The Glory of Sports as Life

Every so often an event occurs that makes us stop, look around and take in the greatness of America. I experienced just such an event this week.

Let me start with a little back story about Philadelphia and sports. No city in the country loves their sports teams like the City of Brotherly Love. I've lived in other cities and traveled this country extensively and can honestly say we are borderline psychotic when it comes to our sports. Whether it be the 76'ers, the Flyers, the Phillies or even college teams like Villanova and Penn State, we are a sports town through and through. But no team is as beloved as the Eagles.

Coming into this season the Eagles were thought to be a good team with a second year quarterback who showed flashes of brilliance but looked to need more seasoning. We lost what I considered the heart of the team in running back Darren Sproles early and I thought that would have a significant impact on the team. We also lost left tackle and all pro Jason Peters, special teams star Chris Maragos and middle linebacker Jordan Hicks. Yet this team just kept winning.

But then the worst happened, Carson Wentz went down with a knee injury and was out for the year. Philly wept...this was our year and now it wasn't.

Next man up.

Enter Nick Foles. Where many teams would have folded, this is not many teams and one could say there's never been another like them. they became closer and shut out the distractions. They rallied around their backup QB and made an unbelievable run to immortality.

The city went along for the ride and invested themselves. This city had their hearts broken too many times to count and we are jaded. We were wary of wholeheartedly giving ourselves to the team but we did and they did it.

The parade was epic as we all knew it would be. People poured in from everywhere. People drove over the nigh before and slept in their cars or waited in long lines to catch a train. They walked across bridges, rode bikes and or caught Uber's. Everyone knew they had to be on Broad Street or along JFK Parkway. Beers were consumed before most people ate breakfast. It was a party...it was our party. No longer did we have to hear the lame "how many rings do you have?" from people who's team hasn't won a championship in two decades. No, we are the reining champs and the energy because of that was palpable.

It was an enormous love-in. African-American guys from West Philly were hugging white guys from the suburbs. we sang, we danced and we did the Eagles cheer until we couldn't sing anymore. We watched a crazy center dressed like a leprechaun on acid go on an epic rant and it brought the city to a crescendo. We were all part of it and just for one day politics didn't matter, color didn't matter, social status didn't matter. We were all just Eagles fans and champions.

Little kids stared in awe, adults cried, police officers danced, school teachers who no one knew were even a sports fan drank beer with a construction worker. It was a day I'll never forget.

Now let's do it all over again next year.

Wednesday Night News & Notes

I ran 3.5 miles today. Working my way up to 15 per week and getting in shape to play hoops this winter. I ran 25 days last month so it's now a habit and I felt like I could've gone another mile tonight.

Anyway, here's what's new:

-Obama blatantly lies and says he never set the "red line". Despite the fact that there's tons of video of it, the media will parse it say that no, he didn't say that because they will do anything to protect The One.

-Can Anthony Weiner please just go away? What is up with NY Democrats. Cuomo, Shumer, Spitzer and Weiner are all just plain embarrassing. Yeah, we in NJ have the underage prostitute chasing Menendez but NY'ers take debauchery and downright sleaziness to new levels daily.

-The joy of socialism.

-Matt Drudge is about to part with the Republican party. I'll vote GOP but I am not in line with them on a lot of issues. I'm more of a conservative-libertarian who really wants nothing to to do the Christian wings of the party that is anti-gay anything and generally kill-joys. I'm a South Park Republican.

-The latest whip count on voting for war in Syria via Ace. It is not a done deal. Hopefully Boehner has this blow up in his face and is ousted as soon as possible.

-Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates. 20 years without a winning season ended last night. Here's to them making the playoffs, knocking out the Braves and winning it all. 

-Hang in there y'all, only 5 more days until we open up a can of serious whoop ass on the Skins and RG III. This oughta get you a little psyched:

Tuesday Night News & Notes

Link dump:

-Here's one about a British POW who asked the Kaiser for permission to see his mother before she passed. The Kaiser said yes but you have to return to the camp afterward...he did.

-Hillary the narcissist. Between her and Obama, I don't know who's more so.

-Pro-gay marriage advocates show they really hate free speech and freedom in general.

-Are the long-term unemployed even employable anymore. Take tech for instance; is someone whose been out of the tech world for 99-weeks come back in and be productive with the pace of advances? It appears not.

-Pakistan has been playing all sides since 9/11. The ISI has been supporting LeT who was responsible for the Mumbai massacre as well as the Haqqani network. They've been taking us for billions and giving us little in return. They knew full well that bin-Laden was within their borders and allowed him refuge for years. The tide may well be turning.

-Jeff Bezos promises some changes at the WaPo. I'm hoping they move from the far-left, Democrat-supporting hacks they currently are to a more centrist brand.

-Have no fear, Dennis Rodman is on the case is NoKo. God help us.

