Obesity and the NFL Quarterback

The Center for Consumer Freedom uses the beginning of football season to once again take aim at the government's Body Mass Index, which uses height and weight (but not muscle mass) to calculate body fat. At 6' 2" and 240 pounds, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb weighs in with a BMI of 31, putting him in the "obese" category.

The center, a nonprofit supported by restaurants and food companies, is irritated that when the government created the BMI in 1998, millions of Americans were shifted into the obese category overnight. OK, but have these people been to the mall lately? There are some large folks out there. And ripping the BMI just gives your average football fan a great excuse to peer over the bag of Doritos balanced on his gut in his recliner and say, "It's muscle mass. Just like Donovan McNabb."