Wednesday, February 01, 2006
McNabb is Wrong
I’ve always liked Donovan McNabb and I don’t like Terrell Owens (and I really hope that all the talk about TO coming to the Denver Broncos doesn’t end up with TO in Broncos’ blue and predominantly orange), but today the balance shifted a little. McNabb’s reach for the race card in his feud with TO was unconscionable.
It was like, it’s unreal,” McNabb said. “That’s like me going out and saying, `Hey, if we had Steve Largent. If we had Joe Jurevicius. It was definitely a slap in the face to me. It was a slap in the face because, as deep as people want to go into it, it was black-on-black crime.”
[...]
On Wednesday, McNabb brought up some of the criticism he had taken through his career, and said Owens was simply piling on with his statement.“It’s different to say, `If we had Michael Vick or Daunte Culpepper or Steve McNair or Byron Leftwich,” McNabb said of four black starting quarterbacks. “But to go straight to Brett Favre, that kind of just slapped me in the face like, `Wow ...“‘
Yeah, wow. “Black-on-black crime.” Because God forbid that one black man criticizes another black man while saying something nice about a white man.
It happens that I questioned Owens’ statement, too, but not because of any obsession with skin color. I just wondered whether Favre was still at a place in his career where he could be that much of a difference maker. It never crossed my mind that this could be made into a racial issue--which just proves my lack of imagination in that arena, I suppose.
I would sincerely hope that decision-makers in the NFL don’t fill positions based on race. Winning championships isn’t compatible with monochromatic rosters.
McNabb’s statement just makes him look like an ass, which, when it’s entrenched in a story involving Terrell Owens, is quite a trick. How often does TO end up looking like the good guy in a news story?
Comments & Trackbacks
Making it even more ridiculous is that (IIRC) Owens didn’t simply pull Favre’s name out of his ass. He was specifically asked if his team would be better with Favre at the helm, and he answered yes. Big deal.
To defend McNabb a little bit, he might be feeling a bit sensitive after J. Whyatt Mondesire attacked him for not being a black enough quarterback.
(To tell you the truth, I’d be happy as hell if Owens were a Redskin next year. The Broncos were only a game away from the big one this year, and perhaps they were just one awesome but annoying wide receiver away from winning that game.)
he Broncos were only a game away from the big one this year, and perhaps they were just one awesome but annoying wide receiver away from winning that game.
You say it as if that’s a bad thing…
Actually, I would be nearly as unhappy if TO went to Washington. I’d prefer it if he kept his distance from any team that I like.
Owens just isn’t that bad a guy. He’s never beaten up a woman, gotten in a bar fight, solicited a prostitute, enticed an underage girl into sex by offering drugs or alcohol, stabbed a teammate in the neck with scissors, stood by while his friends knifed a man to death, or hired a hit man to kill his pregnant girlfriend.
What’s he actually done? He insulted a couple of thin-skinned quarterbacks. You know what? I think Plummer or Brunell could handle him.
My problem with him is that when things start going bad for a team, he tends to make things even worse. He opens his mouth at the wrong time, says stupid things, and then shows his own tendency to be think-skinned when people criticize him. I fear what he might do in the Broncos’ locker room.
But, hey, what do I know?
"But, hey, what do I know?”
Well, fuck, that’s true about me too. I was on the swim team and in the marching band in high school, I got nothing on what it takes to ruin team chemistry. But I do know that he caught 6 touchdowns in 7 games last year (for comparison, the Denver receivers caught 8 on the whole season… combined). You get him for a year, things go well, who knows… you might just win XLI.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Broncos need some help in the wide receiver department. We really only have one guy worthy of the title “starter.” The rest are all backups.
So why are you so opposed to picking up Owens? He’d help the team, and I’m 99% sure he’d be on his best behavior for at least the first year.
KC’s been thinking about him, too, apparently.
It took 3 teams before Eddie Kennison became a model citizen at his 4th, and Owens might just be okay for his 3rd. I did think McNabb was a little touchy with the “keep my name out of your mouth” comment.
It sounds like they really didn’t like each other much to begin with, but McNabb was a little better with the “if you can’t say something nice” tenet.
"I’d prefer it if he kept his distance from any team that I like.”
I agree. Washington would be fine with me.
“Owens just isn’t that bad a guy. He’s never beaten up a woman, gotten in a bar fight, solicited a prostitute, enticed an underage girl into sex by offering drugs or alcohol, stabbed a teammate in the neck with scissors, stood by while his friends knifed a man to death, or hired a hit man to kill his pregnant girlfriend.”
I’d only commit to, “He’s never ..., that we know of.” With or without that edit, though, that’s really defining “...isn’t that bad a guy” down. Maybe my standards are unrealistic.
“So why are you so opposed to picking up Owens? He’d help the team, and I’m 99% sure he’d be on his best behavior for at least the first year.”
I’m not convinced that he would (net) help the team. (I said much the same about Randy Moss before this season.) If he’s twice as good as any other receiver on the team, but his presence results in an average reduction of 2% in the effort of each of his teammates, I’d consider that a net negative.
And that’s without considering his effect on the salary cap. His big problem with the Eagles seems to have been that his excessive salary was paid to him last season rather than this season. (Sort of, “What have you paid me lately.") I can’t imagine the Broncos could get him without a huge cap hit, and it’s not like they have lots of cap space to play with.
The Eagles didn't make the Super Bowl this year, sitting this one out while the team at the other end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be representing the Keystone state. But they somehow have managed to dominate Media Week, traditionally...