Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Super Bowl or bye-bye for McNabb?
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is a top-notch player who holds many franchise records, but talk that his future with the team could be in jeopardy unless he leads them to a Super Bowl victory next month is heating up.
McNabb’s first road block to the elusive Super Bowl win is Saturday’s matchup versus the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, where the Eagles were shutout 24-0 last week in a game McNabb threw for 223 yards and had two fumbles.
And if the Eagles beat Dallas, McNabb and Co. will remain on the road to play the New Orleans Saints, a team that crushed Philadelphia 48-22 in September. McNabb missed that game with a cracked rib.
This is McNabb’s tenth season with the Eagles. He has led the team to five NFC Championship games but lost four of them. The closest he has taken them to a Super Bowl win was a 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots. That was five years ago and the patience of the Philadelphia faithful is wearing thin.
The five-time Pro-Bowl quarterback’s stint in the “City of Brotherly Love” has been packed with controversy, intense scrutiny and a constant overwhelming feeling of underachievement given the lack of a championship season.
Just last season when he was benched for the first time in his career there was talk that the Eagles may want to move forward with Kevin Kolb, a second-round pick in 2007. But the quarterback bounced back and now has the Eagles in the playoffs for the second straight year and looking to end the team’s 48-year championship drought this year.
McNabb’s contract with the Eagles expires at the end of next season. But if he is not holding the Lombardi trophy on Feb. 7, talk about shipping him out of Philadelphia will intensify. Some even argue that for Eagles coach Andy Reid to take his place among the NFL’s all-time great coaches, and for McNabb to ensure a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, they need to win it all at least once.
Is NFL treating Rush Limbaugh’s bid with fairness?
During his brief stint as a commentator on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show back in 2003, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign after making this controversial comment about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
“I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team,” Limbaugh said at the time.
In his resignation letter Limbaugh said “my comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated. I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew, which I regret.”
In a league where almost three quarters of its players are African-Americans, including the head of the players’ union, Limbaugh’s attempt to become co-owner of the beleaguered St. Louis Rams, in his home state, has been met with swift opposition.
According to ESPN, DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, has written an email to the association’s executive committee, detailing his opposition to Limbaugh’s bid. “I’ve spoken to the Commissioner (Roger Goodell) and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell has already cast doubt on Limbaugh’s viability as an NFL owner, saying that “divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about.” Goodell said that Rams representatives told owners at a recent meeting that they haven’t fully committed to selling the team, which is being shopped by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
UPDATE: Have decided to turn comments off. Sorry about that but felt the debate was generating more heat than light.
There are some really wonderful and rather insightful comments made here with regards to the unfair treatment Mr Limbaugh has recieved at the hands of our way to far in denial liberal oriented media establishment. i don’t suppose that a wee bit of jealousy might be involved with his success allowing him to have aquired the funds necessary to even be part of a group bidding for such a franchise.
