First of all a great quote. Eagle CB Sheldon Brown, on the pressure on David Akers as he prepared for the game winning field goal with three seconds left: “I know why I didn’t try to be a field-goal kicker, because I would have peed myself.”

BTW, I was at the game, and it was awesome. I had been to two previous Eagles games, the devastating loss to the Giants early in the season when we blew a huge 4th quarter lead and the meaningles Falcons game last week. But they were nothing compared to this. The crowd was out of control, and on its feet for probably half the game. The place was electric. The best chant was when the Giants lined up for a field goal and my entire section started chanting, “Ro-mo! Ro-mo!”

But I’ll have to be honest. Call me a sissy all you want, but I’d still rather be at a Phillies playoff game than an Eagles one. This cult of Eagle-mania is, to be perfectly honest, a little frightening in its intensity. The shouts of “Break his f****** legs!” and “Rip his f****** head off!” throughout the games are a bit much. And the riding the Giants fans non-stop and throwing beers at them and stuff, I dunno. There’s nothing wrong with a needling the opponents’ fans and all, but damn, they paid their money too. Give ’em a second to watch the game without constantly calling them a slew of names, all of which imply that they enjoy the company of other men or have an Oedipal complex. If you got something creative to say, then go for it. Otherwise, just shouting the same words over and over gets a little old. Then again, when I went to a Redskins game a couple of years ago, the fans were just as bad, so it might not just be Eagles fans, but NFL fans in general. I dunno, there jsut seems to be an ugliness to it that I don’t find at other sporting events.

“Pooh-pooh to the Boobs!” we were grinch-ish-ly humming.
They’re finding out now that no Super Bowl’s coming!
They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do!
Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
Then all the Boobs down in Boobville will all cry BOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!”

And hey, TO, don’t feel bad. Loan officers are really tough to get open against.

As many of you know, I am currently coaching a little league basketball team. Well, we had a tourney following the first half of the season, and before the semis, I told the guys, “If we win the whole tournament, I’ll take you guys out for pizza.” One of the guys chimed in. “And Slurpees?” I told them that yes, also Slurpees. We won the semi-final game. In the finals, the team looked sluggish and tired, and we trailed in the 3rd quarter. I called timeout and the team dragged themselves over to the bench. I didn’t say much. I just looked them in the eyes, and I asked, angrily, “Am I the only one around here who likes pizza?” Their eyes lit up. “I forgot about that!” said one of them. They stormed back out onto the floor, and won with a jump shot with 30 seconds left. We’re going out for pizza on Saturday.

The game between Boise State and Oklahoma was one of the greatest I’ve ever seen, and had possibly the greatest finish I’ve ever witnessed. The hook and ladder has always been my favorite play and I have used it at least once every time I play football. To use it on 4th and 18, then to run the QB in motion on 4th down so your running back could throw the football, then to run what wasn’t really a Statue of Liberty but that’s what everybody’s calling it (I say we call it the Boise State Backhand) was more ballsy than any group of plays that I’ve seen a coach call ever. It was as if the coach not only wanted to win, but he wanted to win in style. So now the question, “Is this the way we should remember Boise State? Brilliant play calling, a thrilling finish, the RB proposing to his girlfriend? Or should we see what Boise could do against Florida or Ohio State?”
RELATED:Will Bunch at Attytood has a pretty interesting idea.

Johnny’s high school nemesis AI is going to the Nuggets for Andre Miller (honestly one of the most underrated players in the game), a couple of draft picks, and Joe Smith who, I SWEAR TO GOD I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP, I played against in high school. I am absolutely totally telling the truth. The Sixers, apparenty worried that JGT would head to Denver, made sure to include one of his boys from his eastern Virginia days in the trade, and keep him from getting homesick. “That they would do this for little old me really shows what a commitment this organization has to its fans,” said a relieved ‘Times, who has not yet packed his bags to be with his homie in Denver.

In all honesty, Joe Smith was not really that good in high school (I played him once), he was just really tall and blocked everything that came near the rim. It was pretty shocking that he did so well at Maryland. Of course, in the pros, he is best known for being one of the players involved in every single trade that has occurred in the last 10 years. He has played for every team in the NBA at least once, including the Chicago Zephyrs and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
RELATED: AI to the Nugs.
RELATED: Sweet AI video I posted a couple of days ago. If you haven’t checked it out, do so.
AND FINALLY: Yeah, you knew I was busting this one back out: JGT vs Bubbachuck in high school.

