Pucko's Persepectives

Celebrity is a full time job.

What makes us care so much about Terrell Owens? Certainly there have been wide receivers his equal over the years. There are plenty of guys who don’t include “team wrecker” on their resumé and many more who have contributed to a championship.

But few are identified merely by their initials. Who knows Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Randy Moss and Santonio Holmes as LF, AB, RM and SH? Nobody.

But TO, that’s something entirely different. Different enough that there was a crowd waiting for him at the airport this week.

Different enough that VH1 is filming a reality show based on his life and times, including the riveting hunt for a home.

Different enough that he’s anchoring television sportscasts in Buffalo.

Different enough that he was given the key to the Queen City.

TO’s arrival was national news, as was our falling all over him. It was very amusing. But don’t you get the feeling that the rest of country, rather than laughing with us, is laughing at us?
In this particular arena, TO has more in common with Britney Spears than Lee Evans.

The only way  it will all work out well for Buffalo is if the Bills get more from Terrell Owens on the football field than they get from TO off it.

Then and only then will everyone stop laughing.

Bill Pucko is a Messenger Post columnist and senior sports anchor at R-News on Time Warner Cable.