T.O.’d, P.O.’d, T.O.D.
So as a way to break the cherry on the ye olde blog, I’m pointing fingers at the Dallas local news affiliate WFAA, channel 8. On Wednesday, the 27th of September, they were the first (in the whole world mind you) to broadcast the situation here in Dallas with Cowboys star wide receiver Terrell Owens. They were the first to broadcast that he attempted suicide. I won’t go into all the details (you can look them up on your own leisure), but they were the first to report that T.O. had tried to o.d. I keep mentioning that they were the first because EVERYTHING I read about it on Wednesday always mentioned it. “They broke the story; they were first on the scene”…blah, blah, blah. Their lead sports anchor, a cranky old pale-faced fogy named Dale Hansen 
, went on the air at 8 in the morning (way too early for him, as the sun was still out and he could have turned into ash) and did a report from his phone on air, no doubt from his coffin, that T.O. had tried to kill himself the Tuesday night before.
I won’t go into T.O.’s history, it’s too long and I’m tired of beating that dead horse, but essentially, the dude is a whiney, egotistical, selfish, prick. He’s also an amazing player. When he was released by Philly for being the locker room equivalent of herpes, the Cowboys signed him. Most of the media here in Dallas had a field day. They weren’t ready to look past the baggage he brought with him and have been waiting for this day since the summer when the Cowboys signed him. One of the most outspoken critics was Dale Hansen. He’s had it in for T.O. and the Cowboys front office since the acquisition of the wide receiver. There was no way T.O. was ever going to get a fair shake here in TX. So when he came out on the air at 8 in the morning and said he had no sympathy for “someone like” T.O. and his attempted suicide, Hansen came off as even more of a goblin than he usually does. Later in the evening broadcast, he explained that he meant he had no sympathy for Jerry Jones (the Cowboys owner) for taking a risk on T.O. He essentially changed his story (much the same way a drugged up T.O. did after he was in the hospital).
The thing that irks me about Hansen and WFAA channel 8, is their rush to “break” a suicide story before trying to figure out what happened. Yes, the police report said “suicide attempt”, so they were just going off of what they read, but there was so much assumption going on about T.O.’s mindset, that it seems like they really were hoping to find him dead on the commode like Elvis. They even went as far as to interview his trainer in order to get the inside scoop about what could have made T.O depressed and reason why he should want to die (he missed his son’s birthday and recently called off an engagement). In fact, they were looking for their own reasons to justify the story they “broke”. The thing is, they didn’t do enough research beforehand. They didn’t wait to see how the story played out. They didn’t wait to hear the 911 tapes. They (much like T.O.’s publicist) saw the “evidence” (see: circumstances) and concluded in their expert opinions that he must have tried to kill himself. The problem, however, is that they are journalists (and pretty shitty ones at that), not doctors or specialists in mental health.
The next day, after the release of the 911 tapes, after all the fanfare, after all the speculation, WFAA did what they should have done to begin with when they realized their “breaking story” had too many holes…they buried it underneath a story about a church choir competition. In fact, Hansen didn’t even do the evening broadcast (probably sucking the remaining blood out of Lord Byron Nelson’s corpse).
What makes me the most salty is this: I HATE T.O.! They did everything they could to vilify him, and I end up empathizing with the prick. Thanks. You guys get the fangs. So, I’m pointing fingers at ABC affiliate WFAA Channel 8. Next time be more worried about getting the story correct, even if it means coming in 2nd.
Abram Valdez–c/s
