IRVING – As Terrell Owens walked into the Child Life Center at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children on Monday morning, he was surrounded by little boys and girls wanting his autograph and asking for a picture during the Cowboys' annual holiday visit.
Owens joked with the kids and offered words of encouragement to two boys who were going to have surgery later in the day.
Around the same time in New York, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had decided to fine Owens $35,000 for spitting on Atlanta cornerback DeAngelo Hall during Saturday night's game.
Asked by the media during the hospital visit about the incident and what he would say to the kids who look at him as a role model, Owens said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Be accountable, and keep moving forward."
Owens later said he did not expect to be fined, adding he did not intentionally spit on Hall. Owens apologized for what happened after the game on the NFL Network.
Hall had hoped the league would suspend Owens, even though there was no video evidence the incident occurred.
"When it happened, we were jawing in each other's face, so it wasn't anything intentional," Owens said before hearing he had been fined. "He's trying to make it seem like more than what it was by saying I hauled off and spit in his face. I feel like if I spit in his face, teammates on both sides, somebody would've seen it. When I got asked about it on the [NFL Network] show, I was caught off guard by it. I didn't want to get into it or elaborate, so I just apologized and kept it moving."
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was not surprised by the fine, which Owens said he will appeal.
"I know the commissioner is making a point of emphasizing the importance of player behavior that takes place before, during and after our ballgames," Jones said. "As an organization, we don't condone any acts that detract from, or take away from, so many of the positives that our games produce."
Coach Bill Parcells said the team could take further action against Owens but, according to the collective bargaining agreement, the team cannot impose its own fine.
Parcells said the team would not announce any further penalty on Owens if it chose to take action.
The fine greatly exceeds the fines doled out for recent spitting incidents. During a playoff game last season, Washington safety Sean Taylor was ejected and later fined $17,000 for spitting at Tampa Bat running back Michael Pittman. In 1997, Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski was fined $7,500 for hurling a loogey on San Francisco receiver J.J. Stokes.
The $35,000 represents roughly 12 percent of Owen's weekly pay of $294,117. It's the largest penalty given to a Cowboy since safety Darren Woodson was fined $75,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Seattle receiver Darrell Jackson, but that was Woodson's third fine-drawing hit of 2002.
The punishment falls in line with the penalties Goodell has levied since taking over for Paul Tagliabue in September.
"I think Commissioner Goodell is trying to take strong action on some of this stuff," Parcells said. "All you've got to do is see that Knicks' game the other night. ... This [behavior] is dangerous stuff ... I do think you see a lot of things in sports today that you wish weren't a part of it for an old-fashioned guy like me."
Owens' first year with the Cowboys has been filled with controversy, from a hamstring injury that kept him out of most of the training camp practices, to missing a rehab session, to an accidental overdose on pain medicine after hand surgery, to falling asleep in meetings, to having issues with passing game coordinator Todd Haley, to saying he was "kind of faking it," earlier in the season.
On the field, Owens, who is playing with a torn tendon in his right ring finger that would end his season if he chose to have surgery, leads Cowboys receivers with 77 catches for 1,040 yards and 11 touchdowns. Off the field, Owens continues to make headlines – this time for the spit/non-spit.
Parcells has attempted to defuse the Owens stories all season.
"I've tried to make it a habit not to talk too much about him," Parcells said. "I know that's all [the media] wants to talk about, but I get interested in other things pretty quickly. I don't reconcile. I don't pass judgment. I just try to get the player to play to his potential on the field. That's what my job is."
Staff writer Calvin Watkins contributed to this report.
E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com