-Alright Eagles fans, we open in less than a week at the comfortable hour of 7:00 PM against the hated Skins. I predict 8-8 with LeShon McCoy having a monster year. Vick will play better since he (hopefully) won't be throwing passes from the horizontal position and Jason Avant may just have a break-out season. Here's to hoping and being a life-long Birds fan means I'm also a hopeless optimist. Here's what we have to look forward to:

NFL Week 13

A big one for a few teams.

Here's my picks for select games:

Dallas at the NY Giants-The Giants can't afford to lose this game and have any reasonable chance of making the playoffs. Romo has been decent of late but always seems to tighten up in big games. The G-men are without some studs and Eli is injured but I think they nut it up and pull out the win.

Giants 23 Cowgirls 20

Philly at Atlanta-The Eagles need to keep winning and the Falcons are without Matt Ryan while their backfield is beat up. The Eagles are without deep threat Desean Jackson but Jason Avant stepped up his game nicely. Brent Celek is crucial to Philly as he suffered from some greasy fingers last week.

Eagles 30 Falcons 20

Other games:

Vikings 24 Cardinals 21
Titans 35 Colts 32

Goodbye and Thanks, Brian Dawkins

Anyone who has read this blog more than once knows I'm a dedicated Philly sports fan. Until last October/November (when the Phillies won it all), this region was a football region through and through. The old joke is that in most places, a kids first words were "mama" or "dada" while in Philly it's "Cowboys suck!". We're passionate to say the least.

There was one man who epitomized Philadelphia Eagles football and always gave 110% when he stepped between the line; that man is Brian Dawkins. B-Dawk was the team leader not only because he expected the best from everyone on the team but because he demanded he himself give much more than anyone else. The man was an absolute force roaming the D backfield at Lincoln Financial.

Those days are over now as Dawkins signed a four-year deal with the Denver Bronco's after Eagles management slapped him in the face by not offering him a new deal. As with all decisions made by the Birds front office, they also gave the fans the finger by letting Dawk get away. The guy is a veteran and has meant more to the Eagles than Joe banner or Andy Reid will ever know. They may have ensured that Philly remains a baseball town for the foreseeable future with this stupid and shameless move. They ran another icon right out of town.

Just as an aside, I don't generally wear a players jersey but I have a Dawkins jersey and will continue to wear it until he gets in the Hall of Fame.

Dawkins took it like everyone expected him to; with class and dignity.

Thanks for all the good years, B-Dawk.

An All Pennsylvania Superbowl

I like the Eagles over the Cards 24-20 and the Steelers over the Ravens 20-17.

Eagles Roll On to Arizona

An interesting weekend of football to say the least. I liked the Ravens and they won with stats that were shocking. It will be a tough offseason for the Titans.

The Steelers were flat out a better team against San Diego without LT.

In the biggest playoff upset in a decade, the Cardinals put the wood to the Panthers.

And of course, my birds whacked the Giants at home. McNabb was good enough, the defense was stellar and Eli Manning was simply horrid in the wind. What an astounding run by the Iggles.

Odds to win it here in a humorous format.

NFL Recap: Both Underdogs Win

In what has to be a first; every home team was an underdog going into the weekend. Yesterday, both home teams won.

In the Cards-Falcons game, QB Kurt Warner led the Cards to victory and showed that the old man can still play against the Rookie of the Year. Matt Ryan looked nervous from the outset and Atlanta never could get the ground game going with Michael Turner only able to accumulate 42 yards on the ground. The Cards defense was able to key on Ryan and was all over him notching three sack and numerous hurries. Larry Fitzgerald had his coming out party yesterday playing in front of a national audience and the world got to see what fantasy players have known for awhile, Fitz is a stud.

In the nightcap, the Chargers seemed doomed from the beginning with an injured LT and a banged up defense. Season MVP Peyton Manning was good but the bolts defense seemed to have a fix on what was coming and stopped the Colts streak. Amazingly, it was the Chargers punter Mike Scifres who was the key to the win averaging 52.7 yards per punt and continuously pinning the Colts back deep in their own end. Darren Sproles came up big as well at least figuratively. The 5' 6" all-purpose guy stepped in when LT didn't return and ran for 105 yards while amassing 45 receiving yards. He combined for more than 300 all-purpose yards.

Predictions for today:

Both road teams will win and set up some great games next week.

Ravens-Dolphins
I like Pennington and the Dolphins story this year was great but the Ravens defense will win it for them. Raven 20 Fish 14

Eagles-Vikings
Which birds team will show up? If it's the team that crushed the Cowgirls last week, they'll win convincingly. If it's the team who lost to the Skins two weeks ago, Adrian Petersen will run all over them. Brian Dawkins has been an unstoppable force of late and will be flying around as usual. Note that the Vikes had trouble selling out and of this moment the game will be blacked out in the Twin Cities area. I'm predicting the former: Iggles 31 Vikes 20

Eagles Put 44 Up on Cowgirls

And a sweet ass-kicking it was ending an inexplicable day for the Birds:

"Yeah, I feel kind of revived, I guess," Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said yesterday at the end of a freakish day that saw his left-for-dead team rout the Dallas Cowboys, 44-6, at Lincoln Financial Field and claim the final wild-card playoff spot in the NFC.

