A month ago I noticed a story in the paper about the suspension of Philadelphia Eagles' wide receiver Terrell Owens. More precisely, I noticed a picture of him standing in front of his suburban New Jersey home. The photograph was hard to miss. It took up most of the sports page above the fold—Owens has a very big house. When I was growing up in Canada, the Montreal Canadiens hockey player Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion lived in our town. Reputedly the inventor of the slap shot, Geoffrion was a star. I often bicycled by his home to catch a glimpse of the stone plaque carved with the Habs' team logo next to his front door. It was the only element that distinguished an otherwise conventional suburban rancher. Of course, that was the 1950s. Professional athletes weren't paid multimillion-dollar salaries and they didn't live in—sorry, T.O.—McMansions.