Jones rambled, but didn't tamper

Last week, while cruising the drive-through line at the Chateau Golden Arches, I happened to hear KTCK (The Ticket) radio's weekly interview with Jerry Jones.

He was no more tampering with Terrell Owens than the cashier at McDonald's was.

The interview can be heard in its entirety by going to The Ticket's website (www.theticket.com), looking in the "Ticket Podcast" section, and clicking on the file under the "Dunham and Miller" selections. Or you can find the interview in the broadcast section of www.DallasCowboys.com.

The Ticket's morning hosts, Craig Miller and George Dunham, were well aware that owner Jones couldn't talk specifically about the Eagles' Owens.

"I just couldn't comment on it and wouldn't comment on it because of the rules," Jones said.

Miller came back with this question: "In general, and not talking about T.O. specifically, but are you more likely to gamble on a troubled player with a troubled past now than you were, say, five years ago?"

The owner hesitated, then answered, "In general, I'm a risk taker, and we've gone down that road."

He immediately mentioned Alonzo Spellman as an example of a player who became a Cowboy even though he "had some issues."

As he sometimes does, Jerry could have been flagged for rambling. But not for tampering.

Houston, we have no problem

Can't understand why so many people aren't happy with the Frogs going to the Houston Bowl.

Let me spell out one big reason to you: R-E-C-R-U-I-T-I-N-G.

Gary Patterson and his staff have always recruited the Houston area heavily. Playing in a bowl game there enhances TCU's visibility. Recruits can watch them practice. Memphis and Shreveport, to name two, are not hotbeds of TCU recruiting.

The MWC is trying to move away from its Liberty Bowl ties, not re-embrace them. The Liberty people made Utah cough up $2.5 million last year for permission to play in the Fiesta Bowl.

Plus, TCU fans are going to love Reliant Stadium. It's got club level seating, which the Independence Bowl doesn't.

Patterson's contract extension, by the way, which runs through the 2012 season, will earn him an estimated $1.2 million in real-time (not annuity) dollars. I don't know that figure for a fact yet. Consider it an educated estimate. (TCU doesn't announce contract terms).

There are 16 head coaches in NCAA Division I-A who earn at least $2 million per year (five were in the Big 12 this season). Patterson's not there yet, but by staying at TCU, he's working in the right neighborhood for it.

Yellow journalism

More on this game later, but does everyone agree that the preponderance of yellow flags has totally disrupted the rhythm of this Cowboys-Lions thing?

I'm guessing that the Lions' defensive front thinks they've picked up something -- the snap count? an Al Johnson twitch? -- and trying to beat the Cowboys off the line of scrimmage. It's worked, sometimes, but Detroit is on pace for a Texas Stadium record for times penalized.

Before you rip into the Cowboys' lethargic performance or the play-calling, remember that this was supposed to be the ambush game in the team's three-games-in-11-days test. I'm not inclined to grade them on style points on this one.

More later. Seats are already emptying here at Texas Stadium. They'd rather nap at home.

Big 12 refs steal one from OU

I have just watched the ending of the worst-officiated game in college football history. I'd show you the replay, but apparently in the Big 12, replays are presented for the TV viewing audience's amusement only.

I'm referring to the final seconds -- the final quarter, actually -- of Texas Tech's alleged 23-21 victory over Oklahoma in Lubbock.

The so-called winning touchdown came when Tech's Taurean Henderson stretched the ball over the goal line, well after his body had already been tackled to the ground.

This followed an even more ludicrous incomplete pass that the officials nearly ruled a touchdown (it was reversed, thankfully). And that was preceded by a fourth-down spot that gave the Red Raiders at least two feet and a game-saving first down.

All three plays were reviewed. Only the end zone pass was properly reversed. (The receiver never actually caught the ball).

You'll seldom see me mention an official's call in one of my columns. I'll leave the referee-complaining to the head coaches.

