[Sports] TO: Suicide?

[Gan]

DALLAS (AP) -- Flamboyant Dallas Cowboys (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/teams/cowboys) receiver Terrell Owens (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/players/3664) attempted suicide by overdosing on pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after fire rescue personnel arrived.


A Dallas police report released Wednesday morning said Owens told rescue workers "that he was depressed." The report was first released by WFAA-TV.


The rescue worker "noticed that (his) prescription pain medication was empty and observed (Owens) putting two pills in his mouth," the police report said.


The worker attempted to pry them out with her fingers, then was told by Owens that before this incident he'd taken only five of the 40 pain pills in the bottle he'd emptied. The worker then asked Owens "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time (he) stated, 'Yes."'
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/football/nfl/09/27/owens.report/index.html?cnn=yes

[Alfster]

Fucker should have used a gun

[Usurper83]

:rofl:

What a bum.

I hate TO.

[Daniel]

LMAO

[Anebriated]

Fucker should have used a gun

qft

[Some Rogue]

Glad I didn't draft him on my fantasy football team.

[Daniel]

I'd love to be in the Dallas GM's office staff meeting today.

[Wezas]

He couldn't have tried this before the Washington game?

Ass.

[Gan]

I bet Jerry Jones will offer to pull the trigger himself next time...

[Drew]

I have him on my fantasy football team.



I'm working really hard to spin this in a positive way.

[Wezas]

I'd be depressed to if I was getting $25 million over 3 years and was a major celebrity

Oh wait, no I wouldn't. Or at least I'd have the cash to get some help discreetly.

[Hulkein]

Really isn't a laughing matter.

Get well T.O.

[Alfster]

Really isn't a laughing matter.

Get well T.O.

sure it is

[Anebriated]

When the guy is as much of an egomanic who will do anything and everything to get some attention in the spotlight, yeah, it is a laughing matter. Whats he have to be depressed about, he put himself in the situation he is in today.

Being from philly im surprised you feel that way Hulkein.

[Sean of the Thread]

Homer.

[Some Rogue]

Really isn't a laughing matter.

Get well T.O.

I'll quote George Carlin on that issue:


Ohhh, some people don't like you to talk like that. Ohh, some people like to shut you up for saying those things. You know that. Lots of people. Lots of groups in this country want to tell you how to talk. Tell you what you can't talk about. Well, sometimes they'll say, well you can talk about something but you can't joke about it. Say you can't joke about something because it's not funny. Comedians run into that shit all the time. Like rape. They'll say, "you can't joke about rape. Rape's not funny." I say, "fuck you, I think it's hilarious. How do you like that?"

I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd. See, hey why do you think they call him "Porky," eh? I know what you're going to say. "Elmer was asking for it. Elmer was coming on to Porky. Porky couldn't help himself, he got a hard- on, he got horney, he lost control, he went out of his mind."

A lot of men talk like that. A lot of men think that way. They think it's the woman's fault. They like to blame the rape on the woman. Say, "she had it coming, she was wearing a short skirt." These guys think women ought to go to prison for being cock teasers. Don't seem fair to me. Don't seem right, but you can joke about it.

I believe you can joke about anything. It all depends on how you construct the joke. What the exaggeration is. What the exaggeration is. Because every joke needs one exaggeration. Every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion.

Give you an example. Did you ever see a news story like this in the paper? Every now and then you run into a story, says, "some guy broke into a house, stole a lot of things, and while he was in there, he raped an 81 year old woman." And I'm thinking to myself, "WHY??? What the fuck kind of a social life does this guy have?" I want to say, "why did you do that?" "Well she was coming on to me. We were dancing and I got horney. Hey, she was asking for it, she had on a tight bathrobe." I'll say, "Jesus Christ, be a little fucking selective next time will you?"

[Usurper83]

Really isn't a laughing matter.

Get well T.O.

Meh.

I find it funny. If he was truly suicidal (and he very well may be), it sure as hell explains a great deal of things about it.

[Parkbandit]

He's a drama queen. I can't wait to hear how he will spin this after they found 35 pills in his system.

"I lost count?"

[Hulkein]

It's not a laughing matter because it transcends football. I feel genuinely sorry for anyone who is that unhappy with their situation that they'd try and kill themselves. You guys act like Owens is a criminal, he's probably got a cleaner legal record and has given more of his time/money than 99% of the people on this board, yet it's funny that he tried to end his life because he stands on Dallas' star or got in a fight with a QB.

Give me a break and look yourself in the mirror, especially the people who claim to be compassionate.

[Usurper83]

It's not a laughing matter because it transcends football. I feel genuinely sorry for anyone who is that unhappy with their situation that they'd try and kill themselves. You guys act like Owens is a criminal, he's probably got a cleaner legal record and has given more of his time/money than 99% of the people on this board, yet it's funny that he tried to end his life because he stands on Dallas' star or got in a fight with a QB.

