Roy Williams is catching T.O.'s "Diva Disease," idiots say.

Some people seem to think that complaining about your own performance in a team sport is selfish. After all, it's all supposed to be about the team. Terrell Owens is the devil himself for doing this, or at the very least, some sort of mythical figure of evil.

Roy Williams, Owens' "replacement" on the Dallas Cowboys, is likely to be the latest target of people who think like this.

He's disappointed with his performance throughout the season, and he should be. If it hadn't been for Miles Austin, Cowboys fans would have been wondering if it was too late to bring back T.O.

But there seems to be Ol' Roy's problem. From ESPN.com: "He gets the ball thrown correctly his way," Williams said of Austin. "I'm stretching and falling and doing everything. Everybody [else] who's been here's balls are there. Our footballs [from Romo to Williams] are everywhere right now."

And he's right. Romo and Williams just aren't on the same page. Romo is throwing behind Williams or Williams breaks off routes too early. And this is despite working out with Romo in the offseason, who believe it or not, actually worked out in the offseason. They were better when they were making it up on the fly last season.

Is he wrong for pointing it out, though? His team is 5-2, tied for first in their division, and can take the number one spot outright by beating the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend. Plus, he's rich, in shape, and plays football for a living. What the fuck could he have to complain about? Selfish prick. I'd sit on the bench and just be happy if they're paying me that kinda money.

See, that's what regular asshole sports fans say, not knowing the situation.

First of all, like always, a reporter asked the question and he simply answered it. He didn't call a press conference to announce that he sucks right now, because Fox is showing us that much for free. But most importantly, this has nothing to do with being selfish. He's happy his team is winning. In fact, ESPN.com said: "Williams stressed that he's pleased that the Cowboys are winning, but he's frustrated that he hasn't been more effective."

How hard is that to understand? Lemme put it in layman's terms.

Let's say you work in a warehouse, but you're just having a bad day. You're putting boxes on the wrong trucks, you're falling out of the scaffolding, and you just keep running over your supervisor's feet with the hand truck. But the company's still profitable. You just want to get through the day without injuring people. Including yourself. That's kinda where Roy is now. Everyone wants to be able to do their part for the team, unless they wash themselves with a rag on a stick. Those people just don't give a damn anymore.

Even T.O.'s drama came from that same line of thinking: "I just want to do my part." It's just that in his case, he believed that the best chance for anyone to win meant throwing him the ball. How was he supposed to know that he had hands of stone?

Not only that, what professional athlete do you know that doesn't want to play well every time out? These are competitive people who understandably get frustrated if they don't do well. What, do you think Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr because of his geopolitical outlook? Getting angry at poor performances are part of what makes pro athletes into pro athletes, because if that anger is keeping you outside shooting jumpers in the rain, you're not calling into talk radio stations.

Pro athletes people are driven, trash-talking and obsessive, cheaters. Not to mention, bad losers and at times, generally bad people. We hate to see these qualities in people, but that's what makes them great. The only opinion that matters to them is theirs, not Nameless Sports Beat Reporter, who thinks he knows what they should be thinking. These people don't read the papers, anyway. Reading is for people who AREN'T living the dream. If I could run a 4.3, I'd have quit opening books in high school, too.

Maybe I'm crazy because it doesn't bother me to hear players talk like Roy Williams is doing now. Maybe I understand that sometimes, it's just not enough to be a part of the team, but a VALUED part of the team.

No, he's just being a diva. That must be it.

Of course it was T.O.'s fault

Watching the sad performance being put out by the Dallas Cowboys against their hated rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, there's only one thing that needs to be said: This is all Terrell Owens' fault.

It really isn't, but I just wanted to be the first one to say it, because I just know it's coming. Haven't you heard? T.O. is the what caused the financial crisis.

This game is still in the third quarter as I write this, with a score of 44-3. It's a division game between two teams that have so much history, with the flashpoint always being Eagles (and 49ers) castaway Terrell Owens, who joined the Cowboys in 2005. It's the last game of the season and, in case this game wasn't big enough, whoever wins goes to the playoffs. You'd think that both teams would be ready to run through walls and catch bullets with their bare hands.

Buuuuut…since the score is 44-3 (so far), you should be able to guess that it's not turning out that way.

Assuming that the Cowboys aren't going to go on a 42-0 run in the fourth quarter, I'm just waiting to see how this is going to be put in T.O.'s lap Monday morning. It's invariably going to be his fault. It's always his fault, because if he wasn't out there trying to make everyone look at him, the Cowboys would have scored 7,000 points and made the NFL cancel the Super Bowl, because the other teams would have been too afraid to play.

Terrell Owens is the most selfish teammate since Lucifer decided that he wasn't getting enough attention. Or at least, that's how everyone likes to spin it. The truth is, that's just not reality.

The Cowboys team I saw today was a team that just didn't come to play football. Maybe they came for a baseball game or a spirited contest of lawn bowling, but it certainly wasn't to play this Eagles team. Since when was T.O. a member of the coaching staff? Because last time I looked, preparing this team to play was their job.

I'm watching a Cowboys offense that can't hold onto the football. They're fumbling the ball left and right, practically handing the thing to the Eagles. "Pardon me, old boy. I do believe this ball belongs to you. Toodle-pip, what?" Why, T.O. wasn't on his job, because everyone knows that it was his responsibility to make sure that the ball stays in his teammates hands. He should have been right there with the stick-em. These grown men can't do everything on their own.

The offensive line did about as good a job as the Secret Service did as keeping Bush safe from shoe throwers. At least their excuse can be, "We just didn't see that one coming. Who throws a shoe? Honestly." The offensive line's only job is to protect the quarterback. There are no curveballs coming at them. There aren't going to be sudden surprises, like sneak attacks from behind or secret mole men burrowing out of the ground.

There's nothing to say about the Cowboys' defense that the Eagles' 44 points didn't already say. I know, I know, all of those points weren't scored on the defense, but that part's not going on the scoreboard, plus they still give up 27 points on their own. In fairness, the defense has kept Philadelphia from getting to 50. Thank goodness for moral victories, I guess.

This is a team that has underachieved all season long, when they were picked by many (myself included) to go to the Super Bowl. They were beaten by teams that they should have beaten and they have underperformed in big game situations (like this one). And that's not T.O.'s fault. He played a part, I'm sure, because he's a part of the team, but so is Tony Romo. So is Jason Witten. So are DeMarcus Ware or Bradie James and on up the ladder to offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, head coach Wade Phillips and owner Jerry Jones.

They all could have done more than what they did, but to try to place blame on T.O. for what's been a mess whether he was around or not is really just grasping at straws. He's not throwing the ball to himself out there. He's not on the defense or special teams. He didn't even drop a mess of passes like he's prone to do. Everyone needs to be held accountable for what happened out there today, because I know that had to be embarrassing. I just hope that the sportswriters get a new refrain this time, because blaming T.O. for everything since the Holocaust just isn't working.

And no, I don't mean blame Pacman Jones, either.

Final note: The Cowboys went on that scoring run and closed the deficit to 38 points. Final score: Philadelphia 44, Dallas 6.