Me time

A man could invest entirely too much of his life paying attention to what Terrell Owens says and does. This is because what Terrell Owens says and does is not of any particular account, and also because T.O. pays more than enough attention for all of us to what he says and does.

Like a lot of great wide receivers he's the consummate narcissist, a What About Me guy in a What About Me position. That's not a criticism, necessarily. Wideout is a unique position, in that you have no real control over your work product. All you can do is get open. Whether the ball comes your way is entirely up to Peyton or Tom or Drew or Aaron. And so of course wideouts yell and holler and try to get everyone's attention.

T.O., of course, always took What About Me to a different level. So no surprise that the other day he announced he was probably going to skip the Hall of Fame induction in Canton and celebrate his induction in his own private way.

He has every right to do this, of course. That he absolutely shouldn't should be obvious to anyone who understands a bedrock truth: That no one ever achieves anything in life without standing on the shoulders of those who came before you. And so when it comes time to be recognized for that you owe something to those people.

The Hall of Fame weekend in Canton, see, is not just a celebration of the inductees. It's a celebration of the entire century-plus mosaic of which they are a part. When each HOFer slips into that canary-yellow jacket, he is honoring all those who came before them -- and all those who helped them become a member of that company.

That's why each HOF inductee gets to choose someone to introduce him, and invariably it is someone -- a coach, a family member, a close friend or business associate -- who helped make him greater than he ever thought he could be. That person gets to publicly share in the moment, and be publicly recognized. It's about him or her, and about all the family members and friends who've been invited to witness the moment themselves.

T.O. owes all of them that public moment. He owes the game. He owes all of those who went to bat for him to get into the Hall of Fame to begin with. Because it's as much about them as it is about him.

Why he's chosen to make it solely about him, we can only speculate. Maybe he's still miffed he got snubbed the first year he was eligible, which would be a T.O. thing to do. Maybe it's a show of support for the NFL protests, though that seems unlikely. The Blob doesn't know, and doesn't want to spend the energy to find out.

Like I said at the front of this, a man can invest entirely too much of his life paying attention to what Terrell Owens says and does. So I won't.