the Coach assured Owens, need not be read in public.
I can just imagine...
T.O.: So I can't do the apology-to-the-team thing, nope, and I sure as hell am not talking to 5.
Andy: Drew, would you talk to him?
Drew: Here you go, Terrell. I wrote it up for you. And Andy, we have your word that he won't have to say this in public?
T.O.: Cause I would never say this in public.
Andy: No, you won't have to say it in public.
But when push came to shove, well, that pride got the better of him (I think it's pride).
Owens apologized to the Eagles organization in public. But he continued his refusal to speak directly to the team or to Donovan McNabb. At that point, Reid notified him he would be suspended.
The Seahawks game was much closer than the arbitrator's opinion. Seriously. It wasn't close. And to think there were tons of blathermonkeys warning that T.O. just might win! They didn't understand the power of the Eagles' legal department. The opinion contains gems like this one:
It may hardly be argued that Terrell Owens was unaware either that he was treading on increasingly thin ice or that his actions, considered individually or taken together, did not constitute conduct that was in fact detrimental to the Club. Without question, fundamental principles of labor law require that, save for cases of so-called "cardinal" offenses, discipline should be progressive in nature. The Association directs the arbitrator's attention to Zellars v. New Orleans Saints, wherein Arbitrator Zumas reduced the player's one game suspension (the Club claimed he had lied to his coaches and refused to participate in practice) to a $2,000.00 fine. In so holding, the arbitrator observed that, while the team claimed a series of past problems, there was no evidence of any previous disciplinary actions. The same may not be said here. To conclude that Owens had not been previously disciplined would be to trivialize to the point of absurdity the explicit and repeated written warnings and verbal counseling from the Coach, as well as the one-week banishment from training camp.
Bam! Right there! You see! Bam! This team was a freakin mess!
*****
So what did I learn from reading this? The powerpoint slide summarizing the arbitrator's ruling would contain the following bullets:
T.O. Was A Real Jerk: so we knew two things about T.O. from the day he signed with the Birds: (1) he was totally sweet at football and (2) he was a jerk. Both remained true throughout his tenure with the Birds, only we got them in stages; that is, his jerkness was muted through his first 11 months with the team. But when he turned on his evil jerk powers -- lo, they are truly a force to be reckoned with! And to hear the nonsense that was going on behind closed doors...I mean, what he said to the press was pretty bad, but all this additional crap (the parking in handicapped spaces, the refusals to offer even the tiniest apologies) is just amazing. It's all so crazy-sounding that you start to wonder if he's actually too dumb to realize how much of a jerk he is. I mean, he couldn't really consciously act this way, right? He either is a gigantic jerk or he's really stupid and not self-aware. One or the other. Either way, it's not so impressive.
Andy Reid Is Really Corporate (And Maybe A Bit Of A Wuss): is Andy Reid just the modern-day manager or what? All his touchy-feely one-on-ones, and putting T.O. in a position to win, and showing him what success looks like, and blah blah blah. Of course, it was all backed up with a ruthless legal/ corporate approach. There's no doubt that T.O. got special treatment from Andy Reid. Had to. He's a unique talent, and he's a guy who wins games. So they coddled him, but only in terms of how they spoke with him. They didn't budge an inch on the money issue. I don't know who makes that call -- is it Reid? Banner? Lurie? Whoever makes the call that T.O. isn't getting another cent over our dead bodies, Andy Reid had to deal with the repercussions. How he handled those repercussions? That's probably for another posting. Andy Reid played this whole thing with an eye towards the nuclear option -- the day we all knew was coming (at least all of us except T.O.) where he'd have to suspend T.O. This must be what firing someone at the Post Office is like.
The Eagles Don't Like Each Other: the repeated references to unnamed "players" coming to Reid to complain about the situation in the locker room only confirms what the Philly papers just won't stop talking about -- these guys don't get along. This is bad. I don't know if it's the reason why they've played so poorly this year, but it's certainly part of the story. And it's something that needs to get fixed if these guys are actually going to improve next year. Sigh.
Anyway, it's well worth a read. Lots of good stuff. Makes you hope that someone is keeping track of this year the way they kept track of last year. This year would make a much better book than last year. I hope one of the local Philly blathermonkeys is on that.
Posted by thatkid at December 15, 2005 12:23 PM under
Philly
, Sports
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