Upon Further Review I Am Still Going With T.O.!!!

THE INCOMPARABLE AND UNCONQUERED T.O.

THIS IS MY OFFICIAL RESPONSE TO WHAT N.B. AND T.M. WROTE ABOUT T.O. AND HIS "ANTICS"...I AM PRO-T.O. OR PRO-WORKER RIGHTS AND I HOPE THAT MY DEFENSE OF MY PRO-ADVOCACY FOR T.O. AND WORKERS IN GENERAL IS DONE JUSTICE BY MY REPLY...KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS WRITTEN BEFORE THE NFL FINALIZED ITS LABOR AGREEMENTS WITH THE NFL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION AND BEFORE T.O. SIGNED HIS LUCRATIVE THREE YEAR 25 MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT WITH A GUARANTEED 10 MILLION DOLLARS IN ADVANCE WITH THE DALLAS COWBOYS.

On March 2, 2006 I Wrote:
Greetings Family,
Hey T.M. you know I had to answer back correctly…That was a beautiful argument you made and so I had to marinate on it for a few weeks to really grasp all that was said…The next thing I am now going to say is that T.O. was right!!!:o) If you don’t know please look at the links below…The NFL players might have a strike and many teams may lose their so-called coveted stars because they are so stingy with their money:

NFL PLAYERS MAY STRIKE

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING

I know many people think that T.O. is poison or bad chemistry, but a lot of us are on the outside looking in…That’s the mainstream media portrayal of T.O. and his antics…If they keep the damn mike and camera out of his face there would be no T.O. Show…If everybody had the media on them at all times of the day, many of the actions we take, the words we speak and the decisions we make would look fucked up as well…We all might find ourselves in the same league as one of those “bad Blacks” always on t.v. such as Bobby Brown,Mike Tyson, Ron Artest, Ricky Williams, and yes T.O.

Some people are attacking Donovan because he comes from a respectable home and speaks proper English…I am definitely not one of those people, but I am attacking Donovan because in my eyes at the present moment I don’t consider him a leader, but just an exceptional football player when he wants to play the way that he knows best…T.M. you should have also mentioned that Brett Favre is the only three time MVP winner in NFL history and that he’s basically second only to Marino in every major quarterback category (completions,attempts, yards, touchdowns) that matters…Regardless of what happened last year or if he decides to come back this year (if there’s a season) Brett is a first ballot Hall of Famer of the highest order…The same thing at this point can’t be said of Donovan because he still has some years to go and things to prove before it can be proven otherwise…And so for Donovan or anybody to equate what T.O. was saying as just race card pulling is missing the point…Donovan is very thin skinned when it comes to criticism whether constructive or not.

Another thing as far as I am concerned I do not trust the media’s portrayal of anyone or anything…You must remember that these are the same media institutions and their spawn that basically called Malcolm X the anti-christ or “the hate that hate produce” (a title of the t.v. special conducted by a young Mike Wallace
that introduced a young Malcolm and The Nation of Islam to the National mainstream), Dr. King a terrorist and pinko (communist, but in my estimation Dr. King was more communalist than communist) now both are now considered among the greatest leaders America has ever produced…Michael Jackson a.k.a. “Wacko Jacko” (who’s more wacko truly the parents that gave kids to Michael Jackson to ‘love’; The non-profits like Make-A-Wish Foundation that gave him an endless supply of children to "consume"; His handlers whom seem to only have his best interest at heart when it concerns making money off of Michael’s misery??? I say it is all of the above)…Before Bin Laden the great, young, brash and confident (arrogant) Muhammad Ali was the favorite muslim of choice to hate in this country for his stance on human rights, religious beliefs and his opposition to the Vietnam War…George Foreman was the boogey man in his youthful days now he’s the kind man selling more grills than Paul Wall…How is it that Kobe Bryant at one point not too long ago be despised as one of the most hated players in all of professional American sports, but now is considered to be one of the most popular athletes in America because he was the second leading vote getter in NBA All Star Selection this year??? How could Ray Lewis go from being a murder suspect with a cloudy and questionable future one year to a marketable symbol of the NFL with unlimited potential the next??? This same media juggernaut has portrayed Allen Iverson as being a wife beating, no practicing, disrespectful,overpaid, selfish, thugged out, weeded up, gun toting athlete, but now the media portrays him as being snubbed by the U.S. Olympics Basketball team because he is a selfless team player, passionate and dedicated basketball player who reaches out to those less fortunate through his charity foundation!!! (Lol) The media screwed Barry Bonds up so bad that he’s now dressing in drag impersonating
Paula Abdul (I thinks someone needs a trip to Africa!)…So what I’m saying is Donovan McNabb isn’t the choir boy or saint that the media portrays him to be and T.O. isn’t the bad boy or hell raiser that the media portrays him to be as well…They both are somewhere in between like everybody else…

T.O. MUCH SMARTER THAN PEOPLE THINK

And call me crazy if you haven’t already but many people called T.O. crazy for not wanting to go to the Baltimore Ravens…You must ask yourselves this: Why are the Lewis boys, Ray Lewis (a Super Bowl MVP for the Ravens) and Jamal Lewis (who ran 2000 plus yards with the Ravens two years ago) trying their best to get outta of B’more???

And T.O. was right about San Francisco as well…How you may ask??? Well Jeff Garcia is no longer there and is currently mediocre and not starting for anybody on a regular basis and Gregg Knapp (?) is currently running an offense that really doesn’t have a need at the moment for wide receivers of T.O.’s caliber down in Atlanta…Actually they do need a wide receiver with T.O.’s talent that may be the reason why Vick can’t get into passing on a regular basis because people already know he just going to go Crumpler and once you cut Crumpler off the offense turns one dimensional.

