Allen Iverson

a couple of people have emailed me asking why i think bobby clarke should be fired but i never say anything about billy king. truth be told, i think king is just as bad as clarke but realistically, this is only his third season as the GM of the sixers. since the devil had final say on personnel when he was still here, you can't blame billy completely for the either the lack of overall talent on the team or the fact that they have never been able to pair AI up with a decent big man. clarke has had two stints and, what, 10 years as GM of the flyers? there is no comparison, CLARKE MUST GO!

however, the real point of this blurb is about AI. he's the real reason why i haven't said anything about king. i'm too busy just watching and enjoying the AI show while it's still here. he's been a special player, and he'll be gone soon. i don't have any expectations that this team will contend for a title, so it's almost a relief to just watch and enjoy the show. my friend ben said the same thing about the phillies over the summer. he was just enjoying the show. i couldn't do the same with the phils because of "the head." i just detested him that much. but i don't hate billy king... i think he stinks at his job, but hey, at least he tries. ed wade didn't really try and was condescending to people who asked him to try.

but back to AI... here is something that bill simmons recently wrote about AI:

There's an astonishing Iverson season in the works, and it's not getting nearly enough attention: Through 15 games, he's averaging 33.6 points and a jaw-dropping 43.9 minutes per game, 7.9 assists and only 2.9 turnovers, and shooting 46% from the field. C-Webb's addition has pushed Iverson to another level -- he's getting easy baskets, doesn't have to handle the ball as much, seems like he's enjoying himself and everything else. Amazing player, amazing career. Too bad I don't feel as good about his team.

(Historical footnote: A.I. definitely cracks the starting five of my "We'll Never See Another Player Quite Like This Again" Team, along with McHale, Barkley, Magic and Gervin. Those have to be the five most unique players of all time. Even with Larry Bird, there were parts of his game that reminded people of Rick Barry. There is simply no historical precedent for McHale, Barkley, Iverson, Magic and Gervin. They made AND broke the mold.)

and that's coming from a boston fan.

AI has flaws and warts, but boy has he been a pleasure to watch. the heart, desire, and athletic ability he has shown over the years have been remarkable, just remarkable. i think it's a shame that he's made some stupid mistakes that have overshadowed his greatness, but i also think there are too many members of the philadelphia media who emphasized the negative aspects of allen's tenure here and blew them waaaay out of proportion. of course the devil with his sneaky and backstabbing ways had something to do with that as well, but that doesn't absolve the media for their pack of dogs behavior.

my advice is to enjoy him while he's here, philadelphia. you'll miss him when he's gone... more than you realize.

Apology To Juan Castillo

dear mr. castillo,

i am sorry for doubting your ability to develop young offensive lineman. i freely admit that in the past i have openly wished for the eagles to hire a "proven" offensive line coach like alex gibbs or jim mcnally. while it is premature and probably openly optimistic to think that all of the young lineman on the eagles are going to develop into solid nfl caliber offensive linemen, i must admit that i am have been impressed with their play so far. while i do still wish the eagles o-line played a little meaner, it seems you are as good as advertised.

so i apologize to you and i hope you continue to develop these guys so our franchise QB can stay healthy.

Wednesday Links

- i was talking to someone at lunch yesterday who opined that the eagles were in danger of the trap that befell a lot of other teams at the end of a successful run, namely that they were getting a little old. i politely disagreed, because if anything, they've erred to the other side in letting older guys go. despite what the radio morons say, i think that is the right approach. here's an article by marc narducci talking about all the young eagles who are getting a chance to play.

- phil simms doesn't think it's time to question don's leadership ability

- i've agreed with every deal that pat gillick has made so far, including *not* signing wagner for a ridiculous contract. things bode well for our baseball heroes methinks... bob ford thinks so too. too bad gillick had to start with the house of cards that "the head" built.

- phils are on the road to correcting many recent mistakes. "the head" is gone and now they're moving the fences back too.

- looks like fiesta or orange for penn state

- TO for sale















- jeremy shockey being... well... jeremy shockey. yo jer, maybe you should wait for them to actually kick the ball first.



















- TO still considers mcnabb "a friend"

TMQ Feedback

i'm starting to think he's putting this stuff in here on purpose to bait me...

Samkon Gado Play of the Week: Just-up-from-the-practice-squad tailback Samkon Gado ran over Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins on the way to a 33-yard touchdown against Philadelphia.

ran over? i don't even think there was any contact on that play. gado made a terrific spin move and dawkins uncharacteristically whiffed completely on the tackle. unless i'm remembering the play incorrectly, i'd hardly call that running over.

Screaming A Smith

stephen a smith is one of the most annoying columnists i've ever read. how is it possible that someone so dumb actually got himself a column in a major newspaper and a show on espn for cripes sake? i don't think he's as bad as stan hochman because stan is meanspirited while smith just doesn't understand or believe that facts and accuracy are necessary. he thinks screaming things and the fact that his screaming shtick got him "famous" are all you need... because getting famous is ultimately his goal.

where does he rank in terms of my least favorite philadelphia sports columnists ever? i'd put him second behind stan hochman, just ahead of the diane pucin.

Don Has Successful Surgery

apparently, don had his surgery today at hanneman.

Game 11 Thoughts

a hard fought battle against an awful packers team, but a win is a win and, with the rest of the nfc east losing, it keeps playoff hopes alive.

today's game wasn't exactly pretty, but i saw enough good things to be optimistic about the future.

- the jackson five was pretty good considering runyan was the only "starter" playing. green bay doesn't have an elite d-line, but it isn't chopped liver either. grady jackson can be a force in the middle when he wants to be and the kampman/gbaja-biamila end combo is decent. herremans was up and down, but handled gbaja-biamila pretty well on the few plays when i focused on him. the group blocked pretty well on power runs (like they were doing at the start of the game), but seemed to struggle more with the misdirection and delays that andy started mixing in during the game.

- ryan moats looks very exciting and much like a mini-westbrook (i hope brian takes to calling him "mini me"). he actually seems to accelerate a little quicker than westbrook, though doesn't seem as shifty. i like that andy had them out on the field together for several plays -- with ryan in the backfield and brian split out wide.

- hey all you don haters out there, you finally got what you wanted. are you happy now you freaking morons? next season can't come quickly enough for me. the team is much more entertaining with 5 at the helm.

- the d-line was just ok. freak played a pretty good game. mike patterson played pretty well and was active all game (he got the only sack of the day for the eagles defense). cole was ok, though he started running down the line on plays going away from him again. he almost got caught on the bootleg pass that vonta leach dropped early in the third. cole should have been in position to be in favre's face when he turned around, but instead got trapped running down the line. fortunately, leach dropped the ball or it would have been a pretty good gain for them. what happened to truck driver this season? he doesn't look like the same player at all. darwin walker got pushed around all game. is he hurt?

- receivers did a poor job of getting open i thought. not that mcmahon would have gotten them the ball if they did get open, but i think green bay's secondary did a pretty nice job... even al harris.

- phil perkins is convinced that andy isn't calling the plays anymore, that mornhinweg is actually calling the plays now, and that's why the team is running the ball so much. it's certainly possible, and if it's true then i'll be very happy (for the reasons i've previously written about). however, i'm not so sure of that. andy is a control freak, but he also knows that mcmahon isn't mcnabb and that they can't win with mike throwing 45 times a game. big red has shown in the past that he can and will call runs -- the birds rushed for over 2000 yards in both 2002 and 2003 -- so i think he's just playing old school football because he knows it's his best chance at winning right now and they haven't fallen behind big, early like they were doing during their bad stretch. run the ball, keep things close, make some plays at the end to win it.

- why is reno mahe on the team? i am so sick of hearing about how great his hands are. he doesn't have great hands. if he did, he wouldn't drop so many freaking passes and punts. he may have *good* hands, but *good* hands guys who give you nothing else are a dime a dozen. i reiterate: reno mahe, josh parry, and steve spach have no business being on this team. they cannot play. THEY CANNOT PLAY!

- they have to upgrade their linebackers. dhani jones is ill suited for the strong side. i'd move him over to the weak side and get a monster to play the strong side. the bullet is a nice player, but isn't an every down linebacker. i'd move him back to coverage teams full time because he can be a difference maker on kick coverage. that's his best role. simoneau is pretty productive when he's not being asked to play every down. seems like he's making a big play or two every game since he's not worn down. i'd like to see mccoy get on the field and show what he can do.

- what is with the tackling (or lack thereof)? i haven't seen an eagles defense consistently miss so many tackles in a long, long time. even dawkins is missing tackles and that is a rare sight.

- mcmahon overthrew reggie brown on two long passes (the only two passes thrown in his direction all day i think) and never gave him a chance on either pass. it was disappointing.

- i hope bubba franks is ok. he took a nasty shot from dawkins, though it seemed inadvertent as b-dawk was going after the ball.

