Cowboys circus headed back to California for camp

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Even Terrell Owens will find it difficult to draw top billing thistime, with so many other sideshows to gawk at when the DallasCowboys open training camp.
As Owens has so eloquently put it before, "Getcha popcorn ready!"It's going to be a show.
There will be plenty to see with the Cowboys, whose bitter endingto a 13-win season in January made it 11 seasons without a playoffvictory — though it has done little to dampen superexpectations for 2008.
First, there is the player who wants to be formerly known as"Pacman" and doesn't know for sure if he will be allowed to playthis season.
How about the Tank that Dallas got to roll out only half of lastseason after he returned from his NFL suspension.
Roy Williams went to his fifth straight Pro Bowl last season, eventhough the hard-hitting safety often went to the sideline onpassing downs. And that could happen again, especially if "Pacman"— sorry, Adam — Jones is playing.
Jason Garrett, the supposed successor-in-waiting for coach WadePhillips — who in his only season in charge so far led Dallasto its first NFC East title since 1998 — is more firmly inplace.
Plus, who knows, maybe Jessica Simpson stops by to see her beau,Pro Bowl quarterback Tony Romo.
With all that and more when the Cowboys open camp Friday in Oxnard,Calif., not too far from Hollywood, they have the ingredients for amade-for-TV show.
Oh, Jerry Jones took care of that.
Never missing a chance to promote the Cowboys brand, Jonesenthusiastically agreed when HBO executives wanted to again featurethe team in the "Hard Knocks" series.
When last highlighted by the cable network six years ago, Dallaswas coming off a 5-11 season and was on the way to another. Thatwas pre-Bill Parcells, before T.O. and Romo.
Somehow last season, a franchise-record 13 victories, the NFC's topseed and an NFL-record 13 Pro Bowl players didn't equal a playoffvictory. Dallas lost to the New York Giants, the eventual SuperBowl champion and NFC East foe the Cowboys beat twice in theregular season.
Their depth chart loaded with all those Pro Bowlers and returningplayers at nearly every other position, the Cowboys are considereda prime Super Bowl contender 12 seasons after their fifthchampionship.
But long before finding out if "America's Team" makes it toFebruary, or falls short again, there are all the sideshows towatch.
_UN-"PAC"ING JONES: Able to get a once-elite and still youngcornerback-kick returner, filling two areas of need with oneplayer, Jerry Jones was willing to take a chance on a playerseeking to shed his nickname and troubled past.
The Cowboys won't really lose much if "I want to be Adam or Mr.Jones" doesn't work out, because they'd get a draft pick back fromTennessee. But Jerry — the Cowboys' only real Mr. Jones— hopes for another successful reclamation, like Owens andTank Johnson previously, and several other players when Dallas waswinning playoff games in the mid-1990s.
Adam Jones' situation is a bit different. He was suspended by theNFL all last season and couldn't even work out with the Titans. Hehas been arrested six times and involved in 12 incidents requiringpolice intervention since being drafted sixth overall in 2005.
While Jones was cleared in June for practices and preseason games,commissioner Roger Goodell might not decide until the week of theSept. 7 season opener if the player will be fully reinstated.
The commissioner has to be convinced there will be no more trouble.
"I'm going to do my part," Adam Jones said.
"He knows it's his last straw, so he's going to take extremecaution to everything he does," said Johnson, who has a locker nearJones at Valley Ranch.
Deion Sanders has become somewhat of a mentor for Jones in Dallas.Jones has since requested to be called by his real name, though heinitially stuck with the nickname given him by his mother and thathe's been known by his entire life.
"There's really just a lot of negativity behind it," Jones said."It's just time for a change."
_TANK ROLLING FORWARD: Tank Johnson was still serving hiseight-game NFL suspension for violating probation on a gun chargeand had to wait two months to play after signing last September.
Johnson, whose last game with the Chicago Bears was in the 2007Super Bowl, initially kept a low profile while serving his penaltyand getting acclimated to a new team. But the boisterous spirit isback, and the nose tackle is ready to have a real impact on thefield.
