That the New York Post’s Mr. Loser would scoff at Donovan McNabb’s claims of double standards for black QB’s (other than Rex Grossman) is no surprise (“he should ask Richard Todd what it was like trying to follow Joe Namath. Todd, 26 years after shoving me into a locker, won™t come to the telephone to take my calls even now”), nor was I stunned to read CBS Sports.com’s Gregg Doyel conveniently ignoring that McNabb’s interview was done before the Iggles dropped their first two games (“His career is sinking, and instead of facing it head on, he pulled out that big, ugly race card and tried to hide his decade-worst 68.8 passer rating behind it”). You can add dwill of The Starting Five to the anti-McNabb ranks, a commentator whose unflinching criticism of the Philly quarterback includes the following summation : “Donovan McNabb appears to be just another self-centered athlete who, despite his well-cultivated image, could care less about the slights suffered by black quarterbacks – unless, of course, his butt is on the line.”
What we don™t need is someone who has made a career out of being non-committal about these issues to suddenly start talking about racism in the NFL and how it pertains to the quarterback position like he™s been trying to say this all along. None of us needs Donovan McNabb to tell us about race and racism; needs for him to suddenly attempt go black before our very eyes.
McNabb didn™t want any part of œblack quarterback when he was drafted with the #2 overall pick in the NFL Draft in 1999 by the Eagles. McNabb was, through his play and his silence on that issue was going to force one of the most openly racist cities north of the Mason-Dixon Line to judge him based solely on performance and how he handled himself in the good and the bad times. McNabb wanted to be judged as all Americans are purported to be judged: by their merit.
Where was he when T.O. was getting spared no rod from the Eagles management? He was awfully quiet and pretty much a company man. How McNabb turned his back on Owens effectively ruined his credibility with at least half of your teammates. He let Hugh Douglas, aka the œMassa™s House Man, talk for him as he attempted to crush T.O.™s spirit.
McNabb knows he rushed his rehab and isn™t 100% . He should have made that known. He didn™t and if he says something about it now, it will look like an excuse for his spotty early play. He knows he has no contract extension and the Eagles will take a huge cap hit next season because of his contract. There™s nothing wrong with letting the press know how important this season is financially; it can be done tactfully without giving the impression that he is pining for a new deal through the press. When McNabb does complain this offseason, it will be too late, and in negotiations, Eagles management will have the upper hand. All complaints then will be viewed as whining.
However, now Donovan McNabb is telling the world that there is a disparity in the manner in which black and white QBs are treated. Now, that it appears that the writing is on the wall for the veteran and that his time in the City of Brotherly Love is limited, he wants to speak out against the injustices incurred by black players at his position, especially himself.
Though he might garner some sympathy in some corners because he stated his case with his usual calm, he gets none here.
dwil usually seems pretty reasonable, but “suddenly attempting to go black before our very eyes” might be the most overboard response to the McNabb interview I’ve read. I certainly get dwil’s point, but what’s the point of drawing a line between the outspoken and the not in pro sports? Lucrative soup contracts don’t fall out of the sky. There are better targets for that discussion than McNabb as well.
I appreciate dwil’s take on the issue. I’m still at a loss, though, to explain why McNabb suddenly went in this direction. It was pretty apparent when watching the Real Sports interview that there was an agenda of some kind behind both the appearance and McNabb’s sudden willingness to address race. I’m not really sure that it was aimed towards hedging against being cut by the Eagles at the end of the season, though.
McNabb took considerable heat given that he had the temerity to bring up race on the heels of two crap performances. I was hopeful his remarks were intended to address the nature of black QB’s in general, not his own situation specifically.
On the other hand, he stressed during yesterday’s contentious press conference that the HBO comments were “about my life”. So I really don’t know. But the fact that I don’t even know what Brady Quinn’s Wonderlic score was says to me McNabb wasn’t totally full of shit.
GC, the thing that convinced me that it was more about McNabb personally was the fact that both of his parents — and specifically his Dad — were interviewed and featured by themselves at a not insignificant length. I can’t remember ever seeing McNabb’s parents featured in a national piece. And their description of encountering resistance to moving into a white neighborhood when McNabb was a kid was not something that I believe McNabb has previously discussed before.
Mark,
obviously the HBO piece was about McNabb individually. I just meant his specific remarks about black QB’s — wishful thinking that it wasn’t just about him.
Yeah. Well, to me the entire context suggested McNabb was seeking to be looked at in a different, more personal (and sympathetic, I suppose) manner, and the comments about criticism of black QBs seemed to be more part of that than McNabb picking a moment to take a stand on the issue.