#I feel like I did in Philly when the eagles won

[cookinguptales]

GUESS WHO WAS EATING DINNER IN DOTONBORI WHEN THE HANSHIN TIGERS WON

[brotherlysports]

Maybe This Year

When did Philly have more specifically the fans start to get the reputation they have today? This question was asked by one of my fellow classmates, and this question can be answered pretty easily after watching the documentary “Maybe This Year”. This Documentary is a story on the Philadelphia Eagles and how they finally won their first Super Bowl, and showing the perspective from die hard eagles fans. “Maybe This Year” stars eagles fans Shirley Dash, Barry Vagnoni, and Jesse Callsen. It starts off in September of 2017 when the Eagles season begins. First we meet Shirley, she calls into a radio station where she expresses her feelings about the Eagles. As Shirley shows emotions about the previous game she says “I love my Eagles, I love my team, I ride or die for em’. But they gotta wanna do the same thing for us. They got to want to do the same thing for the fans.” In season she refers to herself as “Eagles Shirley” where she’s a passionate fan even when the Eagles don’t win.

 Next we are introduced to Barry Vagnoni, he built an addition onto his house to make “an Eagles locker room” this was a place where he can have his friends and family over for all game days. This place was huge, it was like they had their own bar right in the backyard. We one the locker room was filled with love and cheering. Unfortunately Barry had suffered from a heart attack, thankfully he was alright thanks to his doctors. His anesthesiologist had said “ Oh no this is that Eagles nut, we can’t let anything happen to him ‘cause they’ve never won a Super Bowl. We’ve got to keep him alive for when they finally win a Super Bowl.” That was such an amazing moment to watch because it shows how others can care for people they don’t even know. Barry had admitted that he cares so much but he can’t keep taking these losses to heart to where it affects him, but that just shows how fans are. During the documentary you get to watch Barry prepare for this moment of the game against the Vikings. 

Jesse is our last fan we are introduced to as he talks about bringing his own child into the world in an Eagles onesie. When Jesse was growing up he was introduced to the game by his father. Jesse said “ as a kid you think, why does he care so much.” and now being the same big fan like his dad he understands. His father ended up battling with brain cancer where he decided no matter what he would be watching these games with his dad. Jesse expresses how much he wants the Eagles to win not just for him but for his father, saying “it would be a blessing and a miracle all at the same time”. 

Each week they interview new fans and give updates on where they are standing. This was the year that we ended our season 13-3. The last 20 minutes was showing the main event, Super Bowl LII. We got to see the excitement but also the pressure and worry in the fans' faces. They played the final drive where Tom Brady threw the ball for the last uncompleted pass, fans immediately knew that the Eagles were finally Super Bowl Champions. They played reactions from Shirley, Barry, and Jesse, absolutely priceless, an unforgettable moment. There was screaming and there were tears but it was all from pure joy, the fans finally got what they wanted. Now I go back to my question of where the fans get the reputation from. Leading after the game fans filled the broad street to celebrate. They may not always be the most pleasant people, but they will do anything for their team. Earlier in the documentary there were clips from a tailgate, fans getting excited, setting off fireworks, being the usual idiots. But these fans are so passionate, I know I may be a fan myself but I even got emotional seeing how these fans were celebrating. I remember the moment myself, the feeling of finally winning, being nervous all day until the game was finally over. If you are not a fan or don’t follow sports this is a must watch of what to see when you will encounter Eagles fans.

[faggotmox]

11. Neighbors, and 26. Coming Out!! bryan/yuta!!

mash up! || @di0brando

11. neighbors + 26 coming out

Bryan is frustrated when his new neighbor tries to become his friend.

It started innocently enough with Bryan's new neighbor Wheeler. They both went on runs at the same time in the morning, eventually they started to run together. Then it was about food. Wheeler would leave vegan soy-free food for Bryan so Bryan paid back in kind. After a month of that Wheeler started inviting Bryan over to watch whatever game or MMA match was on. Sometimes other people would be over at Wheeler's place. Some young guy named Danny that always flirted with him and made fun of Wheeler. Two guys just named Mox and Eddie, they always seemed to be around too. There was also the guy Lee, a dude named Orange that never spoke to Bryan and Orange's friends Chuck and Trent. So on and so on.

Thing was Bryan couldn't figure out why. It seemed like Wheeler had plenty of friends in his life, apparently he and Mox worked out so Bryan's nutrition and physical health advice wasn't special. But Wheeler was always finding a reason to be around Bryan. Even going to far as to get Bryan a few plants for his collection. Perhaps it crossed his mind once or twice that this fine young man was maybe into him, maybe this was flirting and courting, but Bryan was pretty sure Wheeler wasn't gay. Danny had pointedly teased him about a girlfriend once or twice.

It was a little frustraing to say the least. Bryan lived a quiet life, not completely isolated but he didn't have people over all the time. He didn't have places to be. Not the way Wheeler did. So, Bryan changed his running time half the days of the week. A lame excuse to Wheeler about being up earlier at the vet clinic. Answering Wheeler's text was less frequent. The exchange of food had nearly stopped, and Bryan hadn't been inside of Wheeler's apartment in three months. Wheeler had expressed concern that was mostly ignored. And Bryan noticed Mox and Eddie would glare at him very pointedly whenever they crossed paths between townhouses.

