By Reuben Frank
Burlington County Times

JACKSONVILLE - "Come on, smile," Donovan McNabb says. "Why are you so tense? Relax. Let's see you smile!"

McNabb is talking in that exaggerated game-show host voice he reserves just for these occasions. When he wants to crack somebody up.

It's 9:04 a.m. Tuesday, and McNabb is at Alltel Stadium, in the Jaguars' locker room, which has been transformed into three state-of-the-art Fox-TV studios. He and his teammates are getting video head shots taken for Fox to use during its broadcast Sunday when the Eagles face the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.

McNabb is four minutes into 2 1/2 hours of responsibilities on Media Day, and he's decided he's not going to allow public relations intern Reva Bottles stay so serious during such a fun time.

"Come on," McNabb says. "Smiiiiiiiiiiile."

Bottles finally cracks a smile. She can't help it.

McNabb has struck again.

It's five days before his first Super Bowl. And he's helping a public relations intern relax.

Welcome to Donovan McNabb 's world.

McNabb granted The Burlington County Times special access to all his activities Tuesday morning, offering a rare glimpse into his personality as he interacted with teammates, coaches, reporters, camera men and everybody else he came into contact with.

Here is a look at McNabb 's morning, from the time the Eagles buses rolled into Alltel Stadium at 8:45 a.m. until they left 2 1/2 hours later.

8:54 a.m.

McNabb emerges from Alltel's visiting locker room, where he's changed into his game-day uniform. He walks down the tunnel to the Fox complex.

"This is the Jaguars' locker room?" McNabb cracks. "Gee, that really fires you up."

McNabb 's first assignment for Fox is to pose on a slowly rotating elevated roundtable with a grave look on his face while holding a football.

But first, he has to wait for Jeremiah Trotter to finish up. The problem is, Hugh Douglas, Ike Reese and Corey Simon are cracking so many jokes that Trotter can't keep a straight face.

"We ain't gonna get nothing done with Hugh around," McNabb barks out.

Finally, it's McNabb's turn. He takes his place on the roundtable and his teammates immediately begin razzing him.

Ike Reese: "Yo, look at the fat guy on the turntable!"

Terrell Owens: "Are you dizzy yet?"

Corey Simon: "Hey, Donovan, you got nice calves."

McNabb never cracks a smile. Stone-face.

He nails the segment on the first take.

"Great job," producer P.T. Navarro says. "Outstanding."

McNabb hops down from the roundtable.

"Why you calling me fat?" he says to Reese. "I've been watching what I eat."

9:17 a.m.

Now it's off to an adjoining room in the makeshift Fox studio, where the network is filming a handful of Eagles stars as they watch themselves in action on a giant TV screen next to a life-size Liberty Bell mockup.

McNabb enters the room, grins broadly and activates his game-show host voice: "Donovan's here!"

The jokes are flying and McNabb is laughing non-stop with his teammates. He's got his Sony HandyCam with him and begins taping tight end L.J. Smith, who goes into an impromptu soliloquy about the importance of friends. It's so funny McNabb and Todd Pinkston are near tears.

But as soon as it's his turn on camera, he snaps into serious mode.

"We're rolling," producer Fran Morrison barks out. "Look to the camera. Take two steps forward. Look to the side, then slowly turn towards the camera. Beautiful!"

Again, one take is enough.

As McNabb leaves the room, he sees injured tight end Chad Lewis sitting in a wheelchair.

"Pop a wheelie, Chad!"

Breaks everybody up.

9:43 a.m.

McNabb's final obligation with Fox is the standard moving head shot, a quick, simple 15-second video snippet to be used during brief breaks in the action when Fox broadcasters Joe Buck, Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman talk about specific players.

McNabb sits on a stool and waits for instructions.

"Do you have a certain look?" cameraman Jerry Manders asks. "A certain smile? There's no sound here, but do you have a certain face? Show us some personality."

McNabb stares into the camera. And he slowly transforms his face from dead serious into an enormous exaggerated smile. With raised eyebrows.

"Perfect," says Cohen.

The crew cracks up.

