Yes, McNabb puked at Super Bowl, ex-fullback says
Unclear is whether Jon Ritchie was talking about before the 2005 game.
Jon Ritchie is now the second ex-Eagle to say he saw Donovan McNabb puke at the 2005 Super Bowl.
"It looked that way," the former fullback said on SportsRadio 94 WIP this morning.
"Some guys have those nervous stomachs," Ritchie said.
Once again, however, a WIP personality failed to get crucial details.
It's still not clear if anyone ever saw any vomit hit the field.
Ritchie, who was on the sidelines because of injury during the Super Bowl XXXIX, went on to explain that McNabb puked several times before games – "the smell of vomit would be wafting all over me ... because Donovan had just lost his lunch" in the inflatable tunnel -- so you might think host Angelo Cataldi would have gotten clarification.
Was Ritchie saying McNabb puked before the Super Bowl? During a huddle? Or on the way to the line of scrimmage, as former cornerback Lito Sheppard said in July 2013?
Sheppard said the puking he saw from the sidelines was "subtle," but host Rob Charry failed to ask what that meant. Was he saying McNabb had dry heaves?
Did Ritchie see actual upchucking during the game?
Cataldi, who's certainly not shy about discussing bodily functions, never nailed that down during the interview. (Listen to the Ritchie podcast.)
The huddle theory is still at a loss for evidence. Video of the Super Bowl shows the huddle in question and no vomit hits the field. Center Hank Fraley, who was in the huddle, twice told Cataldi the next day McNabb was "almost puking," and later receiver Freddie Mitchell, who was also in the huddle, spoke about McNabb having "some kind of complication" involving "breathing." Running back Brian Westbrook said, ""He was coughing a little, but he didn't seem sick."
McNabb told GQ: "No, at no point did I throw up. I got hit and dumped on my face a couple of times… and maybe I lost my wind a little bit."
The subject came up because during a FoxSports broadcast Thursday night, McNabb commented about a player vomiting by saying, to laughter in the booth, "Well, the fact is that I've thrown up on the field a couple of times. There is nothing wrong with that, young man, great job."
Video does exist of McNabb spewing during a Tampa Bay game.
McNabb also said, "I love it. Throw up and then throw a touchdown." The WIP crew took that to be an admission about the Super Bowl, but it could also have been a facetious reference to how he's been mocked.
Here's hoping the truth, whatever it is, eventually spills out.
Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.