Yo, I love McNabb and all, but how fun is it to see a quarterback play with some emotion? Especially when he plays like Jeff Garcia. If this guy was about 7 years younger, we would have a full fledged QB controversy on our hands next year. (Oh, and if one person chants “We Want AJ” at the Falcons game, you are allowed to shoot them with a flare gun). And doesn’t Garcia look kind of like an elf, something that should bode well for us on Christmas Day? Garcia vs. TO. This is gonna be awesome.
Related: Eagles kick Giants asses. Sweet!

AI is like that girl that you wanna hate, that it makes total sense to hate, and all your friends think you should hate, but there is something about them that you just can’t help but love. Damn, we gonna miss you, Bubbachuck. (Lots of spine tinglers in this video. Sort of safe for work, but 2Pac drops a couple of cuss words in the songs, so be cautious.)

Am I the only one one with extremely mixed feelings about AI’s impending departure? On the one hand, this team was going absolutely nowhere with Iverson on the team, and I really wouldn’t mind getting some young talent or some draft picks in return for him. And to be honest, I really haven’t paid much attention to the Sixers in years,so I won’t miss him that much. But he was a lot of fun to watch play, and I certainly appreciated the way he left it all on the floor every night. He reminds me a lot of myself as a player except that he is, uh, really good.

Now that I coach a little league team, I can’t really hold Iverson up as a role model, though. Anytime I want a kid to try harder or show some hustle in practice I can’t really say, “Do you think this is the way AI practices?” because the answer would be “Yep.” And when guys are making fun of a teammate, I can’t really ask, “Do you think that this is the way AI talks to his teammates?” because he doesn’t exactly come off as a team leader. So in both cases I have to revert to Dwayne Wade and Lebron James, who are much better role models than AI.
RELATED: JGT vs. AI

On Monday night Eagle fans at the Linc got a chance to show the world that not only are they obnoxious and rude, but also complete f****** idiots who don’t know the game of football. And boy did they make the most of it! When Jeff Garcia, who threw for 312 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions, went down after a couple of hard hits in the 3rd quarter, Eagle fans cheered. Yep, there were our fans, in front of a national audience, cheering an injury to their own player. I mean, at least Michael Irvin played for the other team! The neanderthals then booed when Garcia stayed in the game. Why? Because they think AJ Feeley is the 2nd coming of Joe Montana. Yes, that AJ Feeey, the one who couldn’t beat out Jay f****** Fiedler for a starting job in Miami. Yes, they were booing a QB who has twice thrown for over 30 TDs in a season b/c they think their savior is one who has thrown 19 TDs in his entire career. Of course, these are the same fans who thought all season that the real problem with the team was McNabb, who is one of the best QBs in the NFL, so what should we really expect from their feeble minds? I hate to say it, but the idiot fans of this city don’t deserve a parade.

***Btw, did someone at ESPN read my blog and want to piss me off? Was I the only one who noticed both a feature story on the booing of Santa before the game and two long interviews with Rocky?

I’m assuming the BCS is desperately hoping that Rutgers loses to West Virginia in the final game of the season. Otherwise, they will be left out of the college football championship for one simple reason: they weren’t good enough in July, which is really when the NCAA championship should be decided, don’t you think? Since the coaches didn’t have them ranked back then, they can’t have them at #3 now, despite the fact that they play the exact same schedule as Louisville and beat Louisville. Why was Louisville allowed to move to #3? Because they were ranked in the top 20 at the start of the season. If Rutgers goes undefeated, then a team eligible for the BCS will be one of two college teams to win all of its games and still won’t get to play for the national championship. Which is patently absurd! If the Big East isn’t good enough to play for the national championship, then they shouldn’t be in the freaking BCS!

Of course, Rutgers in the championship game would be hard for the NCAA to sell. America hates the underdog. That’s why Rocky fizzled at the box office, and why the the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament are a yearly failure. Yeah, it would be a hard sell, a team that lost by scores of 61-0, 50-0, 80-7, and 42-0 in coach Greg Schiano’s first year turning it around and playing for a national title five years later. I mean, I doubt it would be the greatest f****** sports story ever since the Miracle on Ice. Of course, if the NCAA had been in charge of the 1980 Olympics, they probably would have just handed a forfeit to the Russians since they were so much better. Idiots.