Terrell Owens

Terrell Owens is in his second season playing for the Dallas Cowboys, a team that sports a 12-1 record, has clinched the NFC East title and is the favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. He is two years removed from playing for the Eagles, a team that lies far below the Cowboys in the division, saddled with a 5-8 record and not likely to get a whiff of the playoffs. But reporters who crowded around a speaker phone yesterday at the Eagles' NovaCare Complex expecting the loquacious wide receiver to boast or gloat about his own good fortune and the problems of the team that dumped him had to be a little disappointed.

The debate ends tonight and, hopefully, one terrific show will take its place. A year ago, the first meeting between Randy Moss and Terrell Owens did not live up to the hype. Instead, it turned into a lopsided victory for Moss' Minnesota Vikings over Owens' San Francisco 49ers. Had it been a prizefight, T.O. would have lost by TKO. Moss pulled in eight catches for 172 yards and three touchdowns while Owens painfully watched from the sideline and lost control of his emotions.

So now the Eagles wait to see whether Terrell Owens will be set free. That's the only part they can play in the unfolding drama between the world's angriest wide receiver and the National Football League. The Baltimore Ravens acquired Owens from the San Francisco 49ers for a second-round pick Thursday, shortly after the Eagles believed they had negotiated a contract with the four-time Pro Bowl receiver. "At this point, the league has approved the trade and Terrell is property of another team," Eagles president Joe Banner said last night.

Jeff Garcia is so over it. At least the Cleveland Browns quarterback said he has moved past the dysfunctional, controversial relationship with his former teammate - and outspoken critic - Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens. The players' disputes generated headlines during their five seasons together with the San Francisco 49ers. Garcia called Owens a cancer in the locker room. Owens insinuated that Garcia is homosexual and frequently has characterized him as an inept quarterback.

There was no call to bring your popcorn so you can get full enjoyment out of the show he plans to put on. No loud, boastful comments. No prediction for the outcome of Monday night's game against the Eagles at Texas Stadium. There was none of that. Instead, a subdued, reasonable Terrell Owens sounded all grown up. Almost. It's because, sometimes, T.O. just can't help himself. On the matter of his relationship with quarterback Donovan McNabb during his year-plus time as an Eagle, Owens made it clear that it has not warmed.

This morning, the 2004 Eagles will come into public view for the first time on the practice fields at Lehigh University. The metal bleachers will be crammed, and the standing-room areas figure to be at least six or seven fans deep. Excitement over the start of all Eagles seasons in recent memory has been intense, but this year, it's off the charts. Defensive end Jevon Kearse and wide receiver Terrell Owens have arrived and given both the fans and the players reason to believe that the Eagles' NFC championship barrier will be hurdled and a Super Bowl title finally secured.

Take a poll of Eagles fans these days and you'd likely find overwhelming support for the movement to sign soon-to-be free-agent wide receiver Terrell Owens. That's the predictable byproduct when you get almost nothing from your wide receivers in a third straight NFC championship game loss. Even quarterback Donovan McNabb jumped on that bandwagon this week when he stopped by the Brown Convention Center and first suggested that it might be time to add some veteran faces to the offense, then told ESPN he'd likely share some meals and ideas with Owens when the two are in Hawaii next week for the Pro Bowl.

Marilyn Heard's main job this week wasn't monitoring the progress of her famous son Terrell Owens as he pushed himself to return from a severe ankle injury in time for tomorrow's Super Bowl. "I think my mom's main concern is going out to California to get my son so he can come see me," Owens said. Five-year-old Terique Owens will be among the wide receiver's family members at Alltel Stadium. That is exciting for the father. "He's seen me play a few times, but he's only 5," Terrell said.

Brad Childress said he and Terrell Owens do not need to hug and make up. "I don't have any hard feelings," the Eagles' offensive coordinator said yesterday. "So, no. I don't need an apology. " During training camp in Lehigh University, Owens told Childress not to speak to him unless he spoke to Childress first. The wide receiver also said that Childress antagonized him by repeatedly saying, "Hey, Terrell. " Childress said he and Owens have not spoken to each other since the receiver returned to the team's training facility on Wednesday after a weeklong exile.

Freddie Mitchell's 2003 season was a reality TV show. Call it Extreme Makeover. A year ago at this time, the Eagles' 2001 first-round draft pick was coming off a disappointing sophomore year, and many of the local fans thought he was far more talk than substance. Now, after a productive 2003 season as the team's third receiver, he has soared on the team's popularity chart. Based on the crowd reaction during the team's training camp workouts at Lehigh University, Mitchell is at least among the team's top five fan favorites.

