We watch it all transpire right before our very eyes and it’s like, truly, What the heck is going on here?! Is this real? Why is this soap opera taking place in a time when so many other things are so much more important?

Terrell Owens is there, on the TV, alongside his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. I watch it. I digest it. I can’t believe what I’m hearing and what I’m seeing and, frankly, I wonder what kind of angle they can possibly have.

If I tell you this whole thing reminds me of Michael Jackson/O.J. Simpson and any other kind of freak show of the modern era (workouts in his yard in front of the media; are you kidding me?) … hey, I’m just being honest. I know how Joe Banner and Andy Reid feel. They are hopeful that Owens will realize the situation and come to grips and report on Wednesday to the Eagles and feel like he wants to be part of the team.

I hold out that same hope.

And then I watch television. And I see Owens entertaining the media while he’s playing basketball in his poorly-manicured front yard with dozens of friends-of-the-moment and I’m thinking how completely ridiculous this whole thing is.

I have a couple of questions that only time will answer.

No. 1: What is T.O. trying to accomplish here?

I don’t know. By calling out head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Brad Childress and quarterback Donovan McNabb, Owens is saying some pretty incriminating things. Will that help his case with the Eagles? No. Let me repeat, as the Eagles have done so many times: Owens will not be released. He will not be traded. He will not have his contract renegotiated.

What is there to prove? Do Owens and Rosenhaus understand how entrenched the Eagles are here? It ain’t happening, and the choices are simple: Either you suck it up and play as an Eagle or you don’t play.

Coming in as a militant and playing the martyr is not going to be productive. Again here is the message: If Owens wants to join the team and be a part of things with both feet in, hey, we’re here. We’ll welcome him back.

If he’s going to come in and do otherwise, that will not be accepted. There is more to being a Philadelphia Eagle than practicing hard and playing hard in a game. There is a social and ethical responsibility. There is a respect that goes along with the contract.

Does T.O. think he can bully the Eagles?

I hope not. It won’t work, if he thinks that is the case. Why would you call out McNabb? My gosh. I’ve been around quarterbacks for 20 years. McNabb is the greatest leader I’ve ever seen in a locker room. He is the greatest representative I’ve ever been around for an organization. This is just insane … calling out your quarterback? One who has accomplished what McNabb has accomplished? Makes no sense…

What happens next?

Again, I think the Eagles will, as Banner said on Thursday, exercise every option they can to hopefully make this a positive situation. But, patience takes you only so far. When Owens went on national television on Thursday and says he signed a waiver to play in the Super Bowl, implying that the team made him do so, the Eagles immediately issued a statement saying "He absolutely did not sign a waiver with the team prior to last year’s Super Bowl. He was not even asked."

With the team. Key phrase there. Is Owens trying to tell the nation that the Eagles forced him to sign a waiver? Well, hey, the Eagles are saying that is not the case at all.

That’s the only stand Owens has at the moment. Did he sign a waiver with the team? The Eagles say no. What does Owens say?

Furthermore, I take offense when he tries to discredit Reid and Childress — two of the finest men I’ve ever met in 20 years of covering the NFL. It’s absurd.

Owens is in dangerous territory. He’s coming off as a desperate man grasping at straws.

I will say this, and then I will move on to the Eagles who are on the field: Owens is fighting a battle in which he has only two choices: Play this year as a full-fledged member of the team, or don’t play football at all. Putting on this show and trying to badmouth the organization isn’t going to work. Don’t try to discredit me and my co-workers, T.O. That doesn’t fly here.

Now … About The Football Team