Last season I had some fun by calling T.O. a pod-person. It was kind of in jest but it was kind of serious. When I heard we were signing T.O. a couple of years ago I was very skeptical. I knew he had the talent, I saw what he did in San Francisco and what he did in Philadelphia, but that was on the field. He was already starting to tear apart the team in San Francisco off the field before they jettisoned him. I watched the sideline tantrums, the belittling of Jeff Garcia, and of course, the despicable desecration of the star. At that time I wanted no part of him. Then he ended up in Philly and when he helped them get to the Super Bowl and made a super-human effort to play in that game coming off of the leg injury, it made me ill. Basically, any time Philly succeeds in football it makes me ill. But when the next season rolled around and the old T.O. was back and was ripping apart another team, I giggled in glee. Good, I thought, glad to see the Eagles going down in flames.

Then Jerry Jones decided he was going to bring T.O. to Big D and I thought he’d lost his mind. Sure I salivated at his talent, but dreaded the inevitable blow-up that would crush our team. The first year was a rocky one as T.O. and Tuna never could get together. But last year, once Wade Phillips was brought on board it was like we had a re-born T.O. And that’s when I started the pod-person jokes because it was like an alien presence had invaded his body and created a whole new persona. I was still a little weary; I thought the old T.O. could come back at anytime.

But now, I’m almost convinced that T.O. is a changed person for good. I know I might be jinxing things by saying it, but he really does appear to be a new man. If there was one thing I thought might trigger a repeat of his past was the fact that he’s entering the final year of the three-year contract he originally signed. The words renegotiation, T.O. and Drew Rosenhaus together scare me more than Romo’s singing at a Cubs game. Seriously, if there was to be a meltdown I thought this would be the trigger.

But go to this article or this article and read the comments from the new T.O. Unless his recent stint on Flavor Flav’s new show has turned him into Al Pacino, I don’t think he’s acting. He sounds sincere.

The highlights are he wants to end his career in Dallas and go into the Hall of Fame as a Cowboy. He claims he’ll let the negotiations play out and it won’t be a distraction. He wants to play another 3-5 years if he’s still playing at a high level. He wants everyone to remember that Terry Glenn could be back and that even if Jerry did bring a Roy Williams or Chad Johnson or whoever, he would be just fine with it. He only cares about winning and not individual stats. He wants to get back to the playoffs badly and finish it this time with a Super Bowl victory. He says he helped Tank Johnson fit in when he came on board and will do the same with Pacman. T.O. praises Jerry Jones, Calvin Hill and crew for making the Cowboys a team where everybody can fit in.

Yeah, it does sound too good to be true. But that’s the new T.O., as long as he's not just acting.

After the draft when the lists of UDFA’s were coming out, there was a name on there, Andrew Brecher, an offensive lineman from Harvard. Not that he stood out or anything, he was just another guy on a list of guys that I expected to be a body. He wasn’t on the level of UDFA’s like Danny Amendola, Darrell Robertson or even Marcus Dixon who has an unreal backstory. But when rookie mini-camp opened I kept hearing we have only one offensive lineman in camp, Brandon Hale from Sam Houston State. I kept wondering what happened to the kid from Harvard. Well, I finally found out. Dallas got in touch with him 10 minutes after the draft and he agreed to become a Cowboy and flew in for the camp and even had a nice conversation with Felix Jones while there. But all these guys had to take a physical and the Cowboys saw something in his X-rays related to a previous back injury he had and decided against signing him at that time. He since has been contacted by the Jets, and the Cowboys have not ruled him out totally if his back situation improves. Anyway, not a big deal, but I just wanted to clear that up in case anybody else was as obsessive compulsive as I am. One disappointing note, he could have been a contender for our all-quote team with Deon Anderson and Martellus Bennett.

"The Cowboys seemed like a good fit," said Brecher, who mentioned the presence of 26-year offensive line coaching veteran Hudson Houck as something that made America’s Team that much more appealing.

"And who wouldn’t want to hang with Pacman Jones?" he joked, referring to the troubled cornerback who was just traded to Dallas from the Tennessee Titans.

Ha! May the Pacman jokes never cease. At least he didn’t talk about Jessica.

Mickey Spags gives his review of the rookie mini-camp. 

The love for Danny Amendola at Valley Ranch. 

"I just can't wait to see him go against the veteran guys and just watch him work," Cowboys wide receivers coach Ray Sherman said after just the first day of practice.

In case you missed it, Matt Mosley has a long article on Felix Jones.

With the recent revelation that the Cowboys will be featured on HBO’s "Hard Knocks," a FOX Sports article from a few days ago came to mind. It talks about the pressing needs for teams after the draft. Here’s the Dallas blurb:

Pressing need: Preparing for the onslaught of media that will swarm Cowboys training camp if recently acquired cornerback Pacman Jones is reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Players and coaches will be asked ad nauseum about Jones in the upcoming months. But Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believes that distraction is a small price to pay for a player of Jones' talent.

Possible solution: Jones doesn't say or do anything stupid if reinstated and fades into the background a la Tank Johnson. Of course, history indicates that probably won't be the case.

With HBO on board, the media swarm for camp just became much bigger and the spotlight will shine much brighter. Should make for good TV viewing but may not be the best thing for the Cowboys as a football team.

A short article on rookie camp darling Orlando Scandrick. 

"I made some plays," he said. "I tried to have fun and get better every day and I think I did that."

"What will dictate how much I play is how I adapt to the speed of the game," Scandrick said. "The quarterbacks are a lot better. All these receivers are good. It's going to take an extreme amount of film study and discipline."