Philadelphia ? In Terrell Owens’ perfect world, his petulance would be explainable. His tirades would be stomached. His insubordination would be rewarded with the kind of freedom that translates into a new, hefty contract somewhere else while the Eagles regressed to the times of Rich Kotite.

But this is the real world, where nothing is perfect for Terrell Owens. Not now and, quite possibly, not for the remainder of his career. After all the pouting, whining, belligerence and, ultimately, an uncharacteristic mea culpa in his front yard, Owens’ immediate future, thanks to an arbitrator’s decision on Wednesday, is stuck in neutral.

Going nowhere. Sullied beyond comprehension. Stagnant, and at the complete mercy of the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately.

There is no cause for celebration here. There never should be when a situation is rife with a bunch of losers.

Owens has lost big-time, regardless of the imminent spin scheduled to arrive from his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Donovan McNabb loses, too, his once-pristine reputation fragmented by the perpetual jabs thrown in his direction by Owens.

The Eagles are no better off, either, considering that they’re losing not just a player who caught 47 passes for 763 yards in seven games this season, but an All-Pro who would have helped them produce a record better than 4-6.

Owner Jeffrey Lurie’s “gold standard” no longer exists.

But after stomaching all the acrimony – Owens’ demand for a new contract; his vow to be disruptive after not getting one; the receiver’s continual shots at McNabb, and the culminating insults aimed at the Eagles – there still is something that absolutely stinks about this whole fiasco.

Mainly, the Eagles’ ability to keep Owens from playing elsewhere.

They just didn’t rob Owens of the right to work.

They slapped him, then threw him change for good measure.

When you act the way Owens acted, you deserve to get suspended. You deserve to be convicted in the court of public opinion. Humiliation, embarrassment, and all its residual effects are entirely appropriate and, in most circles, condoned. And if it comes in the form of a four-game suspension, the maximum allowed under the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Assn., more power to the Eagles.

Go for it.

Then leave the man alone, and let Owens live his life.

“The four-week suspension was for just cause,” arbitrator Richard Bloch wrote in his decision. “Additionally, there was no inherent violation of the labor agreement in the club’s decision to pay Owens but not practice or play him (for the season’s last five weeks) due to the nature of the player’s conduct and its destructive and continuing threat to the team.”

Honestly, that is something I can’t fathom.

At the very least, someone in the offices of the NFLPA should be made to answer for this one, evidently for having too much of a cozy relationship with commissioner Paul Tagliabue at the bargaining table.

Just so we get this straight: The Eagles don’t want Owens anymore. They’ve handed down the maximum allowable suspension. And still, just because they’re electing to pay him nearly $1 million of his $3.5 million base salary for the final five games of the regular season, they get to put him on their inactive list – instead of releasing him – for the express purpose of preventing him from playing elsewhere.

If your future was at the total mercy of an employer’s interpretation, how would you feel about your job? Wouldn’t you deserve some help?

It’s almost sacrilegious to ask the latter regarding Owens.

In anyplace else, that is, but America.