GET USED TO IT JETS FANS!

Over the weekend, the infamous Terrell Owens surprised everyone when he signed with the Buffalo Bills. Boy was I surprised when I heard that on the news, although I did receive a text message about a random press conference occurring at 6:15pm. It's ironic that I was having a conversation about where T.O. wasn't going the day before.

Anyway, now that we all know the big news, I'm starting to feel more excited about T.O. being on the team. First, he only has a year contract and T.O. is smart enough to realize that he has to prove himself in this year so that he can either be resigned by the Bills, or be signed by a "better" team. I'd like to think that the reason it's so surprising is that the Bills are very frugal and up until now, have not had any big name people on their team since their 4 year hot streak to the Super Bowl. But to say that the Buffalo Bills are a bad team is kind of an overstatement. They aren't necessarily good, and they know how to wrench out a fan's heart, but they aren't overly bad. Look at the Detroit Lions. Or the St. Louis Rams. That's bad. The Bills have been in the mediocre middle for quite some time, which might equal bad being in the same division as the Patriots.

Getting back to T.O., I think that this will give Buffalo some well deserved media attention for once. Take it from someone who cannot watch their games even when the Jets are out of town and the Giants are on their bye-week. Case in point: the sports show on Showtime. When the Bills made it to 4-0 or 5-1, this show didn't mention them until the ending credits about 30 seconds before it was going to air a movie. Instead, they bickered about the Giants and the Cowboys for 20 minutes, and then gave highlights of all the other teams. Buffalo has been waiting to get into the spotlight since they bombed the Super Bowls. It's either win a lot of championships, sign a killer to your football team, or someone has to die to get media attention. The last attention I remember the Bills getting was negative attention when they finally beat a team, which happened to be the Washington Redskins who had just lost their player, Taylor. That's it.

So maybe T.O. can't turn the offense around in Buffalo. But maybe the Bills can get some credit they do deserve instead of being on the back burner behind teams that don't even count in New York. Like the Giants...

Although many people are skeptical about T.O.'s performance this upcoming season, I'm sure he'll play his best. If the pieces fall into place, the Bills should start to come out on top, or at least break even. T.O. said at the press conference that he noticed when the Bills were doing well at the beginning of last season, and even if it was just b.s., he said he wanted to help the Bills go farther this year. And I really think he wants to help, even if it's only to put some credibility into his career. Either way, as a Bills fan, I am happy.

Jaclyn Kahn