Posted on Fri, Jan. 28, 2005
Owens all to his faith
By DON RUSSELL–russeld@phillynews.com
IF TERRELL OWENS makes a heroic comeback and plays in the Super Bowl, who gets the credit?
God, according to Terrell Owens.
In a widely reported comment, Owens declared this week, “Spiritually, God is healing me, and I am way ahead of what a lot of people expected me to be – even the doctor… Spiritually I have been healed and I believe I will be out on the field regardless of what anybody else says. They can’t deny the Man above.”
Funny, after Owens’ infamous Monday Night Football skit with that Desperate Housewife, holier-than-thou types around the world were waving their Bibles at the Eagles receiver.
“Immoral,” “obscene” and “debauchery” were some of the judgments being passed down.
But now that Owens has taken a very public stand in praise of God, we haven’t heard a peep from the pulpit. No public support, no encouragement for a celebrity who is obviously a man of faith.
Curiously, it was left to the Associated Press to call his comments “uplifting.” Writer Jim Litke quickly added, however, “It’s a good thing [Owens] bothered to get a second opinion.”
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania company says it wasn’t all God’s work.
In a press release yesterday, HydroWorx in Middletown, Pa., noted that Owens has been spending much of his rehab in the so-called “pool.”
The pool, according to the company, is the HydroWorx 2000, a $200,000 sunken treadmill. “In the near-weightless aquatic environment,” says the release, “athletes more quickly regain strength, range of motion and remain in top condition for competition.”
Maybe. But we heretics at Blitz Package dare the company to use our suggested company slogan:
HydroWorx in mysterious ways.
Go, T.O.
The ankle tide is turning.
Yesterday, we reported that it appeared most fans thought it was unwise for Terrell Owens to play in the Super Bowl. But after listening to T.O. proclaim that he’s ready to play, football fans not only want him to play, they believe he’ll suit up.
The results in yesterday’s People Paper Poll: 63 percent favor T.O. playing.
It was the same at Sports Illustrated’s Web site, and at MSNBC.com.
Meanwhile, the sadists at Fox.com were voting 3-to-1 in favor of his risking further injury to play.
And at TerrellOwens.Com, fewer than 2 percent said he’ll sit.
Hair there
OutSports, the gay sports mag, has an alternative look at the Super Bowl’s hairiest players.
Writer Jim Buzinski thinks Tom Brady’s a “terrific quarterback.” But he complains, “Ditch the beard! You look like a Serbian rock star, and that’s not meant as a compliment.”
He likes the Freddie Mitchell Afro/Mohawk, though. “It’s absurd, which describes your act. Never has such an average wide receiver called so much attention to himself.”
Love those tight ends
With all that heavy hitting and raging testosterone, the Super Bowl is the manliest of events. But it’s not only men who are watching.
TheMarriageFiles.com notes more than 50 million women tune into the big game, too, and it’s not just so they grab another bowl of chips for their lazy husbands.
What’s the attraction? Duh.
The site’s “webmistress” writes, “I just get a rise out of watching a bunch of fit men in the prime of their lives running around in skin-tight uniforms for three hours. Because in my opinion, whoever designed football uniforms should be sainted…
“Be honest, ladies: wouldn’t you enjoy life a lot more if all well-toned men walked around in shoulder pads and stretch pants all the time?”
Despite the captive distaff audience, she notes, the networks and the NFL have done little to market their product to ladies.
“How about ‘special’ sports trading cards in plain brown wrappers?
“… And how about signature sleepwear? No woman wants to wear a nightie with ‘Victoria’s Secret’ printed on it – trust me. But jammies with a picture of, oh, either of the Barber brothers? I’d never wash them – I’d never want to be separated from them for the length of a spin cycle.”
© 2005 Philadelphia Daily News and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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