It was Bryan's choice to start distancing himself from Wheeler, but it also made him feel horrible. Most of his time was taken up thinking about Wheeler. If he was eating right, eating enough, if the Phillies won or the Eagles. There was a wrestling DVD on Bryan's coffee table that had meant to go to Wheeler ages ago, but he kept it there, staring at it daily to remind himself of his own distance.

"Okay, so like what's your god damn problem?" Eddie finally snapped at Bryan as they passed by each other. It was early, Mox was nowhere to be seen which was who normally kept Eddie at bay.

"Nothing." Bryan answered as he kept automatically walking towards his car, trying to fish his keys out of his scrubs pocket.

"Nothing." Bryan said blandly as he automatically kept waling towards his car, trying to he fish the keys to his car out of the pocket of his scrubs.

"Don't walk away from me while I'm speakin' to you." Eddie spat, as he spun around on the heels of his Tims.

"I don't have a problem, Eddie." Bryan stopped the nearly ten feet away.

"Like hell ya don't." Eddie grunted, his hand waving dismissively.

"I have to go or I'll be late for work." Bryan lied. He always made sure he had a half hour before work by the time he left in the morning.

"I can see right through your pathetic ass, Danielson." Eddie made the motion with two figures towards his eyes then at Bryan, to say he was watching the other man.

Later that night Bryan carried his tired body home, walking up the short walkway seemed like a marathon after the day he had at the clinic. As he turned the corner he saw Wheeler sitting on the little porch under a greening light. It looked like he was smoking?

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Bryan accused as he walked straight up to the just above waist high fence that made the outdoor space a patio.

"Uh...?" Wheeler blinked dumbly.

"Did Eddie and Mox get you to start smoking cigarettes?" Bryan asked in disbelief. "Those pricks. I can't believe they would press--"

"It's weed, Bryan." Wheeler looked utterly confused as he stared up at his older neighbor. "And it's a tobacco free wrap."

"O...Oh." Bryan cleared his throat, a small blush spread over his face.

"Yeah." Wheeler leaned forward. "Want some? Maybe then you won't be such a prick."

"Guess I deserve that." Bryan sighed but shook his hand at the blunt. "No. I don't smoke."

A long silence stretched between them. It made Bryan's skin itch. Why had he even approached Wheeler? The kid's habit weren't his crosses to bear. Just when Bryan was thinking about saying good night Wheeler reached down to grab something then plopped it down in front of Bryan. Take out boxes. From Bryan's favorite place.

"I know it's your long day at the clinic. You don't want to cook." Wheeler pointed out, and he was right on both accounts.

"Where you waiting for me?" Bryan's face scrunched up, not knowing if that was weird or endearing.

"Kinda. Not like I'll see you regularly anymore." Wheeler huffed. The weed apparently made him mouthy. "You know, if you didn't want to date me you could have just said so or said you weren't gay if that were the case. Didn't have to be a dick about it."

Bryan felt like his expression was just a loading screen. His brain flipping and flopping back and forth in its tiny space. Had Wheeler really just said that? The heavy beats of Bryan's heart against his chest brought him out of thought. Or maybe it was Wheeler saying something that brought him back.

"It's whatever. It's fine." Wheeler went on with a sigh. "It just sucked. All my friends heard about this amazing guy next door and then you were a prick.

"...I didn't know." Bryan said quietly, still in some shock.

"Didn't know what?" Wheeler's face screwed up in a pout.

"That you were gay." Bryan admitted and it was like every lightbulb went off for Wheeler.

"Are you?" Wheeler's tone sounded so hopeful yet dripping in annoyance.

"Yes, actually." Bryan swallowed around the lump in his throat as Wheeler's eyes got huge.

"Then, I don't know, you want to go on a date?" Wheeler stood up as he asked, a dopey grin on his face as he left behind the blunt.

"Sure. It could be nice." Bryan grinned back at the beautiful look on Wheeler's face. "Let's go on a date, Wheeler."

[greenandhazy]

Things I love about these Philadelphia Phillies:

There are a lot of young players new to the team this year, and they call themselves “the Daycare.” Brandon Marsh had to point out that he counted as the daycare because he’s only 24 despite being 6’4” and looking like this

One member of the Daycare, Nick Maton, has the nickname “Wolfie” in the clubhouse because he howls after big hits/plays. A hype video they released for the playoffs referred to him affectionately as “Teen Wolf over here.” Also, he has an older brother who pitches for the Houston Astros. Recently he successfully got a hit against his brother, and both of their reactions were exactly what you’d expect: 😑 and 😈

Their win playlist has been made public and is absolutely off the wall, but apparently their go-to celebration song is a cover of “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn?? Nothing like seeing a bunch of beefy dudes hopping up and down, spraying each other with champagne, belting out a no-pronouns-switch breakup song.

During one of the celebrations, one guy was dancing around with their backup catcher, Garrett Stubbs, on his shoulders. He hadn’t actually played that game, and people joked he was only there because they needed a short guy to lug around whom they didn’t have to worry about dropping.

The main catcher, JT Realmuto, has the fastest pop time—meaning the time it takes him to jump up and throw the ball when he sees someone stealing—in the National League. His pop time is under 2 seconds. That was also about the amount of time it took him to jump when someone popped a champagne cork right next to him, which is a hilariously delayed reaction.

