Donovan McNabb Pulls a Giant Prank
At the spur of the moment, it seemed like the thing to do.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb scrambled out of bounds in the waning moments of his team’s playoff victory over the Giants.
While over there, he spotted one of the Giants’ team phone. So he picked it up and feigned a quick conversation.
Funny stuff, for sure, but this was a serious breach of NFL decorum. Fox broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were horrified.
What was he thinking?
“I’m gonna get ripped,” McNabb told Yahoo! Sports. “That is the story of my life. It’s something to talk about: ‘Donovan, what an idiot.’ ”
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
Questions to ponder while eagerly anticipating Rickey Henderson’s Hall of Fame speech:
- If Jim Rice is a Hall of Famer, why isn’t Andre Dawson? Wasn’t The Hawk a much better all-around player? (Too bad this Internet campaign failed.)
- What does Lee Smith have to do to get more love? Do voters believe all those games saved themselves?
- Isn’t it time to show closers a little more love?
- And why is there no place in Cooperstown for Tommy John and his famous elbow ligament?
DOES THIS EXPLAIN JAKE DELHOMME?
This is just one theory of what went wrong for Carolina’s interception-prone quarterback.
STEINBRENNER HE’S NOT
Had Mark Cuban bought the Cubs, he wasn’t going to tap his personal wealth to obliterate the Cardinals and Astros. Or so he wrote in Blog Maverick:
“I had no intentions of trying to outspend the Yankees or Red Sox. There was no reason to. I didn’t have to beat either of those teams unless I made it to the World Series. The only teams I had to be better than were those in the National League, and more importantly, those in my division. There were no big spending rivals close to home, so the AL East could spend themselves silly. My plans were to spend to win, not to spend for spending’s sake. IMHO, the money I could save being in the 2nd tier of payroll could be invested in scouting and development.”
QUIPS ‘R US
Here is what some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:
Mike Klis, Denver Post, on the Broncos’ youthful hire: “(Pat) Bowlen picked (Josh) McDaniels even though there’s not a responsible bartender in Colorado who wouldn’t first greet the Broncos coach by asking to see his ID. McDaniels is three years younger than Broncos center Casey Wiegmann and five years younger than injured center Tom Nalen, who is expected to retire anyway.”
Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Was anyone else annoyed by Oklahoma’s offensive routine - line up quickly, then pause and look to the sideline for the play? It was like watching Sergio Garcia stand over a golf ball a few years back - constantly regripping his club, unable (or unwilling) to start his swing.”
Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle: “Tiger Woods might have to adapt his swing because of his surgically repaired knee. But nobody is better suited to tinkering with his swing. Tiger can change his swing faster than Superman changes his underwear.”
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: “Did you notice the religious Tebow had written ‘John 3:16’ on the eye black he wore? I hauled out my dog-eared Bible to refresh myself on the passage, and sure enough it made sense. It’s the one that reads, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave me Percy Harvin.’’”
MEGAPHONE
“I’ve just been chalking it up to the Braves have bigger fish to fry. But it seems like somebody keeps coming along and eating all our fish.”
Braves slugger Chipper Jones, complaining to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about his team’s Hot Stove League campaign to date.
I don’t think McNabb picking up that phone was that big of a deal. People should get over it. If someone on the Giants didn’t like it then go out there between the lines and hit him in the mouth.
Cuban is a goofball and sometimes has no class or decorum, but you can’t say the dude is stupid.
Chipper Jones sounds like he plays for the Cardinals.
Big deal on the McNabb thing. I was very annoyed by the OU “no huddle”. It took them just as much time to look over to the sideline for a play than it would have to call one in the huddle. I know it worked during the season but in this game it just looked confusing.
Would have liked to see Gil Hodges and Marvin Miller elected into the HOF.
Though it didn’t translate into victory in the BCS championship, OU’s no-huddle scheme is brilliant. It’s NOT just about running plays in quick succession. It’s primary purpose is not allowing the defense to shuttle fresh legs onto the field between plays. Just line up and force the defense to go with whoever is already on the field, then exploit any mismatches or tired defenders. It was most effective in the first half, but turnovers killed a couple of drives where OU had built some momentum.
Fans and writers grousing about it being “annoying” are making a big deal out of nothing. Does it make for better television when a team huddles up? Honestly, what does it matter? Better get used to it, because the scheme is effective and we are going to start seeing more and more college and pro teams adopt it.
I loved it when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman freaked out about the phone thing. Reminded me of the Randy Moss “mooning” incident where Joe Buck got all righteous calling it a “disgusting act” and going on and on about it. I personally prefer the announcers to just call the game, and not second guess every coaches call, and predict everything that is going to happen before it actually does. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are a couple of morons, IMO….discuss.
McNabb was asking if the Giants were able to tie the game up before the end, would they have to play OT?
As Fark points out, OU’s “no huddle” is a way to try to keep the same defensive unit on the field and exploit matchups. Many spread teams do the same thing, even in high school.
Kurt and the Cards trip to the Super Bowl has to be something we all enjoy watching, on many levels. Congrats to the guy who got the Rams there and hope to see you take the Cards up to the heights as well, and put another brick on your pedestal in Canton.
There is only one thing more annoying than Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and that is Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Joe Buck is the most over-rated sportscaster in the business. He is absolutely terrible.
Tipsheet must have missed Quick Hits from the Sun-Times this morning, or we would have seen this quote from the mayor of Sacramento:
”Basketball is available to all people,” Johnson said. ”It tells a kid in third grade, no matter what neighborhood they live in, that they can certainly become the president of the United States.”
Tipsheet also missed this gem in the Los Angeles Times. A retired sports columnist, who didn’t vote for Rickey Henderson, responding to online criticism:
“I think of the literature on the Internet in the same way that I think of the literature on the walls of public bathrooms,” he told Megan Garber of the Columbia Journalism Review, “with the exception that the literature on the walls of public bathrooms is a little higher class.”
I completely agree with cb’s comment on Joe Buck. He got where he did because of his father, and seems to get worse each year. When he stopped doing any Cardinals games to “spend time with his family” that was the last straw for me. I despise him and have done so since he ripped apart the Cardinals during the 2006 world series. He might as well have been rooting for Detroit!!!