Friday Fire: Where Are the Donovan McNabb Columns?
You know I’m diggin’ the suit D…
This is for Terrell Pryor.
Any sports site administrator knows Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Terrell Owens, Barry Bonds and yes…Donovan McNabb are the athletes most likely to get the hits. Really doesn’t matter what the topic, just upload their respective faces and let the comments begin. That being said, I like to get the conversation started and…I was wondering…where are the Donovan McNabb columns?
Last night, I had a conversation with a well respected journalist from Philadelphia and as a result I came to some conclusions…
There is the larger issue behind the perception of Donovan McNabb. The 6’2″, 240 pound elephant in the room folks do no want to face is how race played a factor his entire Philly career. A race inclusion effectively changing the natural pattern of his career. As a result, we are at this very spot and all we have is a chance to move forward through a discussion. Was it all about race? Of course not but think of how this society shrinks in regards to race and inject the Black quarterback dynamic.
Picture the sight of a strong arm protruding out of a hurricane’s tornado…debris and all…and you have McNabb. Why was there so much drama surrounding McNabb with the press, media and fans that had nothing of his own doing?
I’ll try to go into this a little more in the comments if you didn’t understand.
I write this stuff for the kids. This certainly isn’t about shoving a personal agenda down unsuspecting throats.
This is not a comparison…for I know some of you will take me to task…but is lack of written legacy why Hank was never given true respect or Warren Moon or Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson or Spencer Haywood or Connie Hawkins or or or?
How is the legend to be told by the next generation without the words?
Writers far and near are tweeting, facebooking, whateverelsing [sic] issues in sports so irrelevant that what we all should be speaking of fades away over time until a descendant of a deceased athlete dusts off an old trophy with a glorious inscription. You would think that Donovan was a second rate quarterback just changing his address in a natural career progression before he gets on outta here.
Yes the presser coverage was proper and also proper was the commentary from various talking heads but…
Where are the op/eds based on Donovan’s career exploits? Where are the pieces documenting his career for time? Where are the words written how much of a stand up teammate and model citizen he is? Where are the pieces that change his hellish career fire into a heavenly legend? What does Donovan do well? Why is all the attention focused on inaccuracy despite being the least intercepted qb of all time?
I haven’t searched much, I’m seriously asking because it seems…at least to me…that immediately after the trade the reticence could…actually…be…touched. If you have read a column, copy and paste it and let the discussion begin on the journalism body of work regarding Donovan McNabb. It’s all in the paper trail. There needs to be just a little more written diversity for time so athletes are properly respected by the people through journalism understanding.
Since I know nothing but passion, I offer…
A Moment of Lucidity…
Mizzo:
The door is wide open for you.
I did a little searching. There do not appear to be any mass media pieces that seek to deal with the totality of his career.
This is the type of work that should fall to sports editors in the city of Philadelphia or in Washington, DC. If this is done anywhere, it will be in DC — and it will be written when McNabb retires from the game or leaves the Redskins.
Philadelphia writers are not going to do it. First of all, most of them haven’t written anything of substance longer than 1,000 words in about 20 years…so that eliminates most of the field.
Second, a solid majority of writers with the energy and gusto for the project would have to get it out of the news room. That’s not going to happen any time soon.
Third, that writer would have to deal with repercussions from that ignant-ass mob y’all refer to as a “fan base.”
So, that isht ain’t hapnin’.
It’ll be independent writers or a filmmaker 20 years from now or the NFL Films (after they kick Jaworski’s ass out) or some external entity.
That’s why newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur…The shared decision to escape discussing McNabb’s legacy is simply an admission of their own irrelevance. They simply don’t matter as much as they’d like to.
My hope is that McNabb follows in Doug Williams’ footsteps. Goes to Redskins, wins a Super Bowl and then his legacy will be cemented. Or Elway or Plunkett. It shouldn’t take winning the championship to make people notice, but that is the way it is.
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All I can say is thank goodness for Joseph Addai and Dominick Rhodes.
Temple and might I add.
Bob sanders and that defense.
Heck Rex Grossman on the other side of the field too.