WHY DEMAND TO GET PAID WHAT YOU OWED???

Antonio Gates and Hines Ward at the beginning of last season did the same thing as T.O. as far as sitting out camp to get a better contract deal…Hines Ward and Antonio Gates could have easily been seen as ‘bad niggers’, disrupting team chemistry over individual gain, but that would not be the correct way to look at the situation…The correct way to look at the situation is that Hines Ward and Antonio Gates play hard as well as produce for their respective teams and they want to be fairly compensated for a job well done…Pittsburgh finally gave in and now they have a ring for the thumb and a Super Bowl MVP in Hines Ward…The San Diego Chargers shot themselves when they waited at the last minute to sign Antonio Gates to a contract of his liking…The shot however wasn’t as bad as a Cheney shot to the face, but it possibly cause them to miss the playoffs when they made Antonio missed the opening day game…However, in the long term they have a playmaker who should be productive for the Chargers for years to come…Poor Javon Walker of the Green Bay Packers went against better judgment and decided to settle for less money than he deserved and unfortunately when he injured himself that may have costed him millions of dollars in revenue down the line. :o(

T.O. THE TEAM PLAYER WITH HEART

T.O. is a team contributor when you get down to it because he obsessively rehabbed his broken leg in 6 ½ weeks to play in his first Super Bowl…Many people including doctors thought he shouldn’t play and that he might do more damage than good to his health…He could have possibly ended his career that night if he got hit or fell the ‘wrong way’…However, he didn’t suffer a career setback but possibly his greatest career highlight…T.O. could have been Super Bowl M.V.P. if someone did not choked his way out of glory…

The Eagles should have gave T.O. more money for what he accomplished that entire season setting team records in yardage, touchdowns and receptions as well as helping them get to the Super Bowl as promised, but the Eagles (and the NFL as a whole) are notorious for shortchanging their players and forfeiting their contracts when they get hurt or past their prime…Just look at the NBA and how well they compensate their players, active or not…Allan Houston is going to make almost 40 million dollars over the next two years from the Knicks and he’s retired!!! Grant Hill has been getting guaranteed big money (at least 20 million annually) without the guarantee that he will play an entire season if at all for the past several years!!! Most of the best players in NFL aren’t making this type of money, guaranteed or not, in the prime of their careers let alone past it…This is really a shame considering the NFL is probably the most violent and physically demanding and bruising of all the U.S. professional sports leagues…On average careers in the NFL aren’t that long (less than 5 years), but the punishment you take lasts a lifetime (just ask Earl
Campbell about his knees or lack thereof).

T.O. A DRUM MAJOR FOR PLAYERS’ JUSTICE

I am not saying that T.O. is a civil rights leader on the level of a Dr. King, but I am saying he is on the level of a Curt Flood and a Oscar Robertson as far as standing up for the rights of players in professional organized sports...The media would have you think that the majority of the players hate T.O. for what he allegedly done to the Eagles organization…However many applaud them and would even welcome him on their squads because he a phenomenally gifted and charismatic athlete who loves the game of football…If you think I am overstating T.O.’s influence then why are Gene Upshaw and the NFL Players Association currently at odds with Paul Tagliabue and the NFL owners over revenue sharing??? This is the same fight in a way that T.O. individually was waging with the Eagles over financial compensation but only in a grander scale that affects more people…Like all great pioneers of anything T.O. made personal sacrifices…Curt Flood after taking Major League Baseball to the Supreme Court was ran out of the sport and “unofficially” banned from the game, he suffered a mental and nervous breakdown and “ran” to Europe not Africa for several years…Mr. Flood did not publicly get the support from players because of fear of getting blackballed, but many agreed in private on the principle that Mr. Flood was trying to articulate and defend, but not in methodology (the same could be said about T.O.’s situation)…However, at the same time if it wasn’t for Mr. Flood saying hell no that ain’t right, then A-Rod, Manny Ramirez,Barry Bonds and many other baseball players wouldn’t be getting the money and perks they currently enjoy in their profession…The great Oscar Robertson (the man whose likeness should be the NBA’s official logo…Sorry Jerry :o)) demanded that the NBA respected a player’s right to choose free agency by taking the league to court and winning the case…Although he was too much of a great talent and a fan favorite to be ‘run out’ of the NBA, this action ‘unofficially’ has cost him a chance to be considered for many opportunites in coaching and being a general manager in the NBA (yes people are still mad over what he was able to do for player rights to choose:o() which is a shame because he’s got one of the highest basketball I.Q.s of all time in my opinion (he is the only man ever to average a triple double for a season and almost an entire career!)…By him standing up TO THE MAN T.O. will no longer receive the big money or “guaranteed” contract he was looking and it may even play a role in his selection into the Hall of Fame (which I already have problems with but that’s for another day), but at that same time he can look back on this and say he did stand up for something and was a catalyst in changing the course of U.S. professional sports history…Like the great Sam Cooke sang “it’s been a long, long time coming, but I know change gonna come oh yes it is!”

THE CONCLUSION???

In the big picture the T.O. saga in my humble estimation isn’t about wealthy and spoiled athletes getting wealthier and spoiler, but it is about labor relations between the workers or producers who produce the product that produces capital and the big corporations who benefit economically from the toil, talents and innovations of the workers or producers…In the end as long as you stand for something people may disagree with your actions or thoughts, but like you stated so eloquently T.M. it’s mandatory that you respect me.