None of his comments, when taken by themselves, are all that alarming… at least not in the context of Terrell Owens. Owens unburdened himself to reporters yesterday, and here’s a sampling of quotes:

“I do have a problem when I don’t feel like I’m involved enough,” he said. “I know I can make a difference. That’s not me being arrogant. I just know what I bring to the table. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. … I want to win. I came here to help this team win.”

“Dude, I am playmaker,” he said. “These guys know that. It’s simple. … Get the ball in the playmaker’s hands.”

“The guys in the booth are saying, ‘There he goes again, he’s up to his old stuff again,”‘ he said. “It’s very unfair. … It makes me hesitant to try to do what I need to do.”

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ll be siding against Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, but I don’t think that’s unfair at all. All wide receivers want the ball, man. Steve Smith wants it. Marvin Harrison wants it. Torry Holt wants it. But you never see any of those guys screaming about it on the sidelines, they’re not bitching about it in the media, they’re not drawing attention to themselves, because that doesn’t do anyone any good.

I’ve tried really hard to not hate Terrell Owens. I’d still rather have him around than Stephon Marbury… but he makes it so damn hard. I really don’t think he’s purposefully a huge prick, I just think he doesn’t know any better. When he says, “I’m for the team,” and things like that, I believe that he believes what he’s saying… but there’s just some part of his brain missing, the part that allows him to think about things from a point of view that isn’t his.

For example, there should be something that kicks in and says, “Hey, I know you want the ball, but don’t be an asshole about it, because that’s going to fuck with the team, your quarterback, the coach, the media and everything else.” But it doesn’t. It never gets past, “Hey, I know you want the ball.” And then he goes on to rail for something he believes he deserves.

There was also this interesting little note…

He even revealed that the ongoing issues he’s faced the last few months, from a hamstring injury in training camp to an accidental overdose, have driven him to “sit in my house in the dark” instead of having much of a social life.

Well, that lends some credence to the “cry for help” overdose theories, as opposed to the “Terrell Owens is rich, and therefore happy” theory. What kind of a depressed athlete tells the media that they sit around in the dark?

Nelly… you’re a disgrace to depression.