Terrell Owens isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for no good reason

For a second-straight year, the Pro Football Hall of Fame has denied Terrell Owens an induction into its exclusive club.

Owens tweeted on Saturday night that he didn’t make it into the hall, thanking his fans and supporters. He also tweeted that the Hall of Fame is a “total joke” and that it doesn’t mean anything to him to get in now.

He’s justified for feeling that way, because it’s nonsensical that he didn’t get in.

What makes his snub even more absurd is that Owens didn’t even finish in the top 10:

The Hall of Fame has been known to be unreasonably slow to elect wide receivers. Only four have ever gotten in on the first ballot: Jerry Rice, Steve Largent, Paul Warfield, and Raymond Berry.

Owens had a 15-year career that included nine 1,000+ yard receiving seasons. He finished his career eighth in NFL history with 1,078 receptions and second in receiving yards with 15,934. He also had 153 total scores, which is good for third all-time among wide receivers. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro five times.

Owens played in a Super Bowl with a broken leg. He had nine catches for 122 yards in that game. That’s Hall of Fame type stuff, even if his team lost that game.

He had the numbers to get in. He’s one of the best all time at his position.

Terrell Davis — who made the Hall of Fame — had fewer seasons in the league than Owens had 1,000+ yard seasons. Yet Davis was elected Saturday evening, and Owens was not.

Morten Andersen, a kicker, got into the Hall of Fame before Owens. Andersen was a great kicker, but Owens is one of the best to ever play the wide receiver position. A kicker shouldn’t be in and he isn’t.

Quarterbacks can make their receivers look better than what they really are, but the two best seasons of T.O.’s career in 2000 and 2001 came with Jeff Garcia at quarterback. Owens was by no means a product of his quarterbacks.

The consensus on Owens inside the Hall of Fame, as ESPN’s Tony Grossi reported, is “Great career numbers, bad teammate.”

The idea that Owens’ antics are keeping him out or should play a factor into keeping him out is ridiculous at best. Owens set the standard for the receiver that not only torched you on the field, but also had a damn good time doing it. He stood on the Dallas Cowboys’ star, stuffed his face with popcorn from a fan, shook pom poms from a cheerleader, and pulled a permanent marker out of his sock and signed a football.

Those celebrations are what make him a Hall of Famer, whether you enjoyed them or not. There was a cultural impact there. Don’t forget, Ezekiel Elliott wasn’t the first player to celebrate with a Salvation Army kettle. T.O. did that first.

During his career, Owens was the target of criticism for a long list of things. This includes crying after the Cowboys’ Divisional Round loss in which — with a big pair of sunglasses on and a quivering lower lip — he tearfully said “that’s my quarterback” about Tony Romo. There was also the driveway workout and press conference where he did crunches while taking questions from reporters. Then of course, there was the promo with an actress from Desperate Housewives that everyone expressed fake outrage over.

He also overdosed on Hydrocodone, which led to a press conference by his publicist that left a bad taste in people’s mouths after she said he had “$25 million reasons why he should be alive,” as well as spitting in the face of Falcons corner DeAngelo Hall.

The NFL is a league that wants to keep the identities of its players under wraps, but one of the great things about T.O. was that he was going to be himself. Some of his “antics” were bigger distractions than others. Regardless, Owens still belongs in the Hall of Fame.

It would also be ludicrous to pretend like every Hall of Famer was spotless both on and off the field, but we won’t get into that. We’d be here for a while.

Perhaps the only solution to future snubs would be to make votes public. There’s no telling who else got votes over Owens. If votes were public, that’s essentially the only way of keep accountability.

Things aren’t going to be any easier for Owens based on next year’s class, either:

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is considered to be a prestigious fraternity of only the greatest to ever step foot onto a field. Owens was one of the NFL’s biggest stars from 1996-2010, and to keep him out of the Hall of Fame because of pettiness is a shame.

Source: SBNation