Respect given = respect received.

I know this post is not going to appeal to a lot of my regular readers, but dammit, I'm irritated. 

I'm sick of how Philadelphia fans are viewed in relation to Donovan McNabb.  Especially a friend of mine who is a Redskins fan who is THRILLED at having McNabb and I guess he should be.  What was their record last year?  4 - 12 and placed 4th in the division...  out of...  four?  I guess Redskins fans WOULD be thrilled.   However, just because you're thrilled doesn't mean that the Philadelphia fans don't have some insight into the world that is, Donovan McNabb - Quarterback.   This friend of mine comes back at me with every valid point I make about McNabb.   Today I just wanted to ask him if he was a Yankees or Mets fan and he responded with "Neither, but I am a Redskins fan."  With a smiley face. (We hadn't spoken yet about Sunday's skirmish).   Oh, I might add that he thinks I'm under the illusion that the Eagles are going to make it to the post-season.  Yeah...  I'm a realist.  Don't belittle my sports knowledge.  Although looking around the NFL...  who knows... half the teams out there are 2 -2, so maybe there's a chance, but the fact is that I'm not some silly girl Eagles fan that thinks my team is going to win no matter what.  Hell, we don't even know who our quarterback is.  And no...  for what we want to do, we should NOT have kept Donovan McNabb. 

At any rate below, is my email response to my friend's one sentence email.   I'm sure it was more than he was expecting.  Oh and he's also one of these that is still harping on the Eagles fans booing Santa and cheering Michael Irvin's career ending injury.  Neither of those are true, but I'll save them for another day. 

So without further delay...  here is my reply.  And everyone out there who just doesn't get it???  Listen the hell up.  And if you're still a Philadelphia fan hater...  you can suck it.  With sauce and whiz. 

I know you are (a Redskins fan...  remember what I said his email said?).  I made the decision to not discuss the game with you because everything I would have to say, you would disagree with and I’ve been in your shoes.  I’ve seen the wins come that have very little to do with the prowess of the quarterback and I’ve, of course, seen the losses come that – more often than not – have everything to do with the prowess of the quarterback.  I’ve been there and defended McNabb and stood up for him and put on my grand armor of plausible deniability and gone to battle with those who would have bad-mouthed him.  And it lasted.  For a while.  It lasted about 2 years from 2005 – 2007 (the Superbowl broke me down and the Terrell Owens debacle finished off the job...  we could have won the next year if our "leader" had acted like a leader and not like a 4-year-old who wants all the attention)  and then I just couldn’t do it anymore.  So I know that talking with you about the new 'Skins quarterback is fruitless, because I’ve heard your arguments.  They sound a lot like mine used to.  And no one could have told me differently either.   So I’m not going to try.   Bottom line…  the guy is done.  Shanahan is terrified to let him throw the ball.   It couldn’t have been clearer of they’d said so in skywriting during the game.

Do you know what ELSE I saw that day?  Philadelphia fans being classy upon introduction of McNabb and welcoming back the best quarterback since Bednarik, to play for our city.   When he came out for his opening drive they booed.  But not at introduction.  In fact, I believe he got a standing ovation that lasted more than a couple minutes.   He would have enjoyed his time here a lot more had he taken two minutes to understand the fans here.  We’ve had other players take the time.  And to this day they love us.  Westbrook, Dawkins, Ike Reese, Hugh Douglas… they all bothered to get to know us and they love us.  He never bothered.  He never took the time.  He had a chip on his shoulder the whole time he was here.  He wasn’t booed at the draft ELEVEN YEARS AGO…  the CHOICE was.  People wanted Ricky Williams.  That’s who it seemed like they were taking, that’s who we’d all been lead to believe they were taking.  People were EXCITED about it and a big group of Ricky Williams fans went up to the draft and when they announced that it was Donovan that crew was shocked and dismayed and they booed.  They booed the CHOICE, not the MAN.  And that’s something he never bothered to understand and he kept his panties in a bunch over it for the entire 11 years.   We didn’t like him because he didn’t even pretend to like us.   Not because he couldn’t play.  That’s only been the reason the last few years.  We wanted to love him.  He did great things while he was here.  No one denies that.  But he didn't care about us.  He didn't respect us.  And therefore... the feeling was mutual. 

Hamlet's Mistress