Pat Gillick is the worst GM; Schilling re-signs w/BoSox

I'm going to start by saying, I hate Pat Gillick. Always have and always will. I never liked him, even before he came to the Phillies. He's a primitive GM. He's stuck in the 80's with the way he thinks about building a baseball team. He's a caveman. Thank god this will be his last season as GM, cause I can't take another 3 years of this crap. My feelings for Gillick erupted after I read the Philly.com article this morning. "I don't know that [third base] is going to be addressed," Pat Gillick said as the annual general manager meetings got under way yesterday at the posh Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress resort. "We'll go with [Wes] Helms and [Greg] Dobbs. Because we're going to concentrate on pitching. If we go in any direction, we're going to concentrate on pitching.'' Greatttt. This numb nuts can't figure out a way to get a little bit of an upgrade at 3B. That's his job. Instead we get another season to watch that bum Helms fumble around third base. This just boggles my mind. I understand the need for pitching but, there is an immediate need at 3B also. And at this point do you trust Pat Gillick with making any trades or signings for this team. He was handed the team that we have right now. All the good things* you like about the Phillies come from Ed Wade. Not Gillick. He's a smug old fart. We need some new blood in the front office. Someone along the lines of a Theo Epstein or Billy Beane type. That will think outside the box, not some old hack GM who is 15 years past his prime. But we all know that the job probably will be gift wrapped and handed to Ruben Amaro Jr. Another thing, Curt Schilling re-signed with Red Sox for $8M. Schilling said he was contacted by several teams and at the time would not specify who they were. Today we found out who didn't contact him. And guess who did not make the effort to talk to Schill. You got it, Pat Gillick.

Q: Have you heard from Pat or Ruben?
A: I have not, no.

Schilling Interview.

This is what bothers me. Schilling was in Philadelphia for 2 days this past weekend. He hosted a golf tournament, he watched the Eagles-Cowboys game with Jeffery Lurie and Gillick didn't give any effort to reach out to Schilling. As much as he says he wanted to stay in Boston, Schill liked the idea of being on the Phillies. At least make the effort. They did not even call him to see what he was looking to get. The Sox signed him for $8M. You can't tell me, if Gillick had offered him $11M with some bonus' totaling $2M-$3M, he wouldn't sign here. That's crap. Just try, give some damn effort.


*Except Aaron Rowand. Doesn't matter cause he will not be in Philly this season.

The Philadelphia Eagles: The Abusive Spouse

It's good when they win, but man is it bad when they lose, especially to the Cowboys. But those are the rules of being a fan. You have to stick by rou team through thick and thin. When McNabb was throwing 5 TD's on a broken leg he was a god, when he's having a bad season or a couple of bad games, images of Bobby Hoying and others come flooding into your brain. I will say, McNabb is not the only thing wrong with this team right now. As Andy Reid said in his press conference today, everybody has a piece of the pie when it comes to the Eagles awful play, not just the QB. It is hard to watch an end of something great. That's truly what this is. It's probably one of the greatest runs of any Eagles teams, and sadly its almost over. What makes it harder is that everyone knows its the end, except for the people its actually happening to. And if you don't think its the end of an era, you're in denial. Which I honestly have no problem with. But its Reid, the management, and most of the players that just don't realize it yet. That's not their fault though. They actually think if they tinker with this and adjust that, poof, they will be on their way to the playoffs. In the word's of Ross Perot via Dana Carvey, "Not gonna happen." The team is getting older with every passing minute. I never thought I would say this, but I honestly think Brian Dawkins should be a back-up at this point. I love Dawk, everybody loves Dawk, but his play is in a tailspin. Missing tackles, out of position defending the pass, and last night he just seemed to disappear. It's all very sad. And it is hard to cut your loss' sometimes, but at the end of this season, its time to snip away. The only problem with what this team is doing right now is if the Eagles win next week when they play the Redskins, there will be some who will believe that the season still can be saved, but they will continue to be disappointed. Being an Eagles fan the only way I can think to describe this relationship is that of an abusive spouse. The spouse who gets smacked one day, then told that they are loved the next. Then the next week, smack. At this moment we are currently being smacked, and if the Birds win next week everybody will get their hopes up thinking they'll never be smacked again only to be disappointed with a sudden kick to the shin. At the moment I'm seperated. I love the Eagles but will not fall into the trap. To me its over and time to start the rebuilding. Now how and where do you start, I don't know. But I know having a top ten draft pick sure would help.

Eagles vs. Cowboys Preview.

As this weekends game approaches all the talk has been about how the Eagles might be able win, I'm not totally sold yet but I am leaning towards the Birds, and more or less about Tony Romo's contract. Add in Andy Reid's family problems, and there has been little T.O. talk. Not that he isn't trying to get the attention. He has said this week that him and Donovan have cleared the air, which Donovan confirmed, and that he's looking forward to playing in front of Philly fans again. As far as the game goes, I really am starting to believe that the Eagles can beat the Cowboys. The Cowboys have been getting a slow start in games this season but Tony Romo is red hot in the third quarter, which I will show in later on in this preview. The Eagles have to get going early, keep the Cowboys offense cold, and create turnovers. Bottom line, create turnovers. If the defense can contain Romo in the pocket and not let him roll out and create plays, the turnovers will come to them.

