tr1
May-11th-2007, 04:50 AM
Kevin Roberts
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/COLUMNISTS14/705110373/1063/SPORTS
StoryChat Post Comment
Friday, May 11, 2007
A wise man once said that observing professional sports for a living offers both theater and news -- and the key is figuring out which is which.
That Donovan McNabb spoke to a selected handful of media this week is theater. That he did so at a skating rink in Voorhees, sitting on the bleachers, or at a table near the video games, or on top of a zamboni, is wonderful theater. That there is now, unmistakably, some distance between McNabb and the Eagles -- some of it literal in the 15 miles between the Skate Zone and the Eagles complex and some of it metaphorical -- is significant theater.
That doesn't make it meaningless; this is the Eagles and their quarterback. McNabb holding court on the state of the team and the draft pick who might succeed him is a big, giant deal.
But much of this is just soap opera. There is no quarterback controversy; McNabb is the quarterback and he'll play and the Eagles will win or lose with him. Period. In the last 33 years, you know how many teams with a Pro Bowl-caliber starter have drafted a quarterback in the first or second rounds and seen the drafted quarterback go on to make multiple Pro Bowls?
None.
Not one, in 33 years. So let's not run McNabb and his five Pro Bowls and his 95.5 quarterback rating and his 18 touchdown passes in 10 games last year out of town just yet.
This is news: There is a rift between player and team. This is undeniable, and it is inarguable. The Eagles have twice tried to shut down McNabb press conferences in the last four months, and McNabb went off the reservation to get his message out. The Eagles were taken by surprise. And if you know nothing else about the Eagles you know they do not like surprises and they do not like things operating outside their control.
How much does this matter? Maybe not at all.
"I thought this whole thing was pretty comical," McNabb told selected reporters this week. "I mean, it seemed like with everything that was said and everybody's reaction, you'd have thought somebody sat down and talked to me or called me on the phone. I was like: Wow, I never said anything. I felt it was time now to speak and get it over with, so when minicamp begins, it won't be a distraction."
Sweet Enola Gay -- he's out of control! Somebody get ahold of this guy! He'll ruin everything!
Or not.
But this training camp is crucial for McNabb, the most important of his career. He and Eagles head coach Andy Reid absolutely have to be on the same page of this thing.
McNabb is making his way back from knee surgery. When he'll be ready to practice, when he'll be ready to see contact, when he'll be ready to play is going to be a day-by-day evaluation.
Everybody has to do the right thing for the right reasons. If McNabb rushes back too soon, that's a disaster. If McNabb and Reid and the doctors differ on his schedule, can McNabb trust that Reid has his best interests at heart? Or will this blow up?
Again: That's news. That matters.
But that's July, which will be watched closely with hundreds of eyes, squinting into the sweltering heat for any twitch or scowl. Today it's just hypothetical.
Eagles head coach Andy Reid will speak at minicamp this weekend -- reportedly, he'll talk at the Eagles complex, and he'll invite everybody -- and it's a safe bet Reid will say that all is well, move along, nothing to see here.
He said the same thing when Terrell Owens was going crazy. But McNabb is not Owens, and it really might be true this time.
In two years, McNabb's contract status becomes an issue. If he plays well, stays healthy, wins, and is willing to re-work his contract, there's every chance he'll still be here. If McNabb takes the Eagles to the Super Bowl, is there anyone who thinks the Eagles will cut him and play the untested new guy?
Really?
That's the future, which is unknowable. Look at the Eagles -- Brian Dawkins, Jeremiah Trotter, Jon Runyan . . . this is not a group that worries about three seasons down the road. The Eagles' time is now.
And now, right now, McNabb is the quarterback. The rest is all drama, just soap opera, only theater. The key for the Eagles is to hold it to that, to keep real news from breaking out.
Keeping news from breaking out is, after all, among the Eagles' greatest skills.
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/COLUMNISTS14/705110373/1063/SPORTS
StoryChat Post Comment
Friday, May 11, 2007
A wise man once said that observing professional sports for a living offers both theater and news -- and the key is figuring out which is which.
That Donovan McNabb spoke to a selected handful of media this week is theater. That he did so at a skating rink in Voorhees, sitting on the bleachers, or at a table near the video games, or on top of a zamboni, is wonderful theater. That there is now, unmistakably, some distance between McNabb and the Eagles -- some of it literal in the 15 miles between the Skate Zone and the Eagles complex and some of it metaphorical -- is significant theater.
That doesn't make it meaningless; this is the Eagles and their quarterback. McNabb holding court on the state of the team and the draft pick who might succeed him is a big, giant deal.
But much of this is just soap opera. There is no quarterback controversy; McNabb is the quarterback and he'll play and the Eagles will win or lose with him. Period. In the last 33 years, you know how many teams with a Pro Bowl-caliber starter have drafted a quarterback in the first or second rounds and seen the drafted quarterback go on to make multiple Pro Bowls?
None.
Not one, in 33 years. So let's not run McNabb and his five Pro Bowls and his 95.5 quarterback rating and his 18 touchdown passes in 10 games last year out of town just yet.
This is news: There is a rift between player and team. This is undeniable, and it is inarguable. The Eagles have twice tried to shut down McNabb press conferences in the last four months, and McNabb went off the reservation to get his message out. The Eagles were taken by surprise. And if you know nothing else about the Eagles you know they do not like surprises and they do not like things operating outside their control.
How much does this matter? Maybe not at all.
"I thought this whole thing was pretty comical," McNabb told selected reporters this week. "I mean, it seemed like with everything that was said and everybody's reaction, you'd have thought somebody sat down and talked to me or called me on the phone. I was like: Wow, I never said anything. I felt it was time now to speak and get it over with, so when minicamp begins, it won't be a distraction."
Sweet Enola Gay -- he's out of control! Somebody get ahold of this guy! He'll ruin everything!
Or not.
But this training camp is crucial for McNabb, the most important of his career. He and Eagles head coach Andy Reid absolutely have to be on the same page of this thing.
McNabb is making his way back from knee surgery. When he'll be ready to practice, when he'll be ready to see contact, when he'll be ready to play is going to be a day-by-day evaluation.
Everybody has to do the right thing for the right reasons. If McNabb rushes back too soon, that's a disaster. If McNabb and Reid and the doctors differ on his schedule, can McNabb trust that Reid has his best interests at heart? Or will this blow up?
Again: That's news. That matters.
But that's July, which will be watched closely with hundreds of eyes, squinting into the sweltering heat for any twitch or scowl. Today it's just hypothetical.
Eagles head coach Andy Reid will speak at minicamp this weekend -- reportedly, he'll talk at the Eagles complex, and he'll invite everybody -- and it's a safe bet Reid will say that all is well, move along, nothing to see here.
He said the same thing when Terrell Owens was going crazy. But McNabb is not Owens, and it really might be true this time.
In two years, McNabb's contract status becomes an issue. If he plays well, stays healthy, wins, and is willing to re-work his contract, there's every chance he'll still be here. If McNabb takes the Eagles to the Super Bowl, is there anyone who thinks the Eagles will cut him and play the untested new guy?
Really?
That's the future, which is unknowable. Look at the Eagles -- Brian Dawkins, Jeremiah Trotter, Jon Runyan . . . this is not a group that worries about three seasons down the road. The Eagles' time is now.
And now, right now, McNabb is the quarterback. The rest is all drama, just soap opera, only theater. The key for the Eagles is to hold it to that, to keep real news from breaking out.
Keeping news from breaking out is, after all, among the Eagles' greatest skills.