Give me a break and look yourself in the mirror, especially the people who claim to be compassionate.

Looked into the mirror. I'm still laughing because it is TO.

[Sean]

I'll presonally wait for him to speak out and release a statement, I have a hard time believing thats what actually happened. And I by no means like TO.

PS: Went and looked after my post, heres his denial: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2604395

[Hulkein]

Looked into the mirror. I'm still laughing because it is TO.

And what exactly has TO done that is so bad besides ask for more money for doing his job and having a confrontation with some of the guys he plays with?

He doesn't participate well in team sports, he's not a team player, but in the grand scheme of things, he hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't have 20 illegitimate kids he won't care for like a Shawn Kemp, he doesn't rape girls like Kobe, he doesn't beat women like Brett Myers, he doesn't spit at the crowd/kids like Barkley, he doesn't storm the stands and fight fans like Ron Artest, he doesn't commit double homicides and get away with it like OJ....

[Usurper83]

I'll presonally wait for him to speak out and release a statement, I have a hard time believing thats what actually happened. And I by no means like TO.

That was my first reaction when I read it this morning.

Hm. Even if it is such a big issue that transcends football, he's a role model to a bunch of kids out there. They look at him and say, "Hey! He's the greatest football player on Earth! I want to be like him!"

And now they see that he has some issues, and wants to end his own life (allegedly, at least)? That seems like it is the wrong message to me. Suicide is clearly not the answer to life's problems.

[Hulkein]

Obviously it's not an answer, but people who commit suicide aren't thinking straight when they do it, they obviously have some emotional problems that should make the common person feel some sympathy.

[Usurper83]

Obviously it's not an answer, but people who commit suicide aren't thinking straight when they do it, they obviously have some emotional problems that should make the common person feel some sympathy.

Eh. I'm not saying professional athletes can't have emotions, but as always, they need to be wary of the surrounding media that will slap any story in the newspaper, no matter how private it should be kept re: TO.

Obviously people that commit suicide aren't thinking straight to us on the outside, but to them it makes all the sense in the world.

That said, I have a feeling that it was just an adverse drug reaction to the first however many he took that got him all depressed, and that's when he went on the binge. The first however many he took was probably to kill the pain. Have you ever had screws and plates inserted into a bone?

And thinking along those lines, that is a very irresponsible move for someone completely in the limelight like he is. This is obviously pure speculation on my part, but in the end, it was still through the irresponsible actions by TO that he ended up like this, creating a bad impression on kids who can now choose to take a few ill-advised lessons out of it.

I'm thinking that we would have seen signs of a depression or some other ailment years ago, so I don't think it was just outright random suicide. I think it was just a reaction to too many pills, and he just became suicidal and depressed as a result. Who the fuck knows? Hopefully he'll explain it, and clear it up.

He's still a douchebag.

[Sean of the Thread]

I withheld judment until I watched his conference live. He's full of shit.. his spoke person is full of shit x10.

[Stanley Burrell]

For the click-a-phobic:

DALLAS - Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens denied a police report that he attempted suicide, saying he became groggy after mixing painkillers with supplements.

As if to prove he's doing fine, Owens went from the hospital to catching passes from quarterback Drew Bledsoe within two hours, then proclaimed himself "very capable of going out there and playing on Sunday" - despite whatever happened Tuesday night and a broken right hand.

Owens said Wednesday the confusion likely stemmed from an empty bottle of pain medication found by his publicist, who was with him at the time and called 911. He said the rest of the pills were in a drawer.

"I was non-responsive when she made that call," Owens said. "She made the call out of her judgment for my well-being."

Appearing in a news conference at team headquarters a few hours after leaving a hospital for what a police report described as "a drug overdose," Owens wore workout gear and no bandage on his right hand. The star receiver smiled and seemed more amused than peeved at the latest ruckus surrounding him.

Owens, 32, blamed a combination of hydrocodone, a generic form of Vicodin, with all-natural supplements for making him ill.

"It's very unfortunate for it to go from an allergic reaction to a suicide attempt," he said.

Rescue workers arrived at Owens' home around 8 p.m. Tuesday and took him to an emergency room. When word spread, publicist Kim Etheredge said it was an allergic reaction.

But the story shifted Wednesday morning when several media outlets received a police report - that had yet to be released by the authorities - saying Owens had attempted suicide by overdosing on the painkillers, even putting two more pills into his mouth after an unidentified friend, later identified as Etheredge, intervened.

The police document, first reported by WFAA-TV, said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time (he) stated: 'Yes.'"

When officially released by police, about half the document was blacked out, including the phrases "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication" and "a drug overdose," as well as the details of Owens having two pills pried from his mouth and Owens saying "Yes" when asked if he intended to harm himself.