Terrell Owens faces off with three of his four baby-mamas on Tuesday's episode of "Dr. Phil" (4 p.m., CBS3). Women named Kimber, Monique and Melanie claim the former Eagles wide receiver is delinquent on child-support payments and has little to no relationship with their kids that he fathered. Owens tells Dr. Phil he squandered most of the $80 million he had been paid in the NFL and blamed his travel schedule and living in different cities from the kids as to why he can't see them.

The continuing money woes of ex-Eagle Terrell Owens threaten to land him in jail, if he doesn't pay child support owed to an Atlanta mother. The receiver's last monthly payment of $5,000 for his daughter with Melanie Paige Smith was made in November, according to a petition filed Friday by her attorney, as reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We plan to ask the court to send a strong message," Smith's attorney, Randall Kessler, said. Owens, 38, who helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2005, recently told GQ Magazine he had basically blown the $80 million he'd made in his NFL career.

His name is nothing close to, say, Thomas Oliver, Terrance O'Neil or even Thaddeus Okoro. Yet, Eric Leslie has long been known as "T.O. " and that's not about to change. Leslie, a 5-10, 140-pound senior wideout for West Philadelphia High's football team, bears a strong facial resemblance to renowned pass-catcher/diva Terrell Owens. And for as long as he can remember, this T.O. has wanted to be just like that T.O. Well, almost. "I don't want to be compared to him as far as personality," Leslie said.

A TORN ACL, a lockout and the possibility that his football career is over has Terrell Owens thinking of one thing - Terrell Owens. Figuring out what to do in the NFL afterlife, T.O. is pitching a sitcom based on his life. In "8 & 1" - a play on his number 81 - Owens would play an NFL star named Terrell O'Neal (Shaquille Owens was taken?) nearing the end of his career who lives with his mother, his best friend, two baby mamas and four kids. Owens, who had knee surgery in April, said he wants to resume his football career once he heals, but acknowledges that his reputation won't make joining another team easy - even if he's healthy.

MINNEAPOLIS - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith opened four days of labor talks in Minnesota on Tuesday, getting together without players or owners in the room. Three people familiar with the situation told the Associated Press that the two power brokers and staff members resumed negotiations aimed at ending a lockout now in its fourth month. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because no labor developments are being made public.

Terrell Owens is recovering from left knee surgery and plans to be ready to play when the NFL season starts. Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, confirmed yesterday that the 37-year-old star receiver tore his anterior cruciate ligament, had surgery in early April and "will be playing at the start of the NFL season. " In an interview with ESPN, Rosenhaus called speculation that Owens was considering retirement "nonsense" and said the 15-year veteran is doing "fantastic" and could be recovered as early as August.

Terrell Owens has had knee surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the last month, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported last night. The circumstances of the injury were not clear. One source told Mortensen that Owens was injured while taping a TV show for VH1. Another said he tore the ACL during a personal workout. Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was not available for comment. Owens, who will be a free agent when the NFL lockout ends, caught 72 passes for 983 yards and nine touchdowns for Cincinnati in 2010.

What a difference a year makes. Well, 364 days, anyway, before yesterday. Two weeks in a row, Tony Romo sat, smug in his Jeff Cap, smiling that little smile of his, the one he cultivated back when he had Jessica Simpson and Terrell Owens in his life. Romo sat in the glassed press conference room at Spaceship Jerry and, thoroughly, he reviewed how he and his Cowboys dismantled the Eagles franchise on consecutive weeks. The Cowboys first took home-field advantage and the NFC East title.

The official game report from Sunday's win over the Dallas Cowboys dourly notes that Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. This is because the NFL does not yet march off 15 yards for stupidity. If it did, there would be a lot of marching and the games would take an awful long time. When the penalty was assessed for Jackson's slo-mo plunge into the end zone, backward somersault and monster spike, many wondered how a touchdown celebration could be illegal when the touchdown was still in the process of occurring.

ACERTAIN SOMEONE made it clear that he took particular delight in Michael Vick's stellar performance in the Eagles' rout of the Redskins last night. That same person also made it clear that he enjoyed seeing Donovan McNabb stumble after signing a 5-year, $78 million deal with $40 milllion guaranteed. No, it wasn't Andy Reid. It was Terrell Owens, the bombastic wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals. After the game, Owens sent two tweets on his Twitter account. The first praised Vick: "Is this really a game?