But the ending of the OU-Tech game was so blatantly mishandled, it totally altered the outcome.

Tech's second-to-last touchdown, come to think of it, shouldn't have been allowed, because the receiver left the field of play and came back in to make the catch. Again, the replay showed it, but it wasn't corrected.

On the fourth-down catch, Cody Hodges' pass was deflected, and Danny Amendola made a terrific play to wrest the ball from an OU defender's hands. But he was at least two feet shy of the first down mark when he came down with the ball.

The officiating crew seemed to be more interested in determining who had possession than it did in correctly marking the spot. The bogus first down kept alive Tech's winning drive.

The Henderson "touchdown" was a gutsy call by Tech coach Mike Leach, because he knew that a running play would run out the clock. But calling a run didn't fool the Oklahoma defense. Henderson was wrapped up, twisted, and his body clearly appeared to hit the turf one yard short of the goal line. The end zone TV camera probably showed it best.

Again, however, no official aggressively came running in to mark the forward progress. Even the official that was nearest the play didn't call a touchdown. After a few seconds, an official -- the line judge, I think -- came in and threw his touchdown signal into the air.

If the Big 12 is going to have instant replay and ignore it, why bother even reviewing a call? The officiating crew in Lubbock needs to be tagged, dipped for fleas and banned by the conference from ever doing a Big 12 game again.

Were they intimidated by the home crowd? Mad at Bob Stoops? Too leg-weary by the fourth quarter to call the game correctly? We'll probably never know.

What I do know is that Oklahoma should be headed to the Cotton Bowl, not Texas Tech. The disputed "victory" puts another asterisk on Tech's patsy-inflated 9-2 record.    

Patterson better off to wait

As colleague Jimmy Burch explained eloquently in Thursday's newspaper, the Kansas State football job isn't the sleeping sunflower seed that it was when Bill Snyder found it.

Barry Switzer and Mack Brown are right in saying that Snyder may have done the coaching job of the century in resurrecting the K-State program. But the recruiting rules have changed.

The junior college pipeline, long a Snyder staple, has been narrowed considerably, and the Wildcats have had to go to the rear of the long line of schools recruiting Texas prospects. Manhattan alum Gary Patterson has a better chance of signing a good Texas recruiting class at TCU than he would at Kansas State.

And don't think the new NCAA rule against shuttling recruits on private planes isn't a factor.

Patterson can easily fly out-of-state recruits into D/FW Airport. At K-State, it would be a 238-mile round-trip commute from the Kansas City airport. The new KSU coach's recruits will be sound asleep by the time they reach campus.

And with all due respects to Patterson's alma mater, why aim that low? Patterson is just one more 10-1 season away from having the really big boys interested in him.

Hey, the Texas A&M job may be open.

Free agent wonderings

Five years, $50 million.

Ouch. It isn't the dollars that would scare me away from free agent pitcher A.J. Burnett. It's the five years.

The last free agent pitcher to sign a contract for that long was (drum roll, please) Chan Ho Park, who signed for five years, $65 million, in 2001. And we all know how that worked out.

A report by ESPN.com on Thursday said that the Toronto Blue Jays had made the five-year, $50-million offer to Burnett.

For the Rangers, that's encouraging. Burnett likely will set the ceiling for free agent pitchers this off-season (unless Kevin Millwood does), and $10 million per season should be affordable. If Tom Hicks doesn't stay in the hunt for Burnett at that price, that should be seen as a very, very bad sign.

The organization will need to overpay to attack a top-line free agent starter, and that's the way that it should view offering Burnett the five years.

Jeremy Affeldt? Not interested. But you have to admire GM Jon Daniels' spunk in asking the Royals for Zack Greinke.

The club's first priority is starting pitching, I know, but Brian Giles, who always seems to be on base, would fit very nicely in the Rangers' lineup. Giles at $10 million would be much more valuable to the Rangers than Alfonso Soriano at the same price. Soriano needs to go.