The arguable founder of the Phillies daycare has decided that, instead of the traditional rush with a giant tub, he wanted to sneak up on people with little cups of ice water and pour it down their shirts. Always check for Sneaky Stott in the background.

There’s one player in his third season, Alec Bohm, who struggled a lot with sophomore slump. After one game when he made three errors in the field, he got a sarcastic standing ovation and got caught on camera saying “I fucking hate this place.” He owned up to it and the fans’ general reaction was “babe we fucking hate this place too, welcome to the club,” and he got a genuine round of applause the following night. Since then he put in a shit ton of work and made some truly incredible plays in the game that led to them advancing in the playoffs. When asked what he had to say to fans, he said “I love this place.”

Bryce Harper, last year’s NL MVP, has been called the king of pandering. He has had multiple custom-made suits, cleats, and other accessories to pay tribute to Philly sports (including adding green feathers to a premade pair of Phanatic cleats that just weren’t tacky enough), and his reaction after the Phillies won their recent round in the playoffs was to say he hoped the Eagles would have a good game the next day (they did—coincidentally both Philly teams beat teams called the Cardinals this weekend).

Jean Segura had the record of being the longest-playing player in the National League to not make the playoffs. He had a hit in their first playoff game that gave them the go-ahead run, and he reacted with a victory leap while still running to first.

There is absolutely nothing I don’t love about Rhys Hoskins, the Big Fella, king of handshakes, clubhouse big brother. But shoutout to this photo of a tender moment between him and Bryce Harper after they made the playoffs.

And it just feels wrong to not acknowledge Kyle Schwarber even though I don’t know much about him except he’s a goddamn tank, but he did have an EPIC meltdown early this season against an ump who had a horrible accuracy rate which I got to witness in the 9th inning of a 1-run, boring as shit game, and it was fantastic. He made sure to include plenty of big gestures so those of us in the cheap seats could tell what he was complaining about, which I appreciated.

In conclusion: go Phils, fuck the Braves, RING THAT BELL.

[liamah4]

State of Philadelphia sports

***I want to start off my first blog post with my thoughts on the current state of Philadelphia sports teams.  I feel if you continue to read my content it is important to understand where I stand on each team.

  In season: Philadelphia 76ers

     I will start with the first place Sixers with a top three, if not THE MVP frontrunner in Joel Embiid.  My unbiased opinion believes he is the MVP at this point in time.  When the Sixers have their starting 5 they are undefeated.  You have to love this stat from the Sixers and it is a great thing to see in a season that had a shortened off-season where the Sixers had new pieces and a new coaching staff.

     Finally a win without Embiid.  What a win it was and it should be a morale and confidence boost for the team.  

     Overall I can't complain about the Sixers.  Sure, there are some things I wish they were doing better, but they're in first and I'm happy about that (especially if they are in first and can still play a lot better). Saving the best for last shout out to Glenn "Doc” Rivers.  The organization was in need of a fresh mind and Doc has the boys playing at a high level.  He was a great hire and I think the biggest addition to the team in the off-season (yes, bigger than Morey and the Al Horford trade).  

     To finish off my thoughts on the Sixers, I would ask if you believe this season is finals or bust?  Not sure I am ready to answer that, but the Eastern Conference Finals are a must.

In Season: Philadelphia Flyers

     Just like their Wells Fargo Center roommates the Flyers are also in first place.  I cannot say watching the Flyers has been easy this season.  They don't look great in any of the 3 zones.  D-Zone is a mess and they turn the puck over way too much.  They are scoring a lot but the offensive zone hasn't been great either and they need to shoot the puck much more.  At times in games they decide they want to get more pucks to the net and this creates more opportunities but also always them to cycle the puck and get their legs moving when the defense is standing still. 

     Although it was a couple games ago I did not love the benching of TK.  Goal scorers are streaky and he started the season hot and cooled off some.  Also he is a glue/chemistry guy and the Flyers are better with him in the line up; it is as simple as that.  Even if he is not playing his best he is still a danger to score every night and defenses have to game plan for Konecny.  

     People always say good teams find ways to win when they are not playing well.  That might be the case for this Flyers team at the moment.  They have the most wins in the East Division despite not playing their best hockey.  Further Coots (best player) is still hurt and we see how the Sixers play without Embiid (best player), so at least the Flyers have been able to win games without Couturier.  Once again they need to start playing better but at the end of the day, first place.

Out of Season: Philadelphia Phillies

     I honestly don't know what to think of the Phillies.  I have to start with JT Realmuto.  Getting JT back is huge and I am so pumped they signed him.  Maybe not all of Philadelphia felt this way, but somehow it felt like we were going to mess it up and let him go.  Also I believe Bryce Harper deserves to be rewarded for the contract he signed.  Harper wants to be here long term and win in Philly.  He has given himself to the Phillies Organization and I believe they owe him by bringing in top talent.  Our next big re-signing was Didi Gregorius. This was also a great move and I am excited to have Didi back in this line-up.  

     Even with these recent signings we all know the Phillies still need more pitching if they want to make the playoffs and contend for a World Series title.  Archie Bradley is a start for the bullpen and he should be a huge help, but a couple more arms are still needed.  Ideally the Phillies starting pitchers get better on their own and improve, but I think we have seen enough of Vince Velasquez and could really use some rotation depth.  

