Terrell Owens Cries: No Crying in Football

Tell that to Terrell Owens, who couldn't hide the tears behind a large pair of sunglasses after the Dallas Cowboys were sunk by the New York Giants with a 21-17 victory in Sunday's game.

The cowboys had already beaten the Giants twice in the season. They were confident the third time would be a charm...as long as Jessica Simpson stayed away to keep from distracting quarterback, Tony Romo. This time, superstition did not win the Cowboys any favors.

The tearful Owens was quick to exonerate his teammate, "This is not about Tony," he wept, "We lost as a team."

However, forget Jessica Simpson. Professional sports are known to leave more broken hearts in their wake than Simpson could ever dream of breaking. Mothers shouldn't be advising their sons to avoid beautiful women. They should be advising them to avoid making sports their first love.

Terrell is not the first player ever to be moved to tears over a game.

Let's face it, seeing that football spiraling down the field with all your dreams right into the opposing teams' hands could make any sports fan or player cry.

The sports world even has notorious weepies like Brett Favre and famed coach Dick Vermeil who have cried over just about everything. Soccer great, David Beckham is also touted as being frequently overcome with emotion after victories and losses. These men must really love their games and all the joys, heartbreaks, triumphs, and losses that come with it.

Just this past December, Dolphin's owner Wayne Huizenga was seen crying in the owner's box after the Dolphins finally won their first game in fifty-three weeks, beating the Baltimore Ravens. Isn't that reminiscent of a Hootie and the Blowfish song?

Joe Torre cried back in September when his Yankees clinched a wild card spot with a 12-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after years of disappointing ends to the season. After his new contract as manager was drawn with terms he deemed less than favorable, surely there were more tears involved as he said goodbye to the team he'd managed for just over ten years.

Crying isn't just a recently en vogue thing, basketball great Michael Jordan has shown several times that real men do cry. Most notably, in 1991 after winning his first NBA championship.

However, all moments of tears are not always caught on camera...but there are many moments where you know tears had to have been shed. Such as the 1982 college football California/Stanford game where Stanford was led to believe they had the game in the bag. Stanford kicked a field goal which brought the game to a 20-19 lead with just four seconds left. The ball was lateraled five times after the next kickoff, allowing California to take it down the field, through the marching band who had come out onto the field prematurely in celebration, all the way for a touchdown. In the process, a trombone player was taken down. Add those tears to tears of disbelief and anger from both sides and it leads to one sobbing mess of a game.

As long as there are brilliant victories, crushing losses, season hopes dashed, retirements, deaths, injuries, and scandals there will always be crying in football, baseball, or any game for that matter. Just more examples of how the love of sports is so deeply embedded into the American psyche.