Eagles reject timing conspiracy in McNabb trade

Some conspiracy theorists contend that the Eagles announced the trade of Donovan McNabb on Sunday evening to upstage the Phillies, Tiger and Jesus Christ himself.

With due respect to the three entities in question, the Eagles soundly rejected that notion. The trade was announced when it was done. Easter Sunday, Woods' comeback press conference on the Monday of the Masters and the Phillies' season opener yesterday in D.C. all happened to coincide with the biggest trade in team history.

"We'd been working on this for quite some time," said Eagles spokeswoman Pamela Browner Crawley.

Such a deal requires coordination and agreement by several parties, she said: "To suggest that we have that sort of control . . . It's more than not fair. It's simply incorrect."

And coincidental.