Some rivalries are forever. Eagles-Cowboys. Wilt Chamberlain-Bill Russell. Michigan-Ohio State. Freddie Mitchell-Donovan McNabb.
The last one doesn't have the same juice as the others, but former Eagles wide receiver and legend in his own mind Freddie Mitchell can't seem to let go of his beef with Donovan McNabb. It seems like once or twice a year, Mitchell has to come around and rehash his feud with the greatest quarterback in Eagles franchise history, which is exactly what he did with Anthony Gargano on 97.5 FM The Fanatic on Wednesday.
It's nonsense, of course, but each time, the stories get more ridiculous than the last. This time, Mitchell talked about the lengths he would go to try to get McNabb to like him, including offering to watch the signal-caller's kids!
"The things that I would do for him to try to win him over... I would damn near try to babysit his kids," Mitchell said. "Stay in Friday nights and babysit his children so he could go out and have fun and come back home.
"Just throw me the ball, that's all I want. It was that bad where I didn't know what to do."
As always, it's difficult to tell when Mitchell is telling the truth, and indeed, he almost immediately started to walk back his babysitting statement before claiming the reason he lived in close proximity to McNabb in the first place was solely because he wanted to be tight with the guy.
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If only the fans didn't prefer Freddie Mitchell to Donovan McNabb, the relationship between wide receiver and quarterback would've had a chance to blossom.
"It was kind of like, 'I'm serious,' but joke... You all go out and have your fun and let me babysit," Mitchell said. "I lived right down from Donovan at the time in Morristown, New Jersey, and the reason why I moved so close to him was so I could have that relationship with my quarterback.
"I did all the things that it took to establish a great relationship, but the fact that the fans loved me more than they loved him, it pissed him off."
And how did Mitchell find out McNabb didn't like him?
Well, where do you think? From exotic dancers, of course.
"It's funny. I was sitting up in the strip club at Delilah's. I had strippers coming up to me and ask, 'Why does he hate you?'
"I'm like, damn. I'm trying to have me a nice gentleman's drink, and they say, 'Why does he hate you so much?' I'm like what, 'What are you talking about?' Everybody knew it but me, and that's what the problem was.
"When the strippers know there's a problem, it's time to move on to different things."
Yes, that's why Mitchell moved on from the Eagles after four seasons and was out of the league a year later. Not because he only had 90 catches and couldn't get open. Not because Mitchell was a brash punk who to this day still tried to take credit for everything from the idea behind the play call to the full execution of 4th-and-26. It was simply because McNabb didn't like him.
That's what Mitchell thinks anyway, which is why he'll never pass up an opportunity to take a jab at McNabb, no matter how low he has to go. When Mitchell was serving time in prison for tax fraud, and McNabb got in trouble with the law with his DUIs, all he could think to do was attempt to drag the quarterback down with him.
“Tell him we got a cot in here for him.”
