Was TO's 49er Run Really That Bad?

[Argo49erFan]

So he was a jerk when he was in Philadelphia, I'm not gonna dispute any of that. As for his run with the 49ers, I never really had a problem with him. The only TO trouble I recall with the 9ers was at the end with the whole trade/FA dispute, during which I had hoped he would stay in SF. Yeah, there was the sharpee incident, which I thought was dumb. Who cares if he autographs a football. The NFL and refs should stfu about endzone celebrations, but that's another story for another thread.

What I remember about TO as a 49er was a quiet guy that trained hard. I remember during a game they showed a clip of him doing some running prior to the game, and also during the game they showed him standing on the sideline quietly watching the game at one point, (I guess while the D was on the field.)

The whole trade/FA issue I think was the fault of both parties. TO screwed up, but so did the 49ers front office of that time. The same front office that fired Mariucci and hired losers like Donahue and Erickson.

I don't think TO's time as a 49er was anywhere near as bad as his time in Philadelphia. However I did see the interview that cause Philadelphia to release him, and quite frankly I don't think he did anything wrong in that interview. The reporter asked him if he thought Favre could take the Eagles to the playoffs and he agreed with the reporter "based on what he brings to the table." Owens did not say anything negative about the Eagles, he just praised another QB.

[IowaNinersFan]

You forgot about "the player" calling Jeff out to the media by questioning his manhood. Not to mention him saying that Jeff had a weak arm and how he'd rather play with McNabb. When in Philly, he questioned McNabb being a top rated QB? Well which is it TO?

It's never "the player's" fault and whatever he says is always taken out of context. :nonono:

[Brian Jennings]

He was mean.

He can eat dog**** as far as I'm concerned.:nonono::nonono::nonono:

[NinerCubBoiler]

He was mean.

He can eat dog**** as far as I'm concerned.:nonono::nonono::nonono:


The dude abides...

[Giedi]

He was mean.

He can eat dog**** as far as I'm concerned.:nonono::nonono::nonono:

I second that...

Giedi :doubleup:

[Argo49erFan]

You forgot about "the player" calling Jeff out to the media by questioning his manhood. Not to mention him saying that Jeff had a weak arm and how he'd rather play with McNabb. When in Philly, he questioned McNabb being a top rated QB? Well which is it TO?

It's never "the player's" fault and whatever he says is always taken out of context. :nonono:

Didn't he say all that stuff about Garcia AFTER he went to Philly?

[The Jerm!]

Didn't he say all that stuff about Garcia AFTER he went to Philly?

No.......

[krowleey]

Didn't he say all that stuff about Garcia AFTER he went to Philly?

nope sure didn't, questioned coaching as well in front of the camera, TO had his chance now he is floating away like dried dog crap in the wind

[arch]

His last few years with the Niners steadily got worse. There was a point in the Stockton training camp when he tried to be a leader and a team player, but that quickly disappeared. This was after Mooch flew to Atlanta to try to reconcile with Owens.

[Jumiah]

The very first TO incident had to be the Dallas star celebration. Mooch suspended him for a game without the NFL taking any action at all. TO felt betrayed and spent the off time in Atl with his grandmother. That's when I remember things turning against Mooch, staff, and eventually team.

I remember that first sideline tirade when he was po'd at the OC. I even remember Mooch flying to Atlanta just to talk to him and get the communication going. It seemed once TO made up his mind to be a cancer and center the universe around himself, there would never be any patching things up and the 49ers would have to get rid of him.

Calling out a teammate, like he did Garcia to the media, or publicaly criticizing coaches, is a no no as well.

So where you say quiet guy, I saw where have you been? Since the Dallas star, it's been nothing but noise and drama with Terrell Owens. He actually stayed a year too long imo.

[jimmy]

Owens seemed OK when Steve Young was the QB and team leader.

While I appreciated Jeff Garcia, he wasn't the QB Steve was.
T.O. was hard on Jeff but he got spoiled by Steve. Very few QBs came close to Steve's ability and receivers must have loved how he through them the ball once he matured.

