Getcha popcorn ready, Bay Area football fans. Terrell Owens may be coming back, and he may be doing so in a Raiders uniform.
Multiple reports from ESPN are linking the unemployed free agent receiver to the Oakland Raiders. "Next stop for Terrel Owens could be the black hole and the Oakland Raiders!" says SportsCenter anchor Linda Cohn on her Twitter page. "This according to Espn's John Clayton."
She's not the only one hearing this. "I just got off the telephone with ESPN’s John Clayton," Bill Williamson writes on his ESPN AFC West blog. "Clayton said that it is his opinion that Oakland could be interested in Owens."
Do you see how neither of these ESPN reports involves any actual reported facts or verifiable details? This is what Al Davis means when he refers to journalists as "false rumor mongers".
Davis' former VP of Player Personnel chimed in on the rumor too, and he performs the throat-slash gesture. "We all know that the Raiders are not going to bring in another big-name wide receiver and let 2009 first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey sit on the sidelines for another year," wrote Mike Lombardi on the National Football Post. "It won't happen."
But on his Oakland Tribune blog, Raiders beat writer Jerry McDonald lists nearly 25 million reasons why T.O.-to-the-Raiders could and should happen.
"Raiders wideouts caught 99 passes for 1,360 yards and seven touchdowns last season combined," says McDonald, "Owens has had better years by himself."
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Let me add one more reason. If Owens joined the Raiders, he would have to play a regular season game at Candlestick against the 49ers this season. You think there's any chance Owens might plan an excessive yet entertaining touchdown celebration?
Yes, he might. Next question!
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who wishes Little T would learn to share his prescription painkillers.
