Recycled

Why Is Terrell Owens So Angry?

Shrinking the heads of NFL wide receivers.

This afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles announced that wide receiver Terrell Owens has been suspended for the rest of the season on account of a series of outbursts against teammates and management. In 2002, Bryan Curtis investigated why NFL wide receivers are the angriest men in sports. “The wideout is the only skill player locked in a Darwinian struggle to touch the football on every play,” Curtis wrote. “This explains not only the nature of the wideout’s outbursts—Give me the damn ball!—but also the near-cyclical eruptions among NFL stars like [Randy] Moss, [Terrell] Owens, and [Keyshawn] Johnson. The better you are, the more likely you are to attract double- and triple-coverage and, in time, lash out.”