     Other than pitching I like the current state of the Phillies.  I am excited to see a full season of Didi and Alec Bohm and a full season with this line-up. The NL East title might be out of reach with the talent of Atlanta, but this should be a playoff team and if they do not find a way in the season is a failure.

Out of Season: Philadelphia Eagles

     Where do I start with this one? I always have hope when it comes to the beloved Eagles.  I crave for the Eagles to be competitive and perhaps let my emotions blind me to the truth more with the Eagles.

     I do think that Carson Wentz is fixable, but I am still not sure if he is the answer for the Eagles. If he gets back to his old self we hope every year is as productive as his 2017 season, but we have no way to prove that that is the player Caron Wentz is.  Let's be honest, if Wentz starts and gets back to his old self and the Eagles are winning, all our problems go away (in the short term) because we are winning.  I also like Jalen Hurts and thought he showed promise in the time he got.  He gave me more hope than Carson did last year.  

     Nick Sirianni is an interesting hire and I don't know too much about him, but I am not surprised they went after a Frank Reich guy. I do not have a strong opinion on the hire either way and I hope he is successful.  I was pulling for Duce Staley and believed he deserved it. I would love for him to be the head coach down the line at some point. 

     Their best hope at success next year is the NFC East once again being a terrible division.  If the Eagles are in a rebuild then this division is the perfect one to be in, they can rebuild and win the division at the same time.  Once you get into the playoffs you never know what can happen.  

     We all know the cap situation is a mess and we have a bunch of older players on expensive contracts. Ideally I would want to trade or move these contracts even if we have to "lose" the deal.  Howie should have been let go, but if he is responsible for these contracts maybe he can fix the situation.  When the Phillies won the World Series older players got long and expensive contracts.  The Phillies are still feeling the effects of that today.  I do not want the Eagles to make the same mistakes and move on as quickly as possible and getting rid of the money in the short to medium time frame is essential. 

      After this miserable season, we have a no name head coach and an unpopular GM.  Further, Lurie needs to take a step back and not be as involved.  For as long as I can remember (I'm 23) the Eagles have been bad at drafting.  They were bad with Andy and it wasn't much better with Doug.  We need a GM who knows how to draft and we need an owner that lets the people who know football make football decisions.  Hopefully the new coaching staff can light a fire under this team and lead them to first place in the dreary NFC East. 

***Thank you for making it through my first blog.  I hope you enjoyed the content and I will try and continue to bring interesting content on our favorite sports teams.  I would love to hear feedback in the comments and any suggestions would be awesome! 

[mpalkoblog]

My father, a patient Champion

When I originally wrote this, I didn’t know that Super Bowl LII (in 2018) would be my father’s last.  That game was also the last time he watched the Eagle play.

I credit my father for my love of sports.  Baseball and football broadcasts filled my childhood homes and most car rides.  One of my earliest childhood memories is listening to the 1969 World Series on a transistor radio as my mom and I waited for my sister to be dismissed from school.  My father took the time to play sports with me and watch me play. He threw me countless pitches, and we tossed a football for hours; a large one for outside, a smaller one for indoors while watching games on TV.  I was pretty good at grabbing his passes from the couch before they hit the carpet.  He taught me everything he knew about the games, too.  And he knew a lot.  A big grin always came across his face when he talked about his playing days, and I’m pretty sure he carried in his wallet the dog-eared newspaper clipping about the day he pitched a no-hitter.  He faced the minimum that Sunday afternoon, picking off the one batter he walked.

Living in Pottsville, a small town in Pennsylvania’s Coal Region, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, he and I were, of course, fans of the Eagles and Phillies.  My team loyalties occasionally wavered.  I spent a few of my childhood years rooting for other clubs. During the mid ‘70s I traded my Eagle green for the purple and gold of the Minnesota Vikings and my Phillies’ red for the black and gold of the cross-state Pirates. In retrospect, I can see why: those teams had more success than my hometown teams. The Vikings went to 4 Super Bowls between 1969 and 1976 (they still haven’t won one), and I watched the Pirates win 2 titles before my 14th birthday.

At no time did my father’s devotion to the hometown teams waver, but I do remember him lamenting, “I guess we’re just not meant to win.” and “That stuff just doesn’t happen to us.”

You can imagine then, how we rejoiced when the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980.  I was lucky enough to be at the ballpark the night they clinched that title, and he and I talked about it for hours on end that winter.  But a Super Bowl championship always seemed to elude the Eagles and my father.  I can remember him cheering (and cursing) some really good (and some less than good) teams lead by the likes of Roman Gabriel, Bill Bergey, Tom Dempsey, Ron Jaworski, Willbert Montgomery, Harold Carmichael, Reggie White and Buddy Ryan’s Gang Green defenses.  The Eagles made it to Super Bowl XV only to be crushed (much like hearts and spirits of their fans) by the Oakland Raiders.

