Mad at Owens? It's the agents, stupid

For the past three years, ever since he left the San Francisco 49ers, Terrell Owens had convinced me that he was singlehandedly destroying professional sports. Granted, this may have been a slightly extremist opinion, but considering his groundbreaking levels of greed and selfishness, I figured I couldn't be too far off.

But after hearing about countless holdouts during training camp this summer, I began to think otherwise, and a previously unnoticed trend appeared. The fault doesn't just lie with Owens, Ron Artest or Stephen Jackson. It lies with their agents.

I don't know any sports agents but at this point in my life I've come to the conclusion that they are the worst people in the world.

The most obvious poster boy for the industry is Drew Rosenhaus, Owens' devoted little agent sidekick. It's probably not fair to assume that he is representative of all agents, but it's fun and easy to do, so I'm going to do it anyway.

Rosenhaus, the NFL's most ruthless agent — a self-proclaimed title, of course — is more than proud of the fact that his entire life revolves around his clients. He has no wife, no children, no friends and no hobbies, as any of these might distract him from his job.

He works 18-19 hours a day, usually seven days a week, and, a la Scarface, does most of his business from his luxury condo in, predictably, Miami Beach.

He's the type of guy who slicks his hair straight back and wears his sunglasses at night. The type of guy who gives a nickname to himself — "The Shark" — and thinks that he lives such an interesting life that at the ripe old age of 31, he decided to write an autobiography.

Rosenhaus became a public figure last year when Owens was attempting to restructure his contract, which unfortunately for Terrell, promised him only a measly $4 million per year, plus a $6 million signing bonus.

Of course, this was one of those pesky "binding" contracts, and T.O. couldn't really get out of it, but be damned if his fiery little agent wasn't going to fight like hell anyway.

From that point on, it didn't take long for Rosenhaus, with help from T.O. himself, to offend the entire Eagles organization and in doing so completely alienate him from the rest of the team. Owens was suspended then released, and everyone in Philadelphia has hated him since, to the point that at the local Hooters, they actually use his uniform as a doormat all year long.

But Owens, and many other professional athletes, weren't necessarily born greedy, and many of them came into the league focused on the game and their team, not the money. Yet for so many of them, it changes once they meet their first agent.

It's their agent who sits with them during contract negotiations and whispers in their ear "Hold out, you can get more," or who after a loss tells them "those idiots need to throw you the damn ball."

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Agents are the ones who tell Johnny Damon to screw Boston and move to the Yankees for more money. Agents are the ones who tell Edgerin James to forget about Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and the entire concept of the Big Three and go to Arizona, where he'll never win more than six games a year, but will cash bigger checks.

Of course agents are necessary and serve largely to protect their players in complex situations, thereby allowing the client to focus on the game. But just because they're necessary doesn't mean they have to be evil.

They want to do what's best for their clients, but it's a mistake to assume that what's best is always defined in monetary terms.

Michael Jordan is an excellent example of this. For years, Jordan was far and away the most valuable professional athlete in the world and there were literally dozens of teams that could've paid him far more than what the Bulls were.

But instead of following the money, he stuck with the Bulls, won six championships and became not only one of the most accomplished athletes in history, but also one of the most beloved.

Agents like Rosenhaus essentially encourage their clients to be selfish, and while this attitude has often led to higher salaries, M.J.'s selflessness was a main factor in garnering a fan base that will likely never be matched.

Jordan was loyal to his team, and his fans were loyal to him. As a result, nearly everything that Jordan has touched, from endorsements to his clothing line, has turned to gold. Even "Space Jam" made a fortune.

Many agents' greed-based strategies greatly sacrifice public image and fan support in favor of higher salaries. The goal is to get as much money as possible, and to a certain extent it works, with many salaries being greater than what even Jordan received.

But if the goal is to maximize wealth, people like Rosenhaus need to be reminded that while such salaries may be great, it was Jordan's perfect public image that made him the wealthiest athlete in the history of sports.

While the Cowboys may eventually pay the unpopular Owens more money than the Bulls ever paid M.J., Jordan's loyal fans have provided him with, among other things, millions of dollars more than Terrell can ever even imagine.