We were fortunate to be blessed with TWO different NFT collections dedicated to the great hall of fame career of Terrell Owens. The legendary receiver has been working hard in retirement, including as a web3 enthusiast. Setting Owens apart in the football NFT world is the release of two different collections. First up is the Terrell Owens NFT Gallery & Museum. This set features 13 original pieces created by 12 different artists. The next collection released was the Terrell Owens x SpaceCoupe collaboration, designed as trading cards marking each of Owens’ stops with different teams throughout his career. Now, let’s see what T.O. cooked up for us to spend our hard-earned money on.
Terrell Owens NFT Gallery & Museum
Let’s take a peek at what 81 decided to add to his NFT Gallery & Museum. These are pieces commemorating iconic moments from the NFL all-pro’s career. Most of the pieces are numbered in a series of 8, save for the 81 servings of popcorn, and a few 1/1s that are meant to be displayed in the museum. Before continuing your progress throughout the museum, please pass by the concessions:
Limited Edition Popcorn
The most common NFT of the whole collection, the Limited Edition Popcorn was released in celebration for the grand opening of Terrell Owens and his digital gallery & museum. They released a total of 81 units of this token, a nod to Terrell Owens’ jersey number. Quite a few of these were reserved as gifts for the artists and other contributors on the project, leaving a total of 44 available for the general public.
POPCELLY by Blake Jamieson
Memorializing the moment that made watching Terrell Owens play w/ the consumption of popcorn, here we have the POPCELLY, an ode to Terrell’s celebration splashing a bucket of popcorn right into his helmet. Playing into the gallery theme, a golden print of the wideout mid snack time is displayed on the wall, as we the viewer are zoomed into it before getting splashed with some golden popcorn kernels of our own. A golden moment for certain in the hall of fame career of Terrell Owens. The version viewed here is a 1/1 with the entirety of the graphic described, but the release saw 8 units of the T.O. print drop for auction.
POURDOWN by Lorenzo Spanos
Here we have a different take on the exact same moment featuring popcorn from Owens’ time spent in Dallas. Still something you’d find in a gallery, but instead of a painting on a wall, we have a sculpture immortalizing the moment (seemingly made of gold no less) , rotating in 360 degrees, asking us to observe every angle of this glorious moment in NFL celebration history. A golden bust of Owens’ upper body stands firmly on top of a pedestal made of marble, emblazoned with T.O.’s logo across the front of it. Fun to see this live in the digital world, otherwise, we’d be asking how a sculptor would have been able to lock in those golden kernels of popcorn in place. What wizardry would be at play here?? Like the last piece, we have a 1/1 (displayed above) with a little extra shine, but the rest of the collection featured a very similar work as part of a set of 8.
BORN STAR by Jordan Spector
Next, we have BORNSTAR, a piece paying homage to the entirety of Owens’ career, where we see the wideout striking his star pose, football in hand, bucket of popcorn in the other, but all star power with a jersey and helmet that is divided up into pieces, each sliver the color of one of the teams that Owens played for throughout his career. It does seem to be in chronological order from left to right, as I would interpret as beginning with San Francisco. Similar to the last few items, we have a 1/1 that aims to live in the Museum, and another 8 released for collectors.
BORN TO FLY by Jordan Spector
As we begin to shift away from popcorn, we lean into a big hit from the Foo Fighters to recognize T.O.’s time in Philadelphia. Owens would flap his wings every now and again as an Eagle, but here, we’re generating feathers. Shine and fog and feathers and haze, we somehow have a lot of movement, and complete stillness all at once. Maybe this is what it felt like for defensive backs trying to cover T.O. Another 8 auctioned off for gen pop, and 1 mainstay for the gallery.
SHADES OF TO by Ken Karl
Aaaand the popcorn is back. More of a film-noir still type of vibe here, we have a black and white close-up of Terrell, wearing some shades, but each lens reflecting back an image of T.O. in full color. One is the popcorn celebration as we have seen several times already in this collection, the other is Owens in San Francisco, arms extended out at his sides, possibly spelling out the T in T.O. That Terrell sure did like to have fun, and I am going to assume snack on popcorn. Same story as our previous pieces, 1/1 for the museum and another 8 floating out there for collectors.
