As I reported, Philly Mag last month had a very impressive cover story about the murder rate in our city, and for a fair second I thought the Mag might actually start writing about stuff that people off the Main Line care about. Well, they nipped that notion in the bud, trotting out the lamest cliche in the book this month. A cover story on (are you ready for this?) Rocky. Whoa! But wait, it gets worse. I actually decided to give the story, written by GQ writer Andrew Corsello, a try. Big mistake, b/c a few paragraphs in, I came upon this: “You’re famous for your rotteness, you people.” Oh God, here we go…”You’re the ones who pelted Jimmy Johnson with snowballs.” Are we supposed to be ashamed of this? Jimmie Johnson is a douchebag, and if I saw him on a snowy street, I’d hit him with a snowball today. “You’re the ones who drove Mitch Williams to hermitude in Siberia or Katmandu or wherever he was sent to atone in silent prayer.” Siberia? Nice fact checking job. Yeah, we were so mean to Mitch that he moved all the way to South Jersey, where he lives now…“the ones who booed McNabb on draft day.” OK, so fair enough. That was stupid. Just end it there. You’ve got us beat, you made your point, just as long as you don’t bring up…”the ones who rained boos and snowballs on Santa at Franklin Field.” You did not just take it there. “Santa, for Christ’s sake!” Yes you did. Way to deliver a punchline that ESPN delivers every single friggin’ week. I guess you proved that Rocky isn’t the lamest cliche in the book. The Santa snowball debacle is. You miraculously outcliched your own story, which was almost impossible to do. I knew that the TV show Hack took place in Philadelphia, but I didn’t know it was based on your writing.