- you can count on favre chucking it up for grabs a couple of times per game, and like old faithful, he delivered. in fact, when the game sealing pick was called back because of a questionable roughing call, favre was kind enough to give rod hood another shot just a few plays later.

- how about that catch by billy mcmullen mid-way through the fourth quarter. wow! too bad he came up a little short of the first down, but wow what a grab. that pass was a pick waiting to happen.

- it was nice to see akers back to form

- there was a fight in my section. some heifer came dressed in a packers jacket and got into a battle of words with some eagles fans (at one point she said something like "they called me a bad name"). it got physical when her jim brown lookalike boyfriend (wearing eagles garb) got involved. he took two shots flush to the face and didn't flinch. wasn't even fired up about it. impressive.

- JJ didn't blitz that much today and good thing because when they did, it's wasn't very effective.

Thanksgiving Holiday Links

i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! catching up on some news:

- bob brookover takes a look at areas he thinks the eagles need to improve for next season

- tra joins the list of players out for the season. since the season is already lost, i think all these injuries might be a silver lining. it will provide the young players the opportunity to get some game experience and put the team in a much better position to win next season.

- q & a with trent cole

- a "pro-football snob's dictionary" published in vanity fair (link found on footballoutsiders.com)

- phils introduce aaron rowand. hope he's as scrappy as the papers are making him out to be. if he is, everyone's gonna love him.

A Look At The Flyers

went to the hockey game yesterday and watched the philadelphia flyers take a bad loss against the new york islanders.

if hockey was scored on the number of shots and puck possession -- as bobby clarke seems to think it is -- the flyers would have won that game going away... unfortunately hockey games are won and lost on goals scored.

it seems to me that this team is chock full of "just another guy" type players and that without forsberg they have no offensive creativity. also, symptomatic of the overall lack of skill on the team, at least 5 guys completely whiffed on passes yesterday under little to no pressure from the opponent.

taking a player by player look at the roster:

- Derian Hatcher - is completely lost in the new NHL game. i hope he's still recovering from his surgery, because right now he literally spends most of his time just standing around watching guys fly around him left and right. his head spins around constantly like he's trying to get his bearings and he moves like he's stuck in the mud.

- Mike Rathje - the new luke richardson. a big guy who doesn't really hit and is a fourth defenseman at best. nothing special about his game.

- Kim Johnsson - some offensive skill, fairly mobile, but isn't a top flight player. he's a decent fourth defenseman.

- Chris Therien - isn't an NHL caliber defenseman at this point in his career. not that he was a force when he was younger, but at least he could hold his own in the corners. right now, he's easy to knock off the puck, doesn't hit anyone, and is a liability as a passer and shooter.

- Patrick Sharp - marginal NHL player

- Jon Sim - marginal NHL player

- Simon Gagne - can be a second tier star if paired with a superstar, but is rather one dimensional. he has a good shot and a quick release, but can't carry the puck and isn't a great passer. he's a mike gartner type player at best and i think he's best suited for a second line.

- Jeff Carter - probably the most impressive player for the flyers yesterday. plays much longer than 6-3 and reminds me somewhat of mats sundin in terms of wingspan and his ability to carry the puck in open ice. needs to put some mass on his bones as he is too easy to push off the puck and doesn't bring enough of a load when he puts his shoulder into people. has a good shot and a quick release. i think he can develop into a top line quality player if he is able to compete better for the puck. his niftyness with the puck through the neutral zone is an asset.

- Mike Richards - i hope there is more to him than i've seen so far this year. what's his upside? mike ricci? what was all the hype about? richards played between gagne and knuble yesterday and was invisible. i would have liked to see hitchcock try carter on the top line for portions of the game. i see a future for richards as a third line player.

- Branko Radivojevic - high effort guy who doesn't give you much else. he's a fourth line player.

- R.J. Umberger - seems like a decent prospect. haven't seen enough of him to form much of an opinion.

- Peter Forsberg - the most offensively skilled player i've ever seen on the flyers. i heard in sweden they call him "the magic boy," and i can see why. he is consistently great, which i never got a feel for seeing him only a few times a season.

- Mike Knuble - good player, nice shot. best suited for the second line imo.

- Sami Kapanen - was really quite fast and nimble as a young player, but time and injuries seem to have taken their toll. still a good penalty killer.

- Keith Primeau - primeau is the new brind a'mour. flyers fans love him and i can't figure out why. he's a good but not great player and best suited for the third line.

- Michal Handzus - he's similar to primeau but he's a little more physical and a little less offensively skilled

- Turner Stevenson - just a guy

- Dennis Seidenberg - marginal NHL player

- Antero Niittymaki - have seen him play some great games, but he can be had.

- Eric Desjardins - he's the flyers best defenseman and has been for a while... which is a problem. i've always said that if eric desjardins is your best defenseman then you have problems. he's a very good player, don't get me wrong, but he's not a top tier guy. he should be one of the best number 2 defensemen in the league, instead he's stuck as one of the worst number 1 defensemen in the league.

- Robert Esche - an average to above average goaltender, but nothing special. not sure why clarke refuses to get himself a stud goalie. does he really think the flyers would have won a cup without parent playing out of his mind?

- Joni Pitkanen - lots of potential, but mentally seems to be a little fragile. appears to lose confidence easily and can go in the tank when he does.

- Brian Savage - just a guy

- Donald Brashear - great fighter and a scary guy on the ice (both for opponents who are intimidated by his freakish strength and for me whenever i have to watch his stone hands)

this is a stanley cup contending squad? seriously, what's so great about this team after forsberg? ottawa is the best team i've seen this season, and the reason is that they have blue chip talent (alfredsson, heatley, spezza, redden) that the flyers just can't compete with.

CLARKE MUST GO!

Jim Thome On The Move

- lot of things to be thankful about as we head into the holidays. the arbitrator smacked TO in the mouth and, according to espn, jim thome appears to be headed out of town.

White Sox Trading For Thome

The Phillies confirmed Wednesday that they have tentatively agreed to trade first baseman Jim Thome and cash to the White Sox for center fielder Aaron Rowand. The deal will become official pending the outcome of physicals to be taken later this week.

the pat gillick era is starting off with a bang!

- inquirer has some details.

Three years ago, that would have been impossible to imagine. The Phillies expected Thome to help deliver the franchise a trip to the playoffs. He did his part his first two seasons, but injuries helped bring his Phillies career to an unceremonious end. There are some with the Phillies who think Thome, who has been said to be in incredible shape, will be a force next season - a man with something to prove, and still the hitter who hit 89 homers in 2003 and 2004.

call me a cynic, but i interpret that to mean thome's back on the juice.

- the baseball america profiles of the two minor leaguers the phils got in addition to rowand. BA rated gonzalez as the white sox 7th best prospect going into last season.

7. Gio Gonzalez, lhp Age: 19 B-T: L-L Ht: 6-0 Wt: 170
Drafted: HS—Miami, 2004 (1st round supplemental) Signed by: Jose Ortega

Background: A top pitching prospect since he won Florida 6-A state title games at Miami’s Hialeah High as a freshman and sophomore, Gonzalez transferred to private Monsignor Pace High for his senior season. The White Sox might not have been able to grab him with the No. 38 pick had he not been dismissed from the team following a dispute between his mother and the coach over his brother’s lack of playing time. He signed for $850,000.

Strengths: Gonzalez has an advanced feel for pitching for someone so young, with good command of a nice collection of pitches. His 87-90 mph fastball peaks at 94, but his out pitch is a tight curveball he throws in any count. He also has a decent changeup.

Weaknesses: Because he does not have a powerful build, some scouts wonder about Gonzalez’ durability. He carries himself with an air of cockiness that could get tiresome, especially if he struggles.

The Future: Gonzalez handled low Class A in his pro debut but probably will begin 2005 back in Kannapolis. He should move faster than most high school pitchers.

2004 Club (Class) W L ERA G GS CG SV IP H HR BB SO AVG
Bristol (R) 1 2 2.25 7 6 0 0 24 17 0 8 36 .198
Kannapolis (Lo A) 1 1 3.03 6 6 0 0 33 30 1 13 27 .244

daniel haigwood wasn't rated nearly as high, but seems solid.

The best way to describe Haigwood is that he just wins. He went 43-1 at Midland High in Pleasant Plains, Ark., and he has gone 32-11 as a pro. He had one of the better statistical years among minor league pitchers in 2005, going 14-3, 2.82 in 26 starts between high Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham. He had a 160-64 strikeout-walk ratio in 144 innings, while limiting opponents to a .223 average and eight homers (including a .170 mark and no homers in Double-A).

A 16th-round pick in 2002, Haigwood missed all of 2003 after having surgery to fix a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He doesn't overwhelm hitters so much as keep them off balance. His curveball is his best pitch, his changeup has improved and he throws both two-seam and four-seam fastballs. His sinker is better than his four-seamer, which ranges from 88-92 mph.

