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(If any Philly fan can still say that the T.O. issue is a minor one, then you gotta read this!)
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Just as the sun came up Friday morning over what's called South Mountain at Lehigh University and began the day-long process of baking the Eagles practice field into a soufflé of stifling humidity and sweat, Philadelphia Mayor John Street showed up.
"I'm here to see Donovan," Street said. "I plan to tell them I'm looking forward to a trip to Detroit."
Within minutes, Street was on the sideline, and Donovan McNabb, all smiles, spotted him. Terrell Owens was in the training room for the second straight day, nursing a groin injury, so McNabb had shed the tension he'd exhibited all week.
He was loose, joking around with Greg Lewis and Reno Mahe, putting on a show in front of the mayor. When coach Andy Reid blew the whistle and the team shifted practice fields, McNabb stopped and grabbed the mayor's outstretched hand. The mayor got right down to business.
"I'm ready to go to Detroit," said Street, referring to the site of this season's Super Bowl.
McNabb let out his trademark hearty laugh. "I'm looking forward to that parade," said McNabb, quickly joining his teammates. And Mayor Street joined about 15,000 of his constituents to witness another chapter in the longest running soap opera in all of pro football.
No one can stay away from Lehigh. The intrigue and drama change daily. The theater is fascinating and complex -- just like the cast of characters.
After losing three consecutive NFC championship games, the Eagles finally got within three points of winning their first Super Bowl. But their mercurial star wide receiver -- who many in the league warned the Eagles would be more of a cancer than a cure -- became a strange sideshow on a team that has been tortured by some of the more bizarre happenings in NFL history.
And the people of Eagles nation -- from the mayor to union workers -- are fixated on staying to the end, determined to find out how it all turns out. What is the final chapter? Will Owens pout his way through the season and cause the team to fall deeper into dysfunction? Or will McNabb blaze a trail to the Lombardi Trophy?
Terrell Owens has expended his good will with Philly fans. For the most part, Owens has been mute about his mindset. In a very curt interview with a local TV reporter, Owens said, "If it wasn't for my family ... I wouldn't be here." His body language and tone of voice suggested he was only in camp out of a sense of obligation.
In the process, Owens has kept his distance. After practice one day last week, he put on his noise-eliminating headphones and shot baskets by himself with an under-inflated ball in a parking lot behind the Eagles locker room on campus. It was a sad sight for a man who one year ago was celebrated as a savior.
In one year, he's gone from Prometheus to pariah.
Now, during practice, players do not come up to him and volunteer conversation. He walks on and off the field by himself, staring straight ahead, ignoring fans and cameras. Last year, he roomed with McNabb. This year, he's rooming alone.
The Eagles' public relations staff, which won the Pete Rozelle Award last season for P.R. excellence, has been jumping through hoops to try to anticipate what he wants, while keeping the media mollified. Reporters were so skeptical of Owens' groin injury on Thursday that, after the afternoon practice, Reid held an unscheduled media availability to emphasize his unhappy wide receiver was not faking it.
"He wouldn't do that," said Reid, even though no one suggested publicly that Owens would.
The fans, too, don't know what to think. On his first morning of practice Wednesday, Owens was greeted with hearty boos, then cheers. And then boos erupted again when he dropped a deep rainbow from McNabb. Owens has expended all the public relations capital that he built up last season -- the spectacular showmanship and the miraculous return from injury to play in Super Bowl XXXIX, all of that has been forgotten in the long spring and summer of his discontent.
Why wouldn't the fans have a schizophrenic reaction to Owens? His behavior has been impossible to predict. One day he wanted to be traded or cut, saying "I don't have to play for the Eagles." The very next day he announced he was coming to training camp because he didn't want to lose money in fines or the signing bonus the Eagles were ready to recoup.
"I plan to boo him all year long," said Jim Buchanon, a truck driver from northeast Philly.
"He's just trying to get his money," said Angela Arlen of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., who says she became an Eagles fan because of Owens. "The Eagles are making so much money. Look at all these fans here."
The mayor came equipped with an opinion.
"They are tough," said Street, referring to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie and team president Joe Banner. "This is their business. They can't be focused on one player. They have to be concerned with the big picture."
Street also recognized what is the worst-kept secret in the city -- that McNabb and Owens have become estranged. "They need to work it out," Street said. "They will."
It all started when Owens said to ESPN.com, "I wasn't the one who got tired in the Super Bowl." McNabb reacted angrily, saying "Just keep my name out of your mouth."
And that's exactly what the quarterback has attempted to do. In news conferences and interviews, McNabb refuses to utter Owens' name. For example, when Todd Pinkston got hurt on Thursday, McNabb said, "We had one wide receiver go down yesterday and Todd today."
Referring to Owens as "one wide receiver" was a significant clue that McNabb can't bring himself to give Owens any personal respect right now.
McNabb was asked if he needed to have a one-on-one summit with Owens to iron things out.
"I particularly don't want a private moment -- not right now," McNabb said. "It's really not needed. He's going through his situation, and that's between him and his agent, and management. The situation I'm going with is just making sure I'm doing the right thing out here on this field."
"I don't think you particularly have to like the individual or hang out with the individual," McNabb added. "I think you all have to have a good business relationship."
But this is not IBM. It's the NFL, where coaches constantly preach building team chemistry and forming the kind of family bond that can turn winners into champions.
