The Terrell Owens Dispute

I posted this link to Pat Kirwan’s article regarding Terrell Owens’ contract and what he will earn in upcoming years, on RP. For ridiculousness, and without understanding of the “true” situation, I sided against TO (too) in saying that the guy got paid $650K per TD, compared to someone like Antonio Gates’ $23k, and it is a joke he should renegotiate his contract. Which in comparison to Gates, is almost laughable. But something that Pat Kirwan’s article failed to mention, it was displayed every so quietly in his data, is that Terrell will only earn $3.2 million in year 2 of this contract. Some could argue that if you average the first two years, then he’s making over $6 million each year and he should be happy. After looking at some of the “over-paid” players last year, that argument against Owens is complete bull-sh*t and here’s why:

• If TO earned $6 million last year (average of Years 1 and 2), yes he would have been a top 10 paid WR in the NFL. But he would have earned less than the likes of Darrel Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, Amani Toomer, Chris Chambers, Justin McCareins, of course Keyshawn Johnson and an injured Steve Smith,. Those who would have earned more, and arguably deserved it were Marvin Harrison and Randy Moss.

• In 2004, even the with ridiculousness of TO's $9.16 million, Harrison earned more than him, by $1.4 million. That's 15% MORE!

• Terrell’s “huge” salary was only $160,000 more than Darrell Jackson’s and $500,000 more than Amani’s. If this was Terrell's huge pay day, how are those other two even in the same ball park? It is no wonder that the Players Association strongly recommended that he NOT sign this contract.

• In 2005, after being the second highest paid WR in the NFL in 2004, TO will earn $3.2 million. That’s Dennis Northcut, Robert Ferguson and Marcus Robinson money. While, those three players may be in their largest salary years at $3 million, another three below average WRs will be in those same salary spots next year, and will not be producing anywhere near Terrell’s numbers.

• Terrell was the 4th highest paid player on his own team last year. Jevon Kearse, McNabb and Lito Sheppard all earned more.

• IMHO, I think Terrell feels that he earned his $9 million salary last year. Which I would actually agree. And I believe he thinks that he should get $9 million THIS year if he can put up the same numbers, because that is the going rate for a Top 5 WR in the NFL. But even if he doesn’t get the $9 million, only getting $3 million is a slap in the face. See, $9 million in a single season isn’t QB money. Getting $9 million EVERY season is. But TO isn’t asking for top QB money like Peyton Manning ($35 million), Pennington or McNabb. He’s asking for Mark Brunell money, who earned more than $9 million last year, to do what?.

I don’t think TO out-performed his contract in Year 1, but I think he justifed it. However, I do believe that rest of his contract is under paying him, for what should be his prime production years. If you can forget about the first year, just write it off and say he got paid as much as he should, then think about this; over the course of the next three seasons, Terrell Owens will earn an average of $4.8. That will mean he will NOT be one of the top 15 highest paid WRs in the NFL. Think about it on these terms. Not just the NFL, but all Professional Sports in America in 2005, how many of them will earn more than Terrell Owens' $3.2 Million? And how many should?

I may not like his antics, or the way he goes about getting this redone, but I do think he deserves more money.

Something Good on a Monday.

Some good news to come on a Monday Morning. After losing out on Washington bound QB Jake Locker last week, and Oklahoma State bound Michael Goodson news came in today that USC has landed #2 Safety Taylor Mays, over the Wolverines and Huskies. Taylor’s announcement came after he took a second visit to Washington’s Campus on August 12th. Mays who had attended USC’s practice on August 6th said, "I walked away from there knowing I was going to go to USC".

This bit of information, regarding the influence attending practices can have, has to be a good sign in respect to the recruiting of LB Allen Bradford, who was seen at USC’s practice on Friday. Pete Carroll’s practices are fast paced and very intense. He makes it a point to do lots of in-game situations, lots of scrimmaging and full contact drills. Mays mentioned that attending USC's practice, "was the deciding factor for me". While I have never had the opportunity to witness a practice first hand, it has to have the same feeling as watching your own private USC Football game. Being right there when Scott Ware lays out a WR, or Chauncey Washington breaks someones ankles and runs 70 yards for a score as Pete runs down the sideline in ecstasy, has to have some power over a recruit.