Haigwood, 21, isn't a top-shelf pitching prospect, but he's worth watching. I can't imagine he's untouchable, but I also doubt the White Sox are just looking to give him away. Lefties with command of multiple pitches aren't easy to find.

Awwwwww, yeah!

richard bloch upheld not only the 4 game suspension but also the deactivation for the rest of the season.

"The finding is that the club has shouldered its burden of proof of clear and convincing evidence of play misconduct in that the four-week suspension was for just cause," Bloch wrote in his decision. "Additionally, there was no inherent violation of the labor agreement in the club's decision to pay Owens but not practice or play him due to the nature of the player's conduct and its destructive and continuing threat to the team."

according to mike florio of profootballtalk.com, the birds can now go after 1.75 million of the signing bonus they gave TO last season and can use the salary he'd make during his deactivation period to offset that debt. the bottom line is that TO won't get another cent from the philadlephia eagles, and he'll actually owe them 700k. couldn't happen to a nicer guy. hope those houses sell soon fella.

now, go piss on someone else's parade you *sshole.

Wednesday Links

- phil sheridan thinks the eagles should just cut TO to prove to send a message to the world that they're not petty or vindictive. screw that! i say nail him to the wall. i want a pound of flesh from the guy who ruined the karma on this team and started tearing the locker room apart. TO is a terrorist plain and simple, don't give him what he wants.

- stan hochman writes about don in his column today. i won't link to it because i don't much care for hochman. i think he's a hateful, spiteful little man who always has an agenda.

- john smallwood writes about the unfortunate "paradeless generation". at least i was fortunate enough to experience the golden era of philadelphia sports 75-83. none of the poor kids born after 1983 have ever had a chance to root for a champion.

- well, rob maaddi goes in the dumbass pile. today he writes that every aspect of the team was playing bad *except* for TO but doesn't find any interesting coincidence there. hey rob, people who suck the life out of other people are never affected by their own actions.

- flyers continue to lose. a couple of weeks ago, i wrote that i thought the flyers were "big team, not enough skill, too slow, goaltending not good enough" and i think most of that was evident in yesterday's loss. tampa beat them to every puck and played with more energy and desire. they were winning a couple of weeks ago, but i didn't like the look of the team. now they're not winning, and i don't think it's just something that they need to work through -- there are major structural problems with this team. i also wrote this a couple of weeks ago and i stand by it.

benjamin franklin once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." we've been watching the beloved bobby clarke build the same team over, and over, and over, and over, and over... coaches have come and gone. star players have come and gone. pretty clear at this point whose fault it is. isn't it? CLARKE MUST GO!"

- wagner visited the mets yesterday and took a shot at the ballpark. ph*cking morons. why in blazes would they build such a bandbox? does montgomery think it makes him look better when he says they didn't intend to build it so small? when he says no one made a decision to build it that size, it just ended up that way, doesn't he know that it highlights what a second class operation he is running?

- i'd bet dollars to doughnuts there is more to this story than just cheapness. when they can only get lennox lewis to donate for the muhammad ali center, then that tells me there was a problem with the process or the people who were soliciting donations. i bet they just turned tiger, michael, and shaq off.

TMQ Feedback

only one issue with TMQ this week:

He's a Hundredth of a Second Faster Because He Lost Three Grams, Clint: Matt Jones of Arkansas, the Associated Press reported last winter, turned heads at the Combine by running the 40-yard dash in 4.41. There's no chance the measurement was accurate down to the hundredths of a second. But even if it was: who cares? Jerome Mathis, AP went on, recorded a 4.32, best wide-receiver speed at the Combine; Courtney Roby was second at 4.36 and Troy Williamson recorded a 4.38 for third best. These distinctions are meaningless! Even assuming perfect measurement, 4.32 is 0.9 percent faster than 4.36. Someone who can run a 4.32 would arrive at the 40-yard marker 13 inches ahead of someone running a 4.36.

The stock of USC's Mike Williams fell at the Combine because he ran the 40 in 4.59. Never mind that Jerry Rice ran a 4.6; it's how you perform in pads, not how you sprint in track shorts. A month after the Combine, when Williams ran a 4.58, the Los Angeles Times sports section devoted an entire story to the notion Williams was "moving up draft boards" owing to his improved time. But 4.58 is 0.2 percent faster than 4.59! Someone running a 4.58 would arrive at the 40-yard marker three inches ahead of someone who runs a 4.59. Meanwhile, ESPN predicted on draft day that Williams would slide owing to a "pedestrian" 40 time. Oh, so he walked!

Tenths of a second matter in judging athletic potential: a 4.4 receiver gets to the marker one yard before a 4.5 receiver. But tenths, in turn, are meaningless in scoreboard terms, since they fly by too fast for human beings to perceive in any meaningful way. Yet just as sportscasters increasingly natter about hundredths of seconds, increasingly even high-school scoreboard clocks show tenths of seconds, while announcers knowledgably speculate about how many tenths of seconds should be on the clock. Last winter in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, during the Wake Forest-West Virginia game, officials huddled at the end watching television replays, trying to decide whether to reset the clock to 1.6 seconds or 1.3 seconds.

he's said this on a number of occasions and i usually ignore it, but today he shot his own argument in the foot. "Someone who can run a 4.32 would arrive at the 40-yard marker 13 inches ahead of someone running a 4.36." thirteen inches over 40 yards *is* a meaningful difference if we are talking about 13 inches at game speed. that's the difference between not getting to a deep ball and getting to a deep ball. the reason that randy moss is a game (and defensive scheme) changing player is because he has that extra 13 inches. thirteen inches is the difference between a superbowl win and a superbowl loss. if kevin dyson had an extra 13 inches over 40 yards, would an extra prorated 2.5 inches have allowed him to break mike jones' tackle instead of being stopped an inch short of the goal? doesn't seem outside of the realm of possibility to me. imo, an extra 2.5 inches likely would have meant a broken tackle and a super bowl championship for the titans.

speed isn't everything in the nfl for a receiver -- reading defenses, route running, ball skills, hands, and getting off a jam are critical to success as well -- but it does separate the deep threats from the non-deep threats and that is definitely significant.

Monday/Tuesday Links

didn't get to read much news yesterday... so here is all of it today

- les bowen asks the question of the day

So, here's a question to ponder: If McNabb had undergone surgery right then, 8 weeks ago, when the Eagles were 2-1, would the team be any worse than 4-6 today? Wouldn't Terrell Owens, given no reason to speculate in an interview about what the team's record might be with Brett Favre instead of McNabb, still be here? Wouldn't McNabb be just about ready to come back by now? Wouldn't there be a lot more hope than there is today?

boy, did he hit the nail right on the head. if don had gone out instead of playing through his injury (and playing well below his "potential"), then we'd be looking at him as a returning savior instead of a scapegoat. huge strategic blunder by andy and don. playing through it might have been the best *tactical* move in that don at 80% still gave the birds the best chance to win, but it obviously was the worst strategic move they could have made... and not only for the huge PR hit don took but also for the increased risk to aggravating the injury (which also happened, grr). really, really, bad job of management on this one.

- john smallwood's take on the same issue

Now, nearly 9 weeks after McNabb first ignored the surgery option and decided to try to play through the injury, was it worth it? Strictly in terms of the goal of winning Super Bowl XL, I'll stick by what I said when we were told that while McNabb's injury couldn't get any worse, surgery was the only way to fix it.

To keep that short-term dream alive, McNabb was right not to have surgery.

I look at the severity of the injury McNabb tried to play through and understand that that is the primary reason the Eagles' season plummeted. I still believe that when healthy, McNabb is one of the NFL's top three or four quarterbacks. And I certainly know that McNabb's time as a Pro Bowl quarterback and a potential Super Bowl winner are not done only because he's had one subpar, injury-plagued season.But I also know that I don't think with a fan's passion.

I understand, a lot of Eagles fans need someone to blame for their Super Bowl dreams being dashed before they carve their Thanksgiving turkey. Donovan McNabb put off surgery, because he thought he was doing the best thing for his team. I'm sure he never thought it would cause such long-term damage to his reputation.

- hope this is coach speak and not what he really feels

Reid said the Eagles had no regrets about letting McNabb continue to play when they knew the quarterback would eventually need surgery.

- rich hoffman is concerned that this eagles team could mimic the jaws/vermeil team and continue to get worse. not so sure about that because i always thought that marion campbell was a big reason why the birds fell as far as they did. somehow i don't see andy letting it get to that point.

- jack mccaffrey says the eagles are now the worst team in town

- kevin roberts is right in his assessment that don has more to fix than just the sports hernia. i hope he's also right in his opinion that don has more support in the locker room than seems evident on the surface.

