I'm Not Sure The Cool Kids All Head To Arizona

In reviewing yesterday's Matt Mosley piece on the Birds and Jeremy Maclin, Derek noted that Mosley closed his piece by asking Maclin if the young wideout woudl be joining Eagles QB Donovan McNabb at Dunavin's famed summer camp/ bonding session at his house in Arizona.  Maclin gave a non-committal response (noted above), and Mosley closed the piece with a knowing, "That sounds like a conversation he [Maclin] shouldn't put off for long," implying that this young fella better get his butt down to Dunavin's house if he knows what's good for him. 

Generally speaking, it certainly can't hurt for a rookie wideout (especially one who's already burdened with some expectations) to spend a lot of time with his new quarterback.  But it's worth noting that last year's edition of the rookie wideout with expectations said thanks but no thanks to the Arizona invitation.  That is, DeSean Jackson didn't go to Dunavin's house last summer.  Nor, for that matter, did Brian Westbrook.  As I noted at the time, it sure seems like the trip to Arizona was more for the folks looking to suck up to the boss man:

Good to know that everyone’s spending some QT together and doing lots of crunches. 

Oh wait, not quite everyone.  Certainly not either of the starting wideouts or the Best Player On The Team.  I’ll speculate to say that the guys who are most interested in staying in 5’s good graces were the ones hopping that US Air (nee America West) flight to Phoenix.  As in, L.J. Smith, Avant, Baskett and Booker.  Certainly L.J. is going to need Dunavin on his side if he wants to have the big year required for him to Get Paid.  And the other guys are jockeying for spots on the depth chart. 

We don’t want to call it sucking up, but we would say that it’s certainly in one’s best interest to have the trust of the quarterback, and if earning that trust includes a four-hour flight and some obsequiousness in re: his cooking, so be it.

So if Maclin decides to skip the trip to Phoenix, well, it's not the end of the world.  That DeSean fellow seemed to turn out just fine. 

Checking the post from last summer, it doesn't look like Camp Dunavin happens until July, so we'll have a full month to follow this story (stay tuned for constant updates).  From the video they posted last year (which Yardbarker hasn't done a good job archiving, so no link comma sigh), the whole thing looks a little tame -- they like hang out in the yard and overeat on tasty BQ'ed meats.  I mean, I know they're gearing up for camp, but if these guys are bonding, they have to party a little, right?  Is it wrong to dream up scenarios where they all head over to Matt Leinart's place and have the ensuing carnage show up on The Dirty?  Is that weird?   

*****

UPDATE: the good folks at YardBarker hooked us up with a video of Donovan's BBQ from their archives -- very very appreciated!  Check it out.  Thank you, YardBarker.