So there I was, standing atop the dusty gravel at what will become the 50-yard-line of the Philadelphia Eagles' half-finished but already mind-blowing stadium, side-stepping Mack trucks loaded with giant pre-fab concrete slabs, wondering -- preoccupied, really -- about the etiquette regarding borrowed pants.

Is it customary to just buy the pants after wearing them, particularly on a hot day? Do I send them out to be dry-cleaned? Do I clean them myself, then fold them up into a bag and discreetly return them? Or do I march into the Eagles' offices and yell (as I ended up doing after my tour) "OKAY, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP, HERE'S YOUR PANTS BACK!"

	Pants are not optional at The Linc.

In town this week for the Eagles' final minicamp of the summer, I had scheduled a tour of the stunning Lincoln Financial Field. The new stadium will open in August 2003 and hold 66,000 fans, which, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie likes to point out, is the only thing it will have in common with the decrepit Vet.

I'll say. The stands here are so close to the field (55 feet compared to 120 in The Vet) you get the feeling you're in an outdoor basketball arena, not a football stadium. It's very similar to the Ravens' digs in Baltimore. The Linc, as I hearby dub it, is also close enough to I-95 that passing Philly fans may be able to dump beer on players without even slowing below 55. And instead of cramming seats into every last inch to recoup his huge investment, Lurie allowed for four "patios" in prime locations where fans can meet and reconnoiter (read: pound brews) and watch (read: boo) the Eagles. And to think I almost missed out on all this because I had worn shorts, which I found out, is a serious no-no at construction sites. So Ron Howard, a member of the team's marketing staff, actually let me borrow a pair of his pants for the tour. I've heard of giving someone the shirt off your back but this was taking PR (Pants Rental?) to a whole new level.

Later, I caught up to Lurie back at the team's practice facility. He was eating peas by himself in the cafeteria, watching and dreaming as the Red Wings celebrated their latest Stanley Cup on ESPNews. Those close to him say the ultimate for Lurie would be for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl this year (which they are more than capable of doing ) and then open the 2003 season on Monday Night Football inside The Linc.

"The pieces are in place right now for us to do it," says Pro Bowl DE Hugh Douglas. "We just have to find a way to get to [Rams QB] Kurt Warner. I mean, we didn't even get close enough [in the NFC Championship game] last year to smell the guy's underwear."

What is it with this team and men's unmentionables?

Hugh, it turns out, is one of the few guys who isn't looking forward to moving down the street. "I'm one of the only people on this team that will miss The Vet," he said. "To me that place symbolizes Philadelphia. You know, hard-working folks in a gritty-grimy place playing hard every Sunday no matter the conditions. That will always be a part of us, I hope, even if we're in a nice shiny new stadium."

(Philly fans are a special breed, no doubt. Out to dinner on South Street this week I nearly spit out my Molson Golden draft when a young lad walked by WITH HIS ENTIRE FACE TATTOOED GREEN.)

Perhaps, as I suggested to Hugh, the team could use trained rats, released into the locker room before games, to ease the transition into the new stadium. Why not? The place is gonna have everything else. The digital jumbo screens will be so huge (27'-by-96') and crystal-clear folks flying into the Philly airport should be able to follow the game from 30,000 feet. When I stopped by to chat with team prez Joe Banner he was studying a huge color-coded blueprint of ... the shrubbery scheme for outside The Linc.Sweating the details -- and the daffodils. That's been Banner's plan all along. In fact, he and coach/GM Andy Reid have not just revamped the Eagles but rather, they have meticulously rebuilt them in a way that will allow the Birds to stay airborne for many years and, perhaps, revolutionize the economics of the NFL. Other teams in the era of salary cap and free agency are building to create a small two-year window of opportunity. With 22 wins in the last two seasons, the Eagles, who have the core of their team locked up for several years, have built a window of opportunity the size of the Lincoln Tunnel.

That group includes QB Donovan McNabb who now ends every two-way message on his pager with the phrase: See ya in San Diego! It also includes Eagles running back Rod Smart -- you know, of XFL infamy -- who is listed on some team charts as Hate Me, He. Even John Chaney is along for the ride. It seems the most popular desktop accoutrement at the Eagles facility is the John Chaney bobblehead doll. It sits front and center on the shelf behind Reid's desk. And may I say that this is the first such doll that is actually a flattering likeness of its honoree.

Chaney, of course, coaches at Temple, where McNabb occasionally plays pickup hoops after practice. McNabb learned from Doug Flutie that hooping with teammates, particularly wideouts, is the best way to develop chemistry and that unspoken sense of how guys react in certain situations. Some, it turns out, react better than others.

As I was -- ahem -- returning my pants, McNabb was talking trash with a young member of the team's PR staff who has since begged me not to ID him and curse him forever with Flem File Infamy. According to McNabb, this guy (we'll call him Buster) airballed a layup during a recent pickup game. That's the hoops equivalent of paying to have your face tattooed.

Poor Buster. I know McNabb. He's relentless. He won't let up. You can already tell this guy is going to get absolutely abused by McNabb and the rest of the Eagles all ... season ... long.

But, really, why should he be any different than the rest of the NFL?

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at flemfile@aol.com.