Donovan Feeds the Vultures

On Friday, Eagles QB and subject of a stupendous amount of media rumination, Donovan McNabb hosted a barbeque for local media members at RiverCrest Golf Club in Phoenixville, which will serve as the site for the Donovan McNabb Foundation Golf Classic on June 15.

Although DMac did meet a few select reporters just before mini-camp at the Flyers practice facility in Vorhees, N.J. (which made the buzzards all "a-twitter" with McNabb-is-mad-at-the-FO rumors), this was the first time since the injury that he's been available to anyone and everyone with a pen and notepad, micro-recorder, cam-corder, webcam, digital camera, spy-cam, blackberry, iPhones, what have you.

The best news to come out the event, this news about his knee: McNabb has been rehabbing the knee four times a week, while still participating in general conditioning workouts five days a week. McNabb said his exercises include weight-lifting, running on the treadmill and certain agility drills. "It's really similar to my workouts in Arizona, just not as extensive."

And of the rampant speculation that his relationship with Head Coach Andy Reid "must be deteriorating because AR drafted a QB in the second round and then there was no reports of them talking until the next Tuesday" (two whole days I tell you). Read on:

McNabb said the events of the offseason have done anything but weaken his connection with his Reid, who drafted McNabb in the first round back in 1999. "My relationship is probably better than it was before because we were able to talk about a lot of different issues," McNabb said. "Obviously there's the issue we're faced with now with drafting a quarterback, but there was also the situation with him and what his family was faced with, and I was there for him. I called him and talked to him, texted him, whatever to let him know that I was there for him if he needed anything...People again look too far into it. We talk all the time."

You mean people read too much into something? Nah, I don't believe it...
Of course, some folks won't let this rest. There's papers to be sold and rating to score and website hits to accumulate between now and training camp in July (when such thing are basically guaranteed). So no matter what Donovan says or does, certain elements of the media will continue to view every action and parse every utterance through the "theres-a-problem-here-somewhere" lens.

I, for one, will be keeping track. And those repeat offenders. Get put on the shit list...

Eagles Thoughts This Week

Its been a few days since I've posted, been working. I figured now was as good a time as any to chime in about the Eagles.

In case you missed it. Donovan spoke to the media on Wednesday. And the Philly press went ga-ga. You see the man can't buy a break. When he didn't talk, speculation ran rampant. McNabb was pissed, wrote some (actually he was out getting ice cream with his kids, though he does admit that the selection of a QB as the Birds first pick in the draft was a bit shocking); other chimed in that he was mad and didn't talk to head coach Andy Reid for days. I'll admit this much, the two didn't talk until the Tuesday after the draft. Big whoop. There were days at work when I never say my boss, let alone spoke a peep to him. However, in this environment, where every word is parsed for meaning and gesture broken down for greater meaning, the LACK of talk somehow took on a life of its own. (and I can damn well guarantee you, that if AR and Donovan had had a pow-wow first thing Monday morning, the Philly press would've run with that as well).

Now that he HAS talked, every bit of minutae about it has been dissected. The rundown:
- The Birds have LOST CONTROL of their star.
- Donovan has flown the nest.
The gists: McNabb chose to a venue outside the NovaCare facility, and used a former Eagles employee (recently let go, but who handled McNabb's public appearance for 8 years) to set up interviews at the Flyers practice facility in Voorhees, N.J.

This is a sign of the coming apocalypse according to the pundits. The Eagles brass will undoubtedly be "fuming" at McNabb for "snubbing" them. And this story won't die - even if (or maybe especially if) no one comments - because the press will just KEEP writing about it, regardless. There is NO other story in Philadelphia, barring the Phillies trading Ryan Howard, that is guaranteed to sell papers like a QB-saga, trumped up or real. So they'll keep flogging the horse until its glue.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are left in the cold, waiting for someone to write about something truly noteworthy. The mini-camp should provide some temporary relief, I hope.