T.O. was my friend

Recently I had a terrible experience with having to deal with a T.O type character. What made this real tough is that it was within my circle of friends. For at least myself, I do not want to talk for the others, I know I was definitely blinded by his charisma for quite some time just like T.O has done to three, now four teams. His smile is huge, he talks the talk, and he just seems so sincere. Hell ya I was a T.O. fan when he came to the cowboys. I thought he was a game changer, kinda like this old acquaintance. However, just as in football as soon as the times get tough the small things start to come out and little by little they build and build and ends up becoming a whole soap opera mess with the media spreading half truths all around.

But the time had come. The Executives for three different teams had had enough, just as my circle just couldnt take the drama anymore. Never have I known a single male individual to cause so much drama within a group of friends. I didnt realize it but this guy who I always thought of as being the most confident guy and what not was actually quite the opposite. He needed the attention to make himself feel good. He was the opposite of confident, atleast thats what I think. You should have confidence in yourself because you know you can, not because some group of friends you just convinced otherwise are now agreeing with you.

It only became more apparent that he had self-confidence issues when he would just start bashing our friends for just about everything they would do. I myself took up yoga and of course it instantly became the butt of his jokes for however long, I guess to make himself feel better. Not sure why, might have had to do with his consistant talk of how he was going to have a 6 pack by then of June.. no July.. no Aug, it was always getting pushed back for him, so maybe he was upset I was actually doing something active or maybe he was upset because it was not with him. Ya he is that lame. He is the guy that needs to be invited to everything or he'll invite himself over, just like everyday after work. I love all my friends and I think they would all say the same about me... that they know in any situation needed i'd be there, but arent their certain situations when one likes to be alone at home to contemplate and relax after working all day? Not for him.

Anyways, after looking back on the facts, which I wont bore you with because that would just be petty. I came across an article on relationships that I actually think translates well into friendships as well. I cant find it on the net, but it has 8 main points about Dating/Being with a 'Loser'

1) Rough Treatment - basically anything that includes getting hit

2) Jumps Right into "I Love You" - includes showering you with gifts, spending the rest of their life with you; more than likely this means they have shallow emotions and are looking for someone to attach themselves to in order to validate their own self-esteem issues.

3) Confidence Killers - always putting you down basically, never good enough

4) Breakup Panic-ers - they make wild promises, will do ANYTHING

5) Prison takers - you're not alowed to have outside intrests, everyone is a bad influence on you, but not them, they criticize what you enjoy doing on your own (ahem, yoga), basically they want to cut you off from any other influences

6) You never do enough - self explanatory

7) The Paranoid Controllers - have to know where and what you're doing ALL the time, if you dont answer the phone they want to know why, etc

8) Wild Story specialist - say just about anything to get your attention including saying their mom is in the hospital even though its not true.