Buffalo Bills safety Troy Vincent shook his head and frowned when the conversation turned to Terrell Owens' latest dispute with the Philadelphia Eagles.
As the NFL Players Association president, Vincent said it's important Owens gets a fair hearing regarding the four-game suspension imposed by the Eagles.

"You have to [defend a union member]," Vincent said Wednesday. "That's his right and that's our fiduciary responsibility to protect him, any member of our association."

But as an NFL player, fan and former Eagles player, Vincent wondered how things reached such an explosive point, the resulting publicity overshadowing any other league news.

"It's just unfortunate," he said. "I apologize to the fans and those people that support our sport because we're all affected -- all of us, myself included. ... It's just not good for our sport."

Vincent stayed away from taking sides.

"We want the best for T.O. We want the best for the franchise and ultimately what's best for the sport," he said. "Can't we just get along?"

Vincent defended Reid, saying the coach was as patient as he could be before suspending Owens.

"In my years there with him, he was a no-nonsense, basically zero-tolerance head coach," Vincent said. "It just got to a point where enough is enough."

Vincent also defended Owens, saying his string of outbursts are the result of being frustrated by the Eagles refusal to renegotiate the receiver's contract.

"No one wins in this situation," Vincent said. "At the end, maybe there's a departure, if that's the best solution, if Philadelphia wants a departure and both can go and move on."

Asked whether he would want Owens as a teammate, Vincent paused for 7 seconds before saying: "I'd take T.O. I'd take him."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2218520

I think the safety should spend more time on actually playing defense rather than crafting lame legal opinions.