Terrell Owens was incorrigible, impudent and irreverent. He was
bred in banal obscurity and slipped through the cracks of academia where only his football skills were cultivated. The Philadelphia Eagles franchise knew this when it signed him. For all his faults and failings, Owens is good at the game he was hired to play. So guess who has come to defense? One of the most respected Republican attorneys in America.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chair of the Judiciary Committee, said Monday it was “vindictive and inappropriate” for the NFL and the Eagles to forbid the star wide receiver from playing and prevent other teams from talking to him.
“It’s a restraint of trade for them to do that, and the thought crosses my mind, it might be a violation of antitrust laws,” Specter said.
Specter said he is “not a supporter of Terrell Owens.”
“I am madder than hell at what he has done in ruining the Eagles’ season. I think he’s in flagrant breach of his contract and I believe the Eagles would be within their rights in not paying him another dime or perhaps even suing him for damages.
“But I do not believe, personally, that it is appropriate to punish him (by forcing him to sit out the rest of the season). He’s not committed a crime; he’s committed a breach of contract. And what they’re doing against him is vindictive.”
The NFL and American politics both get stranger every day.