But McNabb was a different player this year, making inexplicable decisions as if he was raging at some invisible foe by playing outside himself.

For the first time, someone questioned McNabb in his own locker room. And a room full of teammates began looking at the quarterback kind of sideways, wondering how he was going to handle it.

McNabb has not lost the locker room. But he may have misplaced it a little. Owens got in his head, and McNabb played weird. That will be Owens' legacy with the Eagles -- played great, but tried to fracture the locker room and ruin the quarterback. Keep that sentence; it's recycled from San Francisco and will be used again in Owens' next stop.

McNabb has got to fix that. It's not irreparable; the Eagles players absolutely know that if they are to get to the Super Bowl it will be with McNabb as the quarterback. Do not mistake a no-win answer to a hypothetical question about Owens as a shot at McNabb. The quarterback is still respected in the locker room.

McNabb is the leader of the team. Just ask him; he'll tell you. McNabb says it constantly, more lately than ever before. He says it so often it sounds like he's trying to convince himself of something.

This year, for the first time, people needed convincing.

But McNabb has more support in the locker room than the Owens forces would have you believe. When he comes back and plays well -- and there's no reason to doubt that he will -- he'll be the leader again.

The Eagles have a lot of things to fix next season. If McNabb can get healthy, quarterback won't be one of them.

- bill conlin is dead on in his article about how we treat our superstars in this town

Has our frustration at losing so many big ones reached a point where our meager supply of true stars is disposable?

- AI and c-webb seem to be playing pretty well together... well compared to last season they had nowhere else to go but up. i still don't like how webber is basically a jump shooter with limited post up ability, but his passing is top notch and his rebounding is more than adequate. the sixers pounded the hornets last night in ho-hum fashion.

- interesting tidbit from espn about the beckett to boston deal.

The Marlins, if that deal would have been completed, then would turn around and trade Blalock, who would block Miguel Cabrera's return to third base if Florida kept him. Teams known to be interested in Blalock include the Twins, Phillies and Devil Rays.

- bobby clarke's quote in this "tribute to bill lyon" article made me chuckle.

I like his writing. It is very flowery and very descriptive. He is able to put his own imagination down on paper, so that when you read him, you can visualize the things he sees. He seems like a gentle writer. He doesn't attack people.

i can just see bobby tearing up as he thinks about how poorly the media has treated him.

- i'm glad the lions are going after charles rogers' signing bonus. the nfl should go after turds more often.

- what is it with NFL wideouts? are they all insane?

Definition of Sport

i got into a discussion with someone over the weekend about whether baseball is a "sport" or not. well, i don't think baseball is a sport, but not in the negative way that most people who make that statement intend and certainly with no intention to denigrate it. baseball simply doesn't fit into my personal definition of sport.

people call all manner of things sport, and technically according to the dictionary definition, they are correct. if something involves physical activity and/or competition it can technically be called a sport. people make the statement "baseball is not a sport" and if you ask why the response is always something like "it doesn't have enough running" or "look how out of shape [insert fat player's name here] is." that seemed too arbitrary to me, so about 15 years ago, i came up with my own definitions and categories for things that are considered "sports."

my definitions:

sports - interactive athletic competitions that are dynamic in nature. one participant may actively prevent the other participant from achieving their desired goal. football, basketball, wrestling, hockey, boxing, and soccer. each of these interactive engagements have a dynamic nature where a participant can actively and physically prevent their opponent from their goal (micro or macro).

games - interactive athletic competitions that are turn based in nature. one participant makes their best move then waits to see how the competitor responds. baseball, tennis, ping pong, badminton, racketball, squash, and cricket. all of those are primarily turn based activities where a partcipant makes their best move then waits for the opponent to reply. e.g. a pitcher makes a pitch and waits to see if the hitter hits it, the hitter hits the ball then essentially waits to see if a fielder catches it. while it is true that the hitter can run while the fielder is trying to catch the ball, it doesn't impact the fielder's ability to catch the ball. there are a few dynamic aspects to baseball -- runner trying to avoid a tag or runner trying to knock the ball out of the catcher's mitt -- but at its core baseball is turn-based. a good pitcher gets more hitters out because he makes a better pitch when it his turn, not because he can dynamically affect the ball after he let's it go.

athletic feats - individual or competitive feats of athletic ability that are not interactive. these are based on pushing the limits of human ability in a specific activity or movement -- e.g. track and field, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, and weightlifting. none of these are intended to be interactive competitions. it wouldn't matter whether the competitors were taking their turn at the same time or in series.

displays of skill - competitions that are not interactive and usually involve some contrived goal. golf, gymnastics, ice skating, diving, curling, bobsled, and alpine skiing.

don't mean to offend anyone if your "sport" didn't make it into my definition of the word sport. as always, feel free to comment and/or disagree.

btw - i don't think the olympics should include anything i've classified as a game or a sport. imo the olympics should consist primarily of athletic feats with some displays of skill interspersed.

Game 10 Thoughts

the season of poor play and bad karma continues for the philadelphia eagles. it's a good thing i'm well into the stages of grieving... just about at acceptance now.

- the radio schmucks have been bleating for years now about how the sky is going to fall if they keep letting guys go once they hit 30. they must be having a field day with this team gloating about how, for once, "they are right." well, i think they are right to a degree, but not for the reasons why they think they are right. i think it's not really a loss of leadership that's the problem here. i think it's a lack of toughness. most of the players on this team have never really faced adversity before. they have only known winning and are fat and soft (so to speak). they've been the neighborhood bully and this is the first time someone smacked them back. the guys we lost over the years were the 98 lb weakling who built himself up through hard work and dedication. they were the ones who experienced 3-13 and 5-11. if your crew isn't tough, then having a great leader is only going to have an incremental effect. this will be a good experience for the young players to go through. let's see if they have the mettle to respond like the last group of core players did.

- two garbage penalties on michael lewis i thought, but that doesn't mean that i didn't think he played a good game otherwise. he's been a step slow all season and has uncharacteristically been missing tackles. not sure what's going on with him, is he hurt?

- d-line got great pressure from the front four in the first half, but disappeared in the second half. that was the difference in the game imo. secondary looks great if you get pressure, and not so much if the QB can stand in the pocket with impunity.

- trent cole had a really nice game, and is developing into a good player. his pass rushing has always been impressive, but one play in particular play stood out for me -- in the second quarter (i think), he stayed home on the fake run up the middle and pitch to barber sweeping left. in the oakland game on a similar play, he ran straight down the line and got caught out of position, leading to a big raiders gain (and didn't really play much again). it's nice to see him making progress. i also had no problems with him trying to pick up the ball rather than jump on it in the first half. the defense needed to score points if the birds were going to win.

- mcmahon looked shaky in the first half, fumbling all over the place and missing receivers by a mile. he calmed down and played a nice second half though.

- mcmullen was totally at fault on the punt block. he did a complete ole job on tyree.

- i didn't know who he was, so i had to look him up, but #50 (justin ena) just killed the wedge on the opening kickoff of the second half. he pancaked the blocker back into the return guy and stopped the return dead.

- lito's broken ankle was ugly. bad job by the announcers i thought. one of them was saying "gee i don't know what could have happened there. it didn't look like there was any contact." the dumbass apparently didn't see lito's ankle roll to the outside. it's not supposed to move that way, brainiac.

- reggie brown is going to be a good player, but i think he needs to improve his "ball skills". he's fast and he has nice hands, but the guys who are truly number 1 wideouts in this league can track a ball thrown up high and go get it. that doesn't mean they have to be able to out-jump someone for it, but much like an outfielder chasing a fly ball, they have to be able to predict where it's going to land and get to that spot. i've heard people say stuff about improving his route running, but frankly i've never been able to judge anyone's routes either live or on tv. i know that route running is as much about making your first few steps look exactly the same as much as it is about getting to specific spot, but i've never really been able to tell whether someone is running good routes or not.

- the jackson five played pretty well overall imo. mcmahon's "escapability" helped (boy was it nice to see a mobile qb again), but the eagles marched up and down the field in the second half, they just kept tripping on their own feet when they got close. jackson himself looked more vulnerable yesterday than against the cowboys. i think where his size and strength were an asset against the 3-4 with someone on his nose, he struggled a little with having someone lined up in the gap -- possibly due to a lack of experience and/or quickness. i'd still rather have someone who can handle a bullrush though.

- you know it's a bad season when akers misses a gimme at the end to keep the game going.

where does the team go from here? i'm hoping to see these things the rest of the season:

- everyone continues to play hard, which will show me that andy hasn't lost the team
- make progress on getting things back in sync and having everyone focus on the game and not the distractions
- not win *too* many games to ruin draft position

Friday Links

- bill lyon is retiring

- the TO circus continues today

- phil sheridan says don's career is not nearly over

- wayne fish wonders if the birds will continue to pound the ball on the ground

- john salmons' improved play is a big reason for the sixers surge

- i never saw the great one take a dive

- philadelphia marathon is up to 10,000 runners, that's almost twice as many as when sachse and i ran in it just 3 years ago. nice to see it's growing.

