Maybe T.O. really cared about Romo

When I was growing up, I had an imaginary friend named Joe. He was, and might still be, my… When I was growing up, I had an imaginary friend named Joe. He was, and might still be, my best friend.

Joe and I were always teammates when we played games, and over the years we were able to pull out a victory or two in Connect Four or Candy Land.

But it was difficult to effectively play many other games because besides being invisible, Joe was also only about 3.5 inches tall. He had some creation deficiency that made him pocket-sized.

One day, we decided to take on two visible, regular-sized friends of mine in a game of foosball. Joe would play goalie and defense, while I was on offense. It essentially ended up as my two friends against me, with Joe unable to do much of anything. We lost, by a lot.

After the game, one of my friends said, “Hey Adam, maybe next time you should play with a real person, and you might not lose so bad.”

He chuckled, put his hand in his pocket and walked off whistling.

It hurt. Joe was my buddy, and what my friend had said was quite mean. I wanted to rip one of the bars out of the table and go to town on him, but I refrained. All I could do was apologize to Joe for my friend’s ignorance. If Joe and I would’ve won, it would’ve been as a team, and the same goes for when we lose.

So on Sunday when I saw the Cowboys’ Terrell Owens crying and defending Tony Romo after the game, I knew exactly how he felt.

The Cowboys had just lost to the Giants, 21-17, in the divisional round of the playoffs, thus becoming the first No. 1 seed in the NFC to not make it to the NFC championship game since the playoffs expanded to 12 teams in 1990.

After the game, Owens defended Romo, telling the media not to blame the loss solely on his quarterback. The week before the game, a bye week for the Cowboys since they finished with the top record in the NFC, Romo was seen vacationing with girlfriend Jessica Simpson in Mexico.

Backlash soon came from those who thought Romo should’ve spent the week preparing for his upcoming game or practicing. At the time of the pictures, the Cowboys didn’t know who their opponent would be, which isn’t to say Romo couldn’t have practiced, but one would imagine optional practice falls low on the list of most males’ priorities when vacationing with Jessica Simpson.

But Simpson was already unpopular with Cowboy fans. A few weeks earlier, she attended a game in Dallas against the Philadelphia Eagles to cheer on Romo. The Cowboys lost, 10-6, and Romo had one of the worst games of his professional career. It could be said that at this point, Simpson has as many fans in Dallas as she does in 98 Degrees.

When the topic of Romo came up, Owens sprang with quickness to defend his teammate.

“This is not about Tony,” Owens said. “You guys can point the finger at him, you can talk about the vacation, and if you do that, it’s really unfair.”

Then the interview took a turn for classic. Owens showed some emotion and choked up a bit. His lip quivered, he came down with a sudden case of the sniffles. Yes, Terrell Owens was crying. Over Tony Romo.

“That’s my teammate,” Owens said. “That’s my quarterback. You guys do that, it’s not fair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man.”

He tried to fight back tears, but we don’t know how successful his battle was because he had on sunglasses that covered his eyes and engulfed most of his cheeks. The emotion could still be seen.

What makes it even more shocking is that Owens is thought to be a self-centered player, someone who has less than stood up for a few of his previous quarterbacks. After the Eagles lost Super Bowl XXXIX, Owens directed some unfriendly words at Donovan McNabb, claiming the Eagles quarterback was a large reason for the loss because he had grown tired toward the end of the game.

Owens’ comments, mixed with the loss, overshadowed what is easily one of the more inspiring individual performances in a big game in recent memory.

On Dec. 19, Owens suffered a sprained ankle and fractured fibula, but he said he would play in the Super Bowl no matter what. He did, and he ended up catching nine passes for 122 yards. Yet it’s his comments in the months following the game that will be remembered.

When with the San Francisco 49ers, he hinted that then-teammate Jeff Garcia was homosexual.

But Owens’ actions following the loss on Sunday were nothing like what we’ve seen from him thus far. Of course, the sincerity of the actions could be questioned, but it’s more fun to think optimistically.

Maybe Owens is changing as a person, and he’s come to respect his teammates more. Maybe he knows his window for winning a championship is closing, and he must become less self-oriented to help win a ring.

Or maybe he was just sticking up for a good friend.