Friday, September 28, 2012

It's Friday, Time to Dance

Since the Eagles take on the Giants Sunday night, now seems like the appropriate time to enjoy Martellus Bennett's Cap'N Crunch rap.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The 20 Must Follow Twitter Personalities For Football Season

The 20 Must Follow Twitter Personalities For Football Season

Name: FakeWIPCaller
Twitter: @FakeWIPCaller
This one is more for Eagles fans, but anyone who has ever listened to sports talk radio will appreciate this humor tweeter, who tweets all the ridiculous things you would hear callers say on your favorite sports talk radio station, a la Philadelphia’s 610/94.1 WIP. Consistently cracks me up on a daily basis, especially during NFL season. — The Rev

Monday, September 24, 2012

Rides, Rain, Rainbows, Ridiculousness and Andy Reid

This past weekend, I traveled some 500-plus miles from the moment I left my house Friday to the moment I returned to my Philadelphia residence, heading to my first Penn State game with Bill O'Brien as coach, enjoying a birthday celebration and doing a little dog-sitting for my parents in the process.

My venture began by heading back to my parents' house to spend the night as the Phillies were taking the series opener with the Atlanta Braves behind yet another sterling effort from Kyle Kendrick, who has somehow miraculously transformed into a really good pitcher.



My old Penn State season-ticket partner Arkansas Fred lives close to my parents, so I figured I'd head up north and rest my head in my old bedroom before meeting up with AF to head out to the game. When I got to his house at 8 a.m. sharp, I was greeted at the door by a new addition to the AF household: a tiny bulldog-puggle puppy. Naturally, I spent the next half hour playing with the dog, which is about a tenth of the size if it's lucky of my nearly 80-pound black lab, as AF got ready for the road trip.

It was going to be a quick turnaround, just a day trip out to our alma mater to take in the game with another one of our college roommates and his fiancé, but a trip I was looking forward to nonetheless. Being the nice guy that I (sometimes) am, I procured tickets to the game at the request of my buddy, whose future bride had never been to a Penn State game.

So at around 8:30, AF and I began our journey, and shortly after we hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike, we encountered this:



Just a wall of fog encompassing the landscape as far as the eye could see. I sure am glad AF was driving instead of me, because it certainly wasn't the best visibility out there. However, we made it to State College in relatively good time, thanks to the scheduled 3:30 p.m. kickoff helping spread the traffic out. And shortly after we reached I-80, the fog began to dissipate and the sun started to shine through. Perhaps it wouldn't be the dreary, rainy day projected by the weathermen.

When we arrived in the place we called home for four — well four and half for AF — glorious years, we did the usual taking in of the scenery, found a place to park and searched out The Charles and his wife-to-be. We then proceeded to walk through downtown and our old campus, hitting up Canyon Pizza for some slices, strolling through the Old Main walkway, past the library and back to the car for a little light tailgating.



As the clock struck 2:30, we made our way toward the stadium, stopping by my buddy's dad's tailgate and quickly saying hello before entering the stadium. Now, I have been going to Penn State for literally more than 20 years to watch games, more times than not securing tickets from my uncle. The past few seasons, he's had 10 tickets to every game, with six seats near the 10-yard line and four seats around the 40-, 45-yard line. Minus the four years I was a student and the two years I had season tickets with AF, I've pretty much always sat in one of those two locations. But my uncle recently upgraded his pair of six, to right on the 50-yard line. Thus, we had basically perfect seats at midfield … seats that just so happen to be right next to my friend's dad's section — the same guy who we stopped to say hello to at his tailgate.



It was quite the pleasant surprise, both because of the view and because I got to see my buddy's father in action. Let's just say he gets incredibly into the game.

I can't say the same for the rest of the crowd Saturday afternoon. I don't know if it was the dreary weather — it rained lightly on and off all game — the opponent or the slow start and difficult circumstances surrounding the season, but there were a whole hell of a lot of empty seats at this Temple game. It was certainly the most lightly attended game I've been at in Beaver Stadium in a long while.

