Donovan McNabb CENTERSTAGE
Premieres on the YES Network on Wednesday, November 9th – 10 pm ET
Immediately following YES’ Nets-Knicks coverage
The YES Network is available nationally on DirecTV, Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse, and also throughout the country on a variety of cable systems. To learn more about the YES Network’s availability beyond its home-team footprint (which consists of all of New York State and Connecticut, north and central New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania), please click on the following link: http://web.yesnetwork.com/schedule/programs/national_availability.jsp.
Would he let his children play tackle football at an early age? Not right now. No. I’ve got two boys, one is seven, the other’s six years old. Would I put my kids in pads (at those ages)? Absolutely not. I want them to learn every part of the game. One, how to run away from people. Then you teach ’em the fundamentals of tackling. I think that’s very important to teach your kids about the rights and wrongs of football. If they, by 12, 13, 14 years old, tell me they wanna play football, I would think about it. If that’s their passion, their true passion, that’s what they wanna do, then I would be on board, but I’ll continue to teach ‘em the rights and wrongs about the game of football.
His reaction to controversial comments made by former ESPN football commentator Rush Limbaugh in 2003: For me, it wasn’t so much about me being overrated, it was everything else that he mentioned. Basically mentioning that the media was looking for an African-American that they can hype up, to draw more attention to the NFL, basically saying everything that I accomplished (up to) that particular point wasn’t because of me or my ability. The media needed an African-American that they could promote. I felt like that was a slap, not only in my face, but in the faces of Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon, James Harris, Marlin Briscoe and Doug Williams, all the African-American quarterbacks before me. You’re basically saying that the success they’ve had with their teams wasn’t because of them, but it was we wanna glorify ‘em because they were African-American. It was just an idiotic comment that we’re dealing with; there are people out there who think ignorantly.
McNabb’s thoughts on the Eagles coaching staff, which benched him on national TV in a 2008 game against the Baltimore Ravens (a 36-7 Eagles’ loss): Did I think the (Eagles) coaches were stupid? Yes. After I was benched, I remember going in the locker room and everyone kind of coming up to me, trying to see how I would handle it. I told ’em, “It was a decision by the coaches. There’s nothing that I could do. I’ve been in this league long enough. When you don’t play well, hey, a decision’s made.”
On his mentality about getting back on the field after being benched (2008 NFL season): My whole mentality changed, ‘cause I think at that particular point, I might’ve been 28… and when he (Andy Reid, Eagles Head Coach) told me that (despite being benched, Reid still considered McNabb to be the starting quarterback), my mentality changed. My attitude from that point on through the rest of the season was, “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. And we gonna talk after this is over.” So, that meant, when I stepped back onto that football field, I didn’t care who was in front of me, I didn’t care who was way out… I’m just about to kill everybody. And we ended up going to the NFC championship that year (2008).
How McNabb felt about his season with the Washington Redskins in 2010, and head coach Mike Shanahan: When you come in with a different philosophy of coaching, and have an older quarterback, you clash. We didn’t clash publicly until later, but there were a lot of things that were going on behind the scenes that I didn’t agree with.
On meeting his future wife Raquel “Roxie” Nurse-McNabb at Syracuse: I met my wife (Raquel) in my first class at Syracuse. (When McNabb and Raquel met) it was funny because she was a basketball player (Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year {1997-98 season}, and three-time Big East All- Academic Team). I didn’t know she was a basketball player (at the time). We sat down and talked. The very first game she played (at Syracuse), it was in the paper, and I just happened to grab a paper going to class, and she’s right on the cover. I’m redshirted (at the time), so I’m a nobody. I could walk anywhere on campus and nobody would recognize me. But I look to see, I’m like, “Wow, she sat behind me.” I’m like, “Well, there she is, that’s nice.” I’m like, “You had a game? You play basketball?” She’s like, “Yeah, I play.” I guess you can call me a groupie. I was at her game, every game. I was just another athlete sitting in class and we were talking and it ended up being the icebreaker for us to be together forever.
His mentality on getting booed by Eagles fans after being drafted second overall in the 1999 NFL Draft: I’ll smile (in regards to being drafted second overall), but I’ll take into account what happened (being booed by Eagles fans) and put it in the back of my mind and prove you wrong. When my name was called, my mom started crying a little bit…she thought it was kind of an embarrassment for your kid to go through. My dad kind of looked at me ‘cause he understood my approach and my attitude. The Eagles fans were booing ‘cause they wanted them (the Eagles) to pick Ricky Williams. I laughed it off and looked at my brother. My brother pretty much said, “It’s time to go show ‘em,” and we looked forward to that opportunity.
Aspirations to be a sports broadcaster: I wanted to become a sports broadcaster. That was my main goal, and Syracuse was number one at that particular time. You know, to be in the … same category as … Mike Tirico. I mean we’ve had Vanessa Williams, Al Davis, Bob Costas, Marv Albert, the list goes on. I don’t understand why my name couldn’t be mentioned in that (group) as well.
His biggest superstition as an Eagles player: I always ran over the same pothole going to the game. They never fixed it.
On how winning a Super Bowl impacts how a player is remembered: You’re remembered by your championships. You’re remembered by your great plays. You’re remembered from the great things that you’ve done. There are a lot of quarterbacks out there who, despite having bad careers, have won one or two Super Bowls. And we kind of cherish that and then we focus so much on, “He’s a Super Bowl champion, MVP of the Super Bowl,” but career-wise, wasn’t that good.
-YES-