DuaneThomas71
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I thought some of you might be interested to hear the truth regarding the alleged "T.O. controversy."
Those who I talked to close to the situation are in absolute shock right now over the direction ESPN has taken the past few days. What you are seeing now is a carefully conceived ploy being executed to boost ratings for the 2009 fiscal year, which is vital as the network hopes to build new advertising revenue.
While it would be easy to blame the reporters for this yellow journalism, they're only the tip of the iceberg. The reality is that ESPN executes have melted down and gone into panic mode regarding the current state of their network.
For those of you worried about the state of the Dallas Cowboys football team, perhaps you should take whatever you're envisioning now (which isn't at all accurate), quintouple it, and that's what ESPN meetings are like right now.
The ploy, as I was told, was designed to create a self-fulfilling prophecy in Dallas as a result of paranoia amongst players (chiefly Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, and Jason Witten). Those who hatched the plan believed that the faux-quotes would be enough to cast a sense of doubt over members of the Cowboys locker room, resulting in tension and, eventually, an actual blowup that would justify ESPN's outrageous coverage based on unnamed sources.
But it didn't work. Much to the chagrin of the powers that be at ESPN, the Cowboys players put their heads together and quickly figured out exactly what was going on. Ed Werder himself was actually present at the team meeting and was the one who reported to the higher ups that there was something impeding the plan.
The constant changes to the very article Werder reported are ESPN's attempts to adjust to Dallas having caught on.
My sources have each responded to the numerous things that have been stated by ESPN and other members through ESPN sourcing pertaining to the matter:
It was reported that Owens, Romo, and Witten have a strained relationship. While the details of their relationship are not factually known, there has been no team source to report any such strain. What in fact transpired was the following: A behind-the-scenes writer noted via text message that he noticed numerous plays in which Owens failed to block for Witten after he caught the ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The person on the other end of the conversation pitched the Owens/Witten angle to a story editor later that afternoon and it found its way to the higherups. The rest is history.
It was reported that Owens and Witten had a war of words today and got into a scuffle. This is untrue. This report is complete fiction in a desperation attempt to cause further distractions to the Cowboys. As you can imagine, the Cowboys, already having a firm grasp of what took place before, understood fully the intentions of this report.
It was reported that Owens, Patrick Crayton, and Roy Williams asked for a meeting with offensive coordiator Jason Garret. This is, in fact, true. However, what may be of interest to some of you is that the three receivers have spoken privately with Garrett several times this season.
Many people are wondering how Bradie James had his quote included with all of the quotes from unnamed sources. James was asked to explain how important communication is for a team leader. While answering the question, a reporter (not Ed Werder) asked if Tony Romo and Terrell Owens do a lot of communicating, to which James responded with his quote.
James never stated that he "played peacemaker" between Romo and Owens, but rather than he stayed out of their way and let them has things out when they disagreed on something (the context of these comments pertained to on the field disagreements).
So I hope that helps clear some things up for everyone. I know it's been a crazy week for Cowboys fans, but the reality is that this crazyness is smoke and mirrors; and it's sure to blow up in ESPN's face.
Those who I talked to close to the situation are in absolute shock right now over the direction ESPN has taken the past few days. What you are seeing now is a carefully conceived ploy being executed to boost ratings for the 2009 fiscal year, which is vital as the network hopes to build new advertising revenue.
While it would be easy to blame the reporters for this yellow journalism, they're only the tip of the iceberg. The reality is that ESPN executes have melted down and gone into panic mode regarding the current state of their network.
For those of you worried about the state of the Dallas Cowboys football team, perhaps you should take whatever you're envisioning now (which isn't at all accurate), quintouple it, and that's what ESPN meetings are like right now.
The ploy, as I was told, was designed to create a self-fulfilling prophecy in Dallas as a result of paranoia amongst players (chiefly Terrell Owens, Tony Romo, and Jason Witten). Those who hatched the plan believed that the faux-quotes would be enough to cast a sense of doubt over members of the Cowboys locker room, resulting in tension and, eventually, an actual blowup that would justify ESPN's outrageous coverage based on unnamed sources.
But it didn't work. Much to the chagrin of the powers that be at ESPN, the Cowboys players put their heads together and quickly figured out exactly what was going on. Ed Werder himself was actually present at the team meeting and was the one who reported to the higher ups that there was something impeding the plan.
The constant changes to the very article Werder reported are ESPN's attempts to adjust to Dallas having caught on.
My sources have each responded to the numerous things that have been stated by ESPN and other members through ESPN sourcing pertaining to the matter:
It was reported that Owens, Romo, and Witten have a strained relationship. While the details of their relationship are not factually known, there has been no team source to report any such strain. What in fact transpired was the following: A behind-the-scenes writer noted via text message that he noticed numerous plays in which Owens failed to block for Witten after he caught the ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The person on the other end of the conversation pitched the Owens/Witten angle to a story editor later that afternoon and it found its way to the higherups. The rest is history.
It was reported that Owens and Witten had a war of words today and got into a scuffle. This is untrue. This report is complete fiction in a desperation attempt to cause further distractions to the Cowboys. As you can imagine, the Cowboys, already having a firm grasp of what took place before, understood fully the intentions of this report.
It was reported that Owens, Patrick Crayton, and Roy Williams asked for a meeting with offensive coordiator Jason Garret. This is, in fact, true. However, what may be of interest to some of you is that the three receivers have spoken privately with Garrett several times this season.
Many people are wondering how Bradie James had his quote included with all of the quotes from unnamed sources. James was asked to explain how important communication is for a team leader. While answering the question, a reporter (not Ed Werder) asked if Tony Romo and Terrell Owens do a lot of communicating, to which James responded with his quote.
James never stated that he "played peacemaker" between Romo and Owens, but rather than he stayed out of their way and let them has things out when they disagreed on something (the context of these comments pertained to on the field disagreements).
So I hope that helps clear some things up for everyone. I know it's been a crazy week for Cowboys fans, but the reality is that this crazyness is smoke and mirrors; and it's sure to blow up in ESPN's face.
to the forum. Love the username.
