The Pro Football Hall of Fame will hold their induction ceremony in three weeks, but there will be little mention of former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens during the process. Hall executive director Joe Horrigan told Clark Judge of Talk of Fame Network that TO will not be introduced for the Gold Jacket ceremony, and he will not be announced the following night at the induction ceremony where inductees give their speeches. Horrigan said, “The focus is on the guys who are here.”
Owens announced last month that after visiting Canton for his bust and gold jacket measurements, he decided he did not want to spend his formal induction at the Hall of Fame ceremony. Last week, Owens announced that instead he will make his induction speech at McKenzie Arena on the campus of University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he played football, basketball, and track for three seasons.
According to the Hall, Owens’ gold jacket will be mailed to him Saturday morning, and his image will be included on all depictions of the Class of 2018. Otherwise, there will be no mention of Owens.
On the one hand, I get focusing on the inductees in attendance. On the other hand, it does come off as a little petty on the Hall’s part. I’m not surprised they would go this route given that Owens is the first living player to choose not to attend his induction in Canton. But it ends up as mostly just a never-ending cycle between the two sides. Both have tried to play it off as though they’re just doing their thing, but clearly feelings were hurt in all this. While I can see why the Hall of Fame is doing what they’re doing, I’m inclined to agree more with Frank Schwab’s take at Yahoo!’s Shutdown Corner.
That being said, I am curious as to if Owens will live stream his own speech. His Saturday induction event is scheduled for 3:17 p.m., which is earlier in the day than the formal induction ceremony. I have to think either it will be streamed, or NFL Network and ESPN will make sure and get cameras down there to broadcast from the event.