Morning Briefing: Donovan McNabb’s Hall of Fame argument doesn’t add up

Donovan McNabb, who was a quarterback for 13 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Philadelphia Eagles, wonders why he is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“I’m not hesitating on that,” McNabb told TMZ Sports. “I am a Hall of Famer. My numbers speak for itself. My numbers are better than Troy Aikman, but he has Super Bowl rings and he’s played with Hall of Famers as well. When they look at my numbers, yeah [I belong], but then they always want to add other stuff into it. ‘Was he an All-Pro? Was he this? How many Super Bowl opportunities?’ But people don’t realize how hard it is to get to the NFC Championship. And to get there five times, then make it to a Super Bowl? It’s tough.”

So let’s check those numbers. McNabb had 234 touchdown passes, 30th all time. That’s better than more than a dozen Hall of Fame quarterbacks, including Aikman (165, 73rd place), but behind guys such as Vinny Testaverde (275, 16th) and Dave Krieg (261, 18th). He passed for 37,276 yards, putting him 25th all time, again better than more than a dozen Hall of Fame QBs, including Aikman (32,942, 38th), but behind guys such as Kerry Collins (40,922, 18th) and Boomer Esiason (37,920, 24th). He has a career completion percentage of 59% (63rd place), behind Aikman (61.5%, 36th place) and guys such as Jeff Garcia (61.6%, 32nd place) and Chad Pennington (66%, 3rd).

So, the numbers are borderline Hall of Fame at best, numbers that need a great postseason record to go with it. McNabb was 9-7 in the postseason, including 1-4 in conference title games and 0-1 in the Super Bowl.

Sorry, Donovan. But you can always buy a ticket and enjoy all the memorabilia there.

Lucky man

UFC fighter Alexander Volkanovski faced former featherweight champion Jose Aldo on May 11 in Brazil and defeated him by unanimous decision, mainly because of the amount of punishing kicks he landed.

Little did he know that the bigger battle was ahead of him.

Volkanovski told the Daily Telegraph that he could have had to have his left leg amputated if he hadn’t had a layover in Chile on his way home to Australia.

“In Chile, my temperature was over [104 degrees],” he said. “I was delirious. … I was a bit emotional.”

He went to the airport doctor, who told him to go to a hospital. There he learned he had a serious blood infection. Had he gotten on his flight, doctors told him he probably wouldn’t have had time to save his leg.

“If I had got on that second flight, what they were really concerned about was the infection getting into my tendons and bones,” Volkanovski said. “Especially with the air pressure in the cabin. I’ve been told they would’ve had to turn the flight around but, even then, by the time I got onto the antibiotics ... you’re talking the type of problems that end a career. It was so serious my leg could have been amputated. There was even a chance I could have died.”

Volkanovski is home now in Australia with the worst behind him.

“We got the message this morning that it’s not in any of the tendons, so that’s very, very good,” he said. “It will be all smooth sailing from now, I think.”

Wind? What wind?

Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon says something wacky is going on with home runs this season.

The Cubs have hit 81 home runs this season. Only the 2000 Cubs (83) hit more home runs in their first 50 games in franchise history. But it’s not the number that bothers him so much as the type. It’s supposed to be almost impossible to hit a ball out of Wrigley Field when the wind is blowing in. Not this season.

“We’re having home runs hit here into some firm breezes, which has not happened before,” Maddon told reporters Saturday. “That’s the thing that stands out to me. It’s been crazy.”

Is the ball juiced?

“I don’t know, I’m normally not into the subplot component of all of this and the conspiracy theorists, but I’m telling you right now, it’s jumping,” he said. “It’s absolutely jumping.”