Jobless T.O. getting taste of backlash from teams

These are tough times for Terrell Owens. The new season of his VH1 show started this week and is dreadful beyond belief. He's actually now acting on it (yes, acting) and watching Owens is like seeing a cross between Steven Segal and Vin Diesel with a little David Spade sprinkled in.

Owens makes Chuck Norris look like Robert Duvall.

Get those Emmy nominations ready.

Terrell Owens could already have a job waiting for him, but is holding off until after training camps to join a team. (AP)

His bad luck doesn't stop there. On Monday, this happened.

That video of Owens getting dunked on is making its way around the Internet. It must be remarkably mortifying to a super-sized hubris like Owens for there to be forensic evidence of a dunk beat-down on his head.

The worst news yet for Owens is this: With just weeks to go until training camp, no team has signed him. There isn't even a hint of public interest thus far.

It's possible Owens has offers but is pulling a Brett Favre and skipping training camp only to sign later. More likely is that a team will sign Owens only if it lost several receivers to injury between now and the start of the season. In other words, he gets a contract if a team reaches rock bottom at the position.

When speaking to several team executives about Owens, there was glee no team had signed him yet. That's the word. Glee. Straight up, unfiltered, high-pitched glee. Celebration in Times Square post-World War II Japan surrenders type of glee.

Apparently, it's payback time.

Will Owens eventually sign? It's possible, and a team like New England remains a potential destination. The Patriots have taken image-wrecking, team-obliterating wide receivers before and shined them up nice.

For now, teams are simply getting even with Owens. They want to see him sweat. They want to see him suffer.

Owens has made countless enemies and his pseudo-banishment is well earned. He called the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers gay. He called the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles a punk. He divided the locker room of the 49ers, Eagles and Cowboys. He ostracized entire coaching staffs. Not once but repeatedly.

Teams don't forget. If some coaches could key Owens' car they would.

Owens hasn't electrocuted dogs or beat up women. He hasn't killed anyone while driving drunk. To some teams, remarkably, what Owens did was even worse. He publicly embarrassed them with words or stupid touchdown dances.

It's not Owens' talent that's keeping him unemployed. He remains a serviceable player. It's his history. Few coaches and teams will ever trust Owens again. Ever.

One might take a chance. Most will stay away.

Owens seems to know this. He has been on a public relations blitz declaring he's a changed man. He told the Associated Press he's not the bad guy everyone thinks he is. In a different interview, he blamed ESPN for the continued perception that he's a jackass.

"I may do 99 percent good things and if I do one thing wrong, ESPN and the people on there ... make it to be the worst thing ever," Owens said. "I think with the years I've had, the last three to four years, I feel like I've tried to turn over a new leaf. But they still won't let go of what I did in the past."

Poor little Te-well.

An NFL executive reminded me of an incident that happened with Owens in December 2006, when during a game Owens spit in the face of Atlanta's DeAngelo Hall. The NFL fined Owens $35,000 for the atrocious act. That hasn't been forgotten by some in the league and neither have Owens' numerous touchdown celebrations where he rubbed it in the face of teams after scoring.

No, Owens isn't the worst guy in the world and teams have made deals with real devils.

He was still a jerk for most of his career and some in the NFL haven't forgotten.

So it's payback time.