Really? He's arrogant? How?

Does he condescend to people when he talks to them? Is he a snob? Is he unapproachable?

Terrell Owens is the same man who essentially revolutionized the idea of athletes using the internet to communicate with their fans by ACTUALLY responding to them on the message board for his official website. Starting in 2003, the average Joe could easily get in touch with him just by going to terrellowens.com and posting on the "Ask Terrell" forum. He responded to thousands of fans in the next couple years, and when Twitter took off, he was one of the first to sign up and respond to his fans on there, which he has been doing ever since.

Now, he doesn't answer EVERY tweet he gets, but it doesn't take more than a few tries before you get a response from him.

This is TERRELL freaking OWENS. Go tweet your favorite A-list celebrity and see how quickly you get a response from this person.

If Owens were actually arrogant, he wouldn't be granting all these reporters these interviews when half of them will end up trashing him. They're lucky he's as good-natured as he is; if they pulled this crap with someone else, they would get their heads bitten off...or, at the very least, they'd receive a large dose of snark (See: Bonds, Barry).

But what makes this the most amusing is thinking about Owens's background in the context of these "arrogant" accusations. Here's a guy who was never a high school or college football star. The only college that offered him a scholarship was the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. There was nothing glamorous about his pre-NFL years.

He was drafted in the 3rd round mostly based on potential, and, get this -- character. NFL scouts and personnel directors were impressed with his work ethic and his overall attitude.

Then, through that work ethic, and being at the right place at the right time (San Francisco with Steve Young running the offense and Jerry Rice to model himself after), he grew into a top receiver.

Owens knows he's good at football. But he doesn't really care. Football has never been his passion. He plays football because he's good at it, not because he loves it. He has been quoted in the past as saying he would've been a basketball player instead (since basketball is his true passion) had he been good enough to even be a bench player in the NBA.

And now he's arrogant? Despite the fact that he had to work harder than anyone else to get where he is? Despite the fact that he sees himself as a basketball player who was forced into a sport he didn't like nearly as much?

Doesn't quite add up.


"But he said 'I love me some me'!!!"

I've always wondered how so many people can be hilariously oblivious to context.

Owens shouted "I love me some me" on the sidelines during an NFL game (at Atlanta in 2001, to be more specific) with NFL Films cameras on him. It was sideline pump up talk. Muhammad Ali-style smack talk. It was all in fun. Since people take it so seriously, Owens has continued to have fun with the idiots, joking in interviews about how "handsome" he is.

And people still don't get it. Scary.