OK, we all know that the Bills and their fans have to be disappointed in what T.O. has done so far this year. But you know who may be just as disappointed? The local media. I remember when Owens signed with the Bills in March, Jerry Sullivan blogged about how excited he was that Owens was coming to town.
It had nothing to do with Owens giving the Bills a legit 2nd threat opposite Lee Evans. It had to do with Sully’s notebook and pen. Sully was chomping at the bit to interview Owens, along with the majority of the press core in Buffalo.
Flash forward 6 months, and Owens has offered nothing to the Buffalo media besides plugging his reality show and his crappy cereal. And to top it off, he’s becoming Mr. Exclusive. Last week, he rubbed a lot of the Buffalo media the wrong way by giving an exclusive interview with the USA Today. During the interview he pretty much bitched and complained about the media.
Then Sunday came, and Owens gave a 2 minute post-game conference where he was short with his answers and his tone with the media. Pretty much he gave nothing to the press core.
But now Mr. Exclusive is at it again. On Monday he gave an exclusive interview to the radio show “Two Live Stews” (Nice fricken name). Of course this will piss off the local press core, because Owens is going national once again, proving he doesn’t give a crap about the local media.
Owens was at it again, crying about the media. But this time Owens was turning his attention to how he was asked questions during his 2 minute presser on Sunday.
“[the media] took some more than initiative to try to get me to kind of go down the wrong path. I know the last two teams that I’ve been on, I felt like I left those teams prematurely due to the media interviews that I’ve done and things kind of taken out of context, and they created sort of a media whirlwind in the locker room and things kind of went downhill from there. I’m just trying to do the best job I can do as far as answering the questions and trying to be a better teammate and not try to throw people under the bus.”
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that Owens soundbites have been taken out of context over the years, but before Owens points the finger to Sully and Paul Hamilton for asking questions, he needs to look in the mirror first.
Owens demeanor when he arrived at the presser was uncalled for. The first question was asking about his thoughts on his catch streak ending. That wasn’t the type of question you think would call for him to throw someone under the bus.
Now did the media get testy towards the end of the conference? Yes. But Owens drew first blood, and more importantly he drew it on the local media. If he wants to go after anyone, it’s ESPN. Funny, the radio hosts that T.O. appeared with happen to make a number of appearances on ESPN’s show, “First Take.”
My take is Owens doesn’t respect the media in Buffalo. And those who want respect, give respect.
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