If Lawrence Phillips hadn't completely whiffed on that block, might TO have developed into a different kind of teammate with Steve continuing on at the helm for a few more years?

[D-Man]

are you sure. i think Argo is right and TO said those things after leaving the 49ers.

I remember TO dissing Garcia's passing first when TO was still on the team, then calling him gay after he left.

[Eng74]

It's reaaly funny (sad?) all of this with Terrel Owens. When he was with the 49ers a Terrel Owens he was a quit guy who worked hard and was a pretty nice guy. I got to meet him after his first year or two with the 49ers, he was doing a personal appearance at a Sears grand reopening in Palmdale. He signed anything and everything anyone brought up to him. He talked to the fans and was really humble. Once the press and everyone started with the T.O. stuff he was really a changed person from other people who I have talked to who have delt with him after that. I heard he started having the "suckerfish" around him the last few years in SF that were tell him he was the team and all that stuff. All the stuff with Jeff not being a good QB, hey who was throwing you the ball that got you the numbers to get both of you to the pro bowl? I do think he could have been one of the best, when he is on the field he can make or break a team but at what cost?

[Jimi_Xicano]

His run with the Niners was great, it was the last couple years that ruined it. The ego years. But the game play was beautiful!

[jlhsd20]

I loved TO when was wearing the red and gold. I loved the celebrations, including the Star incident.
Also he made the biggest catch(against the Packers in the playoffs) that I have ever seen live on television.
But when he was screaming at the coaches and had made the comments about Garcia, i knew he had to go.
Over the top celebrations are one thing, but dissing teammates and coaches is bad for business.

[Twilt07]

He was not a very good teamate here at all, and Im glad he is out of san fran...But he did not ruin the franchise like alot of people think, that would fall on the front office!

[SB49er4life]

I loved TO when was wearing the red and gold. I loved the celebrations, including the Star incident.
Also he made the biggest catch(against the Packers in the playoffs) that I have ever seen live on television.
But when he was screaming at the coaches and had made the comments about Garcia, i knew he had to go.
Over the top celebrations are one thing, but dissing teammates and coaches is bad for business.

I loved it, too. If you really think about it, with all the terrible things goin on with players in the NFL, drugs, violence, sexual assault, murder, the Dallas star incident really wasn't a big deal.

So what, he went and stood on the star, people with sticks up their butts got offended. It's not like he exposed himself, made an obscene gesture, spit on a fan or attacked anyone, he just stood on the star. What harm did it REALLY cause ?

Fact is, we were a very good team and one of the best offenses around when he was with us. I'm not gonna defend the coach/teammate/gay bashing that he did, but c'mon, there celebrations, everyone needs to lighten up.

[Nilsen31]

You forgot about "the player" calling Jeff out to the media by questioning his manhood. Not to mention him saying that Jeff had a weak arm and how he'd rather play with McNabb. When in Philly, he questioned McNabb being a top rated QB? Well which is it TO?

It's never "the player's" fault and whatever he says is always taken out of context. :nonono:

T.O. likes Rattay betterrrrrrrrr...:wink: :ok: :unsure:

[Canadian 49er]

Looking back, with exception of a few incidents, it wasn't that bad. I know most of us were pretty tolerant and forgiving of him his years with the Niners judging by the number of 81 jerseys that were in the stands at the time :).

It seemed like while Young and Rice were on the team and Owens played the role of rising young star all was fine. After those two were gone and he became thrust in the spot light as "the star", the whole TO persona and team disruptive behavior started coming out.

Like him as a wide receiver, hate him as a team player. and don't know him personally to comment on him as a person.