It was a warm day in December, but this sequence of events went way beyond the unusual.

"I've never been part of anything like this," safety Brian Dawkins said. "For the guys to pull together the way they pulled together after a tough loss in which we were basically left for dead . . . it speaks volumes about this team's character."

Now the Eagles, who finished the regular season at 9-6-1, have an afterlife that begins Sunday at 4:30 p.m. in a wild-card playoff game against the NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome. The Cowboys, 9-7 and perhaps the NFL's most disappointing team, were left to deal with questions about next season.

Unbelievable to say the least. The Bears lose and the Raiders beat Tampa Bay. I've never rooted for the Raiders and feel dirty for doing so but they came through for us.

The player of the game was Brian Dawkins who was an animal flying all over the field forcing fumbles and generally tearing into every white shirt he saw.

Awesome.

Plaxico Burress Shoots Self in Leg

Nice team you have there, New York North Jersey:

New York Giants star wide receiver Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg Friday, according to multiple media reports.

Burress was hospitalized with gunshot injuries Friday night that were not believed to be life-threatening, FOX Sports.com reported Saturday.

A spokesman for the Giants on Saturday told PA SportsTicker that the team had no comment, although they acknowledged they are aware there was an incident.

Burress has not practice all week due to an ailing hamstring and already had been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins.

Citing sources familiar with the situation, the New York Daily News reported that Burress was shot late Friday night, but no further details of the incident are available.

Something ain't quite making sense here. Burress has had several domestic violence issues and they are acting guarded when discussing this incident. Was the gun registered? Did he own it? Why was it out?

Hey, the Eagles may suck and will probably miss the playoffs but at least we don't have derelicts like Burress under contract for the long term.

H/T: AoSHQ

Update: This report says he was in a club when he was "accidentally" shot.

The Bittersweetness of Being a Philly Sports Fan

For those of you who are not sports fans, you'll never understand this post. For those who are, you'll see where I'm coming from.

The Phillies won the NLDS yesterday in convincing fashion, they hit four homers and Joe Blanton threw a gem. So I should be happy, right? Yeah, I should but in Philly, we're that dude who's had his heart broken by too many girls. We're the guy who suffered through the one he thought was The One running off with the cable guy...five friggin' times, dude. Now granted, we're not Cubs fans, they're the dude who can't even score with the dumpy chick at 2:30. I mean, lost case there. Preview here (and yes, I know it's a betting site but those dude's are usually pretty on).

But I digress.

No, we haven't had a championship in this city since 1983 (unless you count Villanova in 1985 over Georgetown and we do if we're grasping at straws...which we are). The Phillies made it to the Series in that time but that SOB Joe Carter ruined it. The Sixers made it to the finals and got whacked, the Eagles lost to New England and the Flyers got beat by Edmonton (that one still hurts) and swept by the Red Wings in that time as well.

I like this team and it's happening--I'm falling again and this girl surely is The One...isn't she

BTW, Phillies in six

Eagles/Cowgirls Renew Rivalry on MNF

The Eagles and Cowboys both won convincingly last week over weak opponents. Now they face each other in that shithole of a stadium down in Texas.

It's been a typical Eagles/Cowgirls week with T.O. spouting inane drivel from his piehole about McNabb and the irritating Dallas fans acting like the a-holes they are.

Let's get it on and watch the birds beat the scrubs like they seem to do whenever pretty boy Tony Romo is forced to face the Eagles intimidating D. Here's to hoping Jessica Simpson shows once again and is left with that same long face she's sporting at right.

Prediction: Eagle 27, Cowgirls 21

Eagles Almost Shock The World

A few thoughts on the Eagles-Pats last night:

Tom Brady is the best QB I've seen, ever;

Defensive Coordinator of the Eagles, Jim Johnson, put together a game plan the entire league should review;

The QB controversy starts today with McNabb vs. Feeley;

Wes Welker is the real deal;

So is Westbrook;

The playoffs are a complete mess and the Eagles are in the thick of it.

Please Excuse Me While I Talk Some Sports

The Philly kind of sports of course.

The Eagles went into yesterday 3-5 and with Donovan McNabb's career in Philly on the line. They emerged 4-5 and McNabb will play on another week thanks to Brian Westbrook. Westbrook is becoming the best player in the NFL--not bad for a guy out of Division II Villanova. Video highlights here and check out the 57-yard screen pass from McNabb to Westbrook, especially the forearm shiver applied by John Runyan on an unsuspecting linebacker. The "Iggles" faithful are talking possible playoffs with Miami looming next week. Get a grip folks, we still have New England and Dallas left.

In baseball, Phillie's shortstop Jimmy Rollins, center fielder Aaron Rowand and second baseman Chase Utley collected some well-deserved hardware this week. Rollins and Rowand won Rawlings Gold Glove awards for outstanding defense and Rollins and Utley won Silver Slugger awards for excellent hitting at their respective positions. Rollins has a good shot at making it back-to-back MVP awards joining Ryan Howard, last years winner.