Pat’s Update: Kevin Boilard had some tweets on the speech:
T.O. asks everyone in audience @UTChattanooga who has been misunderstood, isolated, bullied, etc. to stand one by one: “This entire speech you thought was about me. This was for you” pic.twitter.com/dPXLp0tXyN
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens receives standing ovation after making the following statement in his @ProFootballHOF speech: “I am a man of courage. Courageous enough to choose Chattanooga over Canton”
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens got very emotional while talking about his late grandmother, buried face in handkerchief and took a moment to collect himself before continuing his speech: “I feel her presence here today”
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
The crowd erupts as Terrell Owens takes the stage, salutes fans pic.twitter.com/d7q8l4LIbS
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Fan shouts: “We love you T.O.!”
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
T.O. responds: “I love you, too...but I love me more”
*crowd explodes*
Terrell Owens says he’s not in Canton to take a stand against @ProFootballHOF voters: “The sportswriters are not in alignment with the mission and core values of the Hall of Fame” pic.twitter.com/humAe9LsZa
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Former #Cowboys WR coach Ray Sherman: “I could go on for hours about how great a person [Terrell Owens] is.” pic.twitter.com/ZvTi1oMnBW
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Former #49ers WR coach Larry Kirksey: Terrell Owens “played with grace, toughness, speed and power.” pic.twitter.com/R5IRaQbONR
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens’ former basketball coach at @UTChattanooga, Mack McCarthy, says the @ProFootballHOF took too long to induct T.O. and is met with a huge applause
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens waiting to be introduced at his Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony pic.twitter.com/5G2OwAKUhn
— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens putting on his gold #pfhof18 jacket for the first time. #The3PointConversion pic.twitter.com/HNlsBYH5Df
— The 3 Point Conversion (@3ptCnvrsn) August 4, 2018
Fooch’s update: Mike Silver will be on hand with reports from TO’s speech. The NFL Network reporter offered this update.
Earlier @terrellowens told me, ‘Those dudes in Canton don’t know what they’re missing.’ I’ll have more from McKenzie Arena at UT Chattanooga next on @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/tP0WB4pbVn
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) August 4, 2018
Terrell Owens was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past February, and his formal induction takes place Saturday, August 4th. Well, sort of. TO decided not to attend the ceremony in Canton, and instead will give his induction speech on the campus of his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The Hall of Fame will mail him his gold jacket, and will not include mention of him during their formal induction ceremony.
TO elected to skip the induction to protest what he sees as a flawed system for nominating and inducting players. On Saturday, he hosted a shopping spree for 32 boys from the Boys to Men youth program, at which he offered some clarification to ESPN.
“I understand why I’ve made my decision,” Owens said Friday before treating 32 boys from the Boys to Men youth program to a shopping spree. “I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. But again, obviously the criteria and the system put in place for the Hall of Fame in order for guys like myself to be inducted, there are guidelines that the writers -- the sportswriters -- are supposed to adhere to.
”This is not [about] not being inducted the first or second ballot, but it’s about the process in which guys are nominated and ultimately inducted. There is a flaw in that system. So this is not only about me, but it’s about the guys that went before me, that’s going to come after me. And I can make a stand for those guys so they won’t have to go through this situation.’’
For 49ers (and Cowboys and Eagles) fans, the question now is how to watch his speech. TO’s event will get going at 3:17 p.m., which is meant to symbolize his being the 317th player inducted into the Hall of Fame. I asked UT-Chattanooga if there will be a live stream of the event, and they said there were no plans for that. I spoke with someone at NFL Media, and they said NFL Network will air excerpts of TO’s speech during their broadcast of the Canton ceremony later in the evening. I have not seen anything about ESPN plans.
I would think ESPN would send a camera crew to Chattanooga to air TO’s speech, so we’ll see if anything comes of that. I’ll keep an eye out the rest of today, and hopefully we’re able to find some video of his speech when it gets started.