During the week leading up to the Super Bowl, the fans and the media love when the players talk smack. We love to anticipate when and what the colorful personalities will say; ie. Joey Porter. What we don’t anticipate is Donovan McNabb pulling the race card out. To brief those out of the loop: during this past season T.O. was asked and responded to a comment made by Michael Irvin that said if Brett Favre was the Eagles’ quarterback they would be undefeated. T.O., without hesitation, agreed whole heartedly. At the time the Eagles were 4-2 and the Packers were 1-5. T.O.’s response signified the end of the Eagles’ season and the end of T.O. as an Eagle. Fast forward to a couple days ago: Donovan finally spoke about this situation saying that T.O.’s comment was comparable to “black on black crime.� I was a little confused about the comparison at first, but the more I think about it….If I were a fly on the wall when McNabb was recruiting T.O. to play for Philadelphia the convo might go a little something like this (the abridged version):

Don: I think you would be a perfect fit for our team. You’re are the missing piece to get our team to the next level

TO: Yeah man, I really like it here. I think you’re are one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Don: I appreciate that. I think you’re the best receiver for our offense. You are big, strong, and an excellent runner after the catch.

TO: I especially wanted to come to a team with a black quarterback. I feel like we can probably relate to each other better than me and Jeff did. If I sign a long term deal I want to get along with my quarterback. It would be sweet if you were the second black quarterback to win the big one and the first in nearly 20 years.

Don: I can definitely feel that. Or better yet, I could be the first black quarterback to lead a team to more than one Super Bowl victory.

TO: People still doubt that a quarterback that can run (aka black quarterbacks) can’t win the big one.

Don: Let’s do this.

Basically, I think Donovan’s sentiment was how can you say the quarterback of a one-win team would be undefeated if he were the quarterback of our team. Especially a white quarterback when they both know what was talked about in the off season. Perhaps I am reading too much in to this, but my feeling is that something had to have been discussed at some point for Donovan to say this constituted black on black crime. Whatever the case may be, T.O. should have never said anything. But Donovan does not some out of this situation unscathed either. If this is how he felt he should have said it a lot earlier. Ex Eagle player now Eagle executive, Hugh Douglas, got into a melee with T.O. shortly after T.O.’s interview. We all that it was essentially in defense of McNabb because Douglas was a teammate of McNabb’s. A day or two ago Douglas went on record to say that Donovan was not a leader. The way this situation unfolded speaks directly to that statement.

I had been telling friends before last year‘s Super Bowl that McNabb was soft, but there should be no doubt since that Super Bowl. He can deny it, but more than one person said he got “sick� on the drive that could have tied the game. You play your whole life to win a Super Bowl. You can’t yack in the huddle on the possible game tying drive. Furthermore I was unimpressed with the way Donovan’s season ended this year. He threw an interception to Roy Williams of the Cowboys that was returned for a touchdown on Monday Night Football. Philly was leading 20-14 at the time and that pick six sealed the game. When McNabb attempted to tackle Williams he was injured on the play and subsequently missed the rest of the season.

Prior to that groin injury McNabb had a sports hernia, which required surgery. I have been watching sports for 24 years and this is the first year I can remember anyone getting a sports hernia let alone 36 people. We just found out that Tom Brady played half the season with a sports hernia. Grant Hill had a sports hernia earlier this season, which probably happened when he got out of bed. Buffalo Sabres’ hockey player J.P. Dumont is nursing a sports hernia injury as we speak. Ouch! My stomach is starting to hurt while writing this damn thing. I think I feel a case of sports hernia coming on. I wonder what D Weezy would recommend.