NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb has handled everything from boos to a heavy rush in the same graceful manner.
His public spat with Terrell Owens has been tougher to overcome.
Despite his issues with his best receiver, McNabb is focused on leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a championship after falling three points short in the Super Bowl against New England six months ago.
The five-time Pro Bowl quarterback realizes Owens makes the offense more potent, and doesn't mind taking the disgruntled All-Pro receiver along for the ride.
"Last year, I don't think that we touched the surface," McNabb said. "The sky is the limit of how far we really can go."
With Owens in the lineup, Philadelphia was 13-1 in the regular season, and won nine of the first dozen games by double-digit margins, including five wins by at least 21 points.
Owens is back, though he isn't happy about his contract situation. Pro Bowl running back Brian Westbrook also returns, but he has contract problems, too.
Correll Buckhalter, who has missed two of the last three years with injuries, and rookie Ryan Moats could make the backfield more formidable if everyone is healthy.
Receiver Todd Pinkston will miss the season after getting hurt in practice last week, but Greg Lewis takes his place and rookie Reggie Brown has been impressive in camp, giving McNabb two more legitimate targets.
"When you have a powerful running back, a guy with agility and great moves and playmaking ability like Westbrook. You have a receiver [Owens] that teams have to double, it opens a lot of doors for everyone else," McNabb said. "When you have those weapons, it puts you in a class like the Colts."
By reaching a Super Bowl, the trio of McNabb, Westbrook and Owens so far have accomplished more than Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts. McNabb would like to achieve the level of success attained by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin with Dallas in the 1990s, when they helped to lead the Cowboys to three championships.
"You look at some of those particular teams that had success for years with the guys they called the three-headed monster. Good things can happen," McNabb said.
McNabb is coming off the best season of his six-year career. He set a team record with 3,875 yards passing, became the first NFL player to throw for more than 30 touchdowns (31) and less than 10 interceptions (eight), and his passer rating of 104.7 was second in the National Football Conference.
Often criticized for being inaccurate, he drastically improved his completion percentage -- his 64.0 percent was almost six points higher than his career average -- and broke an NFL record by completing 24 consecutive passes over two games.
"He's gotten better every year since he's been here. He's continued to take the next step. I think he'll continue to ascend," Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress said.
McNabb quickly emerged as the leader of the Eagles after he was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 draft. He earned respect with his performance on the field and his affable personality endeared him to coaches and teammates.
McNabb has endured criticism throughout his career, but he never squabbled with a teammate before this year.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but