By the time the Eagles made it back to the Super Bowl in 2004 (XXIX), I had long left his house and PA. I was in North Carolina, freshly removed from almost 15 years living in and around Boston cheering for the New England Patriots. (Yes, I cheered for them when they wore the ugly red uniforms, lost more than they won and when many games were “blacked out” on local Boston TV stations because fans wouldn’t fill the stadium.)  The Patriots got their first Super Bowl title, and thus I got mine, in 2001, a feeling of elation that I will never forget.  And 3 years later, my adopted team was going head-to-head with my father’s team.  His Eagles fell short, again.

Fast forward to February 2018.  I’ve passed on my love of sports to my own son, and our Patriots are headed to their tenth Super Bowl. My son and I shared the joy of being associated with champions MANY times and now our football team seemed poised to win (and were favored to win) their sixth title.  The opponent this time? Again, the Philadelphia Eagles.  The week before the game I asked my father if he was betting on the game with his head or his heart.  Without hesitating he said “I’m betting with my head.  I’m taking the Eagles.”  Needless to say, I had a foot in both camps for Super Bowl LII.  I loved that feeling of victory, of punching the air and high-fiving my son.  Fifty-one Super Bowls had come and gone, one for each year of my life, and a part of me wanted my father, 82, to experience, for the first time, that mid-winter joy.

The game quickly becoming an instant classic.  At halftime, I called my father, joking that he should make sure that he’d turned off the notifications sent from his pacemaker to his doctor’s office.   I spent the last few minutes of the game on the phone with him, watching, talking, just he and I, like we had so many times before, critiquing, correcting, wishing.  Despite his age, he was still sharp.  He knew the players, statistics, formations and just what he was seeing.  When the final pass of the game fell to the ground in the end zone, the game clock showed all zeros.  His Eagles were ahead on the scoreboard, and I heard him leave out a sigh, as if he’d been holding his breath since the very first Super Bowl.  “You did it!” I said.  He was home alone, and I was happy to be the first to congratulate him.  All of those years watching “The Birds” with me, with his uncle, his father and mother, his brothers and sisters, his nieces and nephews, and, of course my mom, sister and I. Hundreds of games watched from the same chair he was sitting in that night.  Still others watched with his friends from his usual stool at the Eagles Nest, the seasonal name for the local American Legion Hall.  All of them leading him to that very moment.

I wished him good night because by then my phone was buzzing with post-game messages from New England fans, my PA family and Patriot haters.  One of the messages was from a former Boston coworker, fellow Patriot fan and someone who already knew most of this story.  Larry wrote “Game over. Give your dad a high five for me. Congrats daddy Palko.”

What happened the next day was something I could have never expected.  Larry told me that he’d told his son, Ryan, about my father’s wait for a Super Bowl victory and now Ryan wanted to give my father his Nick Foles jersey. Foles, the Eagles quarterback was voted the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player.  Having started the season as the team’s backup quarterback, Foles was thrust into the leading role when the starter suffered a season-ending injury prior to the playoffs.  When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, I slept in my team jersey.  I was 36. But now this 17 year old wanted to give his team jersey to my father in celebration.  Ryan told his dad, “You’re not selling it are you?  You have to give it to him.”

Now I’ll be first to admit that professional sports are what they are:  kids’ games played by adults.  And I realize that unless you put on the pads and strap on the helmet, you have no influence over the outcome, but this one was more than a game to me.  It was a culmination of almost a lifetime of patience, preparation, perseverance and waiting.  I am so grateful that I got to be on that journey with my father and to know that he now knows joy associated with it.

To Larry and Ryan, a sincere thank you for helping to crown my father as a champion.  I’m humbled by your awareness and generosity.

To my father I say, “Pop, you ARE meant to win and that stuff DOES happen to us!”

[thesportssoundoff]

Mike Zimmer And What To Do When “They Are Who We Thought They Were” Finally Extends To You?

Joey

December 12th, 2018

It probably all seemed like a really great idea to Mike Zimmer and the higher ups for the Vikings.

The team that had gone to the NFC Championship Game and returned a majority of its weapons would a) get back Dalvin Cook and b) become players in the free agent market. In a weirdly deep QB market, the Vikings made it a priority to go out there and get the best one possible. They won the bidding war for Kirk Cousins, moving up from Case Keenum and taking on a massive NFL contract for the right to have what they deemed to be the missing piece. In an offense with Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, Kyle Rudolph, a returning Dalvin Cook and a maybe ready to click Laquon Treadwell, it all seemed like a great idea. The Vikings went all in and in going all in, they embraced the challenge of taking risks to get to the end of the game. I will never hate on a team for trying to go all in to try and maximize its window. I don't fault the Vikings for trying to win a Super Bowl and neither should its fans.

But at 6-6-1 with a very slim lead on the NFC's final wild card spot and having been throttled by playoff teams in three of their last four games, the plan has failed. So much so in fact that prized offensive coordinator John DeFilippo is now gone after a humiliating loss to the Seattle Seahawks. How did we get here? What's gone wrong?