[gravescar]

Over the years I've realized that T.O. is just plain crazy, he's so crazy that i look forward to him doing something outrageous and he never dissapoints. I had deep hatred for him when he left San Francisco, it was mostly T.O. fault but we do have the worst owner in football. But really T.O. has almost became a great comedian (remember when he blew up on our o.coordinator the look on his face was priceless), It wasn't funny at the time but my god he always give us something to talk about or laugh about, he's just an entertainer but I will always hate him deeply for leaving San Fran seriously

[Primetime209]

TO was the only reason Niners were any good post Steve Young era. Jeff Garcia's success was based mostly on what TO did for him. 5 yard pass plays that TO turned into highlights. He was the top WR in the league stuck on a crapy team with a QB that couldnt get him the ball down field. All he wanted to do was make plays. During this time there was the debate of who is better TO or Moss, when the niners played the vikes and Moss caught 2 bombs for touchdowns is when TO went off on the OC Greg Knapp. Niners got destroyed, and TO got pissed. TO was doing all this dirty work of catching 5-15 yard passes and Randy Moss was catching 40-50 yard passes and he had the "Randy Ratio", something like 1 out of every pass or play had to go to Randy. The trade to Philly proved TO was right all along, if you get him the ball he will make the plays. 13 games, 14 TDs, 15.6 yard avg. Jeff Garcia is an avg QB at best, he was horrible in CLE, horrible under the same offense and coach in DET, now a backup with PHILLY. When you have a player as talented as TO you have to make exceptions...

I dont get how Niner fans cant appreciate what he did for us. He wasnt a cancer on our team...our team just sucked. You've all been brain washed by the media

[arch]

If you want to know about TO's years with the Niners, go to a book store, get a large coffee, and read his book 'Catch This'. It's full of some great and not so great moments with the team.

One passage that stands out for me is he talked about how Rice wanted him to stay quiet, do his job, quit the celebrations, etc, but TO said that's not him and he needs to do what's in his heart. That's not him, etc. There's a lot of behind the scenes locker room stuff too.

Make no mistake, he may have an Eagle uniform on the cover, but it's 80% about his niner experience.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743249704/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/002-6305020-9345664?ie=UTF8

[Niner Jan]

How can fans forget about how badly Owens performed in his last 2 years with the 49ers? He dropped more balls than he caught! I can't forget the game vs Green Bay when he caught only ONE ball (maybe two) and dropped all the rest of them (or didn't catch them at all).

His talent was wasted during those last years.

And to the person who blamed the OWNER, that's nuts! You can't blame the owner for a player's performance and actions. Owens should have gotten canned many times; the ownership just kept giving him more chances to act like a MAN and get things straightened out with his coach.

Mooch flew all the way to Owens' hometown to talk things over with him in the offseason. Why should a coach have to lower himself? He wanted to make peace with him and smooth over his ruffled feathers.

I don't see how fans can absolve Owens from all the crappy stuff he did while wearing a 49ers uniform. He disgraced the red & gold! We bent over backwards for him, but he was so full of HIMSELF that he didn't care about anyone but "ME ME ME ME ME"...

I will never forget the anguish that the troublesome WR caused his coaches and teammates in his last 2 years. And to the Niner Faithful.

[SB49er4life]

TO was the only reason Niners were any good post Steve Young era. Jeff Garcia's success was based mostly on what TO did for him. 5 yard pass plays that TO turned into highlights. He was the top WR in the league stuck on a crapy team with a QB that couldnt get him the ball down field. All he wanted to do was make plays. During this time there was the debate of who is better TO or Moss, when the niners played the vikes and Moss caught 2 bombs for touchdowns is when TO went off on the OC Greg Knapp. Niners got destroyed, and TO got pissed. TO was doing all this dirty work of catching 5-15 yard passes and Randy Moss was catching 40-50 yard passes and he had the "Randy Ratio", something like 1 out of every pass or play had to go to Randy. The trade to Philly proved TO was right all along, if you get him the ball he will make the plays. 13 games, 14 TDs, 15.6 yard avg. Jeff Garcia is an avg QB at best, he was horrible in CLE, horrible under the same offense and coach in DET, now a backup with PHILLY. When you have a player as talented as TO you have to make exceptions...

I dont get how Niner fans cant appreciate what he did for us. He wasnt a cancer on our team...our team just sucked. You've all been brain washed by the media

It's funny how people talk about dropped balls this and that with him the last 3 years, yet no one thinks that we would have gone into rebuidling mode about 3 years earlier were he not on the team.

