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Back in November, we wrote a blog post titled Hopkins rips McNabb (again).
The entry came after Bernard Hopkins slammed Donovan McNabb on Comcast SportsNet, something that has been commonplace in this city over the years.
So the mere fact that he ripped into the Eagles' quarterback once again Wednesday afternoon probably isn't worth writing about anymore.
But this time, there was more -- a theory about where the criticism might be stemming from.
Hopkins joined Howard Eskin on WIP Wednesday afternoon and spoke at length about his constant bashing of McNabb.
When discussing McNabb's newly reworked contract, Hopkins said the fans will have to suffer for two more years. During the interview, he called McNabb a lapdog and a frontrunner, said he has no heart and suggested the team should have given serious thought to replacing him with Michael Vick.
"I think he plays for the moment, whether it's winning or losing," Hopkins said. "I think he plays to win, but I don't think his demeanor and I don't think his personality fits to win tomorrow, to win the next week and to win with any means necessary. There's a difference than wanting to win and showing that you want to win. I think that most athletes go in the ring or in the court, basketball or football, go in there with the intentions of winning until something is different that they feel that they don't want to deal with, understand or just be in the mix. Some people just want to be in the mix, Howard. And if they get lucky and be like 'Oh I can win this' then they'll go ahead and they'll show their swagger. But at the end of the day, you got frontrunners and you got runners, and he's one of the greatest frontrunners I've ever seen in the NFL."
One of the more interesting parts of the interview was when Eskin laid out his theory for why Hopkins always hates on McNabb.
Per Eskin, Hopkins once went to an Eagles practice, and while McNabb said hello to the ex-middleweight champ, Hopkins felt like the Birds' QB blew him off a little bit and has held a grudge ever since.
Hopkins denied Eskin's theory, but when he recalled the situation, it certainly sounded like McNabb rubbed him the wrong way when they crossed paths.
"When I did go to the NovaCare Center with my team, was he like everybody else? Like the rest of the players? Was he giving us respect, giving everybody respect, my trainer, myself and all that, just coming over, sign this, sign that or whatever? No, he sort of ran into a little room and locked the door and came out every now and then to peak his head out to see if we left yet," Hopkins said. "But that just tells you he's not a social guy."
"When a guy is uncomfortable that the light is not actually on him, then you have some people that can't take it," he continued. "And look, the bottom line is if you want the light to be on you, you gotta do what champions do. You win, you win, you win, you win and you win the big one."
Eskin and Hopkins took calls from fans, a couple of whom could not understand Hopkins' stance. One even suggested that if Hopkins feels McNabb lacks the intensity and heart necessary to win a title, why not help him?
Hopkins predicted the Eagles would win seven games this season, and made no bones about the reason why.
"He don't have the heart," he said of McNabb. "He don't want to fail so he don't want to try."
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