Rush Limbaugh and Mondesire were right, albeit for the wrong reasons.  Unfortunately the aforementioned nincompoops were given a public forum because the ignorant statements they voiced have overshadowed the one truth they got right: Donovan McNabb is overrated.  There, I said it, I believe it.  Does that make me or my comments racist?  Hardly. 

Discrimination is one of the most fun and innocent parts of being a sports fan, at least when it is based upon the color of a person's jersey and not of their skin.  I dislike McNabb for the purist reasons in all the world.  You see, I grew up a Cowboys fan and McNabb plays for the hated Philadelphia Eagles.  Unfairly, one man has perverted the innocence of my contempt for selfish reasons.

It's fun to hate McNabb.  It delights me every time I see DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis slam him into the turf or watch him blow a game, being picked of by Roy Williams for a touchdown.  But when something as dispicable as racism is brought into the equation, it gives us pause and we realize that sports are not so important.  Suddenly that childlike disdain is gone, because it's about more than sports now, it's about the suffering of a human being.

McNabb is an athlete, one of the finest on the field.  Off of it he has been, as the NAACP has said, "an excellent role model and a class act".  It sickens me as a sports fan to see when athletes are attacked on a personal level for actions committed during a game.  As McNabb stated, to talk about his game is one thing.  When you talk about his race, there's problems.

As odd as it may seem, it is only out of the deepest respect for you Mr. McNabb that I tell you, you are as overrated a quarterback as I have ever seen.  Sound funny?  Let me explain.

Questioning McNabb's increasing reluctance to make plays with his feet is both a valid and intelligent point.  It's a fair request to ask that any quarterback with a career completion percentage in the 50's be able to do more than just stand in the pocket.  After all, accurracy has never been McNabb's strongest attribute.

Calling McNabb a racist because he doesn't run as often is, however, an ignorant and flawed statement.  Not all African-American quarterback have to run to stay true to themselves.  For instance, is the Jags QB Byron Leftwich a racist, or not "black" enough simply because he is an immobile pocket quarterback? 

Furthermore, players evolve out of neccessity.  Calling McNabb a racist for developing into a pocket quarterback would be like calling Michael Jordan a sellout for learning a jumpshot.  Athleticism is a very temporary thing and eventually an player must show that he is much more than an athlete.

As a quarterback I feel McNabb is overrated, his passing numbers were comparable to those of journeyman quarterback Brad Johnson, who is hardly considered great (and he has a ring).  It is my belief that Donovan was given a lot of undue credit for success that was created by a dominating defense that carried a mediocre offense for years to NFC championships. 

But back to the point: how is this statement showing respect for McNabb?  Because I'm evaluating him as a football player.  And, as  you can tell by my slanted views, I'm evaluating him as a fan.  I don't like him.  And fans don't hate or boo mediocre players (with the exception of the Raptors Rafael Araujo).  It was McNabb, after all, who just last season evaded a Cowboys pass rush for what seemed like five minutes, firing one of many touchdown passes in the Cowboys-Eagles series.

I hate Donovan McNabb.  And this is how it should be.  I call Mr. Chunky Soup overrated and boo his every move on the field.  He does his best to prove me wrong.  Whatever happens, my opinions of the man start and end on the field.  And whether it's throwing a touchdown pass or an interception, it's not a black man that I see on the field, only an athlete in that green jersey which I love to hate so much.