Fact is nobody on here knows what REALLY went on between him and Garcia, everybody assumes T.O. was just 100% instigator. Let's all be real, stop playing good guy/bad guy with the players, and look at the reality of it that on a team of 50+ professional athletes, there are a lot of extremely strong egoes goin in different directions. Not condoning or justifying what he said or did, but don't think you know the whole story if you weren't there.

Gimme a break, it was said that Rice whined about the ball a lot and would go off on OC's, but no, Jerry could do no wrong.

We were a better team with him on the field, period. Do some of you guys really think we would have done more after Young retired without T.O. ??
We all have seen how good Garcia is without him.

[Fromthe3rdRow]

.... Let's all be real, stop playing good guy/bad guy with the players, and look at the reality of it that on a team of 50+ professional athletes, there are a lot of extremely strong egoes goin in different directions. ....

Well.... that might happen on teams that suck.

If a team wants to be successful, they better all be pulling in the same direction.

It's called teamwork .....

[Brian Jennings]

How can fans forget about how badly Owens performed in his last 2 years with the 49ers? He dropped more balls than he caught! I can't forget the game vs Green Bay when he caught only ONE ball (maybe two) and dropped all the rest of them (or didn't catch them at all).

His talent was wasted during those last years.

And to the person who blamed the OWNER, that's nuts! You can't blame the owner for a player's performance and actions. Owens should have gotten canned many times; the ownership just kept giving him more chances to act like a MAN and get things straightened out with his coach.

Mooch flew all the way to Owens' hometown to talk things over with him in the offseason. Why should a coach have to lower himself? He wanted to make peace with him and smooth over his ruffled feathers.

I don't see how fans can absolve Owens from all the crappy stuff he did while wearing a 49ers uniform. He disgraced the red & gold! We bent over backwards for him, but he was so full of HIMSELF that he didn't care about anyone but "ME ME ME ME ME"...

I will never forget the anguish that the troublesome WR caused his coaches and teammates in his last 2 years. And to the Niner Faithful.180 catches in his last two years here. Please, please elaborate on how that is bad. You really need to get over your hatred of TO and face facts.

[SB49er4life]

Let me simplify the initial question....if he wasn't "that bad" then why did we give him away for a measly draft pick in his prime?....he developed the prototypical WR ego that is absolutely ridiculous....he is somewhat of a revolutionary to WRs in this day and age with the tantroms....not the originator mind you, but he helped to make it acceptable......the WR is so much less significant than a QB, RB and O line, yet they thrive on attention using temper tantroms and the media as their playground.......to question this shows that you either didn't follow the 'Niners then (no disrespect if you didn't) or shows that you don't get it.....

T.O. was given away for a measly draft pick because GM's around the league were scared of his attitude problem, and nothing else. If he was even a normal person, we would've gotten nothing less than a Pro-Bowler or a 1st rd pick.

The WR position is insignificant, but what were the last 2 SB MVPS ?

All the top WR's in the league, with the exception of Randy Moss of as of late, are on the elite teams in the NFL:

Steve Smith - Panthers
Torry Holt- (Rams are waning, but guess who was making plays when they were at the top?)
Marvin Harrison- Colts
Chad Johnson- Bengals
Hines Ward- Pittsburgh (SB champ steelers, oh and SB MVP)
Santana Moss
Joe Horn/Marques Colston (Bush n McCallister wouldn't be doin what they're doin without that threat out there, and the Saints wouldn't be 3-0)
Joey Galloway (Bucs are average at best if he isn't as explosive as he was last year)

[SB49er4life]

Do you not remember the times when TO chewed out JGarcia on the sidelines?.....You can not do that to your team....Have you ever played organized football?...seriously, I'm not stating that to disrespect you, just to find out if you have really been through the team environment?...with a primadonna, it sucks.......you cannot compare T.O with Rice...don't be stupid.....

Yes, I've played plenty of organized football, lookin to give it another go on the JuCo level again next year, actually...

