Do you mind if I ask?

With the doldrums of summer upon us, or, rather, another mediocre version of America’s losingest team (still love them though, just stating fact), I am left with nothing but hope. Hope for the Eagles. Hope for the Sixers. Hope for the Flyers Hope that some team will end our championship drought.

Not since the ’83 Sixers has a real trophy been hoisted by any of my beloved teams. Babies born then have spouses and mortgages and mega sports contracts (well some of them). Anyway, it’s been a while since the Promised Land was anything but a pipe dream in Philadelphia.

This Friday, the Eagles will open up training camp with rookies and select veterans reporting to Lehigh University. I’ve read some stories, and reporters debate the linemen, and the linebackers, and even the strength of the receiving core (how many number 3 options do they have now?), but no one is raising a huge stink about Donovan McNabb. No. 5 is getting a virtual free pass. Staying in Arizona and providing his own updates, McNabb is sort of on the back burner.

Do you mind if I ask? Is Donovan ever going to be as good a QB as he was during the near-Super season? Or is he just the best option the Eagles have at the position now that they jettisoned a player born for this offense? Last season, in the two or three games leading up to his injury, McNabb looked off a bit. It led me to wonder if he was already heading downhill with no true nary a weapon to throw to.

This offseason wasn’t kind to the receiving core either. The big name to exit: Donte Stallworth. The big addition: Kevin Curtis. There are no words to describe the despair. I could almost hear Donovan puking at the news of that signing. At best, Curtis is on par with James Thrash. And then there was the signing of Bethel Johnson. Good collegiate athlete, bad pro athlete.

Yet forget the defense, and most of the offense, my only question mark heading into the Birds’ 75th season is at the QB position. Will Donovan be able to rise up, avoid the deer in headlight moments, and make his receivers better than they truly are?

I hope so.

Pro Sports Harvest

Oh how I love the fall. Leaves changing color. Coeds back in school. And the four major professional sports collide. For a sports fan, it's paradise.

The only drawback to this cornucopia of athletics is what to watch. Today you have the baseball playoffs and the start of the hockey season. Sunday, there'll be baseball playoffs and TO's return to Philly. So much to do so little time. By the end of the month, basketball will be added to the mix.

What a month. For the next couple of days it has to be baseball. The playoffs are here, which means the games are more meaningful. But Sunday belongs to the NFC East matchup in the City of Brotherly Love. What will the fans do? Will they treat Owens as they once did Santa Claus?

Anyway, tis the real season for sports fans. October madness.