Friday October 26 Option 1

Palm 1
Chris Palm
Mr. Hatten
English 10
26 October 2007
Then let it rock
“This was the bigger game I’d been playing since 1989, when I’d looked around the league and figured out that trying to be Jerry Rice or anyone else was never going to work for me. I wanted to succeed on my own terms, and if that meant rocking the boat, then let it rock” (pg 250). When Terrell writes this to the reader in Catch This! Going Deep with the NFL’s Sharpest Weapon by: Terrell Owens and Stephen Singular this tells the reader that Terrell Owens wanted to accomplish his goals by being himself. Terrell wanted to share with people that pretending to be someone else your whole life is a wrong thing to do, and he was willing to stick up for that by taking the heat from the media.
Owens expressed this message to the reader by describing his emotions to how the media blows things out of proportion. “It was almost enough to bring back the tears, and it looked as if the past really was being put to rest. This was what sports had always been about for me: working hard to win and then enjoying the moment when it came” (pg 219). When Terrell shares this with the reader it makes you feel sad. This passage helps the reader visualize how bad the media can effect/make an athlete feel. Especially a tough athlete like Terrell Owens, the media almost put him into tears. What Owens shared with people in this passage was that no matter how bad the media rips you apart stick to your morals, and be yourself.
Palm 2
Owens shared this message to the audience by explaining to the reader why sometimes he blew up in games with his coach, and teammates. “For almost all of the 1,700 or so players in the National Football League, that moment never comes, and they never know what it feels like to be a Super Bowl champion. That’s what life is really like in the NFL and why tempers flare and people scream and coaches get fired and tears sometimes fall. Losing is never easy and never fun” (pg 220). When Owens shares this passage with the reader it shows the reader that Terrell is a very competitive athlete, and that when his team is not winning it kill’s him inside. In this passage Terrell tries to explain to the reader his competitiveness that he has for the game, and how he feel’s when he is losing.
Owens expressed this message to the reader by proving that being yourself will always benefit you in the long run, and to not be weak. “When we finally learn and accept that everybody is different from everybody else, and that’s a true strength and not a weakness, we’ll have made a great leap forward” (pg 236). This passage Owens shares with the reader is a great point. This tells the audience that Owens is maturing immensely. Owens is sharing with the reader that when everybody realizes that being yourself is a strength, and people stop faking their identity’s the world will be a better place to live in. In this last chapter Terrell reminds the reader that pretending to be someone you’re not your whole life is very wrong, and that regardless of how bad things get stick to who you are.
Palm 3
In my opinion Owens shared this memoir/autobiography to the world because he wanted to share with people that pretending to be someone else your whole life is a wrong thing to do. Some examples that helped me believe this were when Owens expresses his emotions to the reader by describing how the media blows things out of proportion, lets the audience know why sometimes he blew up in games with his coach/ teammates, and lastly by proving that being yourself will always benefit you in the long run, and to not be weak. Would you have folded up to the harsh media, and gone back to your old ways of being fake? Or would you have stayed true to your morals, and been yourself?