Look, I have said that I don't agree, condone, or justify anything he said or did to Garcia or other players. He doesn't handle situations well. Luckily, in hs ball, all our playmakers were cool with each other, so it wasn't a problem for me, even tho we had guys the coaches favored who didn't perform, that is the hardest to stomach.

I am just saying that we were a better team with him on the field, thats all.

Would we be better with him on the team now ? In the short run, yes, but we don't need him with the team chemistry we have, and it wouldn't be a good idea to bring him back.

I want you to know where I'm comin from... I believe there is 2 sides to every story, thats all, no matter if somebody is more wrong or right. Did T.O. do things to screw the locker room up ? Ya. Was it 100% his fault ? That's just not realistic.

[SB49er4life]

Well.... that might happen on teams that suck.

If a team wants to be successful, they better all be pulling in the same direction.

It's called teamwork .....

No, its not just teams that suck, you have to keep in mind that every guy on every team has been told he is the greatest player pretty much his whole life leadin up to the NFL, you start to build an ego, no matter humble you may seem on the outside. There are exceptions of course, but not many. That is the reality of it, nobody wants to be wrong, there is more than one guy that wants to be the man.

Some teams, coaches can keep it under control better and keep it from leaking to the media.

It's silly to think that only bottom of the barrel teams have players that disagree/ don't like each other.

[SB49er4life]

Listen, you....I like him...I remember when we drafted him in the 3rd round, I loved T.O and talked sheet about him to other teams, because he was so good.....but once he made that amazing catch to win our first round playoff game against the Packers, he changed....he is cocky, arrogant.....one of the reason that the modern day receiver thinks they are more than the team...if you do not acknowledge that then you are wrong..........don't care what you think if you are thinking along ignorant lines



"Were scared of his attitude problem.."..true

Ok, we are gettin somewhere... I don't favor his attitude, I'm talkin bout him from a strictly talent/performance standpoint. I never disputed that he started a trend of poor behavior...

For the long run, he would have driven everyone to their graves. But when he steps on the field, any offense becomes immediately better for that given play/game.

[r0b81]

He did what he did, but was still a great player for 49ers.

[r0b81]

How can fans forget about how badly Owens performed in his last 2 years with the 49ers? He dropped more balls than he caught! I can't forget the game vs Green Bay when he caught only ONE ball (maybe two) and dropped all the rest of them (or didn't catch them at all).

His talent was wasted during those last years.

And to the person who blamed the OWNER, that's nuts! You can't blame the owner for a player's performance and actions. Owens should have gotten canned many times; the ownership just kept giving him more chances to act like a MAN and get things straightened out with his coach.

Mooch flew all the way to Owens' hometown to talk things over with him in the offseason. Why should a coach have to lower himself? He wanted to make peace with him and smooth over his ruffled feathers.

I don't see how fans can absolve Owens from all the crappy stuff he did while wearing a 49ers uniform. He disgraced the red & gold! We bent over backwards for him, but he was so full of HIMSELF that he didn't care about anyone but "ME ME ME ME ME"...

I will never forget the anguish that the troublesome WR caused his coaches and teammates in his last 2 years. And to the Niner Faithful.
In those 2 years right there he still went over 1,100 yds. Thats something we haven't had since he left.

[Fromthe3rdRow]

No, its not just teams that suck, you have to keep in mind that every guy on every team has been told he is the greatest player pretty much his whole life leadin up to the NFL, you start to build an ego, no matter humble you may seem on the outside. There are exceptions of course, but not many. That is the reality of it, nobody wants to be wrong, there is more than one guy that wants to be the man.

Some teams, coaches can keep it under control better and keep it from leaking to the media.

It's silly to think that only bottom of the barrel teams have players that disagree/ don't like each other.Hmmm. If you think it's possible to commit 100% to a team effort and still maintain a massive ego and act as an individual - then you have a poor understanding of team chemistry.

This has nothing to do with whether or not players disagree or like each other. It's all about whether or not they work towards a common goal and are willing to temporarily sublimate their egos in order to achieve a level of success which is impossible to reach as an individual.

I assure you, if 50 different players are all pulling in different directions - that team will most certainly suck.

