WHY T.O. IS A LIAR
Okay, I'm sick of hearing that T.O. just speaks his mind and gets in trouble because some of the things he says may not be politically correct because he is "such an honest guy". While I think he does speak his mind, I think his mind is not rooted in logic -- or honesty.In my view the most recent example of how he is just a flat out liar was in the straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back interview on ESPN.com. In that interview with "espn.com contributor" Graham Bensinger (apparently one of the few remaining reporters who has sufficiently and shamelessly praised T.O. enough to get an interview with him) T.O. tried to re-characterize his infamous remark about McNabb running out of gas in the Superbowl:
GB: You just said that following the Super Bowl, you obviously said that you weren't the only one, or you weren't the one that got tired, in referring to Donovan McNabb. Do you think your honesty becomes detrimental at times?
TO: No, not at all. I think with that comment, I said it probably in regards to my own conditions because I hadn't practiced with the team since my injury. I never referred to Donovan in that comment. A lot of people speculated, and they just assumed that I was talking about Donovan. That's not what I mean, and that's not what I meant. A lot of people, take a lot of things that I say out of context. If I didn't say his name in particular, then I wasn't talking about him. (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2214228&type=story)
In that question, "contributor" Bensinger made a pretty obvious mistake in quoting T.O. -- suggesting that T.O. previously said he wasn't "the only one" who got tired in the superbowl. What did T.O. do? He seized that language, even though it was incorrect, as it provided an easier, albeit dishonest, way to explain the "tired in the superbowl" comment. He claimed that he wasn't actually talking about Donovan, but about his own conditioning.
That suggestion is simply preposterous. What T.O. really said was:
"I played every snap they allowed me to play," Owens told ESPN.com. "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 guy who got tired in the Super Bowl." (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2049794)
Sure, his statement was about his conditioning in part. But T.O. clearly referenced the "one" who got tired, who obviously wasn't T.O. Perhaps more tellingly, he later spoke about the problems he had with McNabb (which started as a result of that comment). He described being frustrated and disappointed, and then referenced that comment, explaining that he spoke "out of emotion":
"It's not that I hate Donovan. I love Donovan. I don't hate him at all," Owens said, speaking publicly for the first time since he returned from a one-week exile from training camp three weeks ago. "I was just disappointed in a few things. I have the right to do that.
"Everybody speaks out of emotion. Everybody speaks out of frustration. Everybody's done it. That means I'm human. If you want me to go in and say I was wrong, maybe I was. Maybe I wasn't."
So here he singles out Donovan, at the same time he apologies for the statement. Hmmm. The statement wasn't about McNabb? Please.