Mr Cowboy
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Our main columnist Randy Galloway called me out a bit in an column Thursday where he demanded an apology from Terrell Owens for calling ESPN reporter Ed Werder a liar.
Galloway inferred that I was the only local reporter standing up for Owens because I said in an online column/mailbag on Wednesday that it was ridiculous to think that Owens was jealous of anyone, namely tight end Jason Witten, as Werder suggested based on his conversations with unnamed sources. The column is here.
http://www.star-telegram.com/332/story/1097985.html
Now maybe we are playing the semantics game. But I think in the column I supported reasons why Owens might be bothered by the idea that Witten is the team's leading receiver. But jealous has a different connotation. You can have a problem with someone and I suppose be bothered by their success. But that doesn't mean you are jealous.
He also suggested that because I didn't attack Werder's information that I totally agreed with it. Well, if truth be told no other writer on the beat wrote articles supporting Werder's information either. Usually, when a story breaks, news organizations will try to get sources to get their own story on the issue. Now we were the first one's to report that Owens and receivers Patrick Crayton and Roy Williams had meetings with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett about their belief that quarterback Tony Romo was throwing too much to Witten and not looking for the open receiver.
But no one from the Star-Telegram or the DMN followed Werder's "jealous" and "team divided" angle. The only story we followed was the controversy the initial story caused and the team angle that it was overblown. So should we draw any conclusion from that?
Of course, Galloway is an avid reader and watcher of television and internet news reports. And I'm sure that he read that one of the players' supposedly fingered as a source for Werder's story was none other than Witten himself. That was the foundation of the verbal altercation the two engaged in last Friday. Heated words were exchanged.
And if true it puts a different spin on the Werder story.
Again the point of my online column was not to be a supporter of Owens but to say that there more was at work here than him reverting to his selfish and divisive ways of his past in Philadelphia and San Francisco. It also was not meant to shoot down Werder's story. I respect Werder and the work he does.
But more than one coach and player told me Owens got a bad rap last week. And I would suggest Galloway talk to Bradie James before assuming that he is comfortable with how he was portrayed.
Even Werder reported that Owens has support from the majority of players on defense. And if you add the receivers, and running back Marion Barber, Owen's neighbor and the disc jockey during the source call out session last week, then it's safe to assume that the majority of the players support Owens.
That doesn't mean Owens is infallible or that he's handled everything right. It doesn't mean that his attitude and outbursts don't cause problems. And yes, he still drops too many passes.
But it also doesn't mean that the players are against Witten.
Again as I wrote in my on online column/mailbag, he did nothing last week to cause a problem for the team or put the season in jeapordy.
Personally, I like Witten and Romo. They weren't given anything _ Witten was a fourth round pick and Romo was a free agent _ and they made themselves into great players.
But nobody is perfect and they too make mistakes.
Could one of them have made a mistake last week?
Bottom line is that it's a bunch of "he said, he said" mess that was overblown in the first place. Everybody doesn't have to get along to win. That has been proven time and time again.
And despite the heavy play that it got from ESPN, the Cowboys are indeed winning and playing their best football of the season.
They have won four of their five last games and if they make the playoffs the Cowboys would go in as one of the league's hottest teams. And if they don't make the playoffs, you can look to the unforgiveable losses to the Rams and Cardinals and/or the self destruction in Pittsburgh when Romo tossed the game deciding interception on a pass intended for Witten as reasons why they didn't get in _ certainly more so than anything Owens did or said to divide the team.
I'm sure that is something even Galloway can agree with.
Clarence E. Hill Jr.
Galloway inferred that I was the only local reporter standing up for Owens because I said in an online column/mailbag on Wednesday that it was ridiculous to think that Owens was jealous of anyone, namely tight end Jason Witten, as Werder suggested based on his conversations with unnamed sources. The column is here.
http://www.star-telegram.com/332/story/1097985.html
Now maybe we are playing the semantics game. But I think in the column I supported reasons why Owens might be bothered by the idea that Witten is the team's leading receiver. But jealous has a different connotation. You can have a problem with someone and I suppose be bothered by their success. But that doesn't mean you are jealous.
He also suggested that because I didn't attack Werder's information that I totally agreed with it. Well, if truth be told no other writer on the beat wrote articles supporting Werder's information either. Usually, when a story breaks, news organizations will try to get sources to get their own story on the issue. Now we were the first one's to report that Owens and receivers Patrick Crayton and Roy Williams had meetings with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett about their belief that quarterback Tony Romo was throwing too much to Witten and not looking for the open receiver.
But no one from the Star-Telegram or the DMN followed Werder's "jealous" and "team divided" angle. The only story we followed was the controversy the initial story caused and the team angle that it was overblown. So should we draw any conclusion from that?
Of course, Galloway is an avid reader and watcher of television and internet news reports. And I'm sure that he read that one of the players' supposedly fingered as a source for Werder's story was none other than Witten himself. That was the foundation of the verbal altercation the two engaged in last Friday. Heated words were exchanged.
And if true it puts a different spin on the Werder story.
Again the point of my online column was not to be a supporter of Owens but to say that there more was at work here than him reverting to his selfish and divisive ways of his past in Philadelphia and San Francisco. It also was not meant to shoot down Werder's story. I respect Werder and the work he does.
But more than one coach and player told me Owens got a bad rap last week. And I would suggest Galloway talk to Bradie James before assuming that he is comfortable with how he was portrayed.
Even Werder reported that Owens has support from the majority of players on defense. And if you add the receivers, and running back Marion Barber, Owen's neighbor and the disc jockey during the source call out session last week, then it's safe to assume that the majority of the players support Owens.
That doesn't mean Owens is infallible or that he's handled everything right. It doesn't mean that his attitude and outbursts don't cause problems. And yes, he still drops too many passes.
But it also doesn't mean that the players are against Witten.
Again as I wrote in my on online column/mailbag, he did nothing last week to cause a problem for the team or put the season in jeapordy.
Personally, I like Witten and Romo. They weren't given anything _ Witten was a fourth round pick and Romo was a free agent _ and they made themselves into great players.
But nobody is perfect and they too make mistakes.
Could one of them have made a mistake last week?
Bottom line is that it's a bunch of "he said, he said" mess that was overblown in the first place. Everybody doesn't have to get along to win. That has been proven time and time again.
And despite the heavy play that it got from ESPN, the Cowboys are indeed winning and playing their best football of the season.
They have won four of their five last games and if they make the playoffs the Cowboys would go in as one of the league's hottest teams. And if they don't make the playoffs, you can look to the unforgiveable losses to the Rams and Cardinals and/or the self destruction in Pittsburgh when Romo tossed the game deciding interception on a pass intended for Witten as reasons why they didn't get in _ certainly more so than anything Owens did or said to divide the team.
I'm sure that is something even Galloway can agree with.
Clarence E. Hill Jr.
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