Let's start with the guy least likely to get any of the requisite blame necessary; that being Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. Zimmer is an old school coach, forged under the likes of Marvin Lewis, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells at the pro level. He demands a lot out of his players and his coaches which is the way coaching should be----but there's something very Parcells-ian about Zimmer. He often times comes off as cold and demeaning to everybody from the players to the media to whomever else. Parcells was a master strategist when he would do this but Parcells also had two Super Bowl wins under his belt and a Super Bowl appearance with the Patriots. That style ultimately wore people out which is why Parcells had zero issue bailing on teams right when the message started to wear thin. Zimmer SEEMS like that sort of guy and while that style can work, it's also got a shelf life attached to it. Look at how NFL coaches talk about their players, often bending over backwards and jumping through hoops to protect them and then compare that to Zimmer's ridiculously dismissive burial of Daniel Carlson, a rookie kicker in his second ever game, after releasing him. That doesn't happen in today's NFL anymore which may make it refreshing for some but for players, I'd imagine it's a high point dick move. Zimmer threw John DeFilippo under the bus on more than a number of occasions, often times citing his desire for this offense to run the ball more despite hiring a coach who has primarily existed under big time passing offenses. Even if they were at odds philosophically, Zimmer put the target on his own offensive coordinator and left him to fend for himself. Whereas a better coach might've found a way to get everybody back on the same page, he seemed to exacerbate the eventual demise. Mike Zimmer admitted an error with DeFilippo but can he admit he may have a personality flaw in need of fixing? Tom Coughlin had to once upon a time and it led to super bowls.

Zimmer is also a serious coach when it comes to loyalty, a guy who remains on one of the few NFL teams that actively blocks assistants for interviewing for promotions. If you're reading this, you've probably already read about Zimmer's comments about blocking NOW offensive coordinator Mike Stefanski from interviewing for the coordinator job under Pat Schumur and the Giants. Zimmer comes from Cincy which is one of the more loyal front offices and coaching staffs and Dallas where Bill Parcells kept him around despite Zimmer running a scheme Bill Parcells saw no use for in the 4-3. Asking for loyalty and rewarding loyalty in pro sports is always a very touch and go concept but Zimmer has his way of doing things and who am I to say he's wrong for his philosophical preferences. What is wrong then is that if loyalty mattered to you then maybe you shouldn't of hired a guy who was absolutely going to use this job to become a head coach elsewhere. DeFilippo was gone after this year one way or the other if you think about it; either as a head coach somewhere or the victim of a failed experiment. There were going to be no roots in Minnesota for him and perhaps Zimmer should've been smart enough to realize that. Maybe instead of hiring the hottest coaching candidate, they should've hired the best one to fit the mindset of their head coach. Zimmer asking DeFilippo to run the ball more was never going to work for a variety of reasons and if that was the case then DeFilippo was going to be gone regardless. Then again, maybe that has something to do with Zimmer herself being a difficult guy to coach for. He's been the Vikings head coach for five years now and is on his fourth offensive coordinator. Norv Turner quit on him, Pat Shurmur eventually left him for a head coaching gig after getting insane results out of Case Keenum, he's just canned DeFilippo and chances are he'll need a fifth offensive coordinator since Kevin Stefanski feels like a fill in hold over guy unless Kirk Cousins shows up big down the stretch. Zimmer's a fantastic defensive coach and a tremendous throwback----but I wonder if being a throwback in today's NFL is beginning to show the flaws in Zimmer's approach.

Firing your offensive coordinator? Desperate. Mike Zimmer is the oldest coach in the  NFC North and officially the longest tenured one at that since Mike McCarthy got exiled. Sometimes the only way to stay around is to be a little desperate.

Let's move on to DeFilippo himself. As I stated, this was probably not going to work in any sort of fashion from a philosophical standpoint. DeFilippo was a fantastic hire for the Vikings (or any team) but it came with risks nobody wanted to necessarily talk about. DeFilippo was third in command in Philly behind Doug Pederson and Frank Reich. Those two were proven offensive coordinators (even if Reich, much like DeFilippo, was once sent packing from San Deigo due to his love of passing) and DeFilippo was the QB whisperer third in command. For all the love we can give DeFilippo, he was on his fifth team before the age of 40. Yes, John DeFilippo is a whiz kid offensive guru----as a QB coach. He was a one year offensive coordinator at the NFL level and was somehow expected to step in and take this Vikings offense to the next level. DeFilippo on paper seemed like a great fit but the number of offensive coordinators with his scant level of experience AS coordinators who take their teams to the super bowl tends to be rather small. No offensive coordinator over the last FIVE Super Bowls has had just one year of NFL coordinator experience under their belt. It's fair to say that DeFilippo was ill equipped for the demand of a) the coach he was going to and b) what was going to be required of him. My bet is John resurfaces as a QB coach soon enough and in a few years, he'll find himself back at the coordinator level or potentially even as a head coach. The whiz kid label is ABSOLUTELY apt for DeFilippo even if this turned out to be an in hindsight bad idea.  I do think that no matter how protective some folks (myself included!) want to be of him, it's worth pointing out he's going to be on his seventh pro team at the next gig he gets. Maybe in the words of the show Dexter, he should just learn the basics instead of trying to reinvent the damn wheel.

Lastly Kirk Cousins, the guy who is the easiest target. He makes the most money, has the most influence in what actually happens on the field and he's the guy this whole win now experiment was built around. Again like  EVERYTHING here, this sounded great on paper. The Vikings paid market value for the top QB on the market who would take them from a fill in bus driver (Case Keenum) to a long term viable piece of the franchise to build around. With Diggs, Rudolph, Thielen, Cook and whatever else could come to life (Aldrick Robinson/Laquon Treadwell), he was going to be asked to take this offense to the next level. There was just one slight problem really!

