Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Owens makes statement without opening mouth

Sal DeFilippo

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 10:08 a.m.

Sal DeFilippo's pro football column appears Friday. Reach him at sal@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4076.

San Francisco star wide receiver Terrell Owens can certainly make a statement without speaking.

Owens, the flamboyant pass-catcher who set the NFL single-game record with 20 receptions last year, had another memorable moment in the 2000 season. In a September game against Dallas, he scored two touchdowns, and followed each play with a 50-yard dash, racing to the Cowboys' star emblem to celebrate.

After the second score, a Cowboys player followed Owens to midfield and drilled him after the move.

San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci was so incensed that he fined Owens a week's salary and benched him for a game, thinking maybe that will teach Owens a lesson.

Well, maybe not. As the 49ers prepare to play at Dallas on Sunday, Owens refused to answer questions about his return to Big D. However, you could tell what he was trying to say just by looking at him. Literally.

Owens adorned a T-shirt on Wednesday with an image from that game of himself looking skyward after a score. And Thursday, he wore a shirt with a pair of stars surrounded by the phrase, "They Hate Me."

No word on whether Rod Smart is filing a copyright infringement suit. (Smart, now a running back on the Philadelphia Eagles active roster playing mostly on special teams, is better known as "He Hate Me," the phrase worn on his jersey during the spring while playing for the Las Vegas Outlaws of the now-ex-XFL.)

Owens is immensely talented and has certainly made the departure of Jerry Rice less painful for 49ers fans. But he should take a tip from ol' No. 80, who is having a nice season across the bay -- and quietly, might I add.

Just play, Terrell. We already know how good you are.

Master Magician Lance Burton continued his mastery of my celebrity contest last week. Burton, who performs at the Monte Carlo, improved to 27-16-2 on the season and is 21-9 against the point spread (70 percent) over the past 10 weeks.