[r0b81]

rOb...you are too young too remember...so how can you comment.........Jan has been around and you have barely seen the niners....respect your elders.......or look stupid trying not to....it's on you
Im not disrespecting her first of all. And second How am I too young to remember 2002-03?

[49erAddiction]

yeah he questioned mooch a lot and was very emotional doing it. But wasn't he right about Mooch being to conservative and being the Niners best player by far, it should be expected he want the ball.

TO only turns on a team when he feels they turned on him, with the exception of the Ravens mess.

[Sage Niner]

He wasn't bad at all in SF. I recall the MNF against the Steelers in his last year with us when he stated something to the effect that "I want to be here, but the media is intent on running me out of town" etc.. Which I think is true. The media, as we see now, has ALWAYS tried to create controversy with T.O. even when its not there. Like Chad Johnson can cuss out Marvin Lewis, but thats just his competitive nature, when T.O. does it to is OC hes a bad teammate and we have to suffer through half of Sportscenter talking about it. Keyshawn has had the same problems his entire career but doesnt' have half of the bad rep that T.O. does.

Even during the whole fiasco with his agent not turning his FA in time, T.O. stated that he would be happy to stay in SF if it came to that. The FACT is that we(Donahue) got rid of T.O. because we didn't want to pay him..Donahue and co.. tried to spin it like he was such a cancer/distraction to avoid scrutiny over not wanting to pay the best WR in the leauge, and our only playmaker.

[life-long-NINER]

i never really noticed the start of his hissy fit lifestyle til the late Garcia days, Jeffery sure brought the worst out of him

[NinerBob]

This is a place to talk Niner football right, well Owens no longer is a Niner ergo please move this and any other threads that pop up about this individual to the nfl forum where it should be. This is the umpteenth thread about him and I for one am sick of seeing them.:sflogo:

[jmichura]

The biggest problem with TO is his honesty. The guy simply speaks his mind and gets into trouble because he refuses to lie to people, including reporters.

The touchdown celebrations never really bothered me because I found them entertaining. Also I just found it as his way of having fun out there.

The real problems really started when the 49ers wouldn't renegotiate his contract, like in Philly. Instead, we chose to use that money to keep Julian Peterson, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I like JP, even though he is gone. But it really pisses me off that we ended up losing them both without getting much in return (comp pick next year).

[SanFanSince5]

I thought TO did great while he was here. Sure he did the Sharpie, and the Dallas Star thing, but I think he brought MUCH MUCH more positive to this team than negative. Granted, he was a ticking time bomb - as proven by his time in Philly. But while he was here, I think he wasn't that bad.

[bsy]

I loved it, too. If you really think about it, with all the terrible things goin on with players in the NFL, drugs, violence, sexual assault, murder, the Dallas star incident really wasn't a big deal.

So what, he went and stood on the star, people with sticks up their butts got offended. It's not like he exposed himself, made an obscene gesture, spit on a fan or attacked anyone, he just stood on the star. What harm did it REALLY cause ?

Fact is, we were a very good team and one of the best offenses around when he was with us. I'm not gonna defend the coach/teammate/gay bashing that he did, but c'mon, there celebrations, everyone needs to lighten up.


Being a 9'er and TO fan (at the time), I got a kick out of the star incident too. But I could also understand how cowboys players and fans felt cause if an opposing player came and did that ***** here, I would want someone to make him pay. I also got a kick out of teague nailing TO. Thank god someone on that team did.

It's true that garcia doesn't have a very strong arm but neither did montana. A lot of TDs to rice were short slants that rice and taylor converted into scores. Now, I think montana had a stronger arm than garcia and he threw more long tds too but the fact of the matter is, garcia got the ball into TO's hands. TO also dropped a lot too.

[sandiegojoe]

THe last year got a bit ugly, but all the highlights and huge plays he gave us fans can't be forgotten or disregarded. I remember a packers game the year before his last year, we he threw a cornerback aside and ran like 70 yards for a td (I think that happened, I was kinda drunk) but the one thing I DO remember about TO at candlestick is that the crowd went INSANE when he made a big play. He brought excitement and star power to the field, and until this season, I haven't seen it anywhere near that level.