As for the game itself, it was frustrating for a while until Penn State finally came through with a touchdown late in the first quarter. All quarter long, we watched as Temple played Allen Robinson, the third leading receiver in the nation coming in, in one-on-one man coverage. Naturally, you would think Matt McGloin would be tossing him the ball every chance he could against man coverage, yet that wasn't the case the first few drives. Robinson was targeted so little that AF began to get incredibly irritated, asking why they weren't throwing Robinson the ball and demanding they do so.

Finally, on a  4th and 5 from the Temple 41-yard line in a scoreless game, Bill O'Brien decided to go for it and called Robinson's number. I didn't think the Nittany Lions should have gone for it, and if I was the coach I certainly would have punted given the way the defense was playing, but O'Brien's gamble paid off. McGloin hit Robinson on a quick slant, and the breakout wide receiver took it to the house for the opening score.



The rest of the game was fairly uneventful. A slew of penalties slowed down the game. The rains made for a light nuisance, and the competition was not up for the challenge. Penn State controlled the lines on both sides of the ball, with the Penn State offensive line creating huge holes that allowed Michael Zordich and Zach Swinak to both average five yards a carry, and the defensive line led by Jordan Hill put constant pressure on Chris Coyer, even if they did give up a few big runs. It was just another example of Penn State simply being better across the board than the Owls.

Matt McGloin had another impressive day, throwing for a career-high 318 yards, tossing the aforementioned touchdown pass to Robinson and adding two rushing touchdowns of his own in the 24-13 victory. Despite not looking to Robinson enough, he was effective all game, really relying on his tight ends, particularly impressive freshman Kyle Carter. Even the interception was not McGloin's fault, as it went right off the hands of Brandon Moseby-Felder.

The redhead isn't going to win any awards or play football beyond this year, but he has been much more impressive through four games in 2012 than he was in 2011, and this is coming from someone who is not exactly a Matt McGloin fan.



However, while I had no problems with McGloin on Saturday, I had a big problem with whoever the hell is in charge of the music at Penn State. Truthfully, this has been an issue since forever, something that irritates me to no end. Many times on Saturday, Penn State went to the no huddle with Temple on its heels. That means McGloin was making the calls at the line and trying to communicate with his teammates. In your home stadium, that means you want the place to be quiet until the ball is snapped. Yet time and time again, as has been the case for years at Penn State, there is pumped in music and crowd noise between plays, even with the Nittany Lions on offense and even with the home team trying to run the no huddle. It's so god damn counterproductive and flat-out stupid that I can't even handle it. I want the person in charge of that fired. I know wishing someone to lose his or her job is not a nice thing, but this has been going on for years. Whoever is the person who makes that decision is an incompetent fool who knows nothing about football.

But hey, at least Penn State won and there was a cool rainbow that appeared.





Oh, and the 1982 national championship team was honored at halftime, which is always nice.



Once the game was over, we said our goodbyes and then decided to head back east, seeing as both AF and I are old and tire easily, and because he had to get back to the family and help take care of this brand-new puppy.

The ride back was fairly torturous, as we both struggled to keep our eyes open. If it wasn't for a desperately needed McDonald's stop to nab a few double cheeseburgers — a tradition we started while college students — we may not have made it at all. The weariness was taking over, and as you know, the drive back is always worse than the drive there. All the anticipation and excitement are gone, and all you want to do is be out of the car and in your bed.

However, bed was not my next destination. On our way home, two of my friends said I should come out to a bar that was more than a half hour away from AF's house. For some reason, I decided, what the hell, and took them up on the offer.

Despite being ridiculously tired, it turned out to be one of the better recent decisions in my life. Not only did I meet up with my friends to celebrate the birthday of my one friend's girlfriend, but I wound up getting plenty drunk, meeting a very nice, interesting young woman, finding a nice place to rest my head and getting a ride back to my car the next morning. That's what you call a pretty full Saturday.