Philly Fans do the T.O (OD) Chant. You might not have heard it if you were watching on TV, but it was a classic moment.



Some stats and stuff I found to be interesting. NFL Rank in parenthesis.

Cowboys Pass Def. : 208.9 ypg (13)
Eagles Pass Def. : 210.3 (15)

Cowboys Run Def. : 87.0 (5) , 3.6 ypc
Eagles Run Def. : 90.4 (8) , 3.7 ypc

Cowboys PPG Allowed : 22.6 (21)
Eagles PPG Allowed : 16.7 (7)

Cowboys Int. : 10 (6), Forced Fumbles : 8 (13)
Eagles Int. : 5 (25), Forced Fumbles : 3 (30)

The Cowboys and Eagles are really close defensively, except when it comes to turnovers. The Eagles have only 5 picks, and have forced only 3 fumbles the whole season, 3rd worst in the NFL. I did hear on WIP that the Eagles were practicing stripping the ball all week during practice so hopefully that pays off this Sunday.


Now I will put my attention on Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb. They will be the keys to winning this game. More Romo then McNabb though. I will start with the generic, Romo has 9 ints this season which is bad compared to McNabb's 2. But Romo takes more chances kind of like Brett Favre. McNabb will not make a throw unless his WR is open. The Eagles allow the 2nd most sacks in the NFL with 27. The Cowboys are the second highest scoring team in the NFL scoring 32.4 ppg.

1st half QB rating : Romo: 78.6
1st half QB rating: McNabb: 107.4

2nd half QB rating: Romo: 118.8
2nd half QB rating: McNabb: 72.8

QB rating inside the opp 20: Romo: 85.1
QB rating inside the opp 20: McNabb: 84.8

QB Rating away: Romo: 75.3
QB rating home: McNabb: 106.1

3rd & 8+yds : Romo: 24%
3rd & 8+yds: McNabb: 18%

Basically after looking at this it shows McNabb plays very good at home. It also shows he has poor second half's though. As for Romo, he struggles a little bit on the road, but at halftime seems to make the right adjustments to come our firing. Now here is the part that blew me away.


Tony Romo's 3rd Quarter Stats

39 of 62, 612 yds, 65% completion percentage
15.7 YPP
8 TD passes. First in the NFL.
0 Interceptions. First in the NFL.
152.1 QB rating. First in the NFL.

The Cowboys are probably the best 3rd quarter team in the NFL right now, so the Eagles need to come out after halftime and contain Tony Romo.

Eagles vs. Vikings - Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Attack of the clones is not far from the truth. These two teams are almost a mirror image of each other. And really it shouldn't be surprising. Having Brad Childress and student of the school of Big Red. The Eagles are favored by 1 in this game which is surprising to some considering they have not covered a single game this season. The Vikings are not favored I believe because of how close these teams are in what they do, and the fact that Vikings may have pulled out all stops to win last weeks game vs. the Cowboys but came up short by ten. As an Eagles fan, I really have no faith in them at all right now. I pray and hope they win but I would not bet a dime on it. They should win this game, but they also should have won at least two other games this season. The keys to the Eagles winning this game. Number one is that they have to force some turnovers and let the offense start with the ball on the Vikings side of the field. The Vikings do have a turnover ratio of +8 which is not good for the Eagles. The Eagles are a +1. The second and most obvious thing is, contain Adrian Peterson. It is that simple. Next is pass the ball early and often to soften the defense so Brian Westbrook has room to run. Also it wouldn't hurt to give Buckhalter some more carries. Oh yea and execute in the red zone which is a whole other problem. I was able to dig up some stats I thought were interesting. Another factor that is not getting talked about to much this week is that Brad Childress ran the Eagles offense for 6 seasons. He knows the weakness' in the offense and in McNabb. Expect him to have a good game plan against the birds.

NFL rank in parenthesis.

Vikings Def. vs. Run: 76.5 ypg (4th) Rush TD's Allowed: 1 (1st) YPC: 3.0 (2nd)
Eagles Def. vs. Run: 88.0 ypg (8th) Rush TD's Allowed: 2 (2nd) YPC: 3.7 (9th)

Vikings Def. vs. Pass: 282.5 (32nd)
Eagles Def. vs. Pass: 220.2 (18th)

These teams are almost dead even on paper with the Eagles taking the edge against the pass. With that the Viking do have a TO ratio of +8 to the Eagles mediocre +1.

Rushing Yards on 1st & 10

Adrian Peterson, Min: 300 yds (1st)
Brian Westbrook, Phi: 283 yds (2nd)

I thought that was telling. As much as people cry for the Eagles to run the ball, they are ranked second only to the Vikings on 1st and 10.

Games on Turf

Buckhalter, Phi: 21 carries for 126 yards at 6 YPC (2nd-t)
Westbrook, Phi: 20 carries for 120 yards at 6 YPC (2nd-t)
Peterson, Min: 63 carries for 344 yards at 5.5 YPC (5th)

Both of these teams are extremely well on turf. The Eagles backs sitting at 6 YPC is very good, with Peterson having an amazing 5.5 YPC with 20 more carries.

