McTwist

As a few people have already pointed out to me, the fact that I wrote about Tiger Woods the day after Donovan McNabb gets traded is inexcusable. It's a terrible job by me. Major fail. The truth is, I'd written most of the Tiger stuff yesterday and just finished it up today. So when the McNabb stuff went down, I decided to stay with my original plan and do a McNabb entry on Wednesday. That was definitely the wrong move. When something as big as that trade happens, I need to adjust. Should have at least mentioned it today and expanded on it later. So to make up for one mistake, I've decided to break one of the few rules I run this blog post with. So here's my second entry of the day.

Donovan McNabb has, for the most part of his career, been a major thorn in the sides of the other three NFC East teams. What's perplexing is that the way he was run of town you'd think he was an even bigger thorn for his own team. McNabb and Philadelphia seemed, from the outside, to have a strange relationship. The type of relationship that shows up once in a while in cities whose team is far removed from a title. The McNabb/Philly situation is reminiscent of the Ewing/NY and Garciaparra/Boston relationships. The home team's far removed from a title, has been struggling to even be competitive for some time, and get a player who seems to be the one who'll turn everything around. The player does well, but can't get over the hump. Suddenly, the fans start to turn on the player. He eventually gets traded, is missed by the fans, and given a standing ovation when he returns to his former home field/arena.

The McNabb situation presents some aspects that I don't recall having seen before, though. First of all, McNabb still seems to have a lot more game left than the other two combined at their respective trading points. Next, McNabb was dealt to a rival. Now THAT, I know I've never seen. The face of a franchise that just went to the playoffs being dealt to a bitter rival. It would've been as if Favre had been traded to the Vikings rather than the Jets.

So how this plays out will be extremely intriguing. When the Redskins visit Philly, the Eagles organization lose regardless of how the crowd greets McNabb. If he's given a standing ovation for his service to the team, the Eagles look bad for dealing him to a hated rival. This can be counteracted by playing a tribute video to McNabb before the game. This could backfire, though, if McNabb gets booed. Now you have the greatest QB in your franchise's history being booed on your own home field. Lose/lose.

Now, as for the trade itself. I understand why the Eagles made the move. It's completely logical. They feel they have a commodity that they'll lose for nothing in a year. A commodity that has value, albeit diminishing. Moreover, they feel they have THE replacement for said commodity ready to be unveiled. So why not get returns on it while you still can? As for trading him to the Redskins, if they offered you the best deal for your team, it'd be irresponsible not to take it.

What this trade accomplishes is toughening up the NFC East even further. Suddenly the Redskins are a major player. They won't have to worry about a QB so they could go elsewhere with their first pick.

The Eagles' side of the deal is more interesting. They got three picks, a second round this year and two later picks next year. Ordinarily, I'd say that the Eagles can't expect to win the Super Bowl with a first year starting QB so they'll probably flip this year's second round pick for a first next year, something that seems to be a popular trend in the league. However, Philly was so adamant about getting a high second round pick that it seems that there's someone they covet at that spot. So what I expect from the Eagles is to wait through the first round and into the second round to see if the player they want falls with them. Take him if he does. If he doesn't, flip the pick to get into position for a monster draft next year. Which, of course, would be Kolb's second year as a starter when you could realistically expect to win a lot with him.

Of course, all this could be made moot if there's no football next year.

All in all, the trade helps both teams in different ways. The Redskins win in the short term and the Eagles probably win in the long run. The losers of this trade? Definately the Giants and Cowboys.

Peace