STARBOY by Naturel
We channeled the Foo Fighters a couple of works ago, and now Owens is really embodying his best Weeknd. As the title of this piece suggests, T.O. is a motherflippin’ StarBoy. Commemorating another one of Owens’ most famous celebrations, we are highlighting the moment he scored a touchdown against the Cowboys, ran to the star logo at midfield, and proceeded to strike the pose we see here. Taking it to another level, we actually see Owens, light shining down on him, begin to float up towards the heavens. Lots of flash photography ensues, capturing the birth of a star(boy). The release convention remains the same, but we also return to the museum 1/1 featuring a different color scheme compared to the series released for auction.
SHOWTIME by Lauren Taylor
Here he is, suited for SHOWTIME, giving us a look of Owens off the field. This work delivers us the wideout in a slick suit and bowtie (golden, of course), seemingly walking down the red carpet, reflecting his knack for flair and highlighting a bit of his GQ side. This piece alludes to T.O.s foray into the world of cinema, having acted in some films, we see Owens’ suit adorned with silhouettes of the ever-present popcorn pose on one side, and a movie reel, spitting out film the same way you’d see on that opening trailer at your local movie theater. Like those before, we have a 1/1 for the museum, and a selection of 8 for collectors. This time, there is no difference between the artworks, both displaying a still image.
TEAM PICTURE by Tom Borowski
Fielding his own team of 11 versions of himself, we managed to wrangle them all together to pose for this TEAM PICTURE. Could you imagine a world with eleven different T.O.s running around? Let alone a whole football team? Not hating though, this image actually evokes happiness for this viewer. Each one of these Owenses is striking one of his many famous poses and celebrations, conveying a bit of that feeling you had when seeing them for the first time. I mean, don’t we all remember where we were when T.O. pulled a sharpie out of his sock? I know I do.. The pattern continues with one for the museum and 8 for the collectors. The museum piece is visually different, with a different venue filled with fans serving as the backdrop.
NO COMMENT by Robert McFetridge
At last, the pattern is broken. No more collectables available from this point forward, only works that are included in the Terrell Owens NFT Gallery & Museum. Remember this one? A free agent Owens, doing sit-ups outside his home, reporters shoving microphones in his face, asking what his next move might be. The Museum remembered this moment with the recreation we see in this image. Owens exercising on a blank grey space here, but I can just as well visualize that driveway. One fun element here is the replacement of the microphone flags from the news outlets logos that were covering this moment, to messages that all mention T.O. Cheeky indeed!
THE BREAKAWAY by Christian Paniagua
Another 1/1 for the museum, here we’re looking at The Breakaway, a stylized recreation of one of Owens’ dashes towards the end zone from his time spent in San Francisco. This still frames T.O. with big broad brushstrokes colored in signature Niners red and gold. Interestingly, his eyes are blacked out, turning this depiction of the receiver into a football crushing machine. I am sure this is the terror opposing DBs felt they were looking at. Artistically done with an emphasis on brush strokes and paint dabs, this technique helps bring dynamism to the image, doubling down on the feeling of speed.
FLY T.O. FLY by Jonathan Shelley
This piece explores the many interpretations of the word fly, with a figure we may assume to be T.O., at least that’s what the back of the jacket-jersey reads. Based on his time in Philadelphia, this figure floats casually above the pedestal underneath it, equipped with an Ironman type helmet and huge puffy jacket, the type you’d need to survive a Northeast type of winter. Perhaps an ode to Owens’ journey into the tech world (this is an NFT collection after all), he akins himself to a football Tony Stark. Another piece that belongs exclusively to the museum.
THE STEPS TO CANTON by Brandon Adams
The NFTs we have seen so far have documented much of different stops of T.O.s journey, but here, we have a piece pulling it all together, documenting each step along the way. Owens had tons of ups and downs throughout his football life, but in the end, it all added up to a Hall of Fame career, and T.O. going down as one of the best Wide Receivers in NFL history. It all manifests in STEPS TO CANTON, featuring Terrell Owens in action mode, dawning a Frankenstein mish-mash uniform of all the different teams he has played for. The receiver then spirals around to become the subject of a trading card, complete with his career statistics on one side, and his famous slogan, “Getcha Popcorn Ready”, on the other. This piece is a museum exclusive.
ENSHRINED LEGEND by Michael Augustine
Finally, it all adds up to ENSHRINED LEGEND. This piece is the celebration of everything we have reviewed so far. The totality of T.O.’s body of work in the NFL led him to be enshrined into the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, though he famously skipped on the ceremony. Depicting that success, we see Owens, smile on his face, shining Hall of Fame ring on his finger, dressed in his golden jacket. The journey he embarked on ended in football immortality and recognition as one of the best WR’s of all time.
I hope you enjoyed visiting the museum. You can continue to bid on many of the pieces at Opensea.io!
