Look for Cowboys to Tee Offon Owens

Remember last year when Terrell Owens, the San Francisco 49ers’ wide receiver, twice stood on the Dallas Cowboys’ midfield logo at Texas Stadium with his arms spread wide after scoring touchdowns in the 49ers’ 41-24 romp over the Cowboys?

The teams play again Sunday in Dallas and Owens is commemorating the controversial moment--which cost him a week’s salary and brought on a one-game suspension--by wearing a T-shirt with photographic images of the incidents on both sides.

Owens refused to talk to reporters, but issued a 60-word message that read, in part, “I am finished talking about it. Instead, I will do my talking this week on the dominos table.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only person to have gone to the Rose Bowl game as a player, assistant coach, head coach and director of athletics?

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Rugged ruggers: Houston Post columnist Mickey Herskowitz says all you really need to know about the game of rugby is that the “National College of Chiropractic has its own team.”

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Patriotic fans: Sales of “United We Stand” pins designed by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee have raised more than $2 million for the survivors of people killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Of the 441,000 pins sold, 60% of them were purchased in Utah.

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First priority: Newly named Coach Bill Barry, on what the Chicago Bulls need: “There will be some subtle [changes] made and I hope the biggest change is, we can win some dang games on the road.”

The Bulls have lost 16 consecutive road games.

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Say what? When the Toronto Maple Leafs gave up three third-period goals in a 4-3 loss to Carolina, Toronto Coach Pat Quinn was not pleased.

“We’re not into blaming people, but if you wanted to, just point to a couple of individual defensemen on each of those goals,” he said.

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Pure pessimism: Columnist Paul Needell of the New Jersey Star-Ledger sees some potential similarity between this year’s Philadelphia Eagles and the Phillies of 1964. That was the Gene Mauch-managed team that choked away a 61/2-game lead with 12 to play.

“Gather ‘round, children. The Eagles could be about to blow a three-game lead with three games to play,” writes Needell.

The front-running Eagles, who lost last weekend to San Francisco, play the New York Giants Sunday, then Tampa Bay on Jan. 6.

Said Giant strong safety Sam Garnes, “They see us in their rearview mirror.”

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Watch out in 2021: It was 24 years between wins for super-comp drag racer Al Kenny. His comment: “Every 20-plus years, I like to show up and kick some butt. I figure I can come back in a couple of decades and do it again.”

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Trivia answer: Bump Elliott of Michigan.

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And finally: Vintage race car driver Inigo Paternina’s 1961 Porsche broke down in the Andes Mountains during the Inca Trail 2001 rally, so he hired an Argentine taxi driver for a 3,100-mile ride that lasted 10 days.

“I had to catch a taxi because, obviously, there was a race to be done and promises to be kept,” said Paternina. “As I am a man of honor, I took a taxi.”

The ride set him back $1,200.