Reggie White, Desmond Howard, Emmit Smith, Jay Novacek, Alvin Harper and Michael Irvin? Swann, Stallworth, Steel that is Curtains, Franco and Rocky? Michigan tuck rules, John Taylor and Jerry Rice? Gary Anderson, Terrell Davis’ knees, over the middle where Shannon is Sharper, clandestine Rod Smith, Atwater and chop blocks? Torry, Isaac and Marshall Faulk? Blocking Wards, toes and fingertips of Santonio? Donovan’s college target? I’m sure by now you all get the picture…
“untill the lion learns to write, the hunter will always win”
Do you know there is a movie greenlighted on the his-story of the tuskegee airmen? Apparently it was sat on for a decade untill the last significant brother made his transition, now it’s being greenlighted.
How is this relevant? It tells his-story of the Tuskegee airmen, not our story. Like wise, real cats like TSF, Temple, Orihin and the rest document our story daily. We can’t expect our enemies to talk favouably about us. So I am thinking youre not really asking a question you all ready know the answer to, you’re just being rhetorical.
That’s my man…
I hope one day people will understand it takes a team to won a title. Simply ignoring all the evidence to support this is getting tired.
I meant win…..lol
“untill the lion learns to write, the hunter will always win”
dats wat I was going to say…or something like it if I was here early.
its auto for me now! I never look for the words from the man and his organs.
if we dont say it is never said. I care if we say it about us and dats where I look. dats how I found Starting Five!
dats how I found JJ Adande too…a very nice little sports journalist with a right nice orientation!
if its said over there I wont hear it because I am never there.
not only because of the race question but because his content is downright dangerous, treacherous. … not keen on filling up my head with shit.
we must write it all, our way, our story. we fill up our organs and archives, expand them if necessary.
I dont know the Donnie MaC story sufficiently to do a piece on him. I do know a classy person when I see one and I have seen enough of McNabb to tell.
McNabb is a fine qb and a solid person! I expect tht if Shanahan and staff put together a solid team around him McNabb will lead the skins to a SB and win it!
About dat I have no doubt whatsoever
Miz,
Donnie Mac will have to tell his own story once he leaves the field of play and I hope and pray that he gives it to the masses straight no chaser. I understand he’s played/playing the media game in Philly and now in DC because he wants to keep the focus on his football accomplishments and not be marginalized as a stereotypical angry Black man, but as far as the Philly media being honest enough to hold up a mirror to the city’s reflection in its conduct to McNabb the past eleven years? Not gonna happen because it cuts to close to the bone and does not make our fellow cheesesteakers look good.
The easy answer is sometimes the best answer and the best answer that concerns everything McNabb dealt with in Philly concerns his race. The simple fact that he had the intelligence to go with his physical gifts and the desire to work hard to make himself into a top flight pro QB. That he handled every controversy off the field with style and grace. That he could be goofy and laugh at himself while being outgoing enough to talk to the media at length without saying anything that could be twisted against him. The fact that it was a Black man doing all this rubbed many fans in Philly the wrong way who think they had him pegged as just an ‘athlete’ in the perjorative term before he was drafted out of the ‘Cuse.
I’ve reached my tipping point with McNabb and the Eagles because almost a week later I still can’t get my head around the reasoning for trading a future HOF QB whether it’s to a divisional rival or not. The blunt fact is that he shouldn’t have been traded in the first place but because a smarmy, little geek named Howie Roseman wanted to make a splash he was dealt and because of that I truly believe the team I live and die with has set its development back for the next decade. I flirted this week with buying a #5 Washington jersey but I can’t do it because even though I’ll always cheer for McNabb I can’t rock another team’s colors. This season though I won’t spend one dime on football especially the Eagles. That won’t make less than a difference in Jeff Lurie’s bottom line but I’m drawing my line in the sand on this one because for this organization to throw away a season for no reason other than wanting to make a change just boggles my already scrambled mind.
The Eagles are dead! The Eagles are dead! Long Live McNabb!! Long Live McNabb!!
Unfortunately, he won’t win in DC, either. Dan Snyder doesn’t have sense when it comes to acquiring players.
[...] is put on a pedestal for what he can’t do, the other slammed for not doing what he can [...]