YPC in 1st half of games

Peterson, Min: 54 carries for 367 yards at 6.8 YPC (2nd)
Westbrook, Phi: 49 carries for 312 yards at 6.4 YPC (3rd)
Buckhalter, Phi: 23 carries for 142 yards at 6.2 YPC (4th)

YPC in 2nd half of games

Peterson, Min: 54 carries for 303 yards at 5.6 YPC (3rd)
Westbrook, Phi: 40 carries for 178 yards at 4.5 YPC (14th)
Buckhalter does not make the list.

At this point Peterson has run for exactly 54 carries in the 1st and 2nd halfs of his games this season. He is dominant in the first half, while his YPC carry drops 1.3 yards in the second half which really is not bad at all. Westbrook on the other hand drops almost 2 yards from 1st half to 2nd half. Still, that's not bad. Again it appears the Eagles and Vikings are almost the same team on paper. You may say we have the edge at QB, but after you look at McNabb's QB rating during away games you might say they are even at QB.

What I thought was interesting.

McNabb's QB rating: at home: 106.1 (4th) away: 69.4 (24th)

McNabb's completion %: inside the 20: 40% (28th) inside the 10: 20% (32nd)

Wow. Once the Eagles get into the red zone they really do fall apart. I mean 20% inside the 10 yard line. Add to that the fact that he is not playing well on the road, and it could be another long day for the birds. Now keep in mind the Eagles WR's tend to drop the ball in the red zone. See Reggie Brown.

Eagles vs. Vikings - Episode One: The Hairless Menace

This week the Eagles will be traveling to Minnesota to face an old friend now turned foe, Brad Childress. With this match up against and old friend, it is taking a back seat in the news to the Eagles inability to do anything really good these days. With the thoughts of facing off against Childress I started to think of some great battles in history, where friends turned into enemies. Now obviously there is no animosity between Big Red and Childress but there is nothing like the challenge of trying to whoop on your mentor or your student. Now there are the obvious recent football battles like Bill Belichick vs. Bill Parcells or Eric Mangini that come to mind first when thinking of battles between coaches, but I want to turn to cinema for this. What are the top 5, friends turned into enemies movies of all time. Now this was, and is harder than it sounds. Cause finding movies were there were two people who were either friends, or had a student teacher relationship which in the future turned them against each other is not easy. Now I just stared at my DVD collection for about 5 minutes and was able to pull out five movies that I thought fit this criteria the best. You may not agree but oh well.

5) Star Wars III: The Revenge of the Sith - This was the obvious choice for the student vs. teacher category. Personally I like all the Star Wars movies except for the corny Phantom Menace one. But watching Anakin turn into a scitzofrantic sociopath right before your eyes was cool. Then add in the fact that he got his ass handed to him by OG Obi Wan was pretty sweet. Especially after Anakin was talking smack the whole time.

4) Gangs of New York - When I was thinking about at first I didn't think that this fell into the category cause Vallon hated Bill the Butcher from day one. But I remembered that Vallon started to kind of like Bill for a moment but then tried to off him which failed miserably. Great fights, and good movie overall.

3) Training Day - Again Alonzo knew the whole time he was going to use Hoyt, but Hoyt didn't know that. He thought he was being trained by the best NARC in the city. In turn he was being set up, so Alonzo could rob a drug dealer for $1M. Again great movie. With a great shoot out scene in a small cramped apartment in Compton.

2) Fight Club - A crazy insomniac, played by Edward Norton, meets a soap salesman named Tyler Durden and they become inseparable. In fact, they were never inseparable at all, cause they were the same damn person. Great all around movie with Ed Norton in thee end shooting himself in the face to kill his split personality, Tyler Durden. It worked.

1) Kill Bill - Now for this movie I was going to say the Bride vs. Bill, but the Bride vs. Oren was the best fight out of the whole movie. So either way it works. She was originally friends with all the people she killed. But that fight scene in the snow with the blood and the yellow suit was just bad ass.

Mike Lowell raising his stock in post season.

Mike Lowell is playing as well as anybody this post season. With that he is raising his stock for being the best all around third baseman on the market excluding A-Rod of course. His defense is lights out and hitting and getting on base consistently. Teams can expect to pay $10M-$12M per year over at least a three year span for his services. Now will the Phillies step up to the plate. I wouldn't bet on it. They will probably trade for an average third baseman that is a slight upgrade from Nunez. Joe Crede or Garrett Atkins have been rumored, which would be better then Nunez or Helms at this point.

Mike Lowell's Post season numbers through ten games.

11 RBI, 3BB, 3 SO, BA .333, OBP .369, SLG .533

While I was in the John....

