NFL timeout is good theater

All the people clamoring to immediately end the NFL lockout - Tuesday marks Day 113 - either haven't paid attention or they are the sworn enemies of good quality entertainment. If the NFL stands for No Fun League during the regular season, the opposite has been true during the stalled/started/re-stalled/re-started labor negotiations.

This has been the most interesting offseason in recent memory. Whatever summer blockbusters Hollywood has to offer fail to measure up to this bawdy unscripted comedy.

The most recent laugh line - if you don't count reports of DeSean Jackson running up a $25,000 bar bill - came courtesy of one Donovan McNabb, a familiar character who isn't too subtle even when there's a team PR handler hovering over his shoulder to keep him out of trouble. Left to his own devices, it's remarkable it took so long for McNabb to wade into the offseason anarchy.

On something called The Real Robinson Report, McNabb made national news by delivering this pro wrestling style one-man promo into a camera: "2011 is different than 2010," he began, resisting the urge to channel Hulk Hogan and add "lemme tell ya somethin' Mean Gene." "For those who want to sit back and dwell on what happened last year, so be it. But 2011 is going to be a special season, a season for which I feel I've prepared myself well, not just conditioning- and strength-wise, but most importantly getting back to the fundamentals. I'd love to display that in the 2011 season. And for those who feel like that can't be possible, I'll prove you wrong."

Great stuff. Ignoring for a moment that 2010 was one of his worst as a pro - the 14 touchdown passes were his fewest since his rookie year, and his 15 interceptions were the most in a single season in his career - the backdrop he chose was simply too good. Behind him were giant cutouts of McNabb - as an Eagle. Things have gotten so bad for him in Washington that he's now openly pining for a time when only half of an entire city wanted him to move along.

McNabb - who also sent out fliers to promote his "homecoming weekend" featuring pictures of him wearing both Redskins and Eagles uniforms - had plenty of help on the crazy, hilarious, free-of-charge distraction front. (It's been a busy offseason, despite what you may have heard.)