So full, in fact, that I barely had anything left in the tank for Sunday. When I reached my parents' house, I collapsed, slept until just before the 1 o'clock kickoffs and spent most of the day taking care of the dog and going in and out of consciousness until it was time for the Eagles-Cardinals game.

It would have been just as prudent to stay in my slumber, it turns out, given how awful the Eagles looked yesterday.



There's not much I can add to the game beyond everything I've been reading. It was a brutal game, with the Eagles simply getting beat by a very good Arizona Cardinals team that has an absolutely dominant defense through three weeks.

I will say that it makes absolutely no sense for Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg to come out and throw the ball 25 times and run it just 5 times to open the game despite: 1. having two ineffective backups starting for an injured offensive line; 2. playing against a ferocious defense with a dominant line; 3. having one of the best running backs in the NFL; and 4. having a quarterback who has struggled against pressure and cannot stop turning the ball over. It was a flawed game plan from the start, and shockingly, it exposed the team's flaws.

Daryl Washington and Kerry Rhodes were absolute beasts for Arizona defensively, with Washington flying all over the field and Rhodes destroying people and coming up with arguably the biggest play of the game. No, not the sack, fumble returned for a touchdown to close out the half, which obviously was huge, but the play before that sequence of plays at the 1 — the tackle by Rhodes to stop DeSean Jackson at the 1 and prevent a touchdown. It was huge, and wound up setting up that fumble return that sealed the game.

On the other side of the ball, Larry Fitzgerald did what Larry Fitzgerald does, giving the Eagles fits. That guy is good.

Of course, the game was defined by terrible clock management, wasted timeouts and turnovers … par of the course with the Eagles. It's maddening and inexplicable, yet it continues year after year after year. Reid and Marty are infuriating to watch call a game, and MIchael Vick is infuriating to watch play quarterback. Yes, Vick was poorly protected and running his for life per usual and got no help from his coaches, but he was also staring down receivers, holding on to the ball too long and taking unnecessary hits due his lack of awareness for the position. The man is an electrifying talent and still better than a large portion of quarterbacks in the NFL, but he just is not a very smart signal caller. When you compound that with poor play-calling, poor protection, neglecting the running the game and turnovers galore, you have a debacle like yesterday.

The Eagles are 2-1, which is a good thing, and the Cardinals are a lot better than anyone anticipated heading into the season. But the Eagles also have an offensive line relying on unreliable players and are averaging four turnovers a game through three games, with teams like the Giants, Steelers, Lions and Falcons on the way.

Yesterday's loss provided reason to worry, particularly if the line cannot improve against the pass rush of those teams coming up.

It was not a good Sunday for the Eagles … and the Phillies lost their second in row to the Braves, all but wiping away their postseason hopes, now a full five games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for that second wild card spot.

But hey, at least Penn State won, the scenery was great and I had fun while I could. Because god knows watching that game yesterday was anything was but.

Friday, September 21, 2012

It's Friday, Time to Dance

Michael Vick has thrown six interceptions in the first two games of the season, on pace to throw approximately 8,000 on the season, and yet he's also led the Eagles on two game-winning fourth quarter drives.

Vick will be the focal point yet again on Sunday against the man he used to back up, Kevin Kolb. So, here's some video called "Chris Brown, Mike Vick" that I found on YouTube. Enjoy.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Fun and the Frustration of the Phillies

Last night, shortly after I wrapped up my guest co-hosting duties for The Unsportsmanlike Conduct Show (do yourself a favor and listen to former NFL player Steve White spit truth), I turned my full attention back to the Phillies-Mets game. There were already two outs in the top of the ninth inning, and it was a 3-2 count to Chase Utley with the Phils down 2-1.

The next pitch was out of the strike zone, ball four, only Utley didn't leave the batter's box. He had forgotten the count. As Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler waited for Chase to head to first, confirming it was indeed ball four, the umpire finally informed Utley that he could take first base. Odd, but surely it would be moot seeing as the scuffling Ryan Howard was due up.

One massive swing later, and Ryan Howard was back to being the Big Piece, the man who has made a living off destroying baseballs. And it was both exhilarating and incredibly fun to see.



