Reid’s Sons Put Asterisk Next To ‘04 NFC Title

Yesterday’s sentencing of Andy Reid’s sons on drug and other charges wasn’t just a loss for them. It was a loss for the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles. As the Daily News‘ Will Bunch notes:

The sons of an NFL coach using steroids — does that set off alarm bells for anyone else? Will authorities start asking what kind of contacts might Garrett and Britt Reid have made inside the Eagles clubhouse?

I’m sure Garrett, out on the streets of North Philly slinging rock, ran into Brian Dawkins and made the connections there. This is the only logical explanation for the Eagles getting over the hump in 2004 and finally heading to the Super Bowl after three straight Championship Game losses. They might as well put a big asterisk on the NFC Championship Trophy.

George Halas and John Heisman are rolling over in their graves. James Naismith is, too, for good measure. I can’t believe the Reid sons sold steroids to the entire Eagles team. Especially the punter. How could you, whatshisname?!

A friend IMs: “I also worry whether or not they taught Donovan how to smuggle pills up his ass. Perhaps that’s why he’s running so poorly.”

Why are steroids illegal, again?

Philly: Not The Cowboy Capital Of The World

Today’s Metro contains an article about Cosmo Fattizzo, a Kensington school truancy officer who participated in Cowboy U: Colorado, the sixth season of the CMT reality show. It’s like Survivor in that the contestants have to go out and rough it, but it’s unlike survivor in that you probably don’t have to eat bugs.

Fattizzo takes a strong stance against Geno’s:

“They shot me walking to 9th Street and shopping at the Italian Market,” he said. “They kind of tried to get a real South Philly angle. They were like, ‘Let’s go get a steak at Geno’s.’ And I said, ‘But guys, I don’t eat Geno’s steaks.’ They said, ‘Come on.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but I don’t do that.’”

But the real treat is the article’s sidebar, about how three of the remaining female contestants have ties to the area — although the one’s a bit of a stretch — along with Fattizzo. But the show says they weren’t specifically looking to recruit Philadelphians, even with our long tradition of watching cowboy reality shows on a channel I’m not even sure Comcast carries. (Okay, I’m pretty sure they carry it.)

The money quote from CMT spokesperson Natasha Powell:

“It was sort of a complete coincidence. It could just be that [Philadelphia] had good candidates, people really interested in becoming cowboys and cowgirls. There is no conspiracy to take over Philadelphia and make it cowboy capital of the world or anything.”

Yeah, if there’s one thing we like in Philadelphia, it’s the Cowboys.

SouthPhiladelphia native stars on cowboy reality show [Metro]

Weldon Blamegate Update

Since the homes and offices of his daughter and her associates were raided Monday of last week, Curt Weldon has pretty much blamed every single person on the planet for the raid. “It’s politically motivated,” he says, and blah blah blah, etc. He’s involved in a tough re-election battle with Joe Sestak, and it appears he wants to figure out how to make the voters believe there’s some conspiracy against him.

But how to keep track of each new and exciting person responsible for the FBI raid that Weldon manages to pull out of his ass? Yes, a tough task indeed. Which is why I’m going to try to figure it all out here, after the jump.

More »

Weldon Accuses 95 Percent Of America For FBI Raid

Monday’s FBI raid of Congressman Curt Weldon’s daughter and friend’s houses and offices was met with the usual list of suspects: Democrats, the Liberal Media, etc.

But yesterday Weldon came up with another one: A former FBI agent said someone in opponent Joe Sestak’s campaign knew the raid was going to happen! Because political neophytes usually have inside info with the Bush Justice Department. But that’s not all. KYW 1060 recaps who Weldon has accused so far:

In an interview with the Daily Pennsylvanian this week, Weldon accused former President Bill Clinton, the left wing group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, former CIA official Mary McCarthy and others of involvement in sparking the FBI probe.

Actually missed that one on the DP interview, but, yep, that’s the old Bill Clinton chestnut. Geeze. All he needs to do is all liberal gays and communists and he’ll pretty much have blamed everyone in the whole entire world. For the Bush Justice Department’s investigation of his daughter and his friend.

