BountyBowl on the road: your Pacific Northwest travel guide (Part 2)

And we're live from Seattle!  Shockingly, it's raining, but spirits are high as we sit in a glorious coffee shop on Capitol Hill and get through the morning's mail.  Good to be here!

I really don't think we're ready for the Eagles quite yet on the day of the Phillies' parade, so in the interim  I'll offer up some Seattle - Phillies details:

1. Beloved Phils senior citizen Jamie Moyer pitched in Seattle for years, and remains a fixture in the community out here.  His face remains on billboards for more than one local organization: Brown Bear Car Wash and the Jamie Moyer Foundation.  I imagine I'll be able to chat up the locals about Moyer over the next couple days -- I can only assume they're proud of him.

2. Apparently Pat Gillick still owns a house out here.  According to this dude I played golf with last summer, it's in Magnolia and Gillick "is a good guy."  That's right, BountyBowl is your one-of-a-kind source for random rumors from stranger on golf courses!

Enjoy the parade, and in the words of Mayer Nutter, "You can be joyous, but you can't be a jackass."  Seriously.  If only someone had told me that at age 19.

Chills

Phightins are 2008 World Series Champs

Very cool.

It's a very memorable night to be from Philly.  All good.

US CAN!!!

In Which The Universe Continues To Screw With Philadelphia

Yes, I know.  This is an Eagles blog.  Roger that.  There's a reason I don't try to cover the Phillies or Penn State or the weather (ha!) or anything else in this space. 

All Eagles all the time.

Except right now.  Because -- and you'll have to forgive me for this -- this is the closest those of us in the 30(ish) age group have ever come to a championship we could actually remember. 

Which means this morning, yes, I read the Eagles coverage, but only after I checked out everything I could find on the Phillies.  And this evening, rather than spending time writing up tomorrow's no doubt scintillating statistical examination of the Eagles' recent trend for not beating teams quite as badly as maybe they ought to, I made dinner, plopped down in front of the television, and prepared to either scream my head off in celebration or start to get very, very worried about the rest of this week.

What I did NOT expect, however, was the great cosmic screwoff we just got tonight.  I mean, seriously, can we please for the love of Andy just put this thing away? 

Here's the central problem with being a Philadelphia fan.  It's not that our teams never win.  Oh no, it's that because they never win, we can't even enjoy it when they do. 

The Phillies are up 3-1.  They have four chances to score versus only three for the Rays.  Our bullpen has been lights out all series.  Even if we don't put this away tomorrow (or Wednesday?) we still have two more chances. 

And I feel sick.

We'reThisClose

I literally can't believe this is happening.  And I do mean literally, in the sense that I still don't believe it. 

Can this finally be the time?  Will the city finally get its championship?

You know you're a Philly fan when (#6,376):  Your team is up 3-1, finally starting to tear the cover off the ball, has its best pitcher on the mound tonight and you're thinking, "Uh-oh, this is one heck of a set-up." 

Andy Reid predicts Phils victory (!)

"They're gonna win.  I'll take the 'if' out of it for you, Les."

--Andy Reid on the Phils' chances tonight during his Monday presser.

Lots of love from Big Red for the Phils today during his Monday media appearance. Apparently Coach Reid was at the game last night and will be wearing red this evening. In re: a potential parade, he noted that he'd be able to watch from his office.

Of course, Ashley Fox seems to think that this attitude isn't shared by the rest of the Eagles organization and that the Eagles are jealous of the Phillies. She has no tangible proof of this -- past an analysis of scoreboard update frequency -- but hey, that shouldn't stop anyone from filing a column to that effect.

Also of note: Andy Reid wearing the short pants to the press conference (above). Take it from someone who works in the software business -- we don't need any more overweight guys wearing shorts during the winter months. Yes, I know they're more comfortable, but that doesn't make it any less awkward for the rest of us. Put those pins away, big fella.

Coming home

And at 5:37 pm, it was decided -- even if the guy who "sold" us tickets backed out of the deal, we were still going to the Illadelph tonight. We don't know where quite yet; somewhere in Center City, hopefully well clear of any car-burnings that may take place. Onwards!

Let's go Phightins.

In midst of sports-feelings-fueled endorphin bath, Brian Dawkins offers sobering helping of honesty

As phired up as we are in re: the Phightins, it would be ridiculous to pretend that we won't be bent out of shape regarding Sunday's football game. And as much as the Eagles might enjoy a week or two out of the spotlight, well, they're not really convinced that anyone will forget about them; as B-Dawk explained in his mid-week presser:

I think anytime that the team that is further along in the season is doing a good job, that other team is going to take a backseat at that time. That's just the way it is. I think it should be that way because we all should be rooting for the Phillies, and I think the majority of us are, I know I am anyway. So, that doesn't take anything away from what we have to do.

And believe me, if we go out in the game, and I'm not saying we will, but if we stink it up, you think the papers and you think the fans will be a little quieter because the Phillies are doing well? No. They are going to be just as upset, just as T'd off, and just as opinionated as they always are, so that doesn't take away our responsibility to do our job and to hold ourselves to a high standard because someone is doing good across the street over there."

If only it weren't completely true. Sigh.

Also, we're going to need a special name for the apocalypse coming to South Philly on Sunday. Eagles at 1, Phils at 8? That's going to mean Daytona 500 levels of urine and puke in the parking lots. Also, I can't wait to hear/ read about the glorious tales of horror from those of you who manage to make make it a doubleheader. Usually the most we can hope for on that front is a Flyers/ Sixers-into-Eagles affair, but Birds + World Series is really another level of absurdity.

Anyone interested in talking me into spending way too much money on tickets, please do so in the comments. NOTE: I'm a total sucker for peer pressure.

Angst regarding bus travel, uncomfortable weather drew DeSean Jackson to football

Cool piece in this morning's Inquirer about Eagles' rookie wideout DeSean Jackson and his erstwhile talent for baseball.  As you might imagine, DeSean was "good at sports" as a kid, and had something of an aptitude for more than just football. 

Things I learned from said article included: (1) DeSean was a speedy leadoff guy (Um, yeah, that makes sense), (2) DeSean's dad lived in the same house as Roberto Clemente growing up (Huh?), (3) both the Phils and Rays took a look at him as a high schooler (How relevant!), and (4) the DeSean Jackson Is Cocky (tm) meme is alive and well.

Certainly the CamelCased One doesn't lack for confidence:

"I was definitely pretty good," Jackson said. "I had a lot of speed. I was a leadoff hitter, and I'd get on and steal second base. Sometimes, I'd be risky and steal third. Sometimes, I'd even try to steal home. I led my league in steals and batted like .400.

"I thought about [baseball], and I didn't like the idea of going on long bus trips and playing in the middle of nowhere when it was hot. I know it takes a long time to get to the big leagues, and I couldn't see myself sitting in a hotel room watching football, because it's something I love."

Mercifully, DeSean hasn't forgotten his Nuke LaLoosh media training, and quickly followed up with a salvo of rookie-appropriate cliches:

"I might pull my Deion out after this football thing is over," Jackson said in reference to former two-sport star Deion Sanders. "It seems like it would be tough to do both. I'm just playing football and that's tough, so I can only imagine what it's like to do both."

Yes yes, it looks very difficult for you.