As Enrico said, it was a reminder about how much fun Phillies baseball can be, a reminder of what the potential is for a guy like Ryan Howard should he return fully healed in 2013. And it helped keep the Phillies on life support for October, however faint their chances of survival are.

Combined with Jimmy Rollins' leadoff home run and continued torrid streak in September, it was simply a fun baseball game to watch, even if the offense was dormant most of the night. Cole Hamels was excellent yet again. The Phils came from behind on the backs of the balky centerpieces Utely and Howard, and Jonathan Papelbon got himself another fist pump. Like I said, fun baseball, the type of fun we've grown accustomed to over the past five years, and the type of fun that had been so painfully absent through the first four months of the season.

Then it all harkened back to frustration, at least for me. Frustration in the fact that players like Jimmy Rollins waited so long to perform the way they are now. Frustration in the injuries to Utley and Howard, not to mention damn near everyone else. Frustration in the games this team has given away throughout the course of the year, whether it be through shoddy bullpen work, questionable managerial decisions or an offense losing its luster.

And most of all, frustration in the way this team, on the cusp of truly making a surprising, late push for the playoffs, dropped three of four games to the worst team in the league right as the Wild Card was there for the taking.

Think about it. If the Phillies just take 3 of 4 or even sweep the dreadful Houston Astros — a team that has lost 101 games this season — they are literally right there on the Cardinals' heels, primed to take on the Braves for a one-game playoff. Instead, they lose three of four to the worst team in the league, making the fun moments like last night all but meaningless in grand scheme of things.

It's another facet that has made 2012 such an odd, infuriating season. Moments like last night, watching Ryan Howard come through when all signs said he would not, watching the Phillies come from behind and defeat the hated Mets, they are fun. Incredibly fun. And they provide hope that with the proper moves, 2013 could be another special year.

But they also bring out the frustration of the first four months of the season, and the lethal series that did them in.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Eagles, Phillies Defy Logic

One short week ago, as I embarked on a weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas, the Philadelphia Phillies suddenly resurrected from the dead and got back in the National League Wild Card race while the Philadelphia Eagles looked beyond putrid offensively in a too-close-for-comfort opening-season victory against the hapless Cleveland Browns.

Heading into this past weekend, it looked as though the Phillies were primed to make an even bigger push taking on the dreadful Houston Astros for a four-game set, while the Eagles were going to have to protect the football and play exponentially smarter to defeat a Baltimore Ravens team that looked like a legit Super Bowl contender in week 1.

So naturally, the Phillies go out and lose three of four to literally the worst team in all of baseball thanks once again to bullpen troubles and underachieving, all but sealing their fate on this tumultuous 2012 season, while the Eagles somehow managed to improve to 2-0 despite turning the ball over four more times against Baltimore yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field.

That's right, the Phillies lost three of four to the Astros, while the Eagles are 2-0 on the season despite turning the ball over nine times in two games. Tell me those things don't defy logic.



There's really not much to say about the Phils other than they missed a golden opportunity to get even closer. They headed down to Houston three games behind St. Louis for the final Wild Card spot and had a chance to gain ground. Instead, they now sit four games back with just two weeks left in the season. You lose three of four to the worst team in baseball and you don't deserve to get in.

As for the Eagles, I just don't get it. I really don't. This team repeatedly does stupid things, whether it be horrid turnovers or killer penalties, and yet they are 2-0, defeating what many people consider one of the better teams in football yesterday. Mike Vick once again threw some truly horrid passes, including an inexcusable interception in the red zone on a 2nd and 9, where he threw across his body for no reason at all.

Don't get me wrong, Vick is electrifying and certainly in the upper half of quarterbacks in the league, but he's also a complete idiot. He threw another interception to up his total to six already this season, and he wasn't the only one making horrible plays out there.

LeSean McCoy, who did have a touchdown and was a workhorse with 25 carries, dropped a crucial pass on a 3rd and 1 and also coughed up the football for the second time already in two games, one more fumble than he had all of last year. Rookie Bryce Brown also fumbled on a 3rd down play, looking very much like the previous Brown who wore 34 for the Eagles.