"I was kind of out of it," Owens said. "I can barely even remember the doctors, much less the police officers asking me questions."

Owens also said that he's "not depressed about anything" and that he should practice Thursday.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger during a game a week ago Sunday. The next day, doctors screwed in a plate so the bone could heal without fear of further damage - leaving a 2-inch scar on top of his hand.

If he doesn't play this Sunday, Owens might still return for the following game - Oct. 8, in Philadelphia, against the team that dumped him midway through last season only months after helping them nearly win the Super Bowl.

Etheredge also appeared at Owens' news conference, saying she "did not take anything out of his mouth" and that it was unfair for anyone to think Owens would kill himself.

"Terrell has 25 million reasons why he should be alive," she said, referring to the $25 million, three-year contract he signed in March with the Cowboys.

"I'm just upset," Etheredge added. "I feel they take advantage of Terrell. Had this been someone else, this may not have happened."

Dallas police officials declined to comment on Etheredge's denials. "We can't discuss the police report because of privacy laws," said a spokesman, Sgt. Gil Cerda.

Teammates and friends throughout the league rallied to support Owens even before he spoke, with many saying they thought the suicide report might be wrong.

"As soon as I got the news this morning, I had to make my call to make sure everything was OK. You know what? It was," said Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson, a close friend through their rivalry over the best end-zone celebrations.

Former Cowboys star Deion Sanders was with Owens at his home before he went to team headquarters.

"From my understanding, looking at him in the eye as a man and as a big brother, I said `Be straight up with me.' He seems to be OK," Sanders told the NFL Network, where he works as an analyst.

After getting almost strictly Owens-related questions, coach Bill Parcells cut off his usual 25-30 minute session after only nine minutes. He ended it by getting up from his chair and saying, "When I find out what the hell is going on, you will know. Until then, I'm not getting interrogated for no reason."

Police Lt. Rick Watson said during his brief news conference that he could only confirm paramedics called police to say they were taking Owens to the hospital. He said no more details would come from the police because no laws were broken.

"We looked into it, and we determined it is not a criminal offense," Watson said. "This a medical type of situation that occurred."

Watson released the version of the police narrative with certain sections blacked out. The full report was obtained by several news outlets and reported first by WFAA. The Associated Press received the full version from WFAA.

The tape of the 911 call could help clear things up. The AP filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act to get its contents, but fire department officials said it would not be available before late Wednesday.

Owens, one of the league's top receivers during his 11-year NFL career, is best known for wild stunts on the field and other publicity-seeking antics off it.

When the Cowboys signed him, they said their background checks indicated no red flags. In fact, team consultant Calvin Hill - who mostly deals with troubled players - said during training camp that his department was not involved with Owens because he didn't have a history of those kinds of problems.

He missed most of training camp, and three of four preseason games, because of a hamstring injury. He was late for work during his recovery and was fined for it, but Owens laughed it off, saying he overslept. He said it had happened before, though not with Dallas, and would probably happen again.

Owens has played two games for the Cowboys, catching nine passes for 99 yards and a touchdown.

Owens, already a top receiver with the San Francisco 49ers, burst to prominence in 2000 for his celebration of two touchdowns on the star logo at midfield of Texas Stadium in a game against the Cowboys. A Dallas player blind-sided him after the second one.

The legend of T.O. grew when he celebrated another touchdown by pulling a Sharpie from his sock and autographing the ball in a 49ers game at Seattle. He's also borrowed a cheerleader's pompoms, done sit-ups on his driveway before TV cameras and mocked Ravens tough guy Ray Lewis' celebration in a game against Baltimore.

Before a Monday night game against Dallas in 2004, Owens took part in a risque promotional stunt with one of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" that later prompted an apology from the network.

Owens was heavily praised while with the Eagles for playing well in the February 2005 Super Bowl, seven weeks after ankle surgery. However, his relationship with quarterback Donovan McNabb deteriorated soon after and the organization suspended him in midseason and later got rid of him amid contract complaints and other personality squabbles. Team owner Jeffrey Lurie said later that, even with the Super Bowl trip, he regretted having ever signed Owens.

[ElanthianSiren]

ick hydrocodone. they prescribed that for pain when they sliced a necrobiosis out of my ankle for biopsy (think scalpel and deep tissue). I only took one then decided the pain was better than the floaty, surreal "reality" that comes with that med; also, in my case, I took the one and went to bed, and I remember it didn't seem to be working either. It really does hit you like a ton of bricks, but when it finally *did* work, my body was asleep but my mind was half awake and not thinking "right" either.

I see it as possible, even though watching the media whore around it yesterday at the Vet's office for three hours was hellish.

-M

[Parkbandit]

Give me a break and look yourself in the mirror, especially the people who claim to be compassionate.

Whew.. almost thought you were talking about me there.