Not Another TO Story

The Hall of Fame game was played yesterday and you had to wonder what Jerry Rice was thinking as he watched the receiver play who took his position on the 49ers roster.  That receiver was Terrell Owens, and while TO will probably make it into the Hall of Fame himself one day, that's where the similarity between the two receivers ends. 

Jerry Rice is the standard barer for what every team wants from their WR's, while TO is the standard barer for everything teams don't want.  Sure TO has put up amazing numbers over his career, but he's black listed in every town he's played.  The 49ers, Eagles, and Cowboys were all happy to see him long gone and even the Bills, who only have 1 WR on their roster that had more than 3 receptions last season, didn't want to bring him back. 

So how does TO feel about being treated like a leper by all of his former teams?  He's said he could have "done some things different" but he's still upset about the way he was shown the door in Dallas.  "I still stand by the things that I said and what was done." he told reporters before the game.  "I know that honestly it wasn't my fault."  Sure it wasn't.  Teams cut WR's who just finished the season with over 1,000 yards receiving and 10 Td's all the time.  Especially when they're model teammates.

And what about the Hall of Fame?  What would it mean for TO if he were to get his own bronze bust?  Well he thinks making it into the Hall of Fame is "something special" but at the same time he couldn't "care less" if he got in, proving once again that denial isn't just a river in Egypt.  And yes, I got that joke from my son.

As for the game itself, TO caught 2 passes for 18 yards in limited action and looked a lot better then another former 49er J.T. O'Sullivan who only completed 4 of his 11 passes for 33 yards, 1 interception, and a QB rating of 7.  For those that are wondering, that's not 7 out of a possible 10, but 7 out of a possible 158.3.  D'oh!

Now that Chad Ochocinco and TO are on the same team they've been dubbed "Batman and Robin".  I'm no too sure who's Batman and who's Robin but while TO at least had 2 receptions, Ochocinco finished the game without any and only had one ball thrown his way.  At least he looked stylish in his solid gold shoes.  He said he wore the shoes to honor the 2010 Hall of Fame inductees, because nothing says I respect what you did as a player more than gold shoes.  Maybe he just wanted to one up Dorothy's silver shoes from "The Wizard of Oz".  And yes, I know they're ruby in the movie, but in the book they're silver.

There were also a couple of Jones sightings in the game.  Former first round pick Adam "Pacman" Jones returned one kickoff for 31 yards, one punt for 9 yards, and got the start on defense where he made 3 tackles.  Another former first round pick Matt Jones, also played well for the Bengals leading all their receivers with 3 catches for 42 yards.  I just wonder what the over/under is for Bengals WR coach Mike Sheppard for when he's going to go mentally insane having Ochocinco, TO, Antonio Bryant, and Matt Jones all in the same WR group.

It's too early to know if TO will provide life to the Bengals anemic offense.  They looked just as awful as they did last season, but the starters were only in for a couple of series.  But at least a few players from the Bengals in state rival Browns aren't too concerned.  When the Browns starting CB Brandon McDonald heard TO was going to the Bengals he sent out this tweet, "TO to da Bengals huh???  Yesss, another piece of !$%^ fa da Browns secondary to (term reffering to gang rape)."  To which TO responded, "Who's Brandon McDonald?"