It's Official McNabb Needs Surgery Now

- the doc that the birds have been waiting on (william meyers) told don that he has to have the surgery now. in a frustrating typical response, the birds were non-commital about a decision.

- jeff mclane wrote an interesting article about the poor seasons many of the all-time great QBs had in the middle of their careers. all you mcnabb haters out there should read it. of course, the thing that separates all those guys from 5 is the shiny ring(s) on their hand...

Thursday Links

- the foxsports legal analyst doesn't think TO will win his arbitration hearing (link found on footballoutsiders.com)

- anyone out there surprised that don could now have a season ending injury instead of something that was surgically correctable?

- now that don's out, seems like most of the players are hoping to get TO back. this is going nowhere good.

- with don out, running the ball more makes sense. heck, with don in, running the ball more makes sense.

- has anyone who had this said about them ever gone on to have a good season? it's like the kiss of death, isn't it?

trainer Jeff Cooper told him yesterday that Thome is "in the best shape he's ever seen him as an athlete."

- gillick making progress on wagner talks

- penn state still has a shot at the rose bowl.

- another win for the sixers over the winless raptors. the two AIs were mah-velous with allen dominating the game and andre raining down threes. AI jr's shoot has improved markedly over last season. i still don't end up seeing him as a franchise player because he can't create his own shot right now, but maybe it will come. i'd like to see him develop a post up game, as i think that's where he can use his strength and long arms to the greatest advantage offensively.

- flyers lost their second in a row yesterday.

Har Har

i'm sure similar things have floated around the internet for other teams. it's predictable, but it made me chuckle nonetheless

Philadelphia (AP) -
A seven year old boy was at the center of a Philadelphia Pa courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the every degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boycried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the "Philadelphia Eagles", whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating ANYONE!

Wednesday Links

- rich hoffman is wondering the same thing as we are: "is the window closing". rich says no.

McNabb is a good player and he is a winning player - but he has been physically nicked this season, and he has made a series of bad decisions this season, and it is undeniable. How one plays into the other, the physical and the mental, is unknowable. How the tension surrounding Terrell Owens factors into the equation is just as unclear. But don't overblow the T.O. thing. That would be a mistake.

- the heading on phil sheridan's article today is "What happened? Birds are going downhill too soon and too fast." the content wasn't nearly as pessimistic as the title insinuates.

- we could see mike mcmahon's first start as a philadelphia eagle on sunday

- i'm starting to like les bowen more and more. i think he's pinpointed one big residual effect of the TO affair.

There was a time when McNabb prided himself on not throwing the ball up for grabs, when killer mistakes by No. 5 were rare. But like so many things the Eagles used to be able to depend on, McNabb's levelheadedness seems to be a thing of the past. It's almost as if his feud with Terrell Owens has unhinged the quarterback, has left him desperately trying to prove things to the public or his teammates that no one ever questioned before.

- five in a row for the philadelphia 76ers! gotta love mo cheeks.

- seems like there is a pretty good chance that wagner won't be back next season. wonder if venezuela would let urbina pitch in some sort of work release program...

- only one more hurdle for penn state to secure a BCS bowl bid

Game 9 Thoughts

rooting for the philadelphia eagles has probably taken 10 years off my life expectancy... of that, i have no doubt. if there ever was a "gut punch" game (to borrow bill simmons' phrase), last night was it. the only one worse than this one was the tampa game... which of course never happened. lots of blame to go around on this, but none of it would have mattered if don doesn't make that throw. sigh. it's time to shut him down for the season, let him have his surgery and hope he comes back next season mentally ready.

pulling the defeat from the jaws of victory ruined a generally positive night for much of the team

- jamaal jackson = road grader. where have you been? why was honeybuns starting in front of you? i love this guy already... i think he ate la'roi glover last night. held up well in pass protection, but wow what a run blocker. had a couple of botched snaps, but that was expected. this guy is going to be a player.

- offensive line played well except for the penalties, and there were waaay too many penalties. the jackson five dominated the line of scrimmage as the eagles played power football. we didn't see much of the delays, traps, and gimmick runs that andy likes to call. this was line up and blow 'em off the line. "mash, mash, mash, score." in pass protection they were great. hardly anyone got free runs at mcnabb.

- defensive line played pretty well. the tackles dominated the middle of the line and that shut down dallas' running game completely. trent cole had a nice game.

- lito sheppard is too aggressive. i'm not sure what they're going to do about that. if you tell him to stop being so aggressive it might make him too passive. on the terry glenn touchdown, lito either bit on an inside move or he guessed inside. i didn't see what caused it, but lito was waaay out of position on that play.

- it's not only his fault though. the coverage is awful everywhere on this team right now except for sheldon brown.

- too many drops. this game would have been put away in the third quarter if the receivers would have just caught the damn ball. reggie brown, reno mahe, too many drops.

- JJ went into prevent mode and let the cowboys score in 4 plays.

- i spent most of the game saying "it's nice to have our team back". the birds dominated this game and they had no business losing it.

- regarding donovan, the media (especially cataldi and missanelli) will probably be bleating all day about how he's overrated and how the birds should get rid of him. you know what, he's only overrated because of the media. they're the ones that "rate" him in the first place. he's flawed, but he's still the best QB we've had in a while. until they can get someone better than him, i'd rather have him on the team. i don't see mike mcmahon or koy as long term solutions.

- i do have significant concerns about donovan

- i know first hand how it sucks to work with someone who isn't a team player, points fingers and is a general ass. it sucks, no doubt about it, but don looked great for most of the night, and i'm starting to wonder if some of his injury isn't mental. he is so sensitive, that i wonder if he isn't physically affected by negative emotions.

- he keeps making the same mental mistakes over and over and i find it incredibly frustrating.

- when he was taking those beatings from TO, none of his teammates were defending him. this is a great concern. someone on the radio this weekend noted an interesting parallel between don and eric lindros. both of them had off-field issues that got a lot of air time, and neither of them had teammates rushing out to defend them. supposedly, eric wasn't very loved in "the room" and it seems like don isn't either. i've heard rumors that the other players think he is too coddled by the organization. that doesn't seem a like a good omen. he's going to have to do some serious work to win this team back and throwing late game picks isn't helping him.

- taking responsibility... i believe in taking personal responsibility. i believe that much/most of what is wrong with the world today is because people don't want to take responsiblity for themselves. i don't see don taking responsiblity for poor play or bad decisions. he always says the team needs to make plays or play better. being a good teammates means not pointing fingers at others, but being a good teammate also means accepting responsibility for your own performance. i didn't hear the post game press conference because i was stuck in a subway car at the station for a long time, but i did hear a radio announcer say that don said "the team didn't make plays." that is not a good enough answer from him. i hope for his sake that the message he is giving to his teammates is more apologetic and honest.

- "duke" staley's quote should have been "that's eagles football, baby! mash, mash, mash, your fans"

- interesting stat that i heard on the radio yesterday: of the 53 players on the roster only 28 were on the superbowl roster. based on past history, most of those moves will likely pan out, but with that kind of turnover you have to expect to take a short term hit just from a chemistry standpoint.

MNF

i'm very excited about tonight's game. call me insane, but i still expect the philadelphia eagles to win this division. really. with the results of yesterday's games, everything is laid out for the birds to take control again. washington is nothing special and the giants are erratic. i was especially encouraged by eli manning's performance against the porous vikings defense. the vikings doubled plaxico burress all game and it was obvious that eli had no idea what to do in response. a few people emailed me a couple of weeks ago saying they would trade don for eli straight up, well, i wouldn't do then and i definitely wouldn't do it now. eli is still a work in progress. don is much closer to a finished product and i still doubt eli will ever get to where don is when healthy. remember also that don has still never worked with a receiving crew as talented as burress, toomer, and shockey.

for tonight's game, i expect the birds to come out and play with emotion and intensity. i expect don to play well (as he has on most of his previous monday night games). i expect JJ to blitz a lot to get more pressure on bledsoe. i expect parcells to run a lot more and play a lot more conservatively than last game.

i hope the receivers can make some big plays and answer some of the questions surrounding the receiving corps sans TO. i hope JJ is able to scheme some pass rush out of this defense. i hope we can cover witten and glenn. i hope westbrook makes an impact.

i think the birds win 23-16

Monday Links

- rich hoffman replies to the contingent of media and eagles fans who somehow believe this is all donovan's fault

- meanwhile, jack mccaffrey warn that it's not all TO's fault either

- it's up to reggie brown to step up in TO's absence... a lot to of ask of a rookie wideout, but i'm excited to see what he can do. actually, i'm excited to see what mcmullen can do as well. ray didinger says he loved mcmullen coming out of college and apparently the only thing holding him back is confidence. i'm hopeful that the trio of brown, lewis, and mcmullen will be much better than the johnson/small/pinkston and pinkston/thrash/mitchell trios.