But consider this: Back at the July 31 trade deadline, The Sporting News reported that the Braves offered 2B Marcus Giles, pitcher Jorge Sosa and a pitching prospect for Soriano and Kevin Mench, and the Rangers turned them down!!

Brian Giles has said that he'd like to play alongside his brother Marcus before his career is done.

The new GM needs to see if the Braves are still interested.

Still pitching around the problem

Baseball made a step in the right direction Tuesday.

But it was more like Barry Bonds, one step out of the batter's box, admiring one of his own home runs.

Players and owners have agreed to a new tougher, broader steroids policy. The new policy calls for a 50-game ban for first-time offenders, 100 games for failing a test a second time, and a lifetime ban for anyone who fails a third test.

Congress, I suspect, is going to like certain aspects of the announced agreement -- namely, the increased penalties and, for the first time, the testing for amphetamines. But the suspensions still aren't enough.

A second-time steroids cheat can fail a test in spring training, and still be back in the lineup for his team's August-September playoff run.

Also, there isn't enough in-season testing in the new policy. Players should be tested randomly at least once every 60 games. One player from each team, chosen at random, should be called to submit to urine tests after each game. The idea isn't necessarily to catch people, but to deter them from using steriods. One test per season isn't going to scare anybody.

What Congress seems to want -- and what baseball seemingly is too stupid (or arrogant) to understand -- is for all professional sports to turn over administration of their drug programs to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the same group that the U.S. Olympic Committee uses.

Let the parade begin

The older I get, the more I seem to notice when it's Veterans Day.

I don't tell war stories, but at a time in our nation's past when we still abducted young men off college campuses, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and spent a year in Vietnam. I was 21 years old when it happened and 23 when my active duty ended -- what should have been two of the best years of my life, taken away.

There were no tickertape parades for Vietnam vets when we returned home. I was proud, though, that I had done my duty. The wars in the Middle East seem to have given Americans a renewed appreciation for the men and women who have served their country.

At the TCU-Army football game last month, the university honored the area's Vietnam vets. From the bottom of this vet's heart, I want to say thank you, Frogs.

My personal, unofficial top five athletes who served their country:

1. Tom Landry -- flew 30 combat missions as a B-17 pilot in World War II. Shot down, survived, and went on to coach a little football.

2. Ted Williams -- who knows how many hits the Splendid Splinter would have had, had he not spent parts of five seasons (and two wars) as a Marine Corps pilot?

3. Roger Staubach -- Navy officer, served in Vietnam, then went on to Pro Football Hall of Fame.

4. Pat Tillman -- Cardinals safety, spurned NFL contract to volunteer as Army Ranger and was killed in Afghanistan.

5.  Rocky Bleier -- Steelers star wounded and earned Purple Heart in Vietnam.

Raffy walks again

Much to his relief, former Ranger and Oriole Rafael Palmeiro's next uniform won't be the pen-stripes of the Fort Leavenworth team. Raffy was cleared after an investigation concluded that it couldn't be proven that he had lied to a federal grand jury.

Rafael's long-awaited "explanation" of why he tested positive for anabolic steroids turned out to be a half-baked one. A faulty B-12 shot?

It could happen. But the committee's report noted that Orioles teammates who took the same B-12 shots did not test positive for stanozolol, as Raffy did.

Questions linger. Stanozolol is hard to mask and tends to remain in an athlete's system for weeks.

Yet, six weeks after Palmeiro appeared before Congress and made his dramatic, finger-pointing, "I did not take steroids" claim, he failed a drug test. Was Raffy arrogant, stupid or careless?

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he mostly was careless, that he took something without totally checking its contents, or that he took something and failed to follow its illegally-prescribed regimen. In either case, he was responsible and he stands guilty.