This news comes as a big relief for fellow Trojan fans, as USC had yet to capture a 5 Star verbal commitment so far for 2006’s class. Even though the recruiting process is still early, and many of the most important players are still on the board, it still sets an uneasy feeling when Washington, Notre Dame and even Pitt are landing top 100 verbals. Added to this nervousness is the fact that The Trojans had lost recruiting monster Ed Orgeron, this last season. Orgeron is credited with helping orchestrate one of thee, if not the best recruiting class in college football history in this year's incoming freshman class. This incoming class includes the #1 Player in the country and #1 QB prospect in Mark Sanchez. Along with Sanchez come #1 WR Patrick Turner, #2, #3, #4 and #11 nationally ranked LBs in Rey Maualuga (pictured), Brian Cushing, Luther Brown and Kaluka Maiava. Orgeron also helped recruit #2 DE Averell Spicer, who along with Lawerence Lo-Jack Jackson, looks to help fill the void of departed Shaun Cody.

The Stand-off has Ended. The Winner (or whiner) is YOU!

With the recent (relatively) changes to Rockhampalace.com, I have been in a standstill trying to figure out what to post there and what to post here (basically posting nothing). So, I have come to the conclusion that cool links, and non opinionated posts will go to RP, and everything I feel like ranting, or stating my opinion about will go here. The content of this blog has been dry because I either my life is boring, I do the same sh*t every day of every week, or my life contains things that I am not publishing on the web. You can be the judge. I could give you the “woke up, took a shit, checked my email” campaign, but I will leave that to Kevin Smith. Anyways, for those of you that are not College Football fans, and or do not like USC football, I will warn you ahead of time. USC will consume these pages and comprise the majority of the content. However, the occasional, “last weekend was my birthday. I took 15 shots at dinner and fell in fountain” stories will be posted sporadically. It did occur and I’m an idiot and will not argue otherwise.

A certain radio show was recent heard stating the Freddie Mitchell is the worst 1st round drafted WR in the last 10 years. Yes, the 5th year veteran from Ucla has not lived up to his 25th overall selection in 2001. I would argue that he wasn’t even the worst first rounder in that draft. Chicago taking David Terrell at #8 and Seattle taking Koren “this is my break-out year unless I show up drunk to a DUI trial” Robinson #9 were worse, in my opinion. Statically speaking however, both Terrell and Robinson have out performed Mitchell. So, as much as it hurts me to admit it, one must look no further than Jacksonville’s 2000 drafting of my boy R.Jay Soward to find a worse first round WR pick. Ouch. I’m not sure if it was Kareem Kelly or R.Jay that have disappointed me more as USC Alumnus (Don’t even think about bringing up The Juice).

As mentioned on RP (by me), yesterday marked the first day of full-pads practice for The Back to Back National Champion USC Trojans. September 3rd cannot come soon enough for me as well as the rest of the USC alumni. I have slated Fresno State and UCLA as the two games I will attempt to come back for (And yes, the Associates Party is in my plans). However, there is no doubt that November 12th at Strawberry Fields, or whatever they call it up there in hippie land, is in great anticipation as well. A little redemption blow-out for that game at home last year, where I aged about 10 years, and the-game-we-do-not-speak-of, would be great.

I’m just about finished with Gladwell’s “Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking”, which came highly recommended by Dell. To which I should continue the honors, and recommend it to you. The part about how expressions can actually influence your emotion, rather then emotion only influencing your face is incredible. That’s all I will say. This book entirely reminds me of William McClure’s BISC 230 class I took at USC, Brain, Mind and Machines: Topics in Neuroscience. The class was hard as hell, dendrites and axions, blah blah blah. But the really cool stuff was about all these experiments and strange brain phenomenon that occurred. For instance there is a special part of our brain that is responsible for facial recognition. However, one man had a trauma to this portion, so he could not recognize anyone, even his own wife. Imagine waking up, and not knowing anyone by their face. Yeah, you knew their voice, but if you saw them on the street you wouldn’t know them. So his wife had to wear the same hat everyday, so he would know who she was.

This week I have started to actually try and read Chinese. I have about 20 characters I can recognize so far, things like; you, me, he/she, them, us, tired, coming, busy, good bye, hello, good, health, Dad, Mom, Older Brother, Younger Brother, Older Sister, Younger Sister. I will not say that it is easy at all.