- les bowen picks the cowboys to win

- sixers looking great these days. everyone is contributing and allen is playing the best ball of his career. he's still getting his points, but he's getting everyone involved and taking fewer shots to get them. i don't know if that's a byproduct of finally having some other offensive players on the team or mo's influence, but whatever it is the team is playing really well.

- flyers play the lightning tonight... both stink at the penalty kill so we might see some fireworks

- penn state jumps to 5 in the AP poll

Attention All Paranoid Schizophrenics!

attention all paranoid schizophrenics and conspiracy theorists! you've been *helping* the government all along with your aluminum foil helmets! irony of all ironies, they are actually listening devices!

update: stop the presses, could that MIT experiment actually be a government ploy to get people to stop using aluminum foil helmets? you decide.

www.hattrick.org

i put a link to this on the right, but i'd like to discuss in a little more detail as well. before people start ripping me for playing it (just like i ripped the people who introduced me to the game), i know the game is based around soccer and i know it uses "fake" players. despite those obvious flaws, hattrick has proven to be the most entertaining sports simulation game i have ever played because it contains an incredible amount of strategic depth without being overly complex or taking up too much time.

the game puts you in the position of being the owner/general manager of a local team (the sport is irrelevant as you don't need to know anything about soccer to play it) whose threefold goal is to a) compete against the teams in your 8 team division, b) improve your team by bringing in new players and/or training your existing players, and c) remain financially solvent. if you've ever played "franchise mode" on madden or fantasy sports of any kind, i can almost guarantee that you will love this game as it takes those two games to the next level.

each team is placed in a division (or "series" as they are called in hattrick) at the bottom of a pyramid structure where each series below has 4 times as many teams as the series above. each country has it's own pyramid of series starting with one top level series (in the US it's called "Major League") consisting of 8 teams, with 4 series of 8 teams each below it, and 16 series of 8 teams each below that, etc. every season, teams move up and down levels based on performance. at the end of the year, every team that finished in first has a chance to move up to the next highest level. the top half of the teams that finished in first place automatically move up to the next level and swap places with a team that finished in 7th or 8th place in the level above. the bottom half of the first place teams play a qualification game against a team that finished in 5th or 6th place in the level above, the winner getting the position in the upper level. every season, there is the potential for 5 teams to change in each series.

obviously, the goal then is to continuously improve your team to keep moving up and up the ranks. you do that by training your players and buying better players than the ones you have. the system they use to move players amongst the 700,000 teams in hattrick (a little over 6000 in the US) is called the "transfer" system. rather than trading players between teams, where you have to find a trading partner and negotiate. players move from team to team in an ebay style auction system. you list a player for sale at a starting price, and other teams search for players by skill and bid on players they want to buy. the way to improve your team, then, is to train young players in a skill, sell them on the transfer market, and use the funds to buy better players than the ones you have.

the obvious question is, why not just train your players in many skills and improve your team that way? a) you can only train one skill each week, b) most players do not have sufficient starting skill in multiple skills to make it efficient to train, and c) players gain skill more slowly as they age (yes they age, more on that later) so you are better off stopping at a certain age and replacing with a younger player or switching to a new skill and buying a new set of trainees for that skill.

players in this game age. everyone has the same "birthday" so every player in the game ages 1 year at the start of each season (each season lasts 16 weeks so there are a little over 3 seasons per calendar year). several byproducts of this aging are:

- players gain skill slower
- players heal slower from injuries (and eventually never heal at all)
- need to introduce new young players in to the game to replace old players. this is done via a "youth squad" system where each team can promote one player from their youth squad per week. this player is a randomly generated player, so sometimes the player is very young and very skilled or not so young and no so skilled.

from a management standpoint, there are two sides to the game, team management and game management/tactics. i discussed team management a little above, but it also includes factors like: stadium size, how many doctors/coaches/PR people to hire, and what type of coach to hire.

each team plays up to two games (called "matches") a week. one match is your "league" match for the week with an intra-series opponent, the other is either a "cup" match or a "friendly" match. every country has a single elimination tournament of the top 2800 teams, which is called the "cup". teams not qualifying for the national cup or eliminated from the cup may play matches against anyone else in the world at home or away on the same day that cup matches are played. i don't have the time or inclination to go into a lot of detail on game management or tactics, but game options are plentiful enough for team tactics to play an important role in wins and losses but not so deep that you need to know anything about soccer prior to playing this game.

it is by far the best game on the web imo. oh by the way, it's free.

www.hattrick.org

Friday Links

- article about TO in arizona republic (link found on profootballtalk.com)

- coverage of don's press conference yesterday, here, here, and here. anyone else think that having chad lewis on the team throughout this whole ordeal might have helped don deal with this? chad has always been a vocal supporter of don and defended him when people criticized him.

- b-dawk expects 5 to get back to the player he was before TO turned into a karma sink

- first career starts for jamaal jackson and trent cole. i suspect we'll see at least one fumbled snap early in the game, probably the first or second time dallas lines up in a 3-4 with someone right on jackson's nose.

- apparently, TO has put his atlanta house up for sale too. maybe he really does need the money.

- phil anastasia says, "meh, was he really that bad?"

- if pat gillick succeeds in trading thome and getting something in return he will be a hero in this town

- flyers got a win last night in a game where their team outplayed our team but our goalie outplayed their goalie. it's nice to be on the other side of that once in a while.

- how about young joni pitkanen leading the nhl in plus/minus?

- nice to see john leclair back on the ice

- big test for iggy tonight against, arguably, the best player in the nba (probably the biggest turd as well).

- big news, the nfl has agreed to put a team back in LA so the millions of people living there can not care and not watch. my only hope is that it doesn't end up being a tom benson owned team.

All TO, All The Time

- well scratch off one way i thought TO might be able to get on the team. don doesn't seem at all interested in having him back on the team

- i think skip bayless has as good a read as anyone on what makes TO tick.

- in order to thank him for all the free content and storylines, ESPN has decided to rebrand itself ETON

- profootballtalk.com is getting pretty close too

New Email Address

switching to gmail. new email address for blog related comments/feedback/questions/gripes is:

scrapplelog at gmail dot com

Thursday Links

- yet another reason to love sheldon brown. for all the "leaders" on this team, sheldon is the only one who is stepping up to face this issue. all the rest are hiding and/or refusing to comment. sheldon says the birds still have talent and can win without TO. i believe him.

- filip bondy of the ny daily news on the TO situation

- two interesting tidbits in this article from the boston herald. a) the patriots are looking at bobby taylor as a potential replacement at corner and b) rodney harrison publicly ripped duane starks for sucking this season and likely isn't being threatened with a suspension. i'm not sure that bodes well for the birds in their upcoming arbitration hearing for TO's suspension.

- david aldridge discusses the arguments the union is going to present at the arbitration. any lawyer wanna weigh in with thoughts on the hearing? i suspect we'll be seeing TO back on the team if not on the field one way or another -- don may choose to take the high road again and forgive TO publicly or the union may win the grievance or TO fires rosenhaus and blames him for everything.

- two hits in the same week for stephen a smith, this is some kind of record. where are the teammates supporting don in all of this?

- honeybuns is out for the season with a torn rotator cuff. while i am not concerned about his replacement playing much worse than he did, i am concerned about how his replacement will handle the line calls.

- sixers got a big win last night over the mavs (sans nowitzki). the win was especially encouraging because allen and c-webb started off the game shooting blanks. at one point, allen was 2-13 and c-webb was 3-13 yet the sixers were only down 4. in past years, a start like that from allen spelled doom for the sixers. it was nice to see korver and igoudala step up and take control. defensive effort was nice as well, though it was against a depleted mavs team.

TMQ Feedback

yes, definitely think this is going to be a recurring item.

- exhibit 1

Sweet Offensive Line of the Week: On Shaun Alexander's 88-yard touchdown run, the Seattle tailback was never hit; the only contact was a defender's diving brush against the back of Alexander's shoe just before the score. It's pretty fun to run 88 yards when everyone in front of you has already been knocked to the ground. TMQ wonders, has there been a longer run in NFL history on which no one hit the runner?

umm, how about the famous bo jackson monday night run into the tunnel for 91 yards for starters?

- exhibit 2

Sour Play of the Week: Eagles trailing 10-7, Donovan McNabb was sacked at the Washington 31 with less than 20 seconds remaining in the first half, Philadelphia out of timeouts. Urgently, McNabb signaled the Eagles back to the line, making the spike motion as he did so. A clock-stopping spike was expected; instead McNabb took the snap and straightened up to pass, attempting the same trick Dan Marino once played on the Jets. Except -- McNabb's fake was so authentic he convinced his teammates the play would be a clock-stopper, and Eagles receivers just stood there. McNabb was sacked, half over. (Also, false start was called against the Eagles, so had the play worked it wouldn't have counted).

wrong. the false start was on the play *after* the fake spike/sack when the team couldn't get reset in time.