"I am a beast right now," Johnson said. "You learn the plays one byone instead of 50 at a time. When you come in Week 11, they alreadyhave 50 plays in. ... Now I know where I am going."
Dallas took a chance on Johnson after starting nose tackle JasonFerguson tore his right biceps in last year's opener. Johnsonstarted only one of the nine games he played, but showed enoughthat Ferguson was traded for draft picks this spring.
_SEEMINGLY CONTENT, MORE-TESTED T.O.: When Dallas last trained inCalifornia two years ago, Owens spent more time on a stationarybicycle than the field.
To the ire of Bill Parcells, T.O. even donned a cycling uniform andhelmet to poke fun at all the time he spent pedaling while nursinga sore hamstring during his first Cowboys camp after anunceremonious, midseason departure from Philadelphia.
Two touchdown-filled seasons and a new contract later (a $27million, three-year extension through 2011, when he will be 38),Owens seems content, healthy and settled in Dallas. Especially whencatching passes from Romo.
"We're obviously getting better, obviously the chemistry," saidOwens, whose team-record 15 TDs last season gave him an NFL-high 28the past two years. "We just want to build on what we alreadyhave."
And, Owens is clean even though he's now part of the NFL's"reasonable cause" testing program. Owens missed a random drugtest, which he blamed on a simple miscommunication about contactinformation, and can now be tested up to 24 times a year.
While unhappy about extra testing, Owens isn't worried aboutresults. He said he has never had a positive test "for substance ofany kind" during his 13-year NFL career.
"I know what I put in my body," Owens said.
_ROY BASH: First, Roy Williams admitted during a radio interviewthat at times he hoped passes weren't thrown his way because heknew he couldn't cover the receiver.
Then there were some disparaging remarks made by a couple ofteammates.
Phillips defended Williams, whose 115 tackles were second on theteam, saying "the guy didn't give up a single deep pass all season.... He did get in the Pro Bowl."
True, but Williams often didn't play on obvious passing downs. Andthat appears likely again, because cornerback Aaron Henry wasdropping back into Williams' spot when Adam Jones was on the fieldduring minicamp.
Williams quit doing interviews at Valley Ranch, but told the FortWorth Star-Telegram after an autograph session he was excited andexpects to have a good season.
"But I can't say it," he said. "I have to go out there and showit."
Hold the comments if No. 31 gets burned by a pass — that willbe rookie cornerback Mike Jenkins, not Williams. The five-time ProBowler switched to No. 38.
_COACH IN WAITING?: Before Phillips was hired as Parcells'replacement, Jerry Jones had already hired Garrett. Jonesconsidered making the former backup to Hall of Fame quarterbackTroy Aikman the head coach.
Instead, Garrett was hired as offensive coordinator, then became ahot commodity after his play-calling resulted in many team passingrecords and the second-most points in the NFL.
Garrett interviewed with Baltimore and Atlanta about head coachingjobs, but removed his name from consideration. He got promoted toassistant head coach with a substantial pay raise because Jonesdidn't want to lose him — and the owner's feelings won'tchange in the future.
_GOT GLENN?: Terry Glenn had as many operations on his right kneeas he did catches last season: two. The receptions came in theplayoff game after not playing until the regular-season finale.
The 34-year-old receiver, who got a $5 million roster bonus lastseason, hasn't been back on the field because of an unresolvedcontract squabble. He refused to sign a $500,000 injury waiver,which is what he'd get instead of his $1.74 million base salaryshould he reinjure his knee and be unable to play again.
_BIG SPENDER: Jerry Jones committed at least $70 million, with $59million in signing bonuses, on multiyear contracts this offseasonfor Owens and four other Pro Bowlers: left tackle Flozell Adams;running back Marion Barber (now the starter after Julius Jones leftin free agency); safety Ken Hamlin; and cornerback Terence Newman.
"Obviously, (Jones) has got high expectations and he should," saidPro Bowl tight end Jason Witten, who two years ago got his own bigdeal. "We've got to give him something back that he's put so muchin this team."