As talk of a trade for Donovan McNabb looms, I find myself excited. The drafting of Christian Ponder is precursor to a future unknown. The signing of Tarvaris Jackson by the Seahawks strange. Free agent quarterbacks like Kyle Orton and Vince Young just do not do it for me. Questions at QB are not good to have going into a season where the Packers are defending champions, the Lions expected to be much improved again, and the Bears looking decent. So we may bring in the aged McNabb.

I remember when Donovan McNabb visited in September, 1996, with the Syracuse Orangemen. They were nationally ranked, and faced my Golden Gophers who had just eked out a three point win versus Ball State in the Metrodome a week earlier. It did not look promising. McNabb was strong-armed, fast, and impossible to contain. I sat with my 6 year-old son among the older alumni and expected the worst. Sure enough, McNabb impressed early and the Gophers trailed. Unfortunately, a ticket had been given to a Syracuse fan who would sit among the Minnesota faithful. Every play that McNabb made, every score, this guy would scream how it was "over" for the pathetic Gophers. He laughed at our team. He knew how good McNabb was.

My son complained to me. I complained to him. We hated this fan in orange. What was he doing sitting among the alumni? I silently cursed the person who surrendered their ticket to this outsider. I did not want to spend the game being humiliated by a fan from another team. I whispered to my son (like a nice Minnesotan) that he was a bad man. He would get his someday, just probably not by a Wacker led Gopher team. But then the tide changed. I recall turnovers turning into touchdowns. The Syracuse fan grew quieter. All of the elder fans I sat with started to smile. And then my son, whom I love dearly, started to say the things we alums could not. He taunted the Orangeman. He laughed at him. And it was a glorious day. Minnesota pulled off an improbable upset against McNabb and Syracuse (who would finish the year ranked and 9-3). I never hugged my son more than that day.

Some twelve plus years later I took that same son to the Vikings playoff game versus the Eagles. We had Adrian Peterson, we had won the NFC Central, and the aging Donovan McNabb came to town with his Eagles and their vaunted defense. Gus Frerotte had led Minnesota in 2008 to a respectable year. I am not sure many thought we would get to the Super Bowl, but most hoped we could defeat the Eagles at home in this first round of the playoffs, McNabb was good. We were not. The 26-14 loss was a low point for my son, myself, and our relationship with the Vikings. Next to the 1998 playoff loss to the Falcons, this was the worst we had encountered. It was the last game I would watch live with him before he went off to college. Not a good way to end.

And now the Vikings are wanting to bring McNabb in to push/educate Christian Ponder. Or maybe to start and return Minnesota to the respectability of just a season ago, when we were a play away form the Super Bowl? Minnesota has had success bringing in older quarterbacks before. Guys like Fran Tarkenton, Warren Moon, Randall Cunningham, Brad Johnson, Frerotte, and Brett Favre have done exactly that. Why can't it be McNabb, too?

It will be difficult at best. But one thing is certain, Donovan McNabb brings a history that warrants hope. He was the facilitator of a football fan friendship I have kept with my son for many years. Maybe he can help some other father/son duo enjoy moments like we have had?