McNabb deflects talk of rift with team
QB's media outing no 'slight' to Eagles
By GEOFF MOSHER, The News Journal
Posted Saturday, May 19, 2007
Donovan McNabb
PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. -- He wore a brown sweater over a collared shirt and dark khaki pants. Behind him, the lush green landscape of a country club driving range served as a peaceful and tranquil backdrop.
The message was eminently clear in the setting, away from the Eagles' NovaCare Complex, without the presence of Eagles public relations personnel.
Donovan McNabb spent more than two hours Friday schmoozing with media members who cover the Eagles. The event at the ritzy River Crest Golf Club was partly to plug his charity golf tournament next month, but mostly to show a different side of the man normally seen on the field or on a podium.
"It gives everybody an opportunity to get a different feel of me, and I get the same with you guys [the media]," he said. "I understand we're in that setting and it's kind of like we're at the NovaCare and everybody thinks the Eagles are controlling it, but you know the [questions] that are asked me, I answer. Now that we're away, everybody kind of gets an opportunity to relax."
McNabb bounced from table to table, chatting with reporters during a barbecue lunch about his rehabilitation from a torn right knee ligament, his offseason workouts in Arizona, training camp, the drafting of his perceived successor, Kevin Kolb, and his recent foray into golf.
Later, he took a few ugly practice hacks with a 5-iron on the driving range for the cameras.
This was McNabb's second press conference away from the NovaCare Complex since the draft, and the second arranged by his new publicist, Rich Burg, a former Eagles public relations employee recently fired by the team.
Though McNabb said the media gathering was assembled to attract publicity for his June 15 golf tournament at River Crest to benefit the American Diabetes Association, he discussed the outing only once during a half-hour session with one table of reporters.
McNabb was asked if he was sending a message to management or coach Andy Reid, who shortly after the season ended canceled McNabb's press conference to address his rehab and the team's success under backup quarterback Jeff Garcia.
"My intention isn't to make them feel slighted," he said, "or to make them feel I'm going away from what they do. I would at least hope that they have the confidence that I wouldn't do anything or say anything that would make some people upset. [But] I really don't need to be surrounded by everybody from the Eagles."
McNabb also said the events of the past few weeks, including the drafting of Kolb, haven't worn on him or distracted him.
"Just everything that's going on, I think it was important that I be able to do this and to show people, 'Hey, first of all, it's not affecting me,' " McNabb said. "I'm focusing on my rehab, trying to do the right thing and getting myself ready to go for the season."
Interestingly, McNabb remained vague when asked about his conversation with Reid after the draft.
"It's a conversation that you have," McNabb said. "I'm not the only guy that has ever played that, when they draft somebody at your position, they say, 'Wow.' "
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