Kirk Cousins has never taken an offense to the next level.

This is not a knock on Cousins as a whole. It's more of an indictment on who he is and what he's being asked to do. He's a guy who outperformed his draft stock, performed well as a starter for the past few years and has obviously dealt with shortcomings at Washington. Maybe he would be better with a running game or with a better OL or with a defense that forces more turnovers. Maybe he's feeling the pressure of a massive contract and struggling to balance the expectations. Perhaps more than anything else, THIS is just who Kirk Cousins is. In an NFC East that hasn't seen back to back division champions since 2004, Kirk Cousins only got the Redskins to the top of the division ONCE (in 2015)----the same year the Cowboys lost Tony Romo, the Eagles were in the midst of the final year of their failed Chip Kelly experiment and the Giants were wrapping up the Coughlin Era. Kirk Cousins has never been the sort of QB you put into the top 5 or top 10 discussion which, again, doesn't make him bad. Hell it doesn't even make him overpaid since QBs are probably underpaid given their value as star players. What it does is put an expectation on Cousins' back that he physically cannot outperform. He can't be what he's not even if he's paid as if he's a player above his natural skill level. He's not a graceful runner who can will things into existence, he's a notorious poor road and big game QB, he's the sort of guy who is accurate but at times risk averse, a guy who can be in some respects a dink and dunker who takes the easy route more often than not. All 22 is a bit of an unfair visual aide because it creates unreal expectations for the toughest profession in sports. QBs throw the ball anywhere from 25 to 45 times a game and they WILL miss. Cousins is the sort of QB who seems to look especially bad on his misses. He's also QB who takes a lot of hits due to the somewhat outdated-ish way he plays QB in an era where mobility is key (Cousins led the league in fumbles and sacks last year) with a reputation for getting skittish. All of this was well noted as Cousins entered free agency.

The Vikings got the guy they paid for!

Statistically it could even be argued that Cousins is on par to do what he's ALWAYS done as a starting QB.  Cousins has performed worse on the road than at home, he's struggled in big games, he's been dinged for missing guys or being too conservative, his YPA is basically close to what his career YPA is and the belief that he's the sort of player who is overrated and overpaid. Cousins is playing at the same level he usually is----but he's being paid to be the bridge between close and a Vikings Super Bowl. That's really not entirely his problem. The Vikings signed Kirk Cousins thinking they had "the guy" but he's been "the guy" he's always been. He's not playing any better or any worse minus the added attention. In a weird way, Cousins and DeFlippo are both perfect fits for one another as truly competent capable people put in a position where they get Peter Principle'd. Kirk Cousins and John DeFilippo are we thought they were.

As with most things in the NFL, time will eventually confirm our biases or our narratives.  The Cowboys were 3-5 looking ready to be written off entirely with Dak Prescott questions and Jerry Jones questions and etc etc. Now they're 8-5 and looking to lock up the NFC East. The Texans and Seahawks turned poor starts around behind great QB play and frenetic defenses. The NFL is a place where the week to week parity leads to week to week new fresh exciting narratives about who's hot, who's not, who is dead and who is alive. By the time this season is done, the story can absolutely change on Cousins or Zimmer or the Vikings as a whole. This is STILL a team that barring a collapse will walk into January playing meaningful football games. Things can and will change.

If they don't? Mike Zimmer will have a lot to answer for. Because the Vikings can't scrub Cousins off the books----but in an age where youthful coaches and bright offensive minds are the hotness? He can be yet another old school coach sent home.

[adventuresinclientservice]

Why losing the World Series is like losing in new business.

Those of you who read missives from me know that, although I haven’t called Philadelphia home for more than 50 years, I remain steadfastly a Philly fan, ardently following the Eagles in football, the Sixers in basketball, and the Phillies in baseball.

For the past six months the Phillies have been particularly troublesome, underachieving on the field (bad), overachieving on payroll (bloated), so much so that when the team was on the verge of seasonal extinction, eliminated from post-season playoffs, I emailed a complaint to my Philly friend of longstanding, Jack Carey:

“The current team has a number two pitcher who is behaving like a number three or four, with the number-one guy injury prone, and the others not reliable over a full season, with no one in the bullpen you truly can count on.  Plus they are lousy in the field. 

“Sure I’ll take Schwarber’s 40 home runs… along with a batting average just above the Mendoza line and fielding prowess that would put him on the bench in little league (he really is a liability).  And, as you point out, no one is a threat to steal.  I suppose you could feel good about Realmuto, but all this tells me is that no one else comes close to Jimmy Rollins or the Flyin’ Hawaiian [Shane Victorino to all you non-baseball fans] on the basepaths.

“Even if we do make it to the playoffs, it will be over quickly, given, in spite of a bloated payroll, we haven’t proven we can play with good teams.

“We’ll know soon enough.”

Soon enough we did know, first limping into the playoffs, then upsetting a much better St. Louis Cardinals team (sorry but not sorry, Ken Ohlemeyer) then upsetting the 101-win Atlanta Braves (sorry but not sorry, WDV), moving on to defeat another better team, the San Diego Padres, arriving at the World Series to play the formidable, 106-win Houston Astros.