BUT, now that we are finishing making the turn, the fans sense it. We've got some big playmakers again, and a QB we can respect. But overall, I've gotta say TO brought way more good to the team than bad over his years, and I'm not gonna disregard that just cause he left on bad terms. That would be petty.

[NinerRider]

are you sure. i think Argo is right and TO said those things after leaving the 49ers.

I think he said the gay stuff as he was leaving, but he was bashing Jeff while he was here. Remember the game against the Vikings where Randy Moss put up better numbers than him and Jeff had a pretty bad game and was pulled? After that game TO went off about how Tim Rattay threw a better ball, how the playcalling was suspect and all that.

Then there was the time after the Bears game where he said Mooch let up on Jauron because they were buddies and that allowed Chi to come back and win that game.

I think we all know it started after "the star" incident though, after the 49ers suspended him for 1 game and TO took serious offense to that and his relationship with Mooch was never the same. Personally, I thought missing a game was way too harsh anyway.

All in all, I think TO was usually right about whatever he mouthed off about, but you just can't go callin out all your teammates and coaches in front of the media, you gotta do that stuff behind closed doors.

Seriously wish the guy was still here though, minus the attitude of course.

[sandiegojoe]

ok so other than the disagreement with Knapp then TO didn't do anything to make all these 49er fans hate him. heck i would have liked to do more to Knapp at times with his horrible play-calling. ok he made comments as he was leaving SF but most of us were saying the same things. TO carried this team and basically was our team, he single-handedly gave us a few wins a year. i appreciate TO for this and have no ill-will toward him.

It's like an ex girlfriend man, when things are good you're as happy as can be, but after you break up, all you can do is talk smack about her.

TO deserves some smack talk sure, but we shouldn't forget the excitement and wins that we all enjoyed because (in part) of his talent. I was at the game with the pom poms and the crowd was having a blast!

[Texicali blue]

His run was great, his finish was horrible.

Time to move on, people.

[BrentJones84]

His run was great, his finish was horrible.

Time to move on, people.

My feelings exactly. :up:

[SB49er4life]

The biggest problem with TO is his honesty. The guy simply speaks his mind and gets into trouble because he refuses to lie to people, including reporters.

The touchdown celebrations never really bothered me because I found them entertaining. Also I just found it as his way of having fun out there.

The real problems really started when the 49ers wouldn't renegotiate his contract, like in Philly. Instead, we chose to use that money to keep Julian Peterson, which seemed like a good idea at the time. I like JP, even though he is gone. But it really pisses me off that we ended up losing them both without getting much in return (comp pick next year).

That's true, he keeps it real, and society doesn't want to accept "real". Because he is not giving politically correct answers, he is not sticking up for people he genuinely doesn't like, and he is not giving the same speech every other "good willed" athlete gives after every game.

Anybody can be fake and play the good guy card and read the script.

A lot of things he does are handled very poorly, but i think his problem may be that he has too much pride to lie about ANYTHING, no matter how tactless it may be.

[SB49er4life]

I think we all know it started after "the star" incident though, after the 49ers suspended him for 1 game and TO took serious offense to that and his relationship with Mooch was never the same. Personally, I thought missing a game was way too harsh anyway.
All in all, I think TO was usually right about whatever he mouthed off about, but you just can't go callin out all your teammates and coaches in front of the media, you gotta do that stuff behind closed doors.

Seriously wish the guy was still here though, minus the attitude of course.

Seriously, man. Everyone wants to act like he ran over and stood on top of the rubble of 9/11 and urinated all over it.

[jmichura]

It's like an ex girlfriend man, when things are good you're as happy as can be, but after you break up, all you can do is talk smack about her.

So true. And just like an ex-girlfriend:

1) TO would have stuck around if we were willing to pony up more money.
2) So much drama but it was worth it at the time.
3) All he wanted to do is go out there and dance.
4) He should never question his partner's manhood.
5) Deep down inside, you miss having him around. But when people bring him up, you make sure you tell them that you are better off without him.