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PHILADELPHIA -- As the Eagles' blowout of the Packers was winding down on Monday night, season ticket holder Johanna Marino, a hairdresser from Westmont, N.J., was thinking about her outfit -- not the one she was wearing, or planning for work the next day.

Enter The Big Top
The Terrell Owens circus is headed to Philadelphia on Sunday as the Eagles host the Cowboys.
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Paolantonio: Philly ready for circus The Terrell Owens circus is coming to Philadelphia and the city is buzzing for Sunday's game, writes Sal Paolantonio.
Smith: Must-see performers There are certain players who are just impossible to ignore. Here are the 10 you have to watch every weekend.
Clayton: Parcells perfect ringleader By keeping his distance, Bill Parcells is doing a masterful job of leading the T.O. circus, writes John Clayton.
Timeline: T.O. over the years Some of Terrell Owens' notable lowlights over his 11-plus year career with the 49ers, Eagles and Cowboys.
Chat wrap: George Teague Former Cowboys' safety George Teague stopped by SportsNation to talk about Terrell Owens and more.
SN: Tired of T.O. While SportsNation's level of dislike for T.O. is nowhere near that of Philly's, there is definitely plenty of anti-Owens sentiment.
Analysts: Expect chilly reception We asked some of our experts what kind of reception they think Terrell Owens will get in Philly this weekend.

"I was thinking, 'What I am going to wear for the T.O. game?'" she said. So, instead of going home and going to bed, Marino went through her Eagles gear and laid out her entire game day ensemble -- five days before game day. The hat, the jersey, and, of course, the attitude.

"T.O.'s coming back," she said. "We're gonna be ready for him."

It's Terrell Owens week in Philadelphia; all normal human behavior has been suspended. In a town where loyalty to the Eagles supersedes everything outside the realm of God and family, the return of the renegade wide receiver who ruined the 2005 season, and soiled the very essence of a beloved, if flawed, franchise has this city juiced, geeked, off the chain.

It is a homecoming, wrote columnist Bob Ford in Wednesday's Philadelphia Inquirer, "that should be filmed by Martin Scorsese rather than Steve Sabol."

This is the type of circus show that coaches like Andy Reid and Bill Parcells spend most of their waking hours trying to avoid. "We're focusing on that whole football," said Reid, who has not uttered Owens' name the past two days. "It's important that we prepare ourselves right and eliminate any distractions that might be presented to us."

Good luck. Distractions arrived on Wednesday. An overflow crowd of local and national media roamed the Eagles locker room, where the cameras were everywhere, but the players were scarce. On sports talk radio, T.O. is a topic that has no limits -- not withstanding the seven-second delay.

As one fan started an expletive greeting for Owens this morning on WIP-AM, he was dumped into the upper atmosphere -- which is current residence of all things T.O. right now.

"Everywhere I go, people are asking about it," said Eagles tight end L.J. Smith.

It's permeated local politics, which in this town ain't beanbag to begin with. The Democrat running against an incumbent Republican congressman mailed a four-page color flier to voters with the words, "What's worse than a Cowboys fan? Voting for Bush's Texas-sized budget deficits." Of course, the Cowboy fan featured was a guy in a cowboy hat and No. 81 jersey.

In this town, where the preparations for Dallas week historically have been like the gendarmes preparing the barricades, T.O.'s return has become -- from Harrisburg to Atlantic City -- a call to arms. Nothing that is worn, said or eaten is done without some kind of reference to what people think, or think will happen on Sunday, or how they are preparing to make it happen.

"There are a bunch of people I know who are dressing up as pills," one fan told the Inquirer, "and their girlfriends are going to be sitting next to them dressed up as nurses."

It is not so much a circus as a total eclipse of the sun -- which has led, historically, to bizarre human behavior and rituals.

Nobody's behavior leading up this game has been more difficult to explain than that of Donovan McNabb.

On Monday night, the Eagles quarterback was asked what his initial thoughts were about playing Dallas and Owens' return. His reply: "It's a division game. We need it. We look forward to the challenge. Anything else, I personally don't care."

But on Wednesday, he revealed that he does indeed care. He cared enough about Owens that last Tuesday, when reports first surfaced that Owens might have attempted suicide, McNabb sent his former teammate a text message of concern.

"I'm a human being and what happened last year it's over," said McNabb. "I've moved on and you know I just wanted to send a message that whatever happened with that whole deal last week if he needed someone to talk to, I'd talk."

He added: "I sent prayers his way and blessings his way and told him that I continue to pray for him, that everything would turn out well and he'd get back on the field and be healthy. If you need anything, to call."

McNabb said Owens never replied. But what matters is that while McNabb presents a stone cold front about Owens and the impact Owens' return has on this game, and claims that he doesn't think or care about Owens, it's clear that he does -- just like the Philly fans.

Indeed, McNabb began his press conference on Wednesday by joking that there would be no T.O. questions. And the expectation was that McNabb would -- as he normally does -- parrot the company line set down by Reid.

Instead, McNabb answered every question about Owens in very revealing ways.

"Guys have focused in on what they've needed to do as a team" this year, McNabb said. "Hasn't been any individual thoughts of how many plays you need to make or whatever you need to do.

"When you play family football and confidence plays a major part in everything that you've been able to do, exciting things happen," said McNabb, alluding to the fact that without Owens the Eagles' offense has finished the first four weeks of the season ranked first in the league.

"And you look at the things that we've been able to do and it's as a team," he said with emphasis on that final word. "No one has tried to stand amongst themselves away from the team or doing different things. Guys are playing well together. Guys know that we're not competing against one player."

Then he added: "One guy doesn't make a team. Uh, break a team? Maybe. But I mean the whole way about it is you have to focus in on what you have to do as a unit."

So, while he says he doesn't "personally care" about Owens' return to Philly, it's clear that beneath the surface he is paddling ferociously to try to figure out what it has all meant, and what it will all mean come Sunday.

Just like the rest of the city.

Sal Paolantonio, who wrote about the Eagles for the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1993-94, covers the NFL for ESPN.