Notes from spending all day Friday at Valley Ranch, biding my time, searching for T.O., exploring nooks and crannies, and biding my time some more. ...

* You can dump the T.O. Watch at Valley Ranch for the week.

For one thing, the week is pretty much over. (And by the way, now that seven days have passed since Terrell Owens' volcanic signing with the Cowboys, have you noticed that the sun still keeps coming up, the franchise continues to exist and the earth hasn't yet spun off its axis?)

For another thing, sources tell me, T.O. was excused from even bothering to show up this week for strength-and-conditioning workouts.

Seems Owens was needed in L.A. for a deposition of some sort. I don't have any more details, except the assurance from people close to him that he's not involved in any debilitating legal entanglements that would prevent him from being the best receiver in the NFL in 2006.

* In an informal survey of veteran players, Larry Allen's locker-room presence will be sorely missed. "A fun guy'' was a phrase used constantly by most of the seven veterans I visited with.

* In that same informal survey, DallasBlog.com posed an assortment of T.O. questions at the fellas. One of the guys definitely did not want ANY of his remarks to be on the record, an apparent edict to hush-hush from coach Bill Parcells. Yet this player's remarks were all positive -- as were the remarks from the other Cowboys. The most incendiary thing anybody said? Cornerback Terence Newman said Owens needs to "keep his attitude in check.'' That's about as harsh as it got.

And trust me, there were no eye rolls, no sour expressions, no doubting Thomases here. All positive stuff. Or, at least, cautiously positive.

* I've said for a while that Keyshawn Johnson, now gone to Carolina, was never exactly "one of the guys'' in the locker room, that it was more an attitude from his teammates of, "That's just Key being Key.'' And I meant that to be a somewhat negative portrayal, and meant it to conflict with Keyshawn's image as a locker-room leader.

But I'll say something very good about the very complex guy that is Keyshawn Johnson: When he learned that FOX4 cameraman Larry Rodriguez had been hospitalized (you remember Rodriguez being abused by Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers, right?), Johnson sought out Rodriguez' home address and mailed him a get-well card.

* Yes, in the interest of my own fairness it should be noted: 1310 The Ticket's handling of the T.O. signing was terrific. Bob Sturm and many others made themselves look terrific -- and made my concerns about their ability to do so look silly. Oh, and George and Craig's work on Troy Aikman's weekly appearance -- getting Troy to express what a poor idea this is, contrary to the puffery he expressed in later TV interviews -- wasn't just interesting. It was important. Keep up the good work, boys!

P.S.: I'm still bitter and jealous.

* Speaking of media stuff. ... and I offer this with absolutely no humility. ... This story http://cowboys.scout.com/2/512843.html is about as good as you'll get on what the T.O. signing means -- and it comes from the guy who quietly brokered the whole deal, none other than old friend Michael Irvin.

* Yes, Bill Parcells is already upset at T.O. A little bit. I'm told that when news of an upcoming Owens book surfaced -- news he didn't tell Dallas about while he was doing his deal here -- Parcells erupted with a private "I told you so'' comment directed up at the Executive Wing at Valley Ranch.

So good, InfalliBill. You weren't initially for the deal, got talked into it, and now have one foot committed to it and one foot ready for more "I told you so's.'' But Dear Bill, Jerry pays them to play. And he pays you to get 'em to play. So from T.O. on down, coach 'em up, Future Hall of Famer!