My Fave Eagles Story Of The Day

It’s hard reading Eagles stories the day after a disappointing loss — and, for the most part, I’ve just been skimming — but this is a story I read all the way through. Using the popular “traded emails” format, we learn that, indeed, the Eagles were not any easier to watch in Iraq than in Philadelphia. Or Arizona, for that matter.

But, you know, maybe the only appropriate place for Eagles fans to watch that game was in a war zone.

It did not look any better from Iraq [Inquirer]

Sigh.

Alas. As usual, I am incorrect. Coulda, shoulda won. Oh well.

On a side note, I agree with ?uestlove.

Eagles’ Gritty, Run-Oriented Offense

Paragraph in Bill Bradley’s column in today’s Sacramento Bee:

While the Cardinals and the Eagles have been reborn in the playoffs, there’s no changing their wings. The Cardinals, who had the NFL’s third-highest scoring offense, have become more balanced but still like to air it out. The Eagles play gritty run-oriented football.

Presumably, Bill Bradley was not in Philadelphia this fall for the non-stop torrent of every Eagles fan ever urging the team to throw the ball. But, you know, maybe he could have like looked up the Eagles to see if they were, indeed, a running team? And, hey, look! The Eagles page on NFL.com has them 6th in passing yards and 22nd in rushing yards!

But whatever: This was a major story in the NFL all season. And Andy Reid, coach of the Eagles, is famous for passing the most of any coach in NFL history. If you are paid to write about football, you should know this. You have to know this! You could not possibly be a big football fan and not know that Andy Reid likes to throw the ball.

I don’t think it’s just a typo or slip, and not just because he clarifies that the Eagles’ rushing attack is “gritty.” The column’s about how people should root for the Ravens and Cardinals if they want a high-scoring, fun, non-boring Super Bowl. Nevermind that Brian Westbrook and Donovan McNabb are known for being pretty damn exciting or that people enjoy defensive football more than people like, say, low-scoring basketball. Or that the Steelers were so exciting the last time they played in the Super Bowl they threw a wide receiver pass, the first time it had ever been done in the big game.

My question is: Why is this a column? Who to root for in the conference championships? What football fan doesn’t already have a rooting interest? Sure, I’m an Eagles fan, but I have teams I tend to enjoy because of a certain player or two, or their history or colors or they had Ickey Woods or whatever. I generally have soft spots for the Steelers and Bengals, and maybe the Lions out of pity. I guess I could root for a team so that the next time I watch football there is a chance it will be more exciting, but, I dunno, I think I’ll stick to hoping the Eagles face the Steelers in the Super Bowl because it’d be neat to have an all-Pennsylvania game, and I think it would be interesting to see if each team’s fans could actually be civil and not murder each other. (I’d actually say this is more likely than you think.)

I know it’s not a big deal. I write more than enough about stupid stuff, and “who to root for” isn’t exactly the worst thing ever. The new service journalism, telling you who to root for in athletic contests and then rendering that service moot by reporting the team with the coach that throws more than any coach in NFL history has a gritty rushing attack.

Leading Off: Want an exciting Super Bowl - or a boring one? [Sacramento Bee via FanNation]

Finally, A Way To Track Andy Reid’s Weight

Hey, sports fans! I know what you all really want to see, and that’s a slideshow of Andy Reid through the years. Oh, man, there’s Reid and his wife at a 76ers game in 2001! Who could forget that time? And a munch younger Reid in 2001! And…

Holy God, this thing is thirty photos! I guess I’m going to have to go through and pick out the highlights, this slideshow is so important. Well, let’s see: Actually, I remember photo number four, or at least I remember when the Eagles finally clinched the division for the first time since 1988. (I was there. The girl who gave me the tickets for my birthday is now married. Aww, how nice.)

Photo #7 is our first interesting one so far, because Reid has a funny expression. And, wow, he really still has lost a lot of weight since then, even if he hasn’t kept it all off. Kudos, Andy.

Speaking of weight, here’s Reid eating sundae at training camp (photo #10) in 2002. I really enjoy the caption: “Eagles head coach Andy Reid bites into a ‘Andy Reid’ sundae, and he said a ‘monday & tuesday’ at training camp in 2002.” Are we to assume Reid stood there for two days eating sundaes? I’m pretty sure that’s it. By the way, 33.3 repeating done!

And now I’m nearly halfway in, and here’s Andy Reid coaching the Pro Bowl, which used to be an annual occurrence. Look, Jeff Garcia is in the background! The previous three or four Reid photos before this one were all just him at a press conference. Useful. But think of the pageviews!

Halfway through, and photo #15 is just a drawing of Andy Reid. Ha ha, whoever drew it made him super fat.

Photo #20. Man, is there any expression for Donovan McNabb but “goofy”? I really don’t think so.

Ha, ha, photo #24 isn’t even of Andy, it’s of his son Britt following a guilty plea. Classy, Philly.com. I would have gone with an instructional drawing of how to put pills up your ass, but that’s just me.

Then, after a ton of Reid son photos, we’re back to football at #28, from a preseason game this year. The slideshow didn’t include that photo from the back of the Daily News the year the Eagles went to the Super Bowl, the one I was looking for and expected to see, possibly the only interesting photo of Andy Reid ever. But whatever, at least there were 7 shots of him at press conferences!

Photo #30. I dunno; maybe this expression isn’t goofy? Kinda, still, though. And by the end I think Andy has gained all the weight back, though he definitely looks better now even though he’s older. Come on, Andy, you can do it!

Eagles Fans Agree: Eagles Are Awesome!

Know what the best part of the local sports team doing well is? Well, right, it’s that if you’re a fan of that local sports team, you feel awesome. (I have no idea why, but things just work that way, okay?)

Somewhere down the list of “good things about local sports team doing well” is that the local media ends up quoting pretty much every Eagles fan it wants to. Take this story about a morning rally in the concourse near Suburban Station. From it, we get these excellent analyses of the Eagles’ chances in Sunday’s NFC Championship:

• “It ain’t nothing but a Super Bowl, baby! No ifs, ands, or buts, or maybe!” (This was, as you may have guessed, Monty Gee, who “showed up after hearing media reports announcing the mini-rally.” That is by far my favorite part of the article.)
• “I fly high with the Eagles! I fry with the Eagles! I bleed green!”
• “My son called all the way from France spelling out Eagles.”
• “I’ll do anything for the Eagles.”
• “It’s in the stars! It’s in the cards!”
• “I’m very excited.”
• “I think this is the year.”

In conclusion? Yes, Eagles fans are excited about their team’s success.

Fans aflutter this morning over Eagles win [Inquirer]
Photo by pimpexposure used under a Creative Commons license