The examination of Donovan McNabb's mind and emotions continued yesterday.
He was asked if he felt he was now a Philadelphian. "he said no that he was from Chicago". That's really the wrong answer because we're kind of insecure here in Philly and if anybody does anything to make us feel like you don't like us we are quick to say we don't like you.
It later got into whether he felt appreciated or adopted by the Philadelphia fans, then he promptly took three to five minutes to answer it.
"I think when you look at situations," McNabb said, "Iverson . . . It's funny his last year, everybody kind of turned on him, wanted him out of here. Then when he came back they gave him a standing ovation and showed the love they had for him and the appreciation of what he brought here.
"For Ryan Howard, struggling early on, everybody kind of booed him or talked bad about him. Now that he's in the top echelon in home runs, every time he gets up to bat everybody cheers or looks for him to hit a home run.
"There's mixed emotions no matter what. And for all of us, we kind of consider ourselves guys who love being here. Willing to do whatever it takes to win a championship here. Or wait for that opportunity for any one of us."
"I've got more things to worry about," McNabb said, finally. "I think what would be the answer to all of it, if that's the case, would be to just bring a championship here."
I don't think McNabb feels appreciated by the Philly fans but that's the case with a lot of the athletes here in Philly. Many of them won't say anything publicly about it, but behind the scenes they say it.
McNabb is foolish to keep answering all the girlie type questions about how does he feel about this and how does he feel about that.
This is where Chase Utley is headed, once he opens his mouth. Utley is a California kid who won't take kindly if he honestly opens up about being criticized.
This was the case with Ryan Howard and you saw how things started getting negative. The conversation immediately headed for an examination of his family and his psyche. It's going to start with Brian Westbrook, if McNabb leaves.
This is what happens when you attain Superstar status here in Philly. It gets boring to just focus about the sports aspect of the careers of the Superstars, so the next step is the examination of their mind and their private lives.
Once all of the sports media in town starts analyzing your psyche and your private life, you can't win.
This is the business now. McNabb should answer questions about football and stop trying to answer questions about how he feels about everything because it opens the door to a lot of nonsense. Clearly he wasn't being honest on Tuesday because when he is honest he gets constantly criticized.
