EAGLES' MCNABB REMAINS EVERYONE'S FAVORITE TARGET.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

If it's Friday, it must be my turn to take a shot at Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Queue up and we'll see if there's an opening for you next Thursday, but the dates are filling fast. Don't be left out.

Everybody wants their shot at McNabb. Not sure why, but clearly he must be the most horrid thing to hit American society since easy credit.

Political commentators, teammates and defenders of African-American culture are all taking turns dumping on McNabb.

Coming soon: Santa Claus rips McNabb's deep throw.

The guy can't even get injured and disappear into the good night without somehow stirring up controversy.

I mean, those soup commercials weren't that irritating. At least not enough to make him Darth Vader in shoulder pads. Enough to make him NFL Public Enemy No. 1.

This latest rip job is both startling and absolutely laughable.

Whyatt Mondesire is president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, publishes a local newspaper for blacks and is apparently one incredible NFL expert.

Mondesire recently wrote that McNabb failed as a team leader, choked in the Super Bowl, ``played the race card'' to explain why he no longer runs the ball and was actually the man who stole the Lindbergh baby.

Now it's one thing to be ripped by a blowhard commentator like Rush Limbaugh or a self-centered egomaniac teammate like Terrell Owens, but when the local NAACP guy is going for your knees, something is clearly out of whack.

``I always thought the NAACP supported African Americans and didn't talk bad about them,'' McNabb said.

Well, of course, unless you secretly brought in the bird flu into the U.S. It is a tad mystifying. McNabb sure seems like a nice guy. Maybe he's not Joe Montana as a quarterback but he's not exactly Dieter Brock, either.

But Mondesire apparently only sees darkness and the greatest threat to a healthy Philadelphian society since the cheese steak.

Mondesire, who publishes the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, is really ticked off McNabb ceased being a running quarterback because it ``not only confused defenses, it also thrilled Eagles fans.''

Our man Mondesire wrote on Nov. 27 that in abandoning his running element ``by claiming that 'everybody expects black quarterbacks to scramble' not only amounts to a breach of faith but also belittles the real struggles of black athletes who've had to overcome real racial stereotypcasting in addition to downright segregation.''

Yep, somehow by becoming more of a pocket quarterback - you know, like those guys who normally play in the Super Bowl every year - Donovan is guilty of turning his back on his race.

Not only that, turns out McNabb just isn't as fine a quarterback as all the rest of us NFL fools figured. Bottom line, he wrote, McNabb ``is not that good.''

``In essence Donny, you are mediocre at best,'' Mondesire wrote. ``And trying to disguise that fact behind some concocted reasoning that African-American quarterbacks who can scramble and who can run the ball are somehow lesser field generals ... is more insulting off the field than on.''

Next week: Mondesire exposes Allen Iverson as an overrated guard and a closet Uncle Tom.

Now you could understand if McNabb is a bit confused that a would-be NAACP leader is playing the race card in criticizing him.

``Especially being the same color I am,'' McNabb said. ``Obviously if it's someone else who is not African- American, it's racism.

``But when someone of the same race talks about you because you're selling out because you're not running the ball, it goes back to: What are we really talking about here?

``If you talk about my play, that's one thing. When you talk about my race, now we've got problems.''

We're talking bigger problems than missing Owens' birthday bash. We're talking reason, sanity, perspective. It's upside down, out of line and borderline hilarious.

NAACP president and CEO Bruce S. Gordon is as confused as the next guy, and maybe even more outraged.

``Whatever possessed Mondesire to take such a negative position on a positive person like McNabb is beyond me,'' Gordon said. ``The NAACP has many civil-rights issues that require our attention. Criticizing Donovan McNabb is not one of them.''

That's just way too logical for McNabb's current world. He's out for the season after surgery for a sports hernia, but the hits keep on coming.

Gordon said he would reach out to McNabb and apologize for Mondesire's comments. Two years ago when Limbaugh said on ESPN that McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed, the NAACP called for his resignation.

Now a simple call for good sense seems in order. Everyone queue up.

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(color) no caption (Donovan McNabb)