9:57 a.m.

It's almost interview time. This isn't any ordinary interview, this is Media Day. More than 1,000 credentialed reporters from around the world are about to descend the stadium steps to the field, where every Eagles player and coach will be available to answer questions for an hour.

McNabb walks to his podium along the east sideline at the 35-yard line and awaits the onslaught. Moments later, the crowd begins filing in. It seems like half of them swarm to McNabb .

"Yo, Donovan," Trotter yells from his podium. "Come over and ask me some questions."

10 a.m.

The questions begin.

Donovan, how excited are you to play in your first Super Bowl? "I want to hop the fence and get started right now."

Donovan, how hard was it to come so close the last three years and lose? "Looking back, you realize, 'Wow, we were just one step away.' You watch Media Day and you think, 'That could have been me.' Now it's me and you want to take advantage of the opportunity."

Donovan, is this a dream come true? "It seems like a storybook. Like you're reading through the chapters."

McNabb gives serious, thoughtful answers when asked about his teammates and cracks jokes when asked about himself.

A Cleveland sports writer cackles and asks how happy he is that the Browns drafted Tim Couch with the first pick in 1999 instead of him. He expects McNabb to bust on the Browns, but he doesn't.

"It could have been the same," he says. "You never know."

10:22 a.m.

McNabb is chilly and starting to hear the same questions over and over. He has to go to the bathroom.

How does it feel to be the third African-American Super Bowl quarterback? What's it like having a mom who's a celebrity? Were Freddie Mitchell's comments last week about the Patriots a distraction? Do the Eagles have a chance?

He brightens when ESPN's Chris Berman arrives with his crew. Berman is wearing a pink tie with purple dots.

"Nice tie," McNabb tells Berman. "That's got to be the nicest tie I've seen today. That's going to be in my memory forever."

McNabb gives Berman a few minutes, telling him, "You'll see everything I've got out there Sunday. The whole bag of tricks."

Berman finishes the interview and thanks him.

When he's 10 feet away, McNabb shouts, "Nice tie!"

10:33 a.m.

A TV crew from Japan asks McNabb about All-Pro wide receiver Terrell Owens, who plans to play Sunday six weeks after breaking his leg and spraining his ankle.

"He didn't practice (Monday), he won't practice today and he's not going to practice (Wednesday)," McNabb deadpans. "I don't think he's going to play."

10:40 a.m.

Buccaneers defensive end Simeon Rice shows up. Rice, who went to Mount Carmel High School in Chicago with McNabb and won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2002, is covering the Super Bowl for NFL Network.

"I remember when you held up the Super Bowl trophy," McNabb says. "I burst into tears. It's time for me to get it now."

Rice asks McNabb where he would rank himself among NFL quarterbacks. "If you ain't No. 1," McNabb says, "you ain't ranked."

McNabb gets questions from Giants defensive end Michael Strahan of BET Network, Pick-Boy of Nickelodeon and William "The Fridge" Perry. Nobody seems to know whom Perry is working for and it doesn't seem to matter.

Somebody from "Entertainment Tonight" shows up with a trophy for McNabb . It says, "Best use of Mother in a Super Bowl commercial." McNabb 's mom, Wilma, has become a celebrity because of her appearances with McNabb and some of his teammates in Campbell's Soup commercials.

"Hey, this is nice," McNabb says. "Check's in the mail, right?"

11 a.m.

The press conference is finally over. McNabb has fielded 126 questions, including seven about being an African-American quarterback, six about his mom and five about Campbell's soup.

He's escorted through a gate onto the field where the players and coaches are setting up for a team photo in the Eagles' end zone.

All of a sudden, as Reid walks past, McNabb smacks him on the behind. Everybody starts cracking up.

Owner Jeff Lurie then walks over and smacks Donovan on the behind. Everybody laughs even harder.

Then McNabb runs over to Lurie and smacks him on the behind. Everybody loses it.

The Super Bowl is five days away. Can this team be any looser? Can McNabb be any looser?

"It's cold, I'm hungry and I want to go home," McNabb says. "And we still have to practice."