Last week, while in Dallas for the Cowboys' final minicamp, I noticed that inside the team's perpetually-being-remodeled practice facility someone had temporarily placed a huge shiny silver sign that reads "DALLAS COWBOYS FOOTBALL CLUB" on the floor near the men's room.

Most writers would labor over metaphors to describe a 5-11 football team. Me? I stumble over them on the way to the john.

	After getting a facelift, Jerry decided the Cowboys needed one, too.

Just off the lobby inside Valley Ranch there is dust everywhere. Old coffee pots, filing cabinets and discarded doors line the blue-and-silver-carpeted hallways. The cubicle I worked at on Wednesday was a pile of splinters Thursday morning. Although, oddly enough, the discarded tampon machine nearby remained untouched.

Yes indeed, Jerry Jones is redecorating -- inside and out. And you know Jones, he doesn't do anything on a small scale. (This guy thinks subtlety is a flavor of Snapple.) Following his second 5-11 season spent in salary cap hell (the Cowboys could not sign a single unrestricted free agent in '01), Jones has been busy bulldozing his roster.

Now, after shelling out more than $32 million in signing bonuses this off-season to guys like QB Chad Hutchinson, DT La'Roi Glover, LB Kevin Hardy, CB Bryant Westbrook, S Darren Woodson and G Larry Allen, the Cowboys had dozens of new faces practicing in the gawd-awful Dallas heat last week. When former corner Deion Sanders stopped by to help tutor the DBs on bump-n-run coverage he tapped Jones on the shoulder and said, "Man, Jerry, you have made some serious upgrades."

Indeed, even commish Paul Tagliabue, who spoke to the team on Sunday, couldn't help but notice that the Cowboys and their studly D seem to perfectly fit the NFL's trend of sub-.500 teams (like the Pats, Ravens and Rams) who bounced back the next season to win it all. "I think the Cowboys are in the position to make that kind of a turnaround," said Tags.

As usual, the commish has dollar signs in his eyes, but something closer to 8-8 seems absolutely doable in Dallas. And considering how far the Cowboys have fallen the last few years, that's a helluva leap. After spending a week with the 'Boys I will say this: there is an electricity around this team -- something special, yet intangible, in the air. "This feels like the early '90s," said Jones. "You know, it's fun again."

While eating tuna fish out of a Tupperware container, Dallas coach Dave Campo spoke of actually having players punch a time clock to give the team more of a lunchpail attitude. And when Hardy showed up for his first off-season workout, the team's weight room was so full he couldn't find an open machine.

	Will Chad Hutchinson be one of the Cowboys' upgrades?

Between practices the team's locker room felt a lot like my den during the bashes I used to throw after my parents left town for two weeks each summer. There were guys playing dominos and cards, guys sleeping on giant blue leather couches, thunderous belches and rafter-shaking laughter (okay, the rafters may have actually been shaken by the NFL's first official 400-plus-pound blocker, Aaron Gibson, brushing his teeth).

It was here that I overheard rookie safety Roy Williams say he wanted to someday open a day care center in his hometown. (Not exactly Barry Switzer's posse anymore, is it?) And while he may be a year away from competing for the starting QB spot, I knew I liked Hutchinson when I saw him at a smoothie shop after practice and heard the mesmerizing sounds from Vs. (by far Pearl Jam's finest work) pounding out from inside his ride.

Meanwhile Emmitt Smith, just 539 yards shy of Walter Payton's all-time rushing record, has already been toasted by the Prez and roasted in Vegas by his friends for those awful commercials with Alf. As his run for the record draws near, Emmitt, whose chin is now speckled with gray, wants to reassure everyone that he's going to conduct himself with class and dignity all the way. Goes without saying, really. Except, I suppose, when he's taking a break to hawk discount long distance with a disturbing, clueless, washed-up puppet (no, not Bud Selig).

On Wednesday Hardy, who is still giddy about getting away from Jags boss Tom Coughlin, looked like a kid on Christmas when he opened a box full of his new No. 51 Cowboy jerseys. (I'd have more details on Hardy for you, but Kevin, his wife Terrie and I spent most of our time at their luxury downtown Dallas apartment discussing the merits of TLC's style-survivor show Trading Spaces.)

"There's just something about being a Cowboy," Hardy told me during a quick tour of his place. "There's an aura to this team. Defending the star is something you dream about as a kid. This is America's team."

In other words, it's time for someone to move that "DALLAS COWBOYS FOOTBALL CLUB" sign outta the gutter.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at FlemFile@carolina.rr.com.