I'm going to start a new weekly segment thing here where I bring some old crap or a gem or two from old issues of the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. Of course involving Philadelphia sports stories only. So I went to the bathroom to ummm, take care of business, and was looking through my collection of SN and SI's that are in my magazine bin. I came across a issue of SI from May 2, 2005. It was the 2005 draft review. Nice. I love reviewing past drafts and seeing who's doing well and who's been locked up for making it rain on strippers then slapping them silly for thinking that they could actually keep any of the money they were showered with. Silly Ho's. I know I just rambled like crazy. But anytime I can bring up making it rain with Pacman, I just have to. So anyway. I was flipping through and came across a segment, Winners and Losers. As soon as I read it, I knew I would find the Eagles as the winners. In every draft for the past 5 years they have been known as winners. As I read the list of winners; Cowboys, Dolphins, Cardinals, Browns, ah, here we are the Eagles. With every word of this 40 word piece of crap I read I just had to cringe. Here it is. EAGLES: I love the way they chose solid performers rather than workout warriors. I'm talking about USC defensive tackle Mike Patterson, only 5'11 but what a motor; outside linebacker Matt McCoy of San Diego State; free safety Sean Considine of Iowa; and running back Ryan Moats of Louisiana Tech, (and I quote) a Brian Westbrook clone. Cue the laugh track for that one. Where to start. Of course its easy to rip this to pieces 2 years later, but that's the fun of it. The first line alone is enuff to make he heave. " I love the way they choose solid performers". I'm leaving more solid performers in my toilet than they chose in this draft. Let's start with Mike Patterson. As of right now he is an average DT. Probably worth a third round pick. And they probably could have gotten him there. That's the one problem with the Eagles. They pride themselves on being so much smarter then everybody else. Picking players 2 rounds before they should and acting like they got a steal. News flash, Mike Patterson at 31st is not a fucking steal. He's a $5 DVD of a movie you kind of like but not sure if its worth the $5 in the bin at Walmart. You ponder for a minute, end up buying it, thinking the whole time your waiting in that long ass line that this really isn't worth the $5. Then you go home a little excited, watch it, and then realize you could have used that $5 for something much better. Next, Reggie Brown. If I hear Howard Eskin say one more time that he's a "nice" receiver, I will murder a small defenseless animal. I know better then to listen to Howard but I like to be annoyed sometimes. Reggie Brown is below average at best. He only catches a pass when hes got two steps on a DB and that's so rare cause he runs like he's in friggin quick sand. I have never seen anybody move so fast and get nowhere. Its horrible. Again, below average at best. Here's the next gem in the second round. With the 63rd pick in the 2005 draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select, Midget Linebacker who gets run over on a consistent basis, Matt McCoy. See my review of the Eagles-Colts game from last season to see how I feel about this turd. Next, the Brian Westbrook clone. That is the biggest insult to Westbrook I've ever heard, and I think BWest deserves an apology for being linked to this bum. Ryan Moats. I know he's thanking god every day that he blew out his knee this summer cause he would have ended up being a substitute teacher in some high school Louisiana. Horrible. With the first pick of the fourth round the Eagles select a lanky white safety. Woo Hoo. Sean Considine. Alright, I will give him this, he is having a okay season right now. Okay, not good, not bad, again, just average. The theme of the Eagles 2005 draft should just say, average. Last year was different for Considine. He was the solution to Michael Lewis being on the outs and it was horrible to watch. Again see Eagles-Colts game review. The next two picks were hits. Todd Herremans in the bottom of the fourth and Trent Cole in the bottom of the fifth. Great picks, salute to your ability to be able to pick good players in the fifth round. So there, would you consider the 2005 draft a success?

2006 - Eagles vs. Colts Recap

Great Philly Sports Videos.

I added some new videos to my VodPod on the left side of the page. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Keith Byars gives one of the best blocks I've ever seen. Pepper Johnson meet Keith Byars, and turf. Night night.



Brian Dawkins suplexes some horrible Redskins reciever. The only thing I hate about this video is listening to Joe Theisman give his two cents. Thank god we don't have to listen to his garbage anymore.



Allen Iversons top ten plays. Brings back great memories of a better time for the Sixers. Now we have to watch Iguodala and those other four guys.

Chase Utley gets his own figure.

This Febuary McFarlane Toys, created by comic book writer and avid baseball fan Todd McFarlane, will be releasing their 20th series for MLB. Included in that series will be the rookie figure of Chase Utley. In the sports figure world this is going to be a huge hit and many are looking forward to picking up Chase. In MLB series 18 Ryan Howard made his debut and just this month the Eagles Brian Westbrook made his debut in the NFL 15 series.

More photos and info a here.

Aaron Rowand has a list of demands, Croce would like to buy Phillies, and Two AL East studs could be in Philly.

One day after the Phillies cut ties with Nunez and the worthless Rod Barajas. There are rumors that Aaron Rowand has let teams know what they could be expected to pay if they would like his services. Quite frankly its comical. He would like a 6yr $84M contract. Wow. Umm your not Torii Hunter and your not Andrew Jones. I mean he had a career year, and was probably one of the best leaders on the Phillies the past 2 seasons, but that is a ridiculous demand. First off, there is no way he's worth 6 years. That money is guaranteed and 6 years is far to long for a guy like Rowand. And I do not know how the hell he thinks he is going to get paid $14M a season. Re-donk-u-lous is what that is. Funny part is the White Sox are so in love Rowand that they will probably end up paying close to that. Bye bye Aaron Rowand.


Pat Croce told the Daily News that he was not trying to buy the Phillies at this time. He did say that two years prior he tried to approach David Montgomery about making a deal but was turned down quickly. When asked if the team were to be on the market, would Croce again be interested? "Yes," he said. "I have people who would be willing to do it with me."


