Week 4: Redskins @ Eagles

VS. 

*Also known as*

The Embattled Black Quarterback Bowl

This was a special week. A cultural phenomenon, really. Michael Vick and Donovan McNabb, head to head, playing out their weird love triangle with the fan base that has at times abused them both.

You can't ignore the racial element, but since mainstream sports coverage likes to do just that while at the same time going upside your head with racially tinged euphemism after racially tinged euphemism, let's do that here. Just for fun.

In one corner, you have Donovan McNabb,  the electric, unpredictable quarterback that, after 5 playoff appearances - including a run to the NFC Championship game -   Philly saw fit to replace with steady pocket passer Kevin Kolb. In an ironic twist, Kolb suffers a concussion in the first game of this season, and is replaced as a starter by Michael Vick, a talent  even more dynamic and unpredictable than McNabb. In fact it was only three years ago that Vick was into all sorts of unpredictable shit that people from unpredictable communities get into... namely making dogs bite each other to death. Only now, Vick looks tremendous through three games. He's running well, he's throwing well, he's been cast the early season MVP, all of which has led a lot of us to forget that the Philly fans turning on him is a matter of "if" not "when".  And when it happens, the final judgment is going to be loaded with all sorts of stereotypical bullshit that makes me want to punch someone.

Look, there are three stages of Black Quarterback Fanhood.

Stage 1: Overweening Pride 

"That dough boy’s your quarterback?  *Snort* Cute.  Me personally? If I had to watch that  vanilla five-step-drop-back every week, I’d fucking kill myself. But good for you, man. Good. For. you.  Anyway, I gotta go, ___  just slipped three tackles on the way to a  24 yard run. That puts him at 115  on the day, bro. Yeah, I got him on my fantasy team, too. How many passing yards, you ask? Psssh. You’re shackled by a 1950’s mindset. It's 2010, brotha. Free your mind!"

Stage 2. Doubt

"Soooo.  I don’t mean to complain, because ____  has clearly been a beast for us (clearly). But sometimes…I dunno. I feel like I wish I could mix a more traditional skillset with his insane athleticism. Like in a lab? I know, that sounds stupid, and believe me when I say that I’m the first to speak up when I catch some old bastard saying a running quarterback can't win in this league . I guess it’s just the couple losses in a row and the bye week are fucking with my head. Anyway, carry on."

Stage 3. Concerned Dad

"Listen. We gotta talk brass tacks for a second.   You've had plenty of time to grow out of ...whatever it is you think you’re doing out there. But from where I sit, it's all a little too much sizzle, not enough steak.   I'll tell you what I tell my teenage daughter:  some people are special, and some are just a spectacle. And I think after 6 seasons [*author’s note: including 4 playoff runs, invariably] we’ve seen which one you are. M'kay? Good talk.  Best of luck to ya, son, but don't let the doorknob hit you in the butt."

That's the way it goes. Always. Since forever. And it's with the 3 Stages of Black Quarterback Fanhood in mind that I head to Bailey's Sports Bar in the Ballston Shopping Center to watch the game. I'm already mad - both at Philly fans for what I imagine will be an ungracious reception for McNabb, their one-time savior, and also for their full, unashamed embrace of Vick, the man that they'll likely give the same "what have you done for me lately" treatment - and by "lately", I mean in the last quarter - that McNabb suffered all those years.

I don't make it to the bar until halftime (work emergency), so it's from my couch that I confirm that I was wrong on one count: the Philadelphia fans treated McNabb to a standing ovation when he was introduced. Huh. Didn't see that coming. 

Second surprise: Once at the bar,  I take a quick poll about Vick's performance in the first half before he left the game with a rib injury. Consensus: "He was killing it." As I said, I watched the first half. He was not killing it, he was so-so with flashes of brilliance (namely the 40 yard run that led to the rib injury). I'm starting to find the loyalty a little disconcerting.

Finally twist: When Vick doesn't come back in the second half and instead we get two quarters of steady pocket-passing coach's son workhorse Kevin Kolb, there's an unmistakable feeling among the fans here that not only is he unlikely to do well, these guys aren't sure if they want Kolb to do well if it means giving him back the starting job.

I ask James, a white retired marine, how he'd feel about reinserting Kolb into the first string if he pulls this game out. 

He shakes his head. "Vick earned it."

But what if Kolb is awesome?

"He won't be. And even if he is, it's just one game."

I gotta goad him now. Come on, James! We've seen this before! Like McNabb before him, Vick can look incredible, but if you're serious about winning, don't you eventually have to settle down with a QB who plays a winning brand of football?

James shrugs. "We're 2-1 with Vick. So he's got a winning brand, right? "

Damn.

I'm half a second from bringing up the dogs, but it's pointless. These guys are ready to ride or die with Vick.  I'll have to get all militant elsewhere. Still, I do want to kick it the Eagles fans again, if only to see how things play out what is now a wide open division. Besides...Michael Vick, man. There's something about the dude. Sure, his decision making can be frustrating, but he's such a specimen...