Raffy probably has played his final baseball game, and that's unfortunate. But he can salvage some of his reputation, I believe, by taking an active role in baseball's fight against steroids. There's still time for him to tell his whole story. The truth can be a powerful message.

Cy Old story

Obviously, this is why the Baseball Writers Assn. of America doesn't want me voting for them anymore.

Nothing against Chris Carpenter or the St. Louis Cardinals, but I strongly disagree with the way my baseball colleagues select the Cy Young Award winners.

As the wire service story reported Thursday afternoon, Carpenter likely won on the basis of his 21-5 record. Second in the balloting was Florida's Dontrelle Willis, who was 22-10. And as the story said, Houston's Roger Clemens was "a distant third."

Stop the insanity. A pitcher's won-loss record may be the least accurate gauge of his overall pitching effectiveness. Exhibit A: Clemens, whose dominance was masterfully reflected by his 1.83 earned run average and the .198 batting average that he allowed opposing hitters.

Carpenter's ERA was 2.83 and his average allowed was .231. Willis' numbers were 2.63 and .243.

Artistically speaking, they weren't even in the Rocket's league.

A pitcher's won-loss record depends on a variety of factors, several of which are beyond his control. Yet, the writers annually will judge the Cy Young winner only on wins and losses.

By the way, though I am a long-time member of the BBWAA, I haven't been asked to vote for anything since 1994, when I followed my conscience and cast my ballot for the best-looking rookie that I had seen that year in the American League. Only two other writers voted with me for Rusty Greer. The rest voted for Kansas City flash-in-the-pan Bob Hamelin. Ridiculous.

Applause is in order for Philly

My respect for the Philadelphia Eagles grew exponentially this week. I suspect I'm not alone.

With their playoff hopes reeling, but still very much alive, the Eagles told Terrell Owens, talented receiver and team tumor, that he was no longer welcomed. Philly coach Andy Reid instantly becomes the leader in the clubhouse for NFL Coach of the Year.

That assumes, of course, that at some point the Eagles won't relent and allow Owens to rejoin the team. Coaches are a forgiving sort.

Owens' NFL career, however, is likely far from over. If a team thinks T.O. is the missing piece in its Super Bowl puzzle, it will lavish Owens with a contract offer that won't be for the league minimum. All it takes are two interested teams to drive up his price.

Should the Cowboys try to sign him in the off-season? My own answer pains me. Yes, they should, but only if Bill Parcells wants him and is convinced that he can muzzle T.O. After all, don't forget that Parcells handled that noted wallflower, Lawrence Taylor.

One final observation: Every time that I see Owens' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, on TV, I feel like I have to take a shower.

Banner performances

The fan's sign was hard not to notice.

"Rebuilding the Superdome: $150 million

"Rebuilding New Orleans: $250 billion

"Keeping the Saints in New Orleans: Priceless."

The game was lousy Sunday, but the fans' feelings about the Saints were unmistakable.

"Welcome back to your real home, Saints," one sign read.

"Please don't break my heart, Mr. Benson," said another banner.

Yet another: "Benson, way to kick us when we are down."

For the first time that anyone could remember, beer was legally sold Sunday at the Tiger Stadium concession stands.

The beer didn't help. The Saints lost in dismal fashion, 21-6.

Forget the booze. For next week's game, all Saints fans attending should immediately be administered a morphine drip.

Stepping up to the Mike

There is little doubt who's the king of this jungle.

A broad oak tree. A manmade rock hill. A waterfall. And for those warm Louisiana summers, his own swimming pool.

Mike the Tiger never had it so good.

Officially, he's Mike V, the fifth in a 69-year line of Bengal tiger mascots owned and cared for by LSU. The current mascot is a teenager, having celebrated his 16th birthday just two weeks ago.

Before each LSU home game, Mike is transferred into a trailer cage for the short ride across the street to Tiger Stadium. His handlers park the cage just outside the visiting team's locker room during pregame warmups.