Rumors are running rampant over Philadelphia about the Fightin's and most include Mike Lowell, Curt Schilling, and Mariano Rivera. Wow, that would be a hell off a winter. Let's start with Mike Lowell. Good third baseman, but has stated recently that his first choice is the Red Sox. Personally I would like to see the Phils go after Joe Crede or Garrett Atkins. I wrote last spring that I thought they should have tried to make a deal for Crede or even Josh Fields. At the time Josh Fields was the back up and Crede was healthy. As far as Schilling goes, that would be a great signing on many levels. Fans have missed him since losing him back in 2000, plus hes still throws hard. Now for the Sandman to enter Philadelphia, would probably require a small miricle. First hes in love with Joe Torre. He looks into grandpa Torre's eyes and just melts. Second, if the Yankees kick him and Torre to the curb, believe he will be sitting in the bullpen up at Fenway playing the set-up role for Jonathan Papelbon.

Prediction:

Phillies get Joe Crede and Jon Garland trading away Pat Burrell (of course paying some of his enormous contract, and probably over $1M to Burrell to waive NTC) and some minor league players.

Phillies sign Curt Schilling.

Red Sox resign Mike Lowell and add Mariano Rivera to their bullpen.

Would love to see them trade for Dontrelle Willis but it would cost us Shane Victorino.

Phillies for Sale? Well, maybe...

Where there is smoke, there is fire. As cliche as that phrase is, its the truth. Yesterday, two Philadelphia journalists ( I use that term loosely ) Howard Eskin and Stan Hochman reported that their inside sources told them that the Phillies were approached from a group looking to buy the team. Now if this was just one reporter saying this, you could say, they're making this crap up. But Eskin and Hochman are positive that this is the truth, and I fully believe them. The story continued today, with Eskin saying that the majority owner of the Phillies, had convinced the other lesser partners that it was time to sell. David Montgomery was quick to put the rumors to bed, stating the Phillies were not for sale, right this second at least, cause they can't. Why can't they? Most likely because when the City of Philadelphia helped the Phillies get CBP built, they stipulated that they did not want the Phillies ownership group to make a quick buck and sell the team within the first 5 years of the new ball parks existence. So pretty much this story was leaked about a year to early. Right now the Phillies ownership has to make it through the 2008 season, the fifth and final year in the agreement before they can sell. Now the question is, who is the group that wants to buy the Phillies? Most likely it is a group of 3-5 partners with deep pockets that have other vested interests in this city. Now just about every fan has the dream of Pat Croce or Mark Cubian buying the Phils but I do not think that is the case. Now this is complete speculation but I believe I know who it is. I just got done reading a book about the Boston Red Sox called Feeding the Monster. Very good book. Now this was about the selling of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 and how new ownership came in and changed the Red Sox losing ways. The book goes in depth into the whole behind the scenes story of the bidding wars between different groups trying to buy the Red Sox. At the high point the bids were in the $650M to $750M range. They ended up selling the team for $700M ($40M donated to charities) to John Henry, former Marlins owner. Now the highest bid for the Sox of $750M was not accepted because the group did not follow the guidelines set in place in order to bid. Now this group was dead serious about purchasing the Red Sox, and if another opportunity to purchase a good ball club came along they might jump on it. They were so serious about buying the Sox that their original bid of $700M was bumped to $750 within a day. They wanted that team bad. So who is this group. The leader of this group is a man named Miles Prentice, who is involved in minor league baseball but is also a well known lawyer in New York City who represents many big corporations worldwide. At the time he was ready to buy the Red Sox he had the backing of two big corporations. The first is the Quadrangle Group, which is an investment firm with $6B in assets. Not bad. Now the second group was a Philadelphia based media company called Comcast. With $110B in assets the Comcast corporation was ready to back Miles Prentice and go forward and buy the Red Sox for $750M. Now I'm going to go out on limb and speculate that I believe that Comcast has been waiting to purchase Phillies since they lost the bid for the Red Sox. Now with the Phillies clearly being only steps away from being a true contender, I think they are ready to ponce. With the last year of that 5 year agreement with the city only being 2 months away, they probably wanna get the bid down and the ball rolling on something that could take up a year to complete. We can only hope. With the new Comcast building taking over the skyline already with a March 2008 completion date, Philadelphia is Comcast's city. Owning a sports franchise like the Phillies would be great for business, especially if they can bring a parade down Broad St. one day. My feeling is they wouldn't have a problem pushing the Phillies payroll up to around $115M to get championship to this city. And I would gladly have them bump my cable bill up to $200 to help them make that happen. Comcast's Triple Play anyone?


Tomorrow I play GM. Look out Pat Gillick, I'm breaking hips and taking names later.

Dick Vitale is a god damn jinx.

In the words of the famous Lloyd Christmas, "You're one pathetic loser." Huge favor Dickie V, please keep your horrible sports predictions to yourself. Bald bastard.

Guess who's back, back again,


Yes he's back, tell a friend.......

