This is on the ESPN story about TO spitting at Hall...
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed after the game that Owens a few weeks ago declined elective surgery to the ring finger of his right hand. It was surgery, Jones emphasized to reporters, that team doctors strongly recommended he have, essentially to repair a damaged tendon that controls the top part of the finger, above the top joint.
The tendon has split and doctors advised Owens that if he didn't have the surgery then, it would severely limit the flexibility in the finger for the rest of his life.
"He didn't want to do it, because he didn't want to have to sit out," Jones said. "He knew and understood the consequences, it was his call, and he decided to keep playing."