[sportscurmudgeon]

jdlea:

Owens is a complainer and an egomaniacal pain. But he did not "bitch his way onto a new team".

He and the coaching staff in SF just did not see eye to eye about anything including who should play QB, who should get the ball on deep routes, how many times a game they should call deep routes, whether white wine goes better with poached salmon or red wine.

Owens had the hammer because he had a contract that let him walk.

Now comes the "problem". He missed an NFL deadline but it appears that according to his contract - which superceded the NFL deadline because of the way it was worded and because it had already been approved by the league and the NFLPA - there was a problem with him being a free agent.

People are saying the Ravens got screwed. I don't get that at all. If the special master was about to make Owens a free agent, the Ravens got their second round pick back from SF AND they got a 5th round pick. For what? They traded for a player that wasn't tradeable? Wouldn't the Skins love to get a 5th round pick for doing something like scratching their ass? that's what the Ravens did.

The Eagles come out of this looking like dumbasses. If the master was about to make TO a free agent, why send a DE to SF and a 5th rounder to Baltimore? Why not just wait it out and sign Owens to the deal he agreed to and keep the player and the draft pick?

The lesson of this case is that teams and the league need to be very careful in the contracts that they sign and approve if there are any deviations from the standard terminology. It can come back to bite you in the butt. Let's hope Vinnie has been very diligent in that regard...