WERDER ON T.O. SNUB
Posted by Mike Florio on October 31, 2008, 2:10 p.m.
In response
to the report that Cowboys receiver
Terrell Owens gave ESPN’s Ed Werder
the Gail Cunningham treatment during a recent Q&A outside T.O.’s locker, we tracked down Werder for his reaction to the situation.
Here’s what Ed had to say. (Given our recent criticisms of ESPN, we were mildly surprised that Ed’s response was anything other than, “Next question.”)
“This seemed to become an issue following the Cowboys’ loss to the
Commanders at Texas Stadium,” Werder told us via e-mail, ”when T.O. hinted in his postgame press conference that he did not feel he had been provided enough opportunities in the game. Since we had the opportunity to ask him directly, I did so. He responded he did not have enough opportunities.
“I included that the starting point in my postgame piece. I do not believe he has considered any of the questions I have posed to him since that time. But he has never told me the reason he declines to answer my questions, so the truth is that I do not know his motivation.”
So, as a reader has pointed out, the “next question” routine toward Werder apparently isn’t new. It’s been going on for a while. And for the same reason that the league encourages players to make themselves available to the media generally,
we think that the NFL and the Cowboys should remind Mr. Owens that ESPN forks over $1.1 billion per year for the ability to telecast 17 regular-season games on Monday nights.
