“Obviously, he’s gotten himself into a lot better shape this year,” Owens said. “I think you can tell that by the way he’s running around. ... I wouldn’t say he was out of shape. But I think everybody notices he has slimmed down a little bit and he’s moving around better.”

About the only thing T.O. and McNabb agree on? Neither is interested in a symbolic, hatchet-burying handshake.

“I don’t feel like I have to go out of the way to appease you guys, to try to create some type of story,” Owens said.

Said McNabb: “The whole world doesn’t have to see us shaking hands, high-fiving, hugging, chest bumping. Because after that it will be, ‘Well, they made up,’ and you guys will come up with some bad cliché or bad little funny jokes about it. We have a job to do.”

Owens has started talking to local reporters only on Wednesdays, so he knew this was his day to put on a show. He walked into the locker room ready to do just that, eagerly saying, “Man!” upon seeing the crowd already gathered around his stall.

His first statement came from his wardrobe: a gray T-shirt that read, “Funny little football person,” a line angrily said about him last week by the head of the Dallas Police Association.

Owens answered every question for about 20 minutes. He laughed about the kind of reception he’s going to get from the crowd (“Not a good one,” he predicted), and later playfully sang a chant he’s bracing to hear: “O.D! O.D! O.D!” It’s a cruel reference to his accidental overdose last week and a twist on the “T.O! T.O! T.O!” chant he heard during his good times in Philadelphia, all sung to the tune of the popular soccer song, “Ole! Ole! Ole!”

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“Hey man, I’m having fun,” he said. “I’m not going to let what the fans say or do take me out of my game.”

Although Owens has often had some of his best performances in games tinged with emotion like this, he’s not making any promises.

“There’s nothing extra that I feel like I have planned,” he said. “I’m going to go into this game and try to score touchdowns and try to go in there and do the best I can do.”

Strangely, his take on the significance of this game wavered from one extreme to the other.

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At times, he expounded on this being a huge event: “I’m pretty sure it will be the most-watched game throughout the course of the year, besides the Super Bowl.” He also said, “To that city, it’s almost like a playoff game.”

Other times, he made it seem like a minor subplot: “It’s been a rivalry around here for years, the Cowboys and Eagles. With me being here, there’s just some added excitement.”

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