Pros vs. Joes is now Adam "Pacman" Jones' football stage.
Courtesy of Spike

Hours before it was announced that Terrell Owens had been released from the Dallas Cowboys, Adam "Pacman" Jones was sitting in a nondescript office room at a community college in Los Angeles, looking at one of the last football uniforms he might ever wear -- a generic red and white Pros vs. Joes ensemble dumped in the corner of the room.

Much like Owens, Jones was released by the Cowboys after a tumultuous season where he was partly blamed for a fractured locker room and was unable to rid himself of his checkered past. Owens can only hope his post-Cowboys career is met with more fanfare than Jones'.

Jones is fiddling with his phone and staring at the blank white wall in front of him as I talk to him. He's waiting for someone, anyone, with a headset to call him back to an empty football field where he will partake in football drills with civilians and fellow retirees Tim Brown, Steve McNair and Rich Gannon, who complains of soreness not long after putting on pads for the first time in four years.

"I'm not retired," says Jones defiantly when lumped into that group. "Retirement is not in my vocabulary right now."

He's seated next to his representative, an overweight memorabilia dealer who looks like a cross between Drew Rosenhaus and Bubba Sparxxx, who threatens to cut short the interview when he hears questions about Jones' legal situation and controversial past.

"He's not talking about anything but the show," he says. "I'll stop the interview."

Jones, however, simply ignores questions he doesn't want to answer as if he never heard them and expands on those that he wants to clarify regardless of the demands of his sidekick.

"I'm not a bad guy, I never had a problem with any of my teammates," says Jones, who just returned from a vacation in Puerto Rico. "I never heard of any problems in the locker room."

It's probably the same type of selective memory Owens will have when asked about his time in Dallas after being released this off-season as the Cowboys attempt to heal a reportedly fractured locker room. While Owens may eventually find another team, the chance of Jones getting another opportunity seems slim. No team has even expressed a slight interest in him since he was released last month. After all, if Jerry Jones' Cowboys, who have become this generation's Raiders, gives up on your reclamation project, how many other options do you have?  

"It's kind of slow right now because nobody wants show their cards, but I'm hoping it will pick up soon," says Jones. "I'm open to anything."

The harsh truth that Jones will soon discover is that his time in the NFL is over and that, like his peers on this reality show for retirees and wannabees, he has played his last game on football's grandest stage. Like a washed up lounge singer unwilling to accept reality, however, Jones still believes he will be given one more chance.

"I'm a good teammate," says Jones, still trying to sell himself. "I'm a likable guy ... I do what I like. I enjoyed doing pro wrestling [with TNA]. I'm enjoying doing Pros vs. Joes. You might be seeing me doing race cars next. If I get an offer to do something I like then I'll take it."

So can we expect to see Pacman as a race car driver instead of a football player if no team calls him?

"No, I don't know. I'm not saying I'm going to be racing in NASCAR next week but I'm open to anything," says Jones. "Who knows, I might be putting out a rap video next week. You never know what I'm going to do next. I might be rapping, acting, maybe I might have a fishing show. I love to fish."

Fishing with Pacman? Why not? He should have plenty of time on his hands this fall. Maybe he can co-host a show with Owens, who may have some free time as well.