Iggles Blog - Philadelphia Eagles Blog

DPON, We Hardly Knew Ya

This is going to be one of those items that only long-time readers will care about. 

Dana Pennett O'Neil is (was?) a writer for the Daily News.  Her specialty -- outside women's basketball -- has been keeping alive the idea that the local media sucks by writing completely asinine stories like the one about how Andy Reid's kids are going to die and it will pretty much be his fault because he won't quit his job and the other one about how Penn State's Austin Scott is an angel despite being on trial for rape and isn't it convenient that she interviewed him right before the judge's gag order kicked in so the other side wasn't allowed to say anything in response.  Not even a hint of balance in that one.

All of which, of course, led all rational observers to predict that O'Neil would be on the fast-track to stardom, since you don't make it to the top any more by doing solid, sober reporting.  No, you make a splash, scream a lot, and get your own tv and radio deals. 

I went so far as to predict:

Look, I've never met this person, but we've seen enough of her reporting now to figure out the trend.  Call it the Stephen A. track.  And I will be shocked if she's not a significant national figure on ESPN within four years.   

So of course, I'm clicking around ESPN.com this morning reading about the tournament and guess what I saw.  Yep.  She's right on track.  A quick look at her archives is illuminating.  O'Neil has contributed columns to ESPN in the past, but they were always as a special contributor.  Starting January of this year, she's now just part of ESPN.com.  The timing all matches her staff page on the Daily News website, as well as this item confirming her departure.

(And Dennis from Downingtown, you're an idiot.)

Fluffing the Sources

In case you had any doubt where PFT gets all that good information that interested parties have such a vested interest in getting into the public, wonder no more...

World's Newest (and Smallest) Eagles Fan

From the looks of it, she's already worried about how aggressive the Eagles are going to be in free agency this year:

A TiVo Game Today

When we booked our airline tickets to California two months ago, by far the cheapest flight was today ... during the Eagles game.  I figured at the time that the Eagles would either a) be out of the playoff hunt by now or b) otherwise this game would be a great candidate for NBC's flex scheduling and I'd be able to see it at night.  Oh well.

Anyway, I'll be in the air for most of today's game, although I'll be able to catch a lot of it on our layover via pdanet > slingbox > DVR.  But that means there's a good chance no blog post until much later tonight or tomorrow.  Just so y'all didn't think I was leaving ya hangin'.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

We Found That Guy

You know how announcers always say: "you had to be living in a cave to miss this, but..." before re-hashing a tired old story we've all heard a million times?  Well, I think we've finally found the cave guy.

Yes, that's an actual search referral. 

And yes, I still hate Terrell Owens.  But boy, a lot of other stuff has changed since I wrote that post, eh?

Overactive Spam Blocker

Typepad recently rolled out a comment filter that is a little, shall we say, over-aggressive.  I just had a comment blocked. 

There's no way I can find to turn that stupid thing off, so if you do get blocked just email me at the link to the right and I'll publish it out of the spam folder.

Worst Call of the Season?

That ridiculous intentional grounding they just called against Orton suggests that the refs' screwing of the Eagles extends even to the teams they need to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Now Where Did I Stick That Knife?

(Ron Cortes/Inquirer)

Something Good About this Season Anyway

Those of you who read a few Eagles blogs might have seen Jason's holiday shopping guide over at BGN.  The folks at Reebok were nice enough to contact me as well, so I also got a chance to get my hands on a couple pieces of sideline outerwear. 

The first piece I got to try was this knit hat.  If you follow that link (and please do, since it will make lots of people happy) you'll see versions for the Eagles and 24 other teams.  What you won't find is one for the Chicago Bears, which I mention only because the PR firm that sent the hat was low on stock and sent me a Bears hat as a momentary fill-in.  (Had it been a Cowboys hat, this whole "review" would have gone faaaaar differently.)

Even with the wrong team, the hat was very, very nice.  My brother, who hates cold weather, called it the warmest knit hat he'd ever worn.  It looks even better than that picture suggests, because it's more green than blue, which for my money is how Eagles' stuff should be.  It's also available for a fair price of only 18 or so bucks. 

I oohed and ahhed over it so much that my sister-in-law actually went out and bought me the Eagles version as an early Christmas present (which is how I know what color it is).  Although I don't think you're going to see me rocking the DMac towel-under-the-hat look any time soon.

The second piece I got to check out was this lightweight, hooded jacket (I'm having trouble finding an Eagles version online).  I will say this:  the inside was fleece-lined and soft, the outside was some sort of wind-stopping material that was amazingly warm for the weight of the jacket, and the hood was a nice feature that would seem to obviate the need for one to -- again -- stick a towel under one's hat on the sideline.  I'm sure Don could have gotten the hooded version if he'd asked.

So, from a strictly functional standpoint, it was a great jacket.

Unfortunately ... I thought it was kinda ugly.  I realize that every player in the NFL is wearing that houndstooth-y sort of pattern on the sidelines this year, but it really just didn't work for me. 

With that said, my mother, who works at Upper Darby High School, told me that this jacket was exactly the sort of thing she'd see her kids wearing in the halls.  Lesson being that maybe you shouldn't take this fashionably-challenged thirty-something's advice when it comes to what's cool.  (I'm still trying to figure out at what point my mom became more clued-in to fashion trends, however.)

- - - - - -

As a postscript to this whole story, Reebok was nice enough to let me pass the jacket along to my mom to donate to the Christmas for families without much program at her school.  That should make some young Eagles fan very happy and it was cool of them to let me do.

As for the Bears hat, I tried to give it away, but no one in town wanted it.  I contacted McNabb's publicist, Rich Burg, to see if Don would like to get a head start on what he'll be wearing in the future, but Burg told me he thought that might send the wrong "message."*  So I donated it to a friend who's a Bears fan instead.+

* This part isn't true.
+ This part is.

The King is Gone

This only came, what, five years too late? 

Sources: 76ers to fire Billy King
Nets GM Ed Stefanski is expected to be named as his replacement. Coach Maurice Cheeks' job is safe, for now.

By David Aldridge
Inquirer Staff Writer

The 76ers are expected to fire Billy King as team president today and replace him with New Jersey Nets general manager Ed Stefanski, two league sources said last night. The team would give Stefanski a multiyear contract to become the franchise's chief decision-maker on basketball matters, a source said.

The decision to remove King apparently was made in the last few days as the 76ers continued to struggle this season.

Really?  That's what it took?  One more crappy start to a season?!?!?!