2007 Philadelphia Eagles Schedule.

Eagles Schedule

Sunday, Sept. 9, at Packers, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Monday, Sept. 17, REDSKINS, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Sunday, Sept. 23, LIONS, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Sept. 30, at Giants, 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Oct. 7, Bye

Sunday, Oct. 14, at Jets, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Oct. 21, BEARS, 4:15 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Oct. 28, at Vikings, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Nov. 4, COWBOYS, 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Nov. 11, at Redskins, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Nov. 18, DOLPHINS, 1 p.m. (CBS)

Sunday, Nov. 25, at Patriots, 8:15 p.m. (NBC)

Sunday, Dec. 2, SEAHAWKS, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Dec. 9, GIANTS, 1 p.m., (FOX)

Sunday, Dec. 16, at Cowboys, 4:15 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Dec. 23, at Saints, 1 p.m. (FOX)

Sunday, Dec. 30, BILLS, 1 p.m. (CBS)


Overall this is not a bad schedule. The Eagles could go 4-0 right of the bat. The Giants and Redskins are the only two games to worry about there. Although the Redskins are coming to Philly for the first game of the season, on a Monday night, I think they can take that game. After that they have their bye week. The Giants will be a totally different team without Tiki Barber. Tiki has been the source of many problems for Eagles for years and now he is finally gone. The next four games could go either way. They could be 4-4 after this run. You have the Jets. Who could be one of the top teams in the AFC next year. Next the Eagles host the Bears. Now the Bears crawled into the Super Bowl last season and this could game could be a lot easier than it looks on paper. The Bears are going into the season again with Rex Grossman. They have no Thomas Jones, Cedric Benson is a question mark. On the defensive side they will be without Lance Briggs and most likely Tank Johnson. After that the Eagles travel to Minnesota to face our old friend Brad Childress. Andy Reid helped Childress get where he is at. Now can the student beat the teacher, its possible. But don't forget, Obi beat Anakin. The Vikings don't look to bad on paper and I would imagine after the draft they will look better. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Vikings make a move before training camp. The Eagles then return home to face Homo Romo and temper tantrum T.O. This is a Sunday night game which gives Eagles fans an extra 7 hours to drink and get ready to heckle T.O. for 4 hours. With this being a home game at night, I'd chalk it up as a win looking at it on paper. So that's the first 8 games. I can see them going 7-1 losing either the Jets game or the Vikings game. The last 8 games seems to be a lot harder. They go face the Redskins in week 10. Not a hard game, but they could lose this game. Next they take on the Dolphins at home. Win. Now comes what could be a Super Bowl preview. Yea I said it, Super Bowl baby. The Eagles go to Foxboro to face the Patriots. How sweet it would be to win this game. But I'd have the Eagles as big underdog here. The Eagles then get two home games versus the Seahawks and Giants. I could see losing one of those games, but not both. Then they have a road trip going to Dallas then New Orleans. I can see losing the Dallas game but I think the Saints game has revenge written all over it. Looking at the Saints schedule this game could make or break their playoff hopes. The Eagles alst game comes against the Bills. Even our back-ups could beat the Bills.


Full NFL Schedule.

NFL Toughest Schedules.

Top Ten NFL Match-Ups.

Douche Chills, free with every ticket.

A lot can happen in a week. You can go from the team to beat, as quoted by JRoll, to the team that can't stop getting beat in a matter of a week. As the second week of the season begins the "Phillies Suck" bandwagon is getting really crowded. Just a week ago everybody was on the playoff bandwagon but the wheels feel off that about two days ago. There is still plenty room for optimism but Philly fans are not easy to please and right now is not a good time to be part of the Phillies organization. At least the Phils won't pick up a loss today, cause today is an off day. I think its a good time to take a look at the seasons first 7 games as a whole and take a look at the bad and the good, which isn't much. First I want to state that the Phillies slogan going in to this season could be the worst ever. I thought the 76ers "Its a Philly thing" was bad but no this is worse. "Goosebumps, free with every ticket." Oh thanks. Thanks for the goosebumps I get every time Madson or Geary step on the mound, its a real pleasure. I get goosebumps every time the bases are loaded with one out and we ground into a double play. Its a great feeling, and those are not goosebumps. Those chills and bumps you get when the Phils do something really embarrassing are called, Douche chills. The slogan should be Douche chills, free every time you watch a game. Anyway I'm going to start with the good. Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell are off to a pretty good start. Burrell is batting .385 with 5 RBI. Rollins is batting .269 with 3 HR's and 6 RBI. On the flip side of Rollins getting off to an okay start, he had a costly error in NY yesterday and really hasn't stepped up to take charge and be the leader of the Phils. He was running his mouth during spring training but now that the Phils are 1-6 he's quiet as a church on Tuesday. Instead of being a little fiery and trying to get this ball club a little bit heated, he just said this kind of stuff happens. "You have times when you're up and times when you're down, and right now we're down," Rollins said, smiling. "But if we can get up and get things rolling, it's going to be a helluva season." Oh well lets hope you guys decide to get rolling soon. Cause right now your out of gas on a hill and rolling backwards into the bottom of the NL with the likes of the Nationals. They are digging themselves into a hole that come September they might not be able to get out of. But all is good in the clubhouse. It's just frustrating that there is no leader or voice of this team. No one out in front that is upset with the way they are playing. Instead you get, this happens, and we'll turn it around, we have a really good team this season. Ummm, no you don't. They are playing all around terrible baseball. It's the same old song and dance with this team. For another good note the starting rotation isn't too bad. Yes Adam Eaton struggled and so did Segovia but Garcia should be back soon hopefully to give some relief there. But Cole Hamels and Brett Myers have pitched well. If it wasn't for our terrible bullpen Cole would be 2-0 right now.