Then, Mike and the LSU cheerleaders circle the playing field, stopping in front of the student section where Mike, on cue, traditionally delivers a lusty roar.

His permanent home, just outside of the north end of the stadium, is brand-new. Funded entirely through donations from LSU fans, the new habitat is 15,000 square feet and overflows with plants and assorted tigerly creature comforts. There are no bars in the traditional "tiger cage" sense.

Rather, like many modern municipal zoos, the new habitat uses wire netting and natural barriers to protect visitors to Mike V's home. His story, and those of bengal tigers, in general, are told at various points around the habitat's perimeter.

He's a typical cat, though. Some of the nation's finest zoo planners and LSU veterinary school minds combined to design Mike's new home. So where was he on a sunny Sunday, before the Saints-Dolphins football game?

Sleeping on a shady sidewalk, tucked away in a hard-to-see corner. No roars today. Just yawns.

Home sweet Saints

It was the Saintliest, most well-behaved mob in town.

  More than two hours before Sunday's Saints-Dolphins kickoff at LSU's Tiger Stadium, hundreds of black-and-gold-clad New Orleans fans were clustered in one small nook of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

There were women wearing Saints-colored (black and gold) Mardi Gras beads. Men dressed as Saintly crusaders, with the fleur de lis sewn across their chests.

These people, you could tell, have been here before. Not here exactly, waiting to claim their season tickets in typically disorderly Tom Benson style, but here to see the Saints, their beloved hometown team.

The Saints' relocation, plus the split schedule between Baton Rouge and San Antonio, has been a logistical nightmare for the team. Many fans, such as Winston Hoffman of New Orleans, had given up trying to call the Saints' temporary San Antonio offices and opted to claim the tickets in person before Sunday's game.

Hoffman's life, as with most New Orleanians, has been anything but normal since Hurricane Katrina struck.

"It'll be a lot worse, though, if Benson announces he's moving the Saints," Hoffman said.

In the line in front of him, Ben Arendt and Leo Chicas were dressed in tunics adorned with the Saints logo.

"We're crusading," explained Arendt. He was one of the lucky ones. His New Orleans home near Tulane University was spared from the flooding that submerged much of Orleans Parish. Now he's worried about Hurricane Benson.

"He's just driving me crazy," Arendt said. "It's been very upsetting. We're here to support the team. We're willing to buy tickets to show that we want the team. We're not here, though, just to give our money to Benson."

Some of the season ticket holders had to wait in line for more than 90 minutes to claim tickets for the four games to be played in Baton Rouge.

"It's not that bad," said Ryan Guidry of Metairie, La. "We're just happy that we're getting to see the Saints play."

Unlike Astros, Sox weren't tight

The Astros' first trip to the World Series ended up looking a lot like the neighboring Rangers' previous trips to the post-season.

Houston was outpitched and outplayed. The Astros had far too many over-anxious, thrown-away at-bats. And going home to Minute Maid Park with an 0-2 deficit in the Series only seemed to add another weighty burden on the Astros' shoulders.

And so, the Chicago White Sox are World Series champions. Hopefully, all those medium- and small-market franchises out there were paying attention.

Not one of the White Sox' top four starting pitchers was signed as a free agent. Mark Buehrle was drafted by the Sox in the 38th round in 1998. Jon Garland came to the ChiSox in a trade during his second year of pro ball.

Freddy Garcia was obtained from Seattle in a five-player trade. The Yankees traded Cuba-born Jose Contreras to Chicago for Esteban Loaiza.

Next time you hear a radio talk-show caller whine, "When are the Rangers gonna spend some money and get some pitching?" show him the White Sox staff.

One last White Sox note. Jermaine Dye, who had the Series-winning hit Wednesday night, was signed as a free agent in the off-season.

The White Sox outbid two teams, the Giants and Rangers. Dye was signed for two years and earned $4 million this season. The Rangers opted for (cringe) Richard Hidalgo.