Let’s just put this really clear: Curt Weldon is a blithering idiot. If you vote for him, so are you.

Weldon Says He Knows Who is Behind FBI Investigation [KYW 1060]
Archives: Curt Weldon

Lottery fever (for conspiracies)

If you were in New Jersey yesterday, you might’ve had the opportunity to buy a “Mega Millions” ticket. The jackpot was up to $267 million, and, unfortunately for us, the winning ticket was sold in Ohio.

Northwestern Ohio, huh? Sounds pretty rural. Seems like this letter in the Daily News a few days ago might be on to something:

If you look at large winnings in these mega-lotteries, why is it always a white person in a rural or suburban town who wins the big money? With today’s technology, you can’t make me believe that this isn’t fixed.

Why is it that no one in an urban area like Philadelphia has ever won the huge jackpot? Blacks make up a large part of the participation in these mega-lotteries, and we never, ever win. Black America, we need to stop playing THEIR game and take our money and invest in our future the right way. Now, that’s the big payoff!

The advice to stop playing lotteries is probably a good thing — since the lottery is just a tax on people who can’t do math. And our letter writer is correct, no one in the city has ever won the mega-lottery. With today’s technology, you can’t sway me with facts!

The mega lotteries [DN, fourth letter]
Philadelphia Retailer Sells Winning Powerball® Ticket Worth $52 million [PA Lottery]
Winning Mega Millions Ticket Sold in Ohio [AP/WSAV3]

Robbing Andre to pay Nate

Despite the Flyers and Sixers going undefeated this weekend (they were both 0-0), it wasn’t a great weekend for Philadelphia sports — although the Soul did win. Put simply, Andre Iguodala got screwed. Iggy (or Dre or AI2, take your pick) should have won the dunk contest.

Seriously. Look at where he is in the photo. You see how his head’s about to slam into the backboard? Yeah, he ducked and dunked on a reverse after taking a pass from Allen Iverson off the backboard. He dunked from behind the backboard. I seriously am still unsure of how it happened.

The trophy went to 5-foot-9 Nate Robinson, who did have some impressive dunks — including one over shortest-dunk-contest-winner Spud Webb, but if you dunk it from behind the backboard, you deserve to win. There was a rumbling that Kenny “The Jet” Smith changed his vote so Robinson would win, but that’s not true. He did, though, give Iggy too low of a score.

If you missed Dre’s dunk, video’s available at NBA.com, though it’s not really loading for me, so before it disappears, you can check out the dunk over at YouTube.

Dwarves suck (Politically correct title alteration by me) [The 700 Level]
Rim Shot [DN]
Win puts Soul in a tie for first place [Inky]

Blogicized: The kids are alright

• Daniel Rubin does the unthinkable: He not only finds a nice SEPTA employee, he finds the nicest SEPTA employee in the world. Are you like me? Did you imagine the nice SEPTA employee as the “This is an eatin’ town, and I’m an eatin’ man” guy in the ads? [Blinq]

• Not content to have the market cornered on kids rocking out, the Paul Green School of Rock is launching a magazine, and fight the good fight against, oh, all that is annoying in the music world. Rock on. [Philebrity]

• Will Bunch has gone through and come up with a totally awesome conspiracy theory regarding Samuel Alito’s wife crying at the Supreme Court hearings the other day. I don’t know what’s more disturbing: that it actually makes a lot of sense, or that, if it’s true, I just want to cheer because it’s so diabolically clever. [Attytood]

• Once again, Eagles fans are the best in the world. [Philly Future]

Metro: Uncovering conspiracies you didn’t even suspect

First, a note: I must apologize for the amount of one-liners today. I’m busy with a story. Yes, yes, that’ll do. (No, I really am.) Anyway, to get on topic: The “Today’s Debate” in the Metro:

I’m relatively sure this person is kidding. (I laughed, so, you know.) But if she’s not… she’s either crazy, or she just uncovered a nefarious pl — oh no, it’s Hurricane! What are you doing with that wire, Glenn? Ack!

…

U.S. Editions [Metro]