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Thursday, May 8, 2008
McNabb's Kind of Town?

    In Philadelphia, much of the recent Donovan McNabb-related discussion has involved his call for the team to add more weapons, and how that call has or has not been met. In Chicago, though, weapons of a different sort are a big concern among pro athletes. Last year, NBA players Eddy Curry and Antoine Walker were victims of home invasion robberies. Then, early Monday, along Lakeshore Drive, armed robbers held up former University of Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall, who last month was drafted in the first round by Pittsburgh.

      McNabb, born and raised in the Chicago area, and a high school teammate of Walker, told the Chicago Tribune's Fred Mitchell: "It is devastating not to be able to go out in the city of Chicago. You want to know at least that you will be fine and have a good time and be able to go home. It's tough to hear every year that athletes are being robbed, especially with Mendenhall, a guy who [the Steelers just drafted]."

    Mitchell made the point that fans want stars to be accessible, but today, security concerns might intrude. McNabb, sometimes seen as aloof and wary by Eagles fans, agreed.

    "It is a dilemma," McNabb said. "People say: 'Well, he is not a guy you can have a conversation with; I feel like I am distant from him.' Some people are hurt because of that situation."
       

     In other Donovan-related news, Eagles Web site maven Dave Spadaro crinkles his nose at Chicago Comcast SportsNet interviewer Pat Boyle (who once toiled for Comcast in this market) asking McNabb about being scrutinized so closely here. 

      We heartily concur. We'll never understand why more people don't ask McNabb questions like, "Gosh and golly, Donovan, isn't this just the most wonderfulest organization in football, or pro sports, even, and aren't you just darned privileged to play for it?"

    And besides, it isn't like the level of scrutiny and vitriol directed at McNabb, as Eagles fans deal constantly with the frustration of never having won a Super Bowl  -- it's not like that stuff has had any effect on his career or his life or anything ... oh, wait, it has. Never mind.   

   BTW, in the Tribune piece, you might note that Donovan's blog is hailed as a way the QB connects with his fans. Hmmm ... well, if you check out the bog, as of Thursday afternoon it hadn't been updated in, oh, 26 days, not that anyone's counting (aside from Yardbarker, that is.)

 

