QuoteBy Sam Farmer
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...4859992.column
November 1, 2009
A future Hall of Fame quarterback donning the uniform of a bitter enemy and coming back to face his old team . . .
Can you imagine?
Troy Aikman can. Because it almost happened with him.
Seven years ago -- back when Brett Favre was firmly entrenched as the leader of the Green Bay Packers -- Aikman, a Dallas Cowboys icon, almost came out of retirement to play for the hated Philadelphia Eagles.
Aikman, now a Fox color analyst who will be in the booth for today's Vikings-Packers game, said nothing he can recall is quite like this homecoming. But he can relate on a certain level. He disclosed to The Times that in 2002 -- after Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb was injured -- he was contacted while broadcasting a game and asked to replace him.
"I was in San Diego working a game, and we did a game-break in the second quarter saying that Donovan McNabb looked like he might have broken his [ankle]," Aikman recalled in a phone interview. "All of a sudden a producer says in my ear, 'Hey, I need you to call somebody at halftime.' I said, 'What?' He had never done that. He gave me a number and said, 'It's Andy Reid.' "
Aikman stepped out of the booth at halftime and called the Eagles' coach, who explained the situation. He wanted Aikman to make a beeline for Philadelphia in hopes that he would be ready to play the following week, in a Monday night game at San Francisco.
"Andy was giving me all the reasons why this would be good, why this would work," said Aikman, who was 35 at the time and had retired from the Cowboys after winning three Super Bowls in large part because of concussion problems.
The Philadelphia situation was all happening too fast for Aikman, who explained to Reid he was in the middle of a broadcast and promised to call after the game. Aikman had plenty of time to chat too, because he and his wife were driving from San Diego to their home in Santa Barbara for a mini-vacation.
When Aikman dialed back Reid, the quarterback said he wanted to sleep on the decision but promised to call the coach the next day.
By the time he reached Santa Barbara, Aikman had a pretty good idea which way he was leaning.
"So I went to bed that night and said, 'I can wake up tomorrow and spend a nice couple of days in Santa Barbara. Or, I can be in frigid Philadelphia getting my brains kicked in,' " he said.
The next day, he called Reid and politely declined the offer. The Eagles did fine without him, reaching the playoffs behind the strong play of reserve A.J. Feeley.
It's notable that Aikman was not at all opposed to the idea of playing for the Eagles, even though there's no love between Philadelphia and Dallas.
"The decision for me not to come back and play had absolutely nothing to do with that," he said. "The reason I didn't go and play for Philadelphia is because I knew that it was just going to be for a few games to end the season. There was no future in it. McNabb was their guy. He was going to come back and play.
"So for me it was, 'Yeah, it would be kind of a fun story and it would be exciting, but where would it leave me when the season ends?' But I didn't weigh my decision on, 'Well, I wonder how the people in Dallas are going to feel.' "
And how would Cowboys' fans have felt?
The people of Green Bay have some inkling.
I remember hearing rumors about this, but never any confirmation.
I do remember this rumor. That would have been something.
It would have been the first time in my life as an Eagles fan that I actively rooted for my quarterback to get murdered on the field.
Yeah, not too sure I could have dealt with Aikman in green.
there was a brief mention of that during the eagles game today. i don't remember ever hearing that. then again, in 2002 i was still doing a lot of partying. there's a lot of the first half of this decade i don't remember
aikman was never an ass like deion or crack head irvin. dont hate him the same way you hate the other guys.
Quote from: MDS on November 01, 2009, 11:03:11 PM
aikman was never an ass like deion or crack head irvin. dont hate him the same way you hate the other guys.
I don't hate him now because he's turned into one of the best booth guys out there...but when he wore that star, I wanted him to die a slow death just like the rest of them.
Quote from: EagleFeva on November 01, 2009, 11:05:43 PM
Quote from: MDS on November 01, 2009, 11:03:11 PM
aikman was never an ass like deion or crack head irvin. dont hate him the same way you hate the other guys.
I don't hate him now because he's turned into one of the best booth guys out there...but when he wore that star, I wanted him to die a slow death just like the rest of them.
yep. same goes for emmitt. neither of them were obnoxious on the field or aholes off of it but i still hated them while they played. the day they both retired was the day i acknowledged their awesomeness and appreciated their abilities and accomplishments.
oh yes
but not as bad as the others. he was never even a douche like eli or romo. thats all i mean, i could have stomached him in green.
Quote from: Sgt PSN on November 01, 2009, 11:10:07 PM
Quote from: EagleFeva on November 01, 2009, 11:05:43 PM
Quote from: MDS on November 01, 2009, 11:03:11 PM
aikman was never an ass like deion or crack head irvin. dont hate him the same way you hate the other guys.
I don't hate him now because he's turned into one of the best booth guys out there...but when he wore that star, I wanted him to die a slow death just like the rest of them.
yep. same goes for emmitt. neither of them were obnoxious on the field
Say what?
uh, i never found either of them to be obnoxious on the field.
Aikman wasn't, but Emmitt was a bag of dicks.
i think you're letting your cowboy hate get the better of you. i couldn't stand emmitt when he was with the boys but i really don't remember him doing any excessive showboating or anything.
lol, except for taking his helmet off every time he scored a touchdown?
Aikman was a huge crybaby on the field. I like him way more now that he's announcing, but when he was playing he whined constantly to the refs and it was really, really obnoxious.
Quote from: Sgt PSN on November 02, 2009, 12:12:53 AMuh, i never found either of them to be obnoxious on the field.
Still partying, obviously.
