I must have completely missed this report during the “Jessica Simpson Bowl” last Sunday, but Pam Oliver reported that Donovan McNabb had mentioned he knew he was not going to be the Eagles next year. The much maligned Eagles QB was quoted as saying that “his days in Philadelphia were numbered” and “he sees an organization distancing itself from him.”
Well a day later Donovan is denying saying anything to Pam Oliver and she’s left to defend herself and her story….
The dicey part of the he-said, she-said dispute that ensued after Oliver’s halftime report and McNabb’s rebuke of it following the Eagles’ win over the Dallas Cowboys is in the semantics. When Oliver spoke with McNabb during pregame warm-ups at Texas Stadium, she didn’t take notes. Oliver, who could not be reached for comment, reportedly said she asked him four questions and wrote nothing down until after their conversation was over.
It’s possible McNabb thought he was speaking in confidence with a reporter he has known since his rookie season. That would have been foolish, given that Oliver, as a sideline reporter, gets paid to deliver information. She wasn’t hanging out at Texas Stadium on her own time. She was working.
“Everything he said, I’m convinced he meant to say,” Oliver told The Inquirer’s Bob Brookover on Monday. “I’m a little shocked and dumbfounded that it has all been denied. I can’t believe it, and I don’t understand it.”
I guess you’d have to be inclined to believe Pam in this situation because she has always come across as genuine, but I guess you never know. Either way I think it’s pretty obvious that Donovan is going to be gone, so I don’t understand what the fuss is about. Oh I forgot….it’s Philadelphia Sports….there’s always fuss.
McNabb situation has some gray areas (Philly.com)
