Buffalo Bills' Fans Should Buy What T.O. Is Selling

Recently, the web site Pro Football Talk took a shot at Bills’ fans for buying into what Terrell Owens is selling.

Pro Football Talk said the following about the way Bills’ fans have reacted towards T.O. so far:

"The folks in Western New York have embraced receiver Terrell Owens like Scott Norwood, if he had made that kick.

And the borderline bizarre adulation that the folks in Buffalo are heaping on Owens won't come without a price.

Whether they realize it or not, Bills fans are validating all of Owens' past petulance and passive-aggressiveness, empowering the player's poisonous alter ego, and possibly creating an even more brash, arrogant, loud, and proud version of T.O.”

Can one make an argument that Bills’ supporters have gone a little over the top with Owens? Sure they can but that’s what happens when fans have to endure losing for so long.

So Buffalo fans are finally excited for a season to start. So they finally have a superstar in town again. Is that the worst thing in the world?

Look at what happened in Dallas.

It wasn’t that different from what is going on in Buffalo. Dallas fans where craving a winner so badly, they embraced a player from the Eagles that they despised just a few short months earlier.

Why? Because they are fans who root for laundry, that’s why.

Oh sure, every now and then players will come along that we believe to be more special than others but for the most part, fans will root for any player that puts on their favorite team’s uniform.

Isn’t that basically the definition of a fan?

The T.O. to the Cowboys scenario is one of the greatest examples of this in the history of sports.

Owens was public enemy No. 1 in Dallas and in one fell swoop fans in Big D changed their tune quicker than a politician once they get elected into office.

It wasn’t that the Dallas’ fans were being hypocrites, they were just being fans. Any other fanbase would have done the exact same thing.

Owens was now one of them, so they went from hating him to supporting him.

So it amazes me that sportswriters find it so hard to believe that Bills’ backers would be draped in No. 81 jerseys and cheering Owens every time he touches the football in training camp.

Do you think Buffalo fans give a darn what T.O. did in Philly or Dallas?

All they care about is him helping the Bills get back to the playoff. They are fans and that’s all they should care about.

Let me give you a little insight about sportswriters from someone who has sat among them.

Overall, they are some of the most miserable people on the planet. Like all of us, most of them started out as rabid fans of a particular team but something happened to them along the way.

They become more jaded the longer they cover sports for a living. Not all of them, but a lot of them. So don’t let these people tell you how to be fans.

The problem is they forget how to be fans. There is nothing wrong with being objective. That’s their job as writers. They aren’t supposed to write as fans, and I would never expect them to do so.

I just find it funny that PFT thinks you should all care how T.O. acted in Philly or if he becomes more arrogant in the future.

You know what you should care about?

How many touchdowns will T.O. score for the Bills this season? Will he help Buffalo finally get back to the playoffs? Will Owens help Lee Evans see more single coverage? Can he help Trent Edwards reach his full potential?

Hey, and if T.O. does ruin the team, what exactly is he going to ruin? The Bills haven’t been to the postseason since 1999. Is Buffalo going to go from 7-9 to 5-11? Oh no, what a disaster.

The worst thing for a fanbase—even worse than losing—is when your favorite team doesn’t matter anymore. The truth is the Buffalo Bills haven’t mattered in a long, long time.

So the next time PFT or some other media outlet wants to know how there can be such a big love affair between Bills’ fans and a guy who has caused so much trouble in the past on other teams, tell them to check out the front pages of ESPN.com or Yahoo!.

The Bills matter again and for now, that’s good enough.

And if the world gets a more arrogant and brash T.O. then so be it. It’s not the job of Bills’ fans to be concerned with how Terrell Owens acts as a human being. It’s their job to root for the Buffalo Bills.

You think that would be self explanatory but apparently the responsibilities of being a Buffalo Bills fan are more complicated than it sounds.