Now let's move to the meat and potatoes of the Phillies problems. Bullpen and hitting with RISP. Their bullpen is hor-ren-dous. Ryan Madson is already 0-2. Geoff Geary aka the alien from the movie Mac and Me, it was a good movie when I was a kid, has already blown an important game. Oh did I mention Lieber has a ERA of 27.0. Now for the offense. The Phillies as it stands today are the worst team with RISP. They are batting less than .200 with RISP and have a league high 68 runners LOB. I actually read a Phillies blog yesterday that asked what is wrong with the Phillies? They answered by saying "not a whole lot." The blog writer went on to say how the Phillies rank second in the N.L. in On-Base-Percentage (OBP) at .360, and they are sixth in slugging percentage. I'm so glad we are second in OBP. But there is a little problem, OBP doesn't matter if all those runners are left on base. That is a huge problem. Clutch hitting is something this team lacks and has lacked for years. Here's another problem. When your starting pitcher hands you the keys to the game when your up 5-4 , you don't drive the game into ground giving up 7 runs in the 8th inning. Its a problem, a huge problem. We haven't even delved into Ryan Howard and Chase Utley yet. I'm not fully ready to go bashing on either but they both are struggling right now. Howard is continuing his poor performance that started this spring and is batting .222 right now and has made some costly errors on the field this year. Most notably when he ran over Nunez in yesterdays game. It looked like a scene out of the Bad News Bears, it was embarrassing. Utley also has been pretty much non existent when he's up to bat. He's batting .258 and has knocked in 3 RBI. But again I really believe that they will turn it around. It is going to take Manuel making the right decisions, and some help form Gillick making a move here or there to get some bullpen help. There are a lot of games left to play, but these first 15-20 games could cost the Phils the wild card in September.

Rollins gets heckled by Mets fans.

Jimmy Rollins still stands by his statements during spring training that the Phillies are the team to beat. Well, as it stands right now they are not a hard team to beat. During yesterdays game Rollins made a costly error and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded. It was not a good day for JRoll as Mets fans got on him all day. Here is a view from the stands from a Mets Fan's camera phone.

Groundhog Day: Phillies vs. Braves Game 2.

Phil? Phil Conners? Phil Connors, I thought that was you! I swear tonight's game was like a scene out of the movie Groundhog Day. As soon as Brian McCann hit that 2-run home run in the top of the 9th to tie the game, it was like Monday all over again. I swore I just saw this happen a couple of days ago. Last time I saw this, Pop Pop Manuel put Ryan Madson in the game, and he lost the game for the Phils. No.. this can't be. Madson is coming in to start the top of 10th. Phil? Phil Conners? Then the Cher and Sonny song "I got you babe" starts up. Then it came to fruition just like I knew it would. Madson blew the game...again. This was a boring game up till the 8th inning when the Phils went up 2-0. Now there was a chain of events that toke place that ultimately cost the Phillies two runs if not more, and the game. First, after Shane Victorino hits a double knocking in JRoll to go up 2-0 with one out, he decides to get cute. He tries stealing third but stutter steps before he starts to run, out. Next, Ryan Howard walks.Then, Chase Utley comes up to bat and hits a double, and Howard was given the sign to take home. Now, I'm not the smartest guy around, but Ryan Howard is a big guy. He's not very fast or nimble, bam, thrown out at the plate. Right there, those two mistakes cost the Phils one run, if not two. It was terrible to watch. It was bad baseball. So now Flash comes in to save the day and gives up a two run homer to send it to extra innings. Next lets pull Flash, cause he's earned his paycheck after throwing for a half an inning giving up the lead, and put in the worst pitcher in our bullpen, Ryan Madson. Game over. The Phillies have beaten themselves in two straight games. Now you can say its only the first two games and they have a whole season, but these games when they start beating themselves are what is going to haunt them come September. It happened last season and it will happen again. The Phillies lost the Wild Card last year by 4 games. Out of 162 games, the Phillies playoff hopes came down to 4 games. Think about that. There are way to many good teams in the NL, and not enough playoff spots to be throwing games like this. I have full confidence that they can turn it around quickly, but the question isn't can they, it's will they?

Side Notes:

"The (Spring Training) Natural" Roy Hobbs made his second appearance of the season and flied out with his only at bat. Hobbs is 0-2 so far this season.

Michael Bourn also made a brief appearance as a pinch runner and went o-2 in the game.

The Phillies left 8 men on base.

Cole Hamels pitched 7 shut out innings only giving up 4 hits and had 8 strike outs. All that hard work for nothing.

Madson is officially 0-2 this season. He has a ERA of 9.0 for the season.

Ryan Howard will be appearing on the David Letterman Show
next week.

Mike Doss to visit the Eagles today.