Don't forget that no team since the Miami Dolphins in 1972 has lost the Super Bowl, then won it the following year. So this season the Eagles are attempting to make some serious history. They need to make it easier on themselves.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Just as the sun came up Friday morning over what's called South Mountain at Lehigh University and began the day-long process of baking the Eagles practice field into a soufflé of stifling humidity and sweat, Philadelphia Mayor John Street showed up.
"I'm here to see Donovan," Street said. "I plan to tell them I'm looking forward to a trip to Detroit."
Within minutes, Street was on the sideline, and Donovan McNabb, all smiles, spotted him. Terrell Owens was in the training room for the second straight day, nursing a groin injury, so McNabb had shed the tension he'd exhibited all week.
He was loose, joking around with Greg Lewis and Reno Mahe, putting on a show in front of the mayor. When coach Andy Reid blew the whistle and the team shifted practice fields, McNabb stopped and grabbed the mayor's outstretched hand. The mayor got right down to business.
"I'm ready to go to Detroit," said Street, referring to the site of this season's Super Bowl.
McNabb let out his trademark hearty laugh. "I'm looking forward to that parade," said McNabb, quickly joining his teammates. And Mayor Street joined about 15,000 of his constituents to witness another chapter in the longest running soap opera in all of pro football.
No one can stay away from Lehigh. The intrigue and drama change daily. The theater is fascinating and complex -- just like the cast of characters.
After losing three consecutive NFC championship games, the Eagles finally got within three points of winning their first Super Bowl. But their mercurial star wide receiver -- who many in the league warned the Eagles would be more of a cancer than a cure -- became a strange sideshow on a team that has been tortured by some of the more bizarre happenings in NFL history.
And the people of Eagles nation -- from the mayor to union workers -- are fixated on staying to the end, determined to find out how it all turns out. What is the final chapter? Will Owens pout his way through the season and cause the team to fall deeper into dysfunction? Or will McNabb blaze a trail to the Lombardi Trophy?
Terrell Owens has expended his good will with Philly fans. For the most part, Owens has been mute about his mindset. In a very curt interview with a local TV reporter, Owens said, "If it wasn't for my family ... I wouldn't be here." His body language and tone of voice suggested he was only in camp out of a sense of obligation.
In the process, Owens has kept his distance. After practice one day last week, he put on his noise-eliminating headphones and shot baskets by himself with an under-inflated ball in a parking lot behind the Eagles locker room on campus. It was a sad sight for a man who one year ago was celebrated as a savior.
In one year, he's gone from Prometheus to pariah.
Now, during practice, players do not come up to him and volunteer conversation. He walks on and off the field by himself, staring straight ahead, ignoring fans and cameras. Last year, he roomed with McNabb. This year, he's rooming alone.
The Eagles' public relations staff, which won the Pete Rozelle Award last season for P.R. excellence, has been jumping through hoops to try to anticipate what he wants, while keeping the media mollified. Reporters were so skeptical of Owens' groin injury on Thursday that, after the afternoon practice, Reid held an unscheduled media availability to emphasize his unhappy wide receiver was not faking it.
"He wouldn't do that," said Reid, even though no one suggested publicly that Owens would.
The fans, too, don't know what to think. On his first morning of practice Wednesday, Owens was greeted with hearty boos, then cheers. And then boos erupted again when he dropped a deep rainbow from McNabb. Owens has expended all the public relations capital that he built up last season -- the spectacular showmanship and the miraculous return from injury to play in Super Bowl XXXIX, all of that has been forgotten in the long spring and summer of his discontent.
Why wouldn't the fans have a schizophrenic reaction to Owens? His behavior has been impossible to predict. One day he wanted to be traded or cut, saying "I don't have to play for the Eagles." The very next day he announced he was coming to training camp because he didn't want to lose money in fines or the signing bonus the Eagles were ready to recoup.
"I plan to boo him all year long," said Jim Buchanon, a truck driver from northeast Philly.
"He's just trying to get his money," said Angela Arlen of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., who says she became an Eagles fan because of Owens. "The Eagles are making so much money. Look at all these fans here."
The mayor came equipped with an opinion.
"They are tough," said Street, referring to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie and team president Joe Banner. "This is their business. They can't be focused on one player. They have to be concerned with the big picture."
Street also recognized what is the worst-kept secret in the city -- that McNabb and Owens have become estranged. "They need to work it out," Street said. "They will."
It all started when Owens said to ESPN.com, "I wasn't the one who got tired in the Super Bowl." McNabb reacted angrily, saying "Just keep my name out of your mouth."
And that's exactly what the quarterback has attempted to do. In news conferences and interviews, McNabb refuses to utter Owens' name. For example, when Todd Pinkston got hurt on Thursday, McNabb said, "We had one wide receiver go down yesterday and Todd today."
Referring to Owens as "one wide receiver" was a significant clue that McNabb can't bring himself to give Owens any personal respect right now.
McNabb was asked if he needed to have a one-on-one summit with Owens to iron things out.
"I particularly don't want a private moment -- not right now," McNabb said. "It's really not needed. He's going through his situation, and that's between him and his agent, and management. The situation I'm going with is just making sure I'm doing the right thing out here on this field."
"I don't think you particularly have to like the individual or hang out with the individual," McNabb added. "I think you all have to have a good business relationship."
But this is not IBM. It's the NFL, where coaches constantly preach building team chemistry and forming the kind of family bond that can turn winners into champions.
Don't forget that no team since the Miami Dolphins in 1972 has lost the Super Bowl, then won it the following year. So this season the Eagles are attempting to make some serious history. They need to make it easier on themselves.
