Friday, January 16, 2009

TO, Roommates and Other Ramblings

As was reported by Ed Werder, the Dallas Cowboys will soon consider the option of cutting ties with enigmatic wide-receiver, Terrell Owens. I have to give TO his props though: he has taken his divisive abilities to a whole new level. It appears that the presence of TO has divided not only the locker room, but also has affected the front-office (Stephen Jones - against TO; Jerry Jones - for TO) and the media.

Hell, I despise TO...and even I'm a little torn on the issue. When the Cowboys first signed Owens, it reminded me of a situation I was faced with in college.

I had a college buddy named Chuck. Chuck was the type of guy that could make anything interesting: he was always the life of the party and people were attracted to him. There was never a dull moment around Chuck.

But there was a downside: Chuck was never considered the most responsible friend. In other words, you didn't want to rely on him to pick you up from the airport. He wasn't the guy that you wanted to put in charge of walking your dogs when you were out of town. He was what he was: a fun guy to hang out with.

When moving to new apartments, we decided to allow Chuck to become a new roommate. We justified it by telling ourselves that, with the extra person, we could afford a nicer place, we would have more spending cash and Chuck would really bring a level of excitement to the dwelling. We made it make sense.

At first it worked out great; we had a few parties, it was fun to be around the guy and the extra cash came in handy. But then a few problems crept up. Chuck wasn't great at doing dishes. Chuck's room was littered with week-old chimichangas stuck to plates and cups who's remnants had created their own ecosystem. He was loud at night, he didn't pay his portion of the bills on time and he never recognized that Tuesday night wasn't really the time for a party.

Having a nicer place was cool and so was having a little extra spending dough. But at some point, I wanted to be able to have a normal dinner with my girlfriend without being interrupted by an half-naked Chuck armed with a sombrero and a bong asking me if I had seen his lighter!

Plus, he never went to class so he was always there. Always. I became incresingly annoyed when driving home because I knew that Chuck would be lounging on the couch watching my tv. I knew that the kitchen would be a disaster. I knew the trash would be overflowing. And I knew that, no matter what I said to him, he wasn't going to change. He was Chuck.

It just was no longer worth it.

My girlfriend and I moved out. We got a smaller place, it wasn't as nice, it wasn't as big, the pool wasn't as appealing. But it was just ours. No trashed kitchens. No fights about what show to watch. No sitting in bed debating whether or not to go kick his ass for playing guitar at three in the morning. It was nice.

And while I wouldn't trade that experience, because it gave me some really great stories, it was simply time for us to mature. We probably missed out on some crazy parties, but avoiding those distractions allowed us to focus on school.

And while the Cowboys new 'house' will not be as big or shiny without TO, what good is a nice, big house if you can't enjoy it? Without TO, the Cowboys will be able to focus...and that's a good thing.

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