Today the Eagles will be getting a visit from free agent safety Mike Doss. Doss is a very talented safety who came into the league in 2003 being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. Doss has spent the last 3 years with the Colts and tore his ACL in the middle of last season. That is a rough injury to come back from, but he would add depth for the Eagles at a very thin safety position. As it stands right now the Eagles would be going into next season with Dawkins, Considine, and Mikell. Depth at safety is very much needed and most think the draft is where it will come from. But adding Doss would help. Doss was a solid safety in college, playing for thee Ohio St. University. The only knock on Doss besides his injury, is he just hired a new agent, Drew Rosenhaus, captain douche bag himself. Don't get me wrong if I was a player, I'd hire him. Some how he's able to get okay athletes huge pay checks, and can re-negotiate anytime he feels like it. Rumor has it Rosenhaus sold his soul to the devil for good negotiating skills, a boat load of money, a Mexican landscaper and a bag of Lay's baked potato chips. For the record those potato chips, could be the worst chips in the world. I'm a kettle cooked chip man my self. As a joke to himself, the devil made Drew a bag of douche. Which to the devil was very humorous, but for Eagles fans has been anything but humorous. If any Mexican landscapers were offended after reading this, I apologize. But the fact is you guys can landscape your ass off, have a great work ethic and you work for very cheap. Which in turn is good for captain douche bag's profit margin.




Mike Doss Highlight Video from Ohio St.

Opening Day: Phillies start the season with a...thud.

Ahh yes spring is here and that means baseball season is upon us. Nothing like going down to Citizens Bank Park for some beers, BBQ from Bull's, and ball girls, oh yea and to watch the Phils.
There is nothing like Dollar Dog Days, peanuts, Chickie's Crab Fries or grabbing a cheesesteak from Tony Luke's. Our perhaps your one of the alcoholics who just likes to buy a ticket to the game only to spend the whole game at McFadden's getting shit faced. Hey I'm not judging, I've done it. There are many ways to spend a day at the CBP, and today it all begins. As far as the Phillies, they started this season off on the wrong foot to say the least. Starting off the game, Pop Pop Manuel pulled the ol' switch-a-roo by putting Utley in to bat clean up and Howard to bat third...interesting. To boot he said he likes it, and he plans to keep it that way. To start the game, the Phils did not look sharp at all. Jroll is a cool muthafuc..shut yo mouth fool. But he started the game with two of the worst at bats ever, bottom line. First day jitters or not they were terrible. The first at bat he had to actually move his feet in to swing at a pitch that would have easily hit him in the shin. Pretty much the same thing in the second at bat. He might as well move to Utah or some shit and get a job chopping wood if he's going to be swinging like that all season. He did redeem himself with a double, and a nice home run. All in all it was a good day for Jroll. Brett Myers had a solid outing. He did get rocked in the 8th, but what the hell was he doing in the game in the 8th anyway. Oh yea we have no bullpen, forgot about that. See Ryan Madson. He had a good thing going till he had to face Renteria. He was up on him too with the count at 0-2. But he just laid a fastball right over the plate and Renteria just pounded it. It sucks too cause the crowd was rockin' there. At that point it was game over if he had struck him out. But thats the Phils luck. Yea we still have the whole season but its always good to win on opening day. I also saw The Natural himself Roy Hobbs make an appearance. He grounded out on his first pitch and wasn't seen after that. I think that about covers it. Great game, very entertaining to watch until the 10th inning when I was ready to throw my glass of Cherry Coke through my TV when Renteria hit his second HR. No I do not get paid for product endorsement....or do I? A little side note, Pat Gillick was in the booth talking with Chris Wheeler, and said that with Freddy Garcia out, Zack Segovia would start on Sunday vs. the Marlins.

And it begins...

The 2007 Baseball season is about to be in full swing and every major sports news outlet has their own opinion about who will finish where. Most have the Phillies finishing behind the Mets, booooo, and making the playoffs as the Wild Card team. I'm going to post all the predictions so you can view them for yourself. Also big news, Ryan Howard is on the cover of the new ESPN the Magazine. As Borat would say, Very Nice. Sporting News has the Phils losing to the Tigers in the World Series. Pretty much everyone is in agreement that the Phillies have a really good team, but that their bullpen is still to weak to make it through the Playoffs. Baring a trade, the Phils go into the season with medoicre relievers at best. Relying on Ryan Madson in the 7th or 8th inning is going to get old real quick.


ESPN MLB Projections.

CBS Sportsline Predictions.

Sporting News Prediction.

Sports Illustrated Prediction.

Takeo Spikes Lands in Philly.

Today the Philadelphia Eagles formally announced the signing of Takeo Spikes, and Kelly Holcomb, that will be the only time I mention Kelly in this, at the Nova Care Complex late this afternoon. As expected Spikes had nothing but good things to say about the Eagles, and that he is beyond excited to be in Philly. This will be the first time in his ten year career he will have an opportunity to be playing for a playoff caliber team. When asked about how he is feeling these days, Spikes said this is the best he's felt since before his season ending injury in 2005. As you can see in the picture, Spikes will be rocking number 51 this season, so no more jokes about Matt McCoy being route 51, he currently does not have a number, and the Eagles are thinking about keeping it that way. When asked how he was able to get the number 51 from McCoy, Spikes said he challenged McCoy to an arm wrestling match. When McCoy accepted the challenge and extended his arm to start the match, Spikes bitch slapped him and told him that he was taking his number and his spot at LB. McCoy fell to the ground, like he did all last season, and said that sounds like a good plan to him. Spikes then proceeded to look for, and I quote, "that sissy with the bow tie who plays a banjo." I have no idea who he could be talking about. This guy is friggin nuts. You can watch the press conference here. Unfortunately there is no video of the "bitch slap" Spikes laid on Matt McCoy.