The Sports Truth

The Sportstruth’s senior editor, Lucas Dwyer, provides his observations and thoughts from the weekend that was.

Apparently my assertion that the Colts were not going away was wrong.

If I were a Colts fan, this would be sour grapes, but the Chargers got amazingly lucky (edittor’s note: Luke is a Patriots fan). The Colts easily could have and should have put up 35 or 42 points and yet San Diego won without Ladanian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers (you could argue they get better with Billy Volek, but we won’t do that here). Nevertheless, as the aforementioned Patriots fan, I’d much rather play San Diego than Indianapolis.

Can San Diego beat New England in the AFC Championship game if they play without Rivers and LT?

However, while we’re here, how is the early line for the Patriots and Chargers game -14.5? Sports Truth founder, Levi Matthews, believes that the spread technically should be lower than the Jax game, but believes that the Jaguars are a better team than San Diego. Maybe the spread is so high because we don’t know LT or Rivers status yet, and that makes sense, but you’d have to think that if they both play, the spread should be lower than the -13 the Jaguars were getting from the Patriots.

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Jessica Simpson is being blamed for Tony Romo’s poor performance last Sunday and Terrell Owens wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again. When asked about his opinion on how Tony Romo’s new girlfriend should be viewed Owens said “Right now, Jessica Simpson is not a fan favorite — in this locker room or in Texas Stadium.”

Honestly, a pink football jersey? As if Jessica Simpson wasn’t annoying enough already…

The Cowboys lost 10-6 to the Philadelphia Eagles and Romo had what was statistically the worst game of his career, all while Simpson sat in a luxury box wearing a pink No. 9 jersey she proudly showed off for television cameras.

While the demerits for wearing a pink football jersey can be debated elsewhere, Simpson’s big problem is that Romo floundered the last time a well publicized girlfriend attending a Cowboys home game, also against the Eagles. Last December, at home vs. the Eagles, Romo had his previous worst game with then-girlfriend Carrie Underwood in attendance.

“With everything that has happened, obviously with the way Tony played and the comparison between her and Carrie Underwood, I think a lot of people feel she has taken his focus away,” Owens said, mimicking the sentiment held by many Dallas fans. “Other than that, she was high on my list until last week.

“Oh, I got a message for her when we make the playoffs. Just stay tuned.”

DeAngelo Hall has always considered Terrell Owens to be pal.

They would talk on the phone and playfully taunt each other.

But Owens spitting in Hall’s face Saturday night has probably put an end to that friendship.

“He had a couple of nice catches,” said Hall, the Atlanta Falcons’ Pro Bowl cornerback. “You expect that. He’s a great player. Right before the first punt, though, we kind of got in each other’s face, talking back and forth, and I lost all respect for him when he spit in my face.”

Owens, Dallas’ star receiver, acknowledged losing his temper with Hall in the Cowboys’ 38-28 victory Saturday night.

“I got frustrated and I apologize for that,” Owens told the NFL Network. “It was a situation where he kept bugging me and getting in my face.”

Owens beat Hall for a 7-yard touchdown late in the first quarter and a 51-yard score midway through the second. After the third play from scrimmage, however, Hall used his forearms to shove Owens near the sideline. Neither player was involved in Tony Romo’s 19-yard pass to Jason Witten at the Dallas 31, but Hall stayed on Owens’ case.

Terrell Owens responded by spitting in his face.

“I lost all respect for the guy,” Hall said. “That’s the No. 1 thing in the National Football League. You don’t spit in a grown man’s face. Hopefully, the NFL can see it and go back and watch the film right just before the first punt. On third down, we were kind of walking face to face, walking back to the huddle and he just hauled off and spit in my face.”

Owens, who still maintains an offseason home in the Atlanta neighborhood of Decatur, indicated that Hall kept jawing with him throughout the game.

“He had a lot of words. I didn’t. I just wanted to come out and prove I’m a guy to be schemed with,” Owens said.

Hall and Owens began their rivalry on the field in the season opener for Atlanta and Philadelphia last year. The Falcons prevailed, 14-10. Despite catching seven passes for 112 yards, Owens didn’t score. His controversial behavior eventually led to the Eagles’ releasing him, and he signed with Dallas during the offseason.

Ah, yes. It never fails. What would an otherwise impressive Dallas victory be without the obligatory Terrell Owens drama? Hopefully these two guys can find some time to chill, listen to some soothing John Mayer tunes and bury the hatchet.

So it now looks like Terrell Owens did not try to kill himself by overdosing on pain medication, as was widely reported earlier today.

The Sports Truth is relieved, as what would have been a tragedy is now merely another absurd piece of sports news.

At a press conference an hour ago, the Cowboys receiver said “there was no suicide attempt” and explained that he became groggy last night from mixing painkillers with nutritional supplements, not from taking many times the required dosage in an attempt to take his life.

He apologized to the Cowboys organization for the spectacle, explained what happened in detail, and discussed how he wants to play this week against Tennessee (meanwhile, my compulsive gambling supervisor began checking the up-to-the-minute Cowboys-Titans line for Sunday).

He was as normal as you’ll ever see him, and the conference should have ended there, with Dallas trying to restore some element of normalcy in preparation for its next game. But alas, Terrell’s publicist, Kim Etheredge, began fielding questions.

Why does Terrell Owens need a publicist? He’s a wide receiver. He catches footballs for a living. What is there to say about him that we don’t know, and what does he care what we think? He’s accountable to Bill Parcells and Jerry Jones. End of story. Why is this annoying woman on TV?

Bringing back memories of Owens’ press conference with agent Drew Rosenhaus during his Eagles holdout last summer, Etheredge immediately began her spin job. Apparently, the media is treating T.O. unfairly over this, and all the involved law enforcement officials are lying. Who would have guessed.

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Look, we can’t say we love Terrell Owens. We can’t say we like aim. We can’t say we don’t pray every night for a career-ending knee injury to end his playing career.

But at least the Dallas wideout knows what he is. And at least he’s trying to motivate others who have a rather high view of their self-worth.