Quote from: Rome on November 02, 2009, 10:09:41 AM
Quote from: Sgt PSN on November 02, 2009, 12:12:53 AMuh, i never found either of them to be obnoxious on the field.
Still partying, obviously.
lol. maybe a little. emmit taking off his helmet after scoring a td or aikman wanting flags thrown every time he got hit was annoying because they were cowboys. if they played for any team outside the nfc east, no one here would give a shtein.
Well no, because no one would have ever heard about it.
sarge is correct in every possible way however theres some people that will automatically hate every cowboy even if they are super likeable
Quote from: ice grillin you on November 02, 2009, 03:59:42 PM
sarge is correct in every possible way however theres some people that will automatically hate every cowboy even if they are super likeable
don't get me wrong, i'm one of those people. take jason witten for example. awesome player and easy to like. not a fleshpop and plays football the right way. and if he played outside the division, i'd be a fan. but he's a cowboy so farg him and i wish nothing but epic failures for him as long as he wears that uniform.
witten is a douchebag but i dont understand how you couldnt love people like aikman irvin emmitt and especially deion...doesnt mean you dont hope they injure organs when playing the eagles and i cheered when irvin was almost paralyzed but they were great to watch
i cant help but like some players on other teams just like i hate some eagles...its pretty silly to automatically hate on someone because of a jersey
i'm a fan of the game in general so there are plenty of players on other teams that i like. not many within the division though but admittedly, if certain nfc east players played outside the division then i'd be more prone to enjoy watching them play.
Chanting "aikman is a Hoyda" with my dad and a section of eagles fans is one of my most cherished memories of the vet... or of childhood in general.
Aikman in green would have been a horror in the 90s but by 2002 i was ok with Aikman.
Quote from: ice grillin you on November 02, 2009, 04:12:31 PM
witten is a douchebag but i dont understand how you couldnt love people like aikman irvin emmitt and especially deion...doesnt mean you dont hope they injure organs when playing the eagles and i cheered when irvin was almost paralyzed but they were great to watch
i cant help but like some players on other teams just like i hate some eagles...its pretty silly to automatically hate on someone because of a jersey
.
laugh my motherfarging ass off at you liking a piece of shtein douchebag like deion sanders. jesus christ, dude...
i loved prime time, especially in his atl/sf days. i hated it when he went to dallas because him and barry sanders were probably my 2 favorite non-eagles at that time and deion decided to sign with my most hated team. so i had to hate on him for a couple years too. by the time he got to washington he was too old and and his toe hurt too much for me to keep hating.
He was an overrated showboating icehole.
that's mostly why i was a fan.
I liked when Deion dumped a bucket of ice water on Tim McCarver during the World Series locker room celebrations
the highlight of his baseball career.
Quote from: Rome on November 02, 2009, 10:53:07 PM
the highlight of his baseball career.
he hit over .500 in that world series vs toronto. him and bo jackson (also one of my all time faves) are 2 of the most awesome athletes over the last 20 years.
lmao at awesome athlete.
he was a zesty baseball player, sassy. stop.
Bo Jackson was really in a league of his own. If it wasn't for his injury, he might be a football HOFer today and he didn't even consider football to be his main sport. Just an athletic prodigy.
lmao at thinking that dude wasn't a ridiculously gifted athlete. he stole over 50 bases in something like 110-115 games sometime in the mid/late 90's. and he finished his career with 180+ stolen bases in about 650 games played which is one about every 3.5 games. he wasn't a great hitter, but that's not the benchmark of elite athleticism. although he did hit over .500 in the ws against toronto.
anyone who can play 2 professional sports even if they are just mediocre at the pro level at 1 or even both is still a hell of an athlete.
Quote from: QB Eagles on November 02, 2009, 11:59:54 PM
Bo Jackson was really in a league of his own. If it wasn't for his injury, he might be a football HOFer today and he didn't even consider football to be his main sport. Just an athletic prodigy.
absolutely. bo is the #1 athlete of the modern era and #2 isn't even close. dude was that damn good. if deion were a better baseball player then he'd be right up there near bo. of course, the fact that he's no bo jackson doesn't mean prime time wasn't a great athlete in his own right.
Quote from: Rome on November 02, 2009, 11:53:05 PM
lmao at awesome athlete.
he was a zesty baseball player, sassy. stop.
Are you drunk?
Quote from: PhillyPhreak54 on November 03, 2009, 12:19:00 AM
Quote from: Rome on November 02, 2009, 11:53:05 PM
lmao at awesome athlete.
he was a zesty baseball player, sassy. stop.
Are you drunk?
i was gonna say tweaked
dook was a HOF football player and a major leaguer but not a good athlete?
ive officially heard it all
On the Emmitt shtein... he was a fargin annoying showboaty helmet removing fargtard. I hated that act. "Look at me!" "Look at me!" I respect his game, even though anyone could've run well behind that line.
Deion is a fargin scourge and still haunts the NFL network ,and somehow finds ways to tamper with NCAA kids and farg their lives. I hate everything Deion. I would rather drive a needle into my eardrum than hear him talk.
i think mcnabb would have welcomed troy with open arms and a fake smile and it would have done wonders for his psyche
Or Aikman could have taught him how to throw. Either way, it would have been entertaining for people that listen to too much talk radio.
In football Deion couldn't tackle worth a damn and in baseball he couldn't hit a curve ball to save his life.
He was a master promoter of all things Deion, though, especially his "fight" with Andre Rison and his repeated dousing of 50-plus year old Tim McCarver while McCarver was doing interview live on television.