h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Since the forum has been quiet for a while, I thought this subject would get people talking a bit.

With T.O. suspended for 4 games and then deactivated the remaining 4 games after that, the Eagles finally decided they'd had enough of him.
However, now the almighty Rev. Jesse Jackson has decided to give his two pence worth in the matter and wants the Eagles to let T.O. go into Free agency instead of being held inactive. Apparently the suspension hurts T.O.'s career at it's peak.
Also, ex residential candidate Ralph Nader has also chimed in wanting the suspension to be rescinded.

Anyways, I think the Eagles did the right thing. The Bucs did the same with Keyshawn when he started getting to be a problem and disturbance in the locker room, and as far as I can remember no one leaped to his defense back then.
If a player starts to become a distraction and badmouth the organisation, a lengthy suspension is called for. A one game suspension here or there won't matter for someone like T.O. with the money he makes, so for him to feel it, they'd need to do what they did.

And that press conference where he "apologised" was just a farce.
I pity the team that picks him up next year. And they will, He's too good a talent to be left by teams.

What if the Eagles didn't waive him next year and just kept him on the roster, deactivated all of next season as well? Do you think he'd rethink his behaviour?

If a factory worker gave their bosses as much grief as TO did, I think Nader and Jackson would feel like he got what he deserved. I wonder if they've even considered how much TO's actions have hurt the team.

Of course they don't. Jackson sees a famous black man being suspended by a white man for what appears to be some badmouthing.
There's no chance anyone outside the team can know how much of a disruption TO has been to the team.

Disclaimer: The views in this postis mine alone and is not indicative of the views of the BBC in any way.

(Might as well throw in that disclaimer there just to make sure)

The hilarity is that the Faiders are tops to sign him when he becomes available, to join with Randy 'Big Mouth' Moss.

Excellent choice Al, two locker-room cancers for the price of three...

T.O. O.No. Must.Go.

Can't stand how single handedly he's managed to destroy the Eagles,
all the band wagon jumping about how abysmally hes been treated seems to be coming from people outside the organisation.
I think theres more to his disruptive influence in the locker room than has been divulged.
Note that not one of his ex team mates has said hes been treated badly or spoken out for him.
Theres no doubt he is a talent,unfortunately hes going down the destructive path.Perhaps instead of revelling in the bad boy image and going to the Faiders which will do him no good,he should go somewhere with a strict regime of discipline and work on a conditional contract to set him on the straight and narrow.
It worked for Keyshawn,so why couldn't it work for T.O. ?

He's still going to get paid on his suspension.

Since he's all about the money, he should just cash the checks and shut up. Though I reckon the Eagles got what they deserved - it's not like he was an unknown quantity.

Well, certainly the Giants Skins and Cowboys are getting a good laugh out of it all, aren't they?

Seems as if it almost didn't help the Cowboys yesterday after all.

I read in Boomer Esiason's column on NFL.com that TO won't get that much money from the Eagles because he is suspended. He'll not get about $800K of his salary, and the Eagles could file to get some of the roster bonus back from this year. Then, of course if they cut him before the March cutoff date, he'll not receive hos next instalment of the bonus either.

I think Boomer said:
- he'd lose $800k of salary due to suspension.
- he's due a roster bonus next March which almost certainly not get.
- they will try to get back some of the signing bonus.

TO acts like my 4-year-old. Just like her, he acts up and pushes the limits until action is taken and punishments dished out. At that point he apologises. Weak parents believe they have made their point at this stage and allow their children back without serving the full sanction. Actally what happens is the child learns how to better control the situation and what buttons need to be pushed, and when, to be able to get what they want.

Sensible parents know who is in control and while a child is growing up it remains that way. Once the child begins to know how to negotiate (around 6-7 years-old), you can start to do that. Until it happens it's up to the parents to show the way.

I think T.O. just missed a few stages of development. When he joined the 49ers he was all willing to listen and learn. Then he started to push the limits. Unfortunately because the 49ers valued his onfield talent more than whether he can be a team member he was allowed to get away with certain stunts. From what I've read the Eagles have handled it very well; working their way up the sanction scale until they could realistically do no more. At some point you have to cut your losses. Keyshawn learned the hard way, but also had a tough parent to keep in chck when he moved to Dallas.

BBS