Terrell Owens was denied from entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame last evening when the league announced its Class of 2016 at its NFL Honors award show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco.
Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Tony Dungy, Brett Favre, Kevin Greene, Marvin Harrison, Orlando Pace, Ken Stabler and Dick Stanfel all were elected in.
But Owens was not.
It is clear that the people who voted on the honor clearly had the intention of teaching T.O. “a lesson “ with the snub.
Because whether you like it or not, it is quite clear to anyone with two eyes that Owens was one of the best receivers to ever play the game.
Oh, and sorry for forgetting that the Hall if filled with nothing but choirboys, eh?
I’m not here to try to tear down the legacies of others already in.
I’m here trying to figure out why the people who voted left Owens out of the hall.
Was he a bad teammate? Sure.
Did he put himself first most of the time? Absolutely.
Did his personality rub people the wrong way? You’re damn right.
But none of that is criteria for electing someone to the Hall of Fame.
The numbers alone should speak for themselves.
Over 15 NFL seasons, Owens finished his career with 15,934 receiving yards (2nd all-time in league history), 1,078 receptions (6th) and 153 receiving touchdown (3rd).
Only receiving legend Jerry Rice is ahead of Owens in all of those categories.
He also put together one of the most gutsy performances in Super Bowl history.
On December 19, 2004 Owens suffered a severely sprained ankle and fractured fibula.
Less than two months later on February 6th, 2016, against doctors orders, Owens shocked the football world in Super Bowl XXXIX by taking to the field and finishing the game with nine receptions for 122 yards.
Owens was also elected to the Pro Bowl six times and was voted an All-Pro five times over the course of his career.
The voters had no problem electing Harrison in, who played the majority of his career with Peyton Manning and has an ugly gun incident in which a person was shot and a year later found dead, which is still clouded with mystery.
So what exactly is the criteria?
Look the other way for players you like and ones you don’t, jump on?
Because a guy celebrates too much while play a game, you exclude him from the Hall?
I’m just not buying that you take into account football first for some but not for others.
It is all just so petty.
And now Terrell Owens will have to wait at least another year before he gets to have his day in Canton.