Then there were the seven penalties for 58 yards, showing more lack of discipline and smarts. Yet, the Eagles made plays when it really mattered, Vick drove the team 80 yards for the game-winning score, had 371 yards passing and the defense looked stout yet again. And here we have it, with the Eagles sitting at 2-0 and leading the division despite those nine ugly turnovers.

To me, there were three players that really stood out yesterday for the Eagles. The first was Brent Celek, who had a game-high 157 yards on 8 catches and was nothing short of beastly. Celek nabbed everything thrown his direction, refused to go down easily and even bounced back up with authority after getting popped by Bernard Pollard, the guy who intercepted Vick on a would-be scoring drive. He also did this:



Then there was DeSean Jackson, who caught 7 balls for 114 yards and was clearly engaged all game. He was out there yapping and hopping around, having the type of cocky fun he does when he's at this best.

On the other side of the ball, it was DeMeco Ryans stealing the show yet again. Man, what a good trade this has been. Particularly in the second half, Ryans was all over the field, making plays and getting his nose in there to make Ray Rice earn everything he got. The guy is a stud.

I also have to give credit to both lines for the Eagles. The offensive line, a week after watching Vick get his brains beat in, did a pretty solid job overall, even with Jason Kelce and King Dunlap going down. Yes, Vick took a beating again, but the line really did protect him well and open up some holes for Shady. Not bad against a defense like the Ravens.

And the defensive line was stellar yet again, with Trent Cole and company doing a nice job hitting Flacco and somewhat containing Rice.

However, I have to admit that if I'm a Ravens fan, I'm furious at Cam Cameron today. For one thing, Baltimore scored a touchdown on its second drive of the game rather effortlessly, running the no-huddle and easily picking apart the Eagles defense. It was the type of drive that looked so easy that it made you think Philadelphia, a team that likes to rotate a lot of players in and out defensively, would have trouble containing the no-huddle all game. Yet, Cameron and the Ravens rarely ran the no-huddle the rest of the day. It was pretty baffling, to tell you the truth. They scored rather easily running it, then abandoned it.

Just like they abandoned the running game somewhat. Whereas LeSean McCoy carried the ball 25 times for Philadelphia, Ray Rice only had 16 carries despite average 6.2 yards a pop. Not exactly a wise philosophy by Cameron and company. But hey, I'll take it.

Two more notes on the Ravens:

1. That kid Justin Tucker can kill the ball. Jesus. The rookie kicker made field goals of 56, 51 and 48 yards, and all of them looked like they would have been good from 70 yards easily.

2. The Ravens entrusted Sean Considine with executing a fake punt. Naturally, the former Eagle flop tripped over his own teammate and came up short. Had he just kept his footing, it would have been an easy first down for Baltimore. Now, the Ravens surely must realize what we here in Philadelphia have known for a long time: Never trust Sean Considine with anything.

So yeah, the Phillies lose 3 of 4 agains the Astros, while the Eagles sit at 2-0 with nine turnovers on the year. The only thing logical about this past weekend was Penn State finally putting something together and destroying Navy, because Navy is terrible. Oh, and Gerald Hodges and Mike Mauti are all sorts of good, no matter who Penn State is playing.

Friday, September 14, 2012

It's Friday, Time to Dance

Charles Barkley terribly singing Boyz II Men? Charle Barkley terribly singing Boyz II Men.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ohio Beating Penn State Is the World in Which We Live

I know Ohio is a good football team. In fact, the Ohio Bobcats are the favorites to win the MAC, with a really good quarterback and a smart team. However, that does not make Penn State's opening-seasoning loss to Ohio feel any better.



Honestly, I was only half paying attention seeing as I was in New York embarking on a rooftop fantasy draft, so I don't have much to add other than the offense looked good early moving the ball but killed itself with turnovers and suspect quarterbacking.

For a much more reasonable take on the game, go check out Black Shoe Diaries.