Donovan McNabb: The Only Thing Drawing My Attention

Yes, this past year in sports sucked. You know that. Save for the Philadelphia Phillies World Series championship, pretty much every aspect of 2008 sport was discouraging for us fans in the PNW. Ironic, I know – Philadelphia is thousands of miles away from the PNW.

I would liken sports in 2008 to what would it would have felt like if Happy Gilmore didn’t make the miraculous last shot to beat Shooter McGavin. In short, I’m darn ready to bid farewell to the 2008 football season, too. Even they suck right now for most of us – who would have ever guessed the final four teams in the playoffs would include the Eagles, Cardinals, Steelers, and Ravens?

Now, to be sure, I’m quite excited at the thought of the season ending so I can begin dreaming again of next season (Oh, Jim Mora). That said, I do still have some semblance of loyalty to the sport (can’t completely abandon my passion). Thus, I’ve discovered one, and only one, reason to continue watching the 2008 playoffs.

It is Donovan McNabb. And that’s it.

People often ask why I care about Donovan – The Eagles aren’t particularly my favorite team, and McNabb not particularly my favorite quarterback. Most of the time, I’ve rooted against him – just like I’ve rooted against most quarterbacks whose names didn’t end with Hasselbeck or Wallace. Just the way it is for a Seahawk fan. But anyone who has paid an ounce of attention to ESPN over McNabb’s career is at least partially aware of the fact that he’s been under an amazing amount of scrutiny since he was drafted by the Eagles with the 3rd overall pick. Remember when he got booed by Eagle fans who were still bitter about them not drafting Ricky Williams? Yes, that would have worked out good for them. Remember the Rush Limbaugh shpeel? Remember seemingly every other game when the commentators start reminding us that “this may be the last time we see Donovan McNabb and Coach Andy Reid play on the same team,” nonsense? This has happened every single season. Every year, it seems like people are looking for new reasons to discredit just how good McNabb has been over the course of his career. Twit sportcasters seem to think that he’s “losing a step” or “losing favor in the locker room,” but what in God’s green earth has McNabb done OTHER than win games, make Pro Bowl Rosters, and keep his image SQUEAKY clean?

Brandon mentioned this last week in one of his blogs, but let me reiterate. The guy doesn’t have off-field problems, he puts up great numbers, he’s a great leader, he’s smart (tell me that every NFL player knows the overtime rule off the top of their head…yeah, shut up), and he’s taken his team to 5 NFC conference championship games in 10 years. Not even Tom Brady has been to that many (though I will say Brady is the better quarterback – considering his supporting cast has been far superior). The fact is, McNabb has endured a lot of undeserved scrutiny. It baffles me that he’s been able to maintain his composure the way he has, especially in light of the reputation Philadelphia fans have. What better way to shed all of the nonsense than by winning a Super Bowl? It would be similar (but not exactly like) when Peyton Manning finally won his championship – finally, no detractors, no naysayers could slam him for choking.

These are the reasons, then, that I am rooting for Donovan McNabb the rest of the playoffs. For fans in the PNW, this should be second nature anyhow (at least to some of us). Anyone who is rooting for the Steelers can’t relate to me. Anyone who roots for the Cardinals…..why? Anyone who pulls for the Ravens, well I guess I have no deal with that.

At any rate, I’m not a huge McNabb fan normally. You won’t ever see me wear a McNabb jersey. But for the rest of this post-season, you can count me in as one of the biggest supporters of McNabb from the PNW. Take it for what you will - agree or disagree - but this is about the only thing that could make up for what has been the lousiest sporting year of my life.