- exhibit 3

Sour Play of the Week No. 2: Game scoreless, Cleveland threw deep along the sideline. Dennis Northcutt caught the ball at the Tennessee 22, where rookie corner Raynaldo Hill was in position to make the tackle. Instead, Hill attempted to snatch the ball out of Northcutt's hands -- and missed him entirely, allowing the Browns receiver to stroll the rest of the way for a 58-yard touchdown. Yours truly blames this on ESPN's SportsCenter. Defensive backs now take silly risks in the hopes of creating highlight plays that will be shown on SportsCenter, instead of just making a routine tackle that ends the down.

it's easy to blame espn for lots of things, but this isn't one of them. *many* defensive coordinators in this league emphasize turnovers over yards including JJ. it's a byproduct of the ball-hawking mentality pushed by teams and not espn imo.

- exhibit 4

Sweet 'N' Sour Play: Leading 3-0 with 23 seconds remaining in the first half, Jersey/A faced fourth-and-1 on the San Francisco 32. Eli Manning play-faked and threw deep to Jeremy Shockey, whose lunging catch and touchdown was all the points the Giants would need. The catch was sweet. But the defense was sour, as Shockey was singled deep with only 23 seconds in the half. Where, exactly, did San Francisco think the play was going to go?

umm, do you suppose they thought it was going to be a run?

- exhibit 5

Funny, Most Clubs Want to Be the Team of the Moment: The Raiders have taken to calling themselves The Team of the Decades.

hello? the raiders started calling themselves that in the *eighties* when people were saying the niners were the team of that decade and the steelers were the team of the 70s. the raiders said, so what? we're the team of the decades.

Wednesday Links

- mike florio says every party is to blame, and it's this confluence of events that lead us to where we are now. (see his post on 10:50 a.m. EST, November 9, 2005)

- les bowen on TO's apology. i think he captures it just about right. what was the real motivation behind the apology? when you combine TO's apology with rosenpuke's positioning, that performance was clearly not aimed at the philadelphia eagles. that performance was for the arbiter and other teams. (incidentally, whenever people mention "arbitration" they always use it in combination with "arbitrator" instead of "arbiter." why use a word with more syllables and more letters? it's extra work for no added benefit. "arbiter" is more efficient, just like "use" is more efficient than "utilize" and "sate" is more efficient than "satiate".)

Rosenhaus angrily denied reports that he would like to divorce his high-maintenance client. He was hired in April with the idea that he would be able to pressure the Eagles into revising Owens' 7-year, $48.97 million contract. But while Rosenhaus was proclaiming how proud he was to stand "110 percent" behind T.O., it wasn't clear that the opposite was true - when Channel 6's David Henry asked what Rosenhaus has done for Owens, other than get him suspended, Owens, standing behind Rosenhaus and out of the agent's view, winked and smiled.

It seemed somehow typical of T.O. that he finally showed he was capable of remorse, and even of introspection, only when it was too late to save his Eagles career. Eagles sources have said that if Owens had been ready to stand before his teammates and express contrition on Saturday, he never would have even been suspended. But Owens is said to have refused to speak to the team on Saturday, provoking what was then a suspension of undefined length, and he apparently had nothing to say on Sunday, when the Eagles struggled through a 17-10 loss to the Redskins without him.

- john smallwood's take

- phil sheridan's take. this may be the best column he's ever written.

Here's what the mayor of Doesn't-Get-It-Ville needs to understand. Sorry for the consequences is not the same as sorry for the actions. Feeling bad about your poor outcast self is not the same as taking responsibility.

It will take more than firing Owens to remove the toxic cloud he has left behind. McNabb, his primary victim, will have to operate under that cloud long after Owens has moved on to whatever team is next seduced by his talents.

That's the real injustice here. It's not what happened to poor Terrell Owens. It's not the hole he leaves behind in the Eagles' offense. It is the damage he did in the months before he suddenly, miraculously got a conscience yesterday.

- ashley fox (who is also jim castello's neighbor btw) on the owens/rosenhaus relationship.

No one is writing off Rosenhaus, but yesterday certainly was a watershed day for him. Today should be another. Owens was dismissed from the Eagles for "conduct detrimental to the team." He should dismiss Rosenhaus for "mismanagement of a superstar."

- chad lewis may be taking TO's place on the roster. it's official, chad is back with the team.

- handzus will be centering the checking line while primeau is out

- pitkanen more than made up for his giveaway that gave the bruins a two goal lead

- an old friend is sidelined indefinitely after taking a puck to the face

Quote of the Day

"westbrook? who cares about westbrook? he's short and he can't run the ball. they should get duke staley back." - my wife

TO's Apology

his apology actually seemed heartfelt this time. it took the eagles actually suspending him to reach him, but it looks like it may have happened. the fact that drew rosenhaus followed up with idiotic statements basically saying "there we apologized are you happy now andy?" doesn't diminish the fact that TO seems to be sorry it got to this point.

anyone out there think the birds should take him back?

Pitkanen's Huge Game

wow. joni pitkanen had a hand in all three goals at the end of the third period and overtime. does he have the potential to be the best offensive defenseman since mark howe?

no, i'm not making a comparison between joni and mark. there is no comparison as howe was the best defenseman the team has ever had, both offensively and defensively. really, it's more that the flyers haven't had a great history when it comes to offensive defensemen. desjardins has been a good player, coffey was a failed experiment, niinimaa never panned out, yushkevich ended up as more of a defensive player, garry galley was a nice player but nothing special, steve duchesne was pretty good but not great.

i've always wondered why the flyers haven't retired mark's number? doesn't he qualify as an all-time great? i certainly think so.

anyway, it was nice to see the flyers stage such a huge comeback, but frankly i was a little disappointed the game didn't get to a shootout. i've been waiting to see one.

Pete Barr's Plan to Fix the Birds

If I was GM, here's what I would do and notice it is nothing too drastic:

1. Replace the Offensive Line Coach...Juan Castillo may be a hard worker, but this line is not very good fundamentally. I don't necessarilly think that you need to go out and get free agents here, unless there is a total stud that you target. I think that you don't need to draft them that high either. If you have a good coach, strong lineman with good technique and good feet you should be okay. This should be #1a top priority this off-season. Thomas, Hicks and Honey Buns should really be evaluated.

tend to agree with this. alex gibbs and jim mcnally offensive lines rarely have high draft picks, yet almost always have great lines. mcnally likes to take big tight ends and turn them into tackles because you don't need to have great strength to be a good o-lineman. it does help, but being a good technician who can maintain position and leverage is more important. this is why offensive linemen can play for 18 seasons, but defensive lineman cannot. who the heck has castillo turned into a star?

2. Invest lots of money in the Defensive Line. They are so weak here. No pass rush at all which makes the secondary look very mortal. No one can cover NFL receivers for 7 seconds. I would keep the Freak and move him around more (like the Joker position he played against Minnesota on Monday night last year), Mike Patterson and Rayburn. Everyone else could go. I would look at the FA market as well as high in the draft to upgrade here. This is another position where I would take a good, hard look at the Defensive Line Coach. Priority #1b

i agree with your general statement, but i like our four tackles and i'd like to keep them. i think this is the best set of tackles (especially against the run) the birds have had since jerome, pitts, and golic. each one is hard to block and occupies blockers, freeing trotter up to make plays. we need to upgrade the ends for sure, but i'm not sure we can just dump all of them. personally, i like cole's potential so i'd keep him to see how he develops. i like kalu as a backup. what really had a cascading effect on the line was mcdougle's shooting. if he had met expectations this year, the line might have been pretty good. do you think the birds will bring mcdougle back?

3. Draft a young, complementary back to Westbrook with your #1 pick. You need a guy that hits the hole hard between the tackles. There is a reason that Gordon got cut in Miami.

agree. not sure it will happen, but i'd like to see it. i was excited to hear that the birds were interested in brandon jacobs before the draft and i think they intended to draft him but really liked considine and didn't expect to see him drop to the fourth round. they also drafted moats earlier so it was unlikely that they were going to take two backs in the same draft. speaking of moats. anyone else out there think that westbrooks signing has as much to do with the team being disappointed in moats as anything else?

4. Get a TE either through FA or the draft that can block. You have LJ who can create mismatches on offensive, now you need a guy that can block and help control the line of scrimmage...you need a Dan Campbell, Rick "Doc" Walker TE that complements LJ....Spach is a white dude with dreads for goodness sakes!!! And sucks!!

