Terrell Owens has been in the spotlight long enough that he knows how it works. He craves the attention, but hates how easily his words are reduced when he gets that attention.
He wants to discuss bigger issues like suicide but is wary of how that would come across.
"It's life," Owens told Grantland.com while he was still with the indoor Allen Wranglers. "It is what it is. It's inevitable. Just like death. Life and death. At some point we're gonna leave this world. Do I know when? Absolutely not.
"It's not nothing to make a headline about, but I'm sure somebody may read this and -- again, instead of all the good stuff we talked about -- they may read this and this will be the topic of conversation. This will be the headline. I don't want that to be the headline. Everybody deals with things. A lot of people have to deal with the feeling that their worlds are caving in."
We read over 6,000 words about Owens in the Grantland.com piece, which was posted Thursday. If you want a complete picture of where Owens is at in his life, we recommend you read it, too. But Owens' life is not something you want to steep yourself in. The piece left us with the same feeling that we had when Owens appeared on Dr. Phil or when he was cut by the Wranglers. T.O. is a sad story.
He's a lost soul. We have some sympathy for him, but we also know too much. We don't need 6,000 words. We don't need to hear any more. We are tired of reducing Owens to a headline. We get it, and maybe Owens gets it, too. He's going to have to resurrect his life without the help of the spotlight. Probably without football.
"A lot of people are expecting me to have a breakdown, but you know, I don't look at it that way," Owens said before he was cut. "Instead of me having a breakdown, I'm focusing on me having a breakthrough."