Posted by Les Bowen @ 11:35 AM  Permalink | 11 comments
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Comments
Posted by Commish 01:09 PM, 05/08/2008
Thanks for the link to Spadaro's article, Les! I'll take an article about football over whatever you seem to be trying to pass as Eagles related any day (is anything related to Reid's sons actually football-related? Please). And, feel free to count me as another person who is tired of the slanted questions asked over and over in an effort to try to get anything exciting or controversial. I don't blame Reid for getting "snarky" with a question like "if the fairly smooth mini-camp that ended Monday was an improvement over the situation a year ago, when Reid was still dealing with the aftermath of his sons' arrests, and Donovan McNabb was still sidelined following ACL surgery." Well, duh! That is a stupid question because the answer was obvious. The only reason it was asked was to hopefully invoke some sort of tasty quote or sound-bite. I'm glad Reid responded the way he did. Just like Eagles fans deal constantly with the frustration of never having won a Super Bowl, we also have to deal constantly with the negative Philly media and their desire to stir things up and sell ads rather than actually report on the team. Why do you think the Eagles website gets so many hits? Fans would rather read articles on players and coaches (you know, football stuff) than articles written about people complaining about other people complaining. You're a good writer, Les. Stick with football stuff and stop being so "snarky" yourself.
Posted by shmu65 01:15 PM, 05/08/2008
Spadaro is a little bit of a homer. Sometimes I wish he'd be on the level more but I guess he'd be fired from the Eagles website.
Posted by yahmpy 06:57 AM, 05/09/2008
a little bit of a homer? wow, that's like saying Bill Gates made a little bit of money in computers. some say his initials DS stands for "does swallow".
Posted by airbuzz 07:47 AM, 05/09/2008
I go to the Eagles website during the offseason to get my daily Eagles fix but during the regular season I go the papers and other websites to get a more unbiased opinion about each weeks games. I guess if you go to the Eagles Website run by the team you should expect a very pro Eagles viewpoint.
Posted by WaverlyDominiak 08:45 AM, 05/09/2008
Crackhead Dave and the Spadaro Youth don't want to hear the truth. Tell them about the team missing the playoffs two out of the last three years and they cover their ears and yell, "Nanner, nanner, neener, neener" until you shake your head and leave. Keep up the truth telling, Les, and don't let the weens get you down.
Posted by phillyceltic 09:17 AM, 05/09/2008
Spadaro is a waste of time, what would you expect and Eagles employee to say. Jeepers creepers I am so excited about this team. Huh? They got marginally better at best.
Posted by Stephen_Niksa 09:37 AM, 05/09/2008
I agree whole-heartedly with the comment published by me esteemed colleague, Commish. All of the football fans I know are far more interested in understanding whether or not, to pick just one example, Max Jean-Giles showed up at the recent mini-camp too heavy to seriously challenge for reps at right guard than whether or not player so-and-so has a bubbly relationship with the local media. It's as if the media views itself as some sort of independent authority, rather than what they actually are: a medium through which players and coaches can communicate with fans and other interested parties.
Posted by WaverlyDominiak 10:42 AM, 05/09/2008
Stevey, Commish is Dave's echo chamber. For years he regurgitated Spadsnuggets on message boards like they were news or insider information, until he got outed. Now he just defends Spads in public whenever someone correctly points out that Dave is simply Lurban's lapdog and Andy's lightbulb changer.
Posted by Stephen_Niksa 02:13 PM, 05/09/2008
I disagree, WD, with your disparaging characterization of Spadaro's journalistic integrity. Does Dave typically write with enthusiasm, optimism, and an underlying faith in what the Eagles are trying to accomplish? Of course. Is he a "homer?" Naturally. But he's far more than just some organizational mouthpiece and web-savy lackey. If you look to Spadaro and the Eagles website as informational and entertainment resorces instead of expecting them to operate as a sounding box for every disgruntled fan or journalist out there, then they will be a lot more useful to you. Frankly, I've long suspected that the local media has had this "we'll show Reid and company how much more we know then they do" mentality ever since Reid came in, signed Doug Peterson, drafted McNabb, and retained Duce Staley as the tailback. The media's never been able to live it down that their Neil O'Donnell/Rickey Williams plan would have been disasterous for the Birds, and their credibility as authorities on the game has been appropriately undermined as a result. Hence, the peevish resentment with which the local media often reports on the Birds.
Posted by IRISH GEORGE 09:28 PM, 05/09/2008
Hey Les...this guy Commish is a personal buddy of Spadaro and sells comic books for a living. He has less credibility than a Larry Craig seminar on men's room protocol. Kind of humorous he's lecturing you on how to be a journalist. Dave Spadaro is Jimmy Olsen on Rogaine. How is it "negative" to ask Reid about the Lito Sheppard situation he created or his son going in the slammer after the media gave him a free pass on the subject all last year. Commish...what a whining Stepford.
Posted by mikeb 02:52 PM, 05/10/2008
write one good word about the eagles. i dare you. i thought that an eagles' blog would be more about relevant situations with the eagles and not stuff like how often mcnabb updates some website. fans of the eagles come to this blog, not people who like the Giants and hate the eagles. notice how you everyone disagrees with your view about that reporter's question to reid? if you dont like the eagles then get out. write about something you do like. this isnt any type of constructive criticism either. maybe you dont realize that you have a public medium that reaches a lot of people. but you do, and you use it irresponsibly. you represent this philadelphia area in a negative way and give the rest of the people a bad reputation.
11 comments
About The Daily News' Eagles Blog
Les BowenLes Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.

Rich HofmannRich Hofmann arrived at the Daily News in 1980 for a job whose status was officially designated as "full-time, temporary." A senior at Penn at the time, he was hired to fill in on the copy desk during a staff illness. The notion of him covering the Eagles or being a columnist did not exist in anyone's imagination. It was supposed to be six weeks and out, but he never left. It is only one of the reasons why so many people have concerns about him as a potential house guest. Rich has blogged the postseasons of the Flyers and Eagles.

Paul DomowitchPaul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 26 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, where he spent 3 years as the sports editor of the school paper and zero semesters on the dean's list, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some very bad Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, who is a University of Oklahoma grad and is dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 27 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 23, who attends Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 21, a sports marketing major at Clemson. When he's not writing about football, Domo enjoys reading Robert Parker, John Sandford and Harlan Coben novels and playing pickup basketball when his arthritic hip doesn't object.