The Playmaker has big problem with Big Bill's giant snub

Original A liberal dose article
June 22, 2007

Bill Parcells will soon be forced into calling Terrell Owens by his name.

I can't wait.

It's bound to happen this NFL season because ESPN viewers typically aren't asked to translate on-air gamesmanship or interpret an analyst's innuendo.

Of course, Big Bill was the grand pooh-bah of scowls, smirks and sarcasm during his tenure with the Cowboys.

For one entire year, virtually any reference made to Terrell Owens was made not by using his name -- or even his initials -- but by calling him 'the player.'

At first, it was cute, then silly, then petty, then hurtful and mean-spirited.

That's how Michael Irvin saw it.

'I think it's one of the most disrespectful things you can do,' Irvin told KTVT/Channel 11 sports director Babe Laufenberg in an interview that aired Sunday night.

By doing this, Parcells simply put himself 'above getting this team ready,' said Irvin, adding, 'I found it odd.'

Ironically, Irvin no longer has his analyst's job at ESPN, and this is pretty good analysis.

'Michael opened my eyes a bit,' Laufenberg said.

Continued Irvin: 'I heard [Parcells] say Tony Romo's name. I heard him say Julius Jones. He didn't call them 'the player.' No man would like that. No man... you, me, nobody watching us right now.'

Irvin's eyes welled up with tears.

'You go to work every day and your boss refuses to call you by your name... you would have a problem with that.'

The Playmaker (which is just three letters but a long way from 'the player') noted Owens never complained. But Irvin knows how Owens must have felt.

'I wouldn't have liked it,' Irvin said. 'I wouldn't have liked playing for a head coach like that.'

The interview took place at the Valley Ranch media library. The topic sort of evolved on its own.

Laufenberg, who is pumped about returning to the Cowboys radio broadcast team (alongside Brad Sham) after a one-year hiatus, can conclude only one thing about Parcells and Owens.

'Both men were too far along in their careers to change their ways,' Laufenberg said.

Babe and Big Bill occasionally still talk. And soon, Wade Phillips becomes the fourth Cowboys coach whose weekly TV show Laufenberg will host.

Owens, meanwhile, is on his fifth head coach in the last six years.

'I just think this [Parcells-Owens] relationship was doomed from the start,' Laufenberg said. 'It would be like fixing up Rosie O'Donnell on a blind date... and Donald Trump shows up.'

Ba-da-boom. Got that right, Babe.