At Least The Vikings Have This Announcer

The Vikings may have been vanquished by the Eagles yesterday, but Vikings fans shouldn’t be too upset. I mean, at least they still have KFAN’s Paul Allen doing play-by-play. An example (click the arrow to play):

Adrian Peterson touchdown run call

It really gets good/hilarious after Peterson scores. It’s the kind of thing that makes you love Eagles PBP man Merrill Reese more and more.

Eagles Are Playoff Bound!

Can you believe it?! Watch Jeffrey Lurie hit his wife in the face above (via Philly SportsCast) and check out Tony Romo lying on the ground after turning the ball over (via The 700 Level) and then get up and celebrate, because the Eagles are going to the playoffs! Unbelievable.

Darren Daulton’s Ring For Sale

Not everyone is as lucky as the bankers and automakers; not all of us can just go to Congress and ask it to print up some free money. And, so, yet another consequence of the poor economy: Pro athletes are selling their beloved championship rings.

THe website Championship-Rings.net lists a ton of athletes’ title rings for sale, including this 1993 National League championship ring and Darren Daulton’s 1983 NL pennant ring! Daulton played only 2 games in the 1983 season as a September callup, so perhaps he’s not too attached to that one. The ‘93 ring says it is also from a player; no word if Jeff Manto needs some cash.

You can also get this 1913 Philadelphia A’s ring if you have, like, a million billion dollars.

The site also has this ring from the 1976 All-Star game in Philadelphia that belonged to Bob Lemon. The Hall of Famer retired in 1958, so one can assume it was just a really weak league that year.

Last but not least, there’s this “sample ring” from the 2008 World Series; it has Pete Rose’s name on the side so you can totally fool your friends and say you got Charlie Hustle’s World Series ring. A steal at $3,000!

There are a ton of rings in other sports, too: There’s this 1980 NFC Champions Eagles ring that belonged to an unnamed player and this sample ring from the same year. Naturally, these were made by Jostens, so they’ll match your high school graduation ring. There’s also a staff member’s 2004 NFC ring.

The Flyers are a little more flush, as there appear to only be sample rings available for the Stanley Cup wins. Nothing from the 76ers; those two teams either don’t sell their rings or sell them on the black market. And if you’re really interested, an XFL championship ring is available for just $16,000.

Update: Look! 1985 Villanova National Championship ring! Penn State 1982 national title! PSU’s 1994 undefeated season!

Man, who buys all this crap?

Reggie And The Angry Inch

Here’s Reggie Brown failing to score at the end of yesterday’s game (with bonus audio from Merrill Reese) via The 700 Level. Reese after the call is upheld by booth review: “And I think the Eagles season is over.” Not true! A win over Dallas next week coupled with losses by Tampa Bay and Chicago (who can also lose tonight) will put the Eagles into the playoffs at 9-6-1. Who knew, right?

Self-Plagiarism Alert!

Thought you could get away with it, eh, Daily News! Didn’t count on me being a huge nerd with a memory for ridiculously stupid things, did you? Today’s DN sports page uses the same headline it did back in 1992 when Calvin Williams was just short on a first down in a game against the 49ers.

I don’t think it’s a big deal at all, obviously; but I did some checking, and apparently that Eagles-49ers game was on November 29. This Christmas headline has the advantage of at least coming sometime around Christmastime.

Liveblogging Eagles-Redskins

Donovan McNabb was benched. The Eagles were 5-5-1. The best team in the NFL, the Giants, loomed after the Thanksgiving game against the Cardinals.

But then McNabb’s wife had twins, and the Eagles are undefeated ever since. Combined, the twins have 21 receptions for 336 yards and 5 touchdowns, and one of the toddlers even scored a touchdown out of the Wildcat formation.

Everything has fallen in place for the Eagles; with Tampa Bay’s loss to San Diego today, if the Eagles win today and next week against Dallas, they make the playoffs. Today, the Eagles play at Washington. Let’s liveblog this. More »

Half Correct Eagles Sweatshirt

This is amusing enough that I’ll post it despite the oh-so-horrible “FAIL” meme being attached to this photo. I’m in your base, killin’ your dudes!

Pruf E-A-G-L-E-S Phans Onley No Hau Tu Spel 1 Wurd Rite [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

Eagles-Browns Live Twittering

Since I was off doing interviews this afternoon I figured I might as well try to entertain you this evening instead. So: Yes, tonight, the Eagles attempt to keep their slim playoff hopes alive against the Cleveland Browns, find updates on my Twitter. Let’s go Eagles, et cetera.

Why The Eagles Will Win The Super Bowl

Every sports fan has a conspiracy theory about his favorite sport. Juiced baseballs. Collegiate referees betting on games and making a killing. Forced steroid injections.

A lot of these theories are bunk, but this one is true: The NFL is rigged. It’s the only major sport that uses radios. Referees have a lot of leeway about what calls to make. People gamble a lot of money on it. Come on, last year’s Super Bowl? No way Eli Manning leads a game-winning drive to beat the 18-0 Patriots. No way.

Now that I’ve given you this mountain of circumstantial evidence (and not even, really), I hope you’ve come to agree. But don’t fret! It’s like pro wrestling: The actors have a lot of leeway, and it’s still pretty fun to watch. And there’s an added bonus: Since the NFL is rigged, this football season has only one logical conclusion.

The Philadelphia Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl.

Think about it: There isn’t a much better story than Andy Reid and the once-benched Donovan McNabb rallying the Eagles to finally win the big one. Even if it’s not the NFL has to be worried about this city embracing the Phillies after winning the World Series. (The NFL saw only two football moments on that 100 years of Phillymag piece and was totally concerned.)

I hope the NFL doesn’t mind my suggestion here for a way to end the regular season. If things fall as they might, the Eagles and Cowboys’ final regular season game could be a “play-in” game for the playoffs. The Eagles would be 9-5-1; Dallas 9-6. The game goes to overtime. Nobody can move the ball… and the game can end with Donovan McNabb kneeling out for the tie that puts the Birds at 9-5-2 and puts them into the playoffs.

The rest is easy: Beating up on a bad division champ in the wild card round, beating the Giants at the Meadowlands again in the divisional round, et cetera. Now that I’ve mentioned it, doesn’t it all just seem to fall into place?

McNabb To Start Thursday

Hey, all this? Right, of course: Forget about it, kind of, at least. Because Andy Reid has obviously decided to start McNabb at quarterback on Thursday night against the Cardinals.

Donovan McNabb will be the starting quarterback on Thursday night against Arizona, coach Andy Reid announced.

“Donovan is the quarterback for this football team,” Reid said toward the end of his Monday news conference. “I don’t want to leave here until you understand that.”

Then Reid got up and abruptly left the NovaCare auditorium.

So, ah, the media understood, I assume? That Daily News blog post also helpfully notes that the Fox pregame show “was before McNabb was pulled.”

McNabb to start at QB [Eagletarian]