Friday, November 11

Green on Green Violence

Ralph Nader recently threw another log on the fire with his recent statements: "If the Eagles management declines to remedy its mistake, commissioner Tagliabue, you should intervene to overturn the team's decision, which dishonors this country's traditional respect for free speech and cheats fans of an opportunity to see arguably the best receiver in football...Let him play." He continues, "[f]ans have purchased tickets for Eagles' games, in Philadelphia and elsewhere, on the assumption that they will see one of the game's most exciting receivers, so long as he is healthy enough to play. The Eagles' action denies them this opportunity.”


Ralph is right in that 81 does have a right to free speech, but he does not address the Eagles right to run their business as they see fit. His antics were well documented and he has been made fully aware that his behavior will not be tolerated by the organization. As for his rant on the fans behalf…if you bought season tickets for the express purpose of watching one single individual in the City of Philadelphia, and it wasn’t Allen Iverson, I don’t know what to say.

Suppose Andy Reid was running a steel mill, and he has a foreman named Donothan McNabb. Donothan comes to work every day, does an exemplary job, and is respected throughout the community. After a few years, Andy decides he wants to up production, so he goes and finds the T.J., a man renowned as the best steel worker in the country. So this new worker comes in, and he raises the level of intensity in all sectors of the plant. He boosts output to unheralded levels, and is recognized by all for his efforts. Jump to one year later, and Andy sees T.J. on the news, blasting their foreman, saying that he isn’t delegating responsibility or managing assets at a high level, and questioning the pedigree of the plant in general, from top to bottom. He is brought in and given a chance to apologize, which he refuses. He then proceeds to get into a fistfight on the plant floor with an ex-employee, visiting for the afternoon. After he is suspended without pay, he holds a press conference at his house, where he expresses his sincere apologies, four days after the fact. Well, what do you think the mill owner would do? Is there any company on the face of the earth that would keep an employee like this around? No, he would have been dropped like a bad habit.

Remember the day we got T.O.? A fifth round pick and Brandon Whiting, for the best receiver of the past decade. The city was ecstatic. I drove around with my buddy Theis, listening to WIP and screaming down Henry Ave. It was the best feeling our franchises have given us since game one of the 2001 Nba finals (AKA the greatest basketball game ever played). But even then there was that voice in the back of our heads: you know, this may not end happily. Well, it didn’t. It ended terribly. And from the looks of things, it’s a long way from being over. Was he worth it? No. Would we do it again? Every single time.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, How great was game one. OOf.


But Nader is a douchebag. I bet Drew is bribing him.

Anonymous said...

I hate the Eagles. A lot. But I thought trading for TO was a great move. Still do. He gave them a great season last year and took them to the promised land--the Super Bowl. Who cares if he's been a problem this season? Suspend him, deactivate him, and that's that. Cut him loose.

Philly fans don't want to just cut him loose. They want to kick him, scream at him, and blame him for all their current problems. Never mind the fact that Mcnabb is being held together with duct tape and bungee cords, or that they have an offense that passes so often even Mike Martz would be embarassed. Its all TO's fault right?

Get over it.

Anonymous said...

Nader is a jerkoff. Owens' punishment is for being a toxic douche bag
on a team that needs cohesion to win. Also, fans who bought tickets to
see TO aren't nearly as f-ed as ticketholders of brutal teams like the
Cardinals. Try being an Arizona fan and believing that Kurt Warner
might not suck.

Anonymous said...

At least Cardinals fans get the pleasure of seeing first class teams like the NY football Giants come to their stadium.

23 said...

Yeah, and Buffalo gets to play New England twice a year, but they still have to choose between J.P. Losman and Kell Holcomb

z said...

right. and i'm spelling samkon gado on 3rd downs for the packers this weekend. part of green bay's "seventh string outreach" program.

Anonymous said...

as a bills fan, i feel obligated to let james know that we have benched half our o-line this weekend, are starting our 3rd string tight end at right tackle, to replace our god awful "franchise" 6'8" 900lb right tackle who is moving to left guard, a position he has never played, to replace our biggest offseason pickup benny "the human penalty" anderson. other than that, should be fine on sunday.

and hal, mark my words, jp will be fine, just not this year and not with that line or that playcalling. he will be the best mexican quarterback in the history of the nfl.

and for the umpteenth year, i will emphasize to all of you that the eagles will never win a superbowl with donovan mcterrible, he doesnt have it in him, hes the black peyton manning. tough dude, great regular season qb, cant win the big ones, deal with it.