Cowboys Release Owens

This past Christmas, my brother and I swapped our presents underneath our Christmas tree and to our surprise, we both opened up a Cowboy-blue Terrell Owens jersey in our size. A little more than two months later, Owens is now reported to be released from the Cowboys and is now a free agent. Needless to say, today was a depressing day in the Mundy house.

My dad called me out of my room first thing in the morning to listen to the developing story of T.O. 's release and after watching ESPN for a few hours, not one reporter/sports anaylst believed this was a bad move. I know T.O. causes a lot of drama and I know he doesn't have the cleanest track record, but as a Cowboy fan he was fun to watch and my favorite player.

The country definitely didn't agree. ESPN asked the nation if they would want T.O. on their team and every state rejected him. This made me wonder: Does personality outshine talent in every case?

Jerry Jones, owner, president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, said his personality had nothing to do with his decision to let Owens go. However, ESPN reporters had different opinions to why Jones made the move. At the age of 35, T.O. doesn't have too many career runs left and will probably play in September with another team, but reporters felt his behavior was too unruly and that is why Jones cut the strings. I thought this could be true, but T.O. is #2 in all-time receiving touchdowns just behind Jerry Rice. That's a heavy statistic to swallow...and one to pass-up.

All day I kept squinting at the television, hoping the news was just misread or misreported. My wish didn't come true. Reporters in Dallas and across the country elaborated on this new information and even interviewed Cowboy teammate Terrence Newman. But after listening to every side of every reporter, I began to believe that Jones did release T.O. because of his personality. However, I didn't get the real story until I heard the words from Jones himself. Why do reporters report information they know will stir up the audience, even if they know the information is stretched? Jones' interview posted on the Dallas Cowboy website plainly stated his reasoning behind Owens' release and should have been the key source for all ESPN reports. Jones let T.O. go not because of who he was off the field, but his lack of performance on the field this last season. As a Cowboy fan, I wish they went to the mouth of the source rather than the minds of the analysts. True fans deserve the truth, right?