5. Get FB through FA that can block. It is a shame that Ritchie got hurt. Parry is as uselss as tits on a bull. Doesn't block anyone. This addition definitely improves the running game. Look for a William Henderson, Lorenzo Neal type guy, that can also catch the ball on occasion.

spach cannot play, parry cannot play, mahe cannot play. dump them all. fullback is especially important imo. the running game took a nosedive as soon as ritchie went out last season and hasn't been the same since. you can't have a fullback who sucks at blocking. it is unacceptable.

6. Draft many quick aggressive LBs in the draft. Their LBs are very weak. Bullet is a special teamer and Dhani Jones just gets lost. If any quick linebackers are out there through FA, I would consider that investment.

jj believes that linebackers are the least important players on defense. they drafted mccoy in the second round last draft, so they will probably wait to see if he pans out. i don't mind dhani jones. he's just a guy, but he's an adequate professional linebacker. the biggest problem with the linebackers imo is that they have never replaced emmons' ability to cover tight ends one on one. jones doesn't have the size or speed to cover them effectively. i'd like to see them pick up a 6-4 or 6-5 guy who can jam and run with tight ends (easier said than done i know), and move jones over to the weak side.

7. Convince Donovan to lose 20 pounds and become a leaner, running-type QB. I think that this is where Reid is killing Donovan. You don't need to be a Mike Vick, per se, but Donovan is not accurate enought to be a Brett Favre. I would convince Donovan to look at films of Elway and yes, Culpepper. Both are running threats that create problems for the defense. You want Donovan outside of the pocket. Any defensive coordinator worth his weight in salt will tell you that they want Donovan in the pocket, not outside of it. And throw the freaking ball downfield more!!!

i get frustrated with don's reluctance to run as well, but i'm also mindful that he's fighting years of black quarterback stereotyping. he is very sensitive to that issue, and if you know something about his background you know that it is a major issue for him. a lot of that stereotype is gone now, i know, but don is really one of the main guys who helped break that down. besides, they threw the ball downfield plenty last season and don was very accurate. let's see what he does when he gets healthy and the team gets a running game that the defense has to respect before we go tinkering with 5.

8. TO is a stud. He is a top 5 reciever in this league. Unfortunately he has a mouth that is not attached to his brain. I don't want to get into, but he is gone. So, you need to improve here. For some reason it takes receivers 4 years to pick up this offense. How crazy is that when an average career is 5 years. Really evaluate the reason why receivers can't step into this offense. It may need to be simplified. Look at Green Bay, they run the West Coast, but they always seem to have guys that step in after their studs leave...look at their history....Sterling leaves, in comes Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman...they go and in comes Donald Driver, Robert Ferguson, Antonio Chatman....there is something amiss here....maybe receiver evaluation, receiver coach, but Green Bay is an example that you don't necessarilly have to go out and get a top line receiver to be successful!!!

i think big red finally drafted a keeper at wideout. after na brown, gari scott, freddie mitchell, et al, i'm glad to see someone with reggie brown's ability on the team. he seems like he could be the real deal. there aren't any top receivers on the free agent market and it's unlikely that next season's draft is going to yield an immediate contributor, so i suspect what you see is what you're going to get. reggie brown as flanker and greg lewis as split end with mcmullen (if they choose to resign him) as the third wideout.

And pay up for Michael Lewis!! And tell Joe Banner to shut up and stop making professional football players feel like investments that expire when they reach 30!!

i don't have any problem with the way the eagles conduct business or make tough judgements on older players. name one player the eagles let go due to age who had continued success after the eagles let them go. i can't think of any.

Tuesday Links

- hilarious

- trotter tried to mediate with limited success. "Trotter said he sat down with Owens on Saturday morning and told him: 'Around here, we've always done things the right way. I said, 'One of the reasons we've been so successful here is that whenever we've been through rough times, it drew us close together. We didn't point fingers. We didn't call anybody out.' 'I just think he gets trapped in these media interviews, and he's such an honest guy. He just feels like he has to say what he feels. But sometimes you can't do that.' Owens regretted comments he made in a recent interview during which he criticized McNabb, Trotter said. 'When he did the interview, he was trying his best to dance around the question and finally he just gave up. That's not T.O. to dance around a question,' Trotter said. 'He told me, 'Man, it's my fault. I brought this on myself. I didn't mean to put it out there like that, but the question kind of got asked and before I knew it, I was telling him how I really feel.' That's why I really hate to see this happen because I know he didn't intentionally try to hurt anybody."

- rich hoffman says big red underestimated TO's disruptive superpowers.

- no fans at TO's mansion today. "James McDevitt, a Domino's Pizza deliveryman, probably feels the same way. The diehard Eagles fan delivered what he said was about $20 worth of pizza to Owens' house last night. McDevitt left the $5 tip on the porch. 'He needs it to feed his family,' said McDevitt, poking fun at the reason Owens cited for demanding a new contract this summer."

- bill conlin asks phillies fans to give gillick a chance

TO Feedback

from ben schuchardt

i hope that TO hasn't scarred mcnabb permanently. don is physically tough, but he can be a little sensitive sometimes. even though he usually takes the high road, you can tell that stuff like getting boo-ed by cataldi and his crew and getting sucker punched by limbaugh really bothered him. TO not only got under his skin, he hurt him deep inside. i hope don is able to move on and forget about it. i hope so... i fully expect the rest of the eagles to play much better as i am certain that this will be addition by subtraction.

that's the first sign of life on this team in a while. what i want to know is, in a sport where players have so much testosterone pumping that you can taste it in the air from the stands, how the hell does a challenge like this -- "One source told the Times the fight 'was like WWE Smackdown.' Another source told the paper both Douglas and Owens threw at least two punches before Owens challenged quarterback Donovan McNabb and then everyone else in the room, saying 'You want some? Anyone else want some?' -- go unanswered? how is it possible that someone who's not even playing anymore was the only one to anwer the call? this team is laying down on more than just game days it seems.

-----
I think in the first paragraph you are dead on in recognizing a potential problem. The situation with TO hasn’t angered McNabb, it has saddened him. It would cause me the same reaction, so I understand the dynamic completely.

I part company with your take in paragraph 2. Donovan isn’t motivated or controlled by testosterone. He’s lived his entire life defining himself rather than allowing himself to be defined by others. He wouldn’t be defined by Angelo Cataldi or Rush Lindberg and he certainly won’t be defined by TO, who probably inpires more sympathy from Don than anger. Unlike many of today’s athletes who turn to Christ to help them score touchdowns and allow them to participate in managed virtue imagery, Don is truly a spiritual person. I imagine he has asked himself many times what more he could do to help TO manage his obvious personality disorder. He’s probably asked himself many times, “What would Jesus do?” I imagine that the answer he hears never resembles “punch TO in the mouth.” It won’t surprise me at all if Donovan reaches out in some way to TO when he is broken down and indigient, which seems entirely likely in the future. After the gold and money are gone, people will look harder at TO’s soul. They may not like what they see. I hope TO finds peace.

i don't disagree with anything you've written, but i would like to add that my surprise at no one besides hugh douglas answering the challenge was less about don and more about the rest of the team. i know it was a different time and a different sport, but if someone had called bobby clarke out like that, the person who issued the challenge would like have been beaten half to death. it concerns me that few players actually stepped up to defend don, and as i've had a chance to think about it more, i am starting to wonder if the reason is because many of the players took TO's side.

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Contradictions don't exist. I think that it's clear that a good number of Eagles side with TO. There has been a troubling number of quotes (Brian Westbrook most recently) that spoke primarily to what a "good person" TO is. I read last night (Daily News) that Donovan felt the need to say to the team (not TO) "you're either with me or against me." I hope he has better luck with that line than George Bush did. My sense is that the team isn't with Don. I'm not sure why not, and I imagine that there is a reason beyond jealousy. We may never know the truth. Maybe Howard Eskin will get to the bottom of this. At least he'll be in the locker room to ask players instead of just making stuff up like the rest of the gang on WIP.

Where do you think Owens will wind up? I'm guessing Dallas. He always did like the star, and I'm sure Parcels thinks he can control anyone.

i'll be surprised if owens ended up in dallas. i don't think parcells has the energy to deal with TO anymore. remember that he dumped antonio bryant last season for being insubordinate and shyed away from shawne merriman in this year's draft because he was such a turd. parcells broke keyshawn johnson in when bill was a much younger and more vibrant man. that said, it would be just like jerry jones to sign him.

i suspect green bay will take a run at him if brett favre plays another season and baltimore would still take him if he wanted to go down there. denver is an option since shanahan will take talent over attitude every time. despite what arthur blank said in the preseason, the falcons believe the quality of the receivers is what is holding michael vick back. don't tell me they wouldn't jump at the chance to add a TO caliber receiver to that team to see if it accelerates vick's development. i think seattle is also a dark horse with holmgren looking to take a last run at a title and reid likely to give TO a good recommendation.