2002: Troy Aikman, almost Philadelphia Eagle

[PhillyPhreak54]

By 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.

[Don Ho]

I do remember this rumor.  That would have been something.

[Rome]

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.

[Feva]

Yeah, not too sure I could have dealt with Aikman in green.

[Sgt PSN]

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

[MDS]

aikman was never an ass like deion or crack head irvin. dont hate him the same way you hate the other guys.

[Feva]

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.

[Sgt PSN]

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. 

[MDS]

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.

[General_Failure]

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?

[Sgt PSN]

uh, i never found either of them to be obnoxious on the field. 

[General_Failure]

Aikman wasn't, but Emmitt was a bag of dicks.

[Sgt PSN]

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. 

[SunMo]

lol, except for taking his helmet off every time he scored a touchdown?

[Zanshin]

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.