Reid once made Aikman an offer he could refuse

THERE'S AN ADAGE that states "everything old becomes new again."

Which brings us to a story involving Andy Reid and Troy Aikman that resurfaced when the former Cowboys QB was interviewed on Dallas radio station KESN-FM earlier this week.

Like a fine wine, or a great movie, the story about the time Aikman almost became an Eagle gets better with age.

It was Nov. 17, 2002, and Aikman, who had officially retired 19 months earlier, was broadcasting the 49ers at Chargers game.

Earlier that afternoon, a gutsy Donovan McNabb had thrown four touchdown passes to lead the Eagles over the Cardinals, despite breaking his right ankle on the third play of the game.

We'll let Aikman pick it up from there:

"We were in San Diego doing the game. We did a game break and said that Donovan McNabb had been injured," Aikman said. "Then we got to halftime and my producer got into my ear and said, 'Hey, I need you to call this number.' [My producer's] never done that. He's never done it before and he's never done it since. I said, 'Well who is it?' He said, 'Well it's Andy Reid.' I said, 'Oh man.' He said, 'He says he wants you to call him at halftime.' I said, 'Well we're doing a game.' He said, 'No, he wants you to call him.'

"So I went outside, I had no cell service. I had to get out on the concourse there at Jack Murphy Stadium and I got him on the phone. He said, 'Hey, did you hear what happened?' I said, 'Yeah, we did a game break.' He said, 'Well I want to talk to you about coming to Philadelphia.' I said, 'Andy, we're in the middle of a broadcast. It's halftime right now.' He said, 'I know, I'm watching the game.' So I said, 'OK, I'll call you after the game.' "

Aikman, of course, turned the job down. The Eagles went 5-1 the rest of the way and McNabb returned to start in the playoffs.

This Sunday, Aikman will be broadcasting the Lions at Bears game. The way the Eagles season is going, he may get another call from the Eagles.

This time from Chip Kelly.