Do Eagles fans owe McNabb an apology?
One national columnist thinks Donovan McNabb had no reason to apologize to the city of Philadelphia. Instead, it should have been Eagles fans apologizing to him.
Do Eagles fans owe McNabb an apology?
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
I had Sportscenter on in the backgrond this morning when I noticed Donovan McNabb's name get mentioned.
Naturally, I turned the volume up just in time to hear ESPN's Rick Reilly criticize Eagles fans for their treatment of the former Birds' quarterback.
I looked for a video clip online, but couldn't find it. If anyone's got a link, please pass it along.
Reilly's piece was on sports apologies. He gave McNabb credit for offering a sincere apology to Philadelphia for not winning a Super Bowl during a recent radio interview, but went on to explain that it should have been the city doing the apologizing:
"That's like Conan apologizing to Jay. Does the salmon apologize to the bear? Ehlo apologizing to Jordan. If anything, Philadelphia oughta apologize to him. This is the city that booed him when he came, never thought he was good enough, never gave him a go-to receiver, until they gave him one he couldn't get away from and then traded him within the division for a little-known quarterback named Kevin Kolb, who in three years has a real chance to be the little-known quarterback Kevin Kolb. This is the way you treat a guy whose been nothing but nice, classy, maybe too classy."
I mentioned previously in this space that I was in D.C. last weekend for a family gathering and fielded many questions from friends and relatives about McNabb. Here are the major points I tried to get across to Redskins fans:
* For the Eagles, the decision to trade McNabb was more about Kolb than anything else. I'm not in the You can't win a Super Bowl with McNabb camp. If the Eagles didn't have Kolb, I truly believe they would have been fine pushing forward with McNabb. I think if you hooked Andy Reid up to a lie detector and asked him if he believed he could win a Super Bowl with McNabb, he'd say yes.
But they do have Kolb, and they've been grooming him for this moment. That's why the Eagles pulled the trigger on the trade.
* And then there's the topic I'm completely bored with, which relates to Reilly's rant: Was McNabb underappreciated here? By some - of course he was. But the notion that the group of fans who booed him when he was drafted represents the attitude of the entire fan base during his 11-year career here is absurd and tired.
And the notion that the fans had anything to do with McNabb not having a go-to receiver until Terrell Owens arrived is equally absurd.
The McNabb discussion is never going to die, but I'm not sure we're going to hear many new angles on the topic until both his and Kolb's careers are over.
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I think "Tempmike" absolutely NAILED it.— TBear- This is the stupdest thing I have ever heard. This guy made millions while here. I am a middle class man with a family who has spent tens of thousands on season tickets, team merchandise, parking, concessions to support my favorite team. I don't know what is worse, this article or some of the morons posting. DavezMentalTees, BillHicksLives, are you guys serious? You are unbelievably ignorant.— Reid Must Go
- from a long time season ticket holder: 5 owes me money!!!— tooltime
Comment removed.- It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Kevin Kolb was booed vociferously by Eagle fans at the 2007 draft. I think almost everyone forgot about that because KK, his family, friends, and/or agent probably haven't brought that up twice a week since 2007. Why do we remember that McNabb got booed 11 years later again?— jtj06
- We are sorry for saying bad things to you when you would laugh at int's or fumbles. We are sorry that you had to play for fans that would sell out the stadium every game. How about you say sorry for choking during every 2 minute drill. But most of all we are sorry in advance for destroying you when you come back to philly.... ENJOY Washington!— fman727
- I owe someone who has made over $100 million in his career as an Eagle an apology? GET FRICKIN REAL!— pflynn20
- Comment removed.
- i've never seen someone who was always portrayed as a victim as much as mcnabb. were the eagles never allowed to move on. he is a clown. good, but nowhere near the top. ever.— pb2824
- I banged pots together when I heard the news that Low Throw McBlow was gone. Bernard Hopkins...Right Again— Jiggs_5
- I am sorry that you lacked a work ethic, professionalism, and leadership qualities by not knowing the overtime rules after being in the league for 10+ years.— VitoCorleone
- Its soo easy to forget Favre throwing it to NO to lose out on another ring, or 4th and 26. Name a top ten quaterback that actually caused his team to lose. Andy is exempt, the defense is exempt. Joe Banner is exempt. Was Donovan to blame against Carolina and Tampa alone? I recall a different history. whether Kolb does great or not? The Eagles would not be where we are without 5. I remember Ryan and the Kotite quarterbacks. I remember the college receivers. How easy we forget over some dirt balls and flawed games. once again name a top 10 quarterback who did not have a few.— Orin
- I definitely agree with your analysis. It seems to me that there is a large contingent of Philly fans that is just not satisfied with anything, no matter how good. Of course it's not the same people all the time, but Philly fans booed Mike Schmidt, one of the all time great baseball players, arguably the best that every played 3rd base. They infamously booed Santa Claus. They booed Randall Cunningham. I can go on and on. So, my only problem is, if they owe McNabb an apology, they owe all those others too. I just wish the loud minority of fans that like to hurl abuse at great Philly athletes, would just keep it to themselves. But I'm certain that will never happen, and the apology owed to McNabb will go undelivered.— Midwest FA
- Someone take a look at all the balls in the dirt and all the dropped passes. In case you're wondering QB"S are taught to throw low and away in a crowd, from Pop Warner on.He had far more dropped passes than dirtballs.He wasn't great but he was far above average in any statistic you can think of.— ease
- For years, the Eagles pre-game shows had the same story every week: "I talked to the opposing defensive coordinator, who said there is no more frightening offensive weapon in the NFL than Brian Westbrook." McNabb had the best offensive weapon in football, and people still repeat that "McNabb needed a receiver". Brady didn't have Westbrook. The Mannings didn't have Westbrook. Brees won with an undrafted guy as his leading running back, and a 5th-rounder from Hofstra as his leading receiver. Brady won with Jerome Gafney. Brady won with what he had. Nobody knew the names of the Arizona receivers when Leinert was throwing to them. We knew them plenty once Warner was taking the snap. McNabb would like to be considered among these other QBs, but he didn't excel the way they did. So Rick Reilly ought to give it a rest, and produce stories that don't pander to the narrow mentality of the suits at ESPN.
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