Having improbably reached the post-season, then achieving upset wins against three substantially superior teams, it was an underdog’s dream to imagine the Phillies prevailing over the Astros.  It started out promisingly well, with Philadelphia taking a two-games-to-one lead – two wins away from being crowned world champions – but abruptly there was regression to the mean; the Phillies stopped hitting, the Astros started pitching, and, three straight Phillie losses later, sent them home as runners-up.

In my long career I have finished second in more new business pitches than I can recall.  I know just how exhilarating it is to win and how heartbreaking it is to lose, with Delta Airlines, Mazda, and SBC, among other accounts, where we came oh-so-close, only to lose in the end.

On page 22 of The Art of Client Service, there’s a line, “There are no silver medals in new business,” meaning there is only one winner and a bunch of second-place finishers.  

The Phillies won a metaphorical silver medal.  My agencies won a bunch.

All is not lost, however, for the Phillies, or for you and your agency if you find yourselves in a runner-up position in a new business pitch.

For the Phillies, the team can dispassionately assess its weaknesses, upgrading and improving their roster, making prudent investments, vowing to come back stronger in 2023.

You and your agency can do much the same, evaluating where you fell short and how you can get better in terms of people and process, without needless finger-pointing or blame assessment, which likely will prove to be more destructive than helpful.  

Instead, you commit to monitoring how the client’s new agency does, looking of for signs of weakness that might lead to opportunities.  You remain diligent in finding ways to stay in touch with the people you met.  There’s might be an article or news story worthy of an email.  There might be a competitor insight you want to share.  There might be a birthday wish you might extend.  

You get ahold of a copy of The Art of Client Service and read the section on “Winning New Business for Your Agency,” to be sure you haven’t overlooked anything you and your colleagues should be doing.

With the teams I follow, there is the promise of a new season; with new business, there is the promise of that next prospect.

The difference this time?  Taking what you’ve learned from that last loss, applying it, and this time, taking home gold.

[hulahoopingholt]

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Live - Philly

Okay, so I was writing this mainly to share the full scoop with my frenemy @msjessicaday, but then I figured there might be some other people interested in hearing about it, so I’m posting it publicly for all to hear about the most amazing time I had on April 7, 2018 at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia. This is MEGA comprehensive, so cutting for extreme length, but do read on if you want a play by play of the show, or if you want to hear how Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray made surprise guest appearances. 

Doors opened at 7PM, and we showed up around 5PM. There were probably about 20 people in front of us at that point. We were surrounded by a really great group of people who were SUPER entertaining and made time fly, thank god, because it was COLD and there wasn’t much to do, haha. People walking by seemed REALLY confused by why there was such a crazy (punny!) line, and when we said we were there for CXGF, most said they’d never heard of it. But then at one point a city tour bus drove by, and the guide looked over at us and said into his mic, “it’s a lot more nuanced than that!” It was fab.

It was general admission seating, and we managed to get 2nd row center seats, thankfully. (I say thankfully bc the theater frisks people as they enter, and so ladies had to line up on the left and guys on the right, which wouldn’t normally be a big deal but since this audience skewed so heavily female, guys from way back toward the end of the line were being allowed in before women who had been in the front of the line which feels like a MIGHTY PAINFUL BIT OF SYMBOLISM WHOLLY INAPPROPRIATE FOR THIS SHOW but I digress, because fortunately we had a guy in our group and we sent him ahead to grab our seats, haha.)

Okay I do have the set list so from here on out that’s what I’m going to refer to, but some of the asides/ad libs I may not have in exactly the right order because there was just a lot going on and my memory isn’t the best.

First off, you can see the first 10-15 mins of this show on Rachel’s Facebook Live but I’m still going to paraphrase what happened.

They started with Where’s Rebecca Bunch? Everybody except for Rachel came out and dramatically looked for where Rebecca could be! Gabrielle had Rachel’s phone out and was filming the crowd. She came around the front during the “the town is all atwitter ‘cause the whole town is on Twitter,” and that + the phone got a really loud cheer from the audience. Then Rachel popped out and was like “um, guys, I’m right here, I was just taking a dump in the scary bathrooms.” (Okay so I gather this whole bathroom bit is scripted but this theater REALLY DID have murder bathrooms, the ladies’ room was ALL this Pepto-Bismol pink, the stalls were a) made of what felt like plywood and b) were REALLY short, like I’m only 5′6″ and my head was WELL above the stall wow.) And then Scott was like “that’s just the song we sing whenever we can’t find you” and Rachel goes “um so you just burst into full band and choreo whenever you can’t find me?” So then they all agreed to start with the REAL opener, West Covina. It was really short, but fab. Highlights included Rachel singing “my life’s about to change...oh my fucking gosh,” and then when she got to “because I’m hopelessly, desperately in love with...” and then Vinnie stepped forward and just PREENED. Our audience LOVED him and cheered for him for a really long time. It actually seemed like they were ready to move on but we were all NOPE, WE ARE HERE FOR JOSHUA FELIX CHAN LET US HAVE THIS MOMENT. But then Rachel finished and instead of saying “West Covinaaaaaa” she sang “PHILADELPHIAAAAA.” And Donna Lynne just casually brought up that final note an octave or two and DAMN that is a talented woman. 

Then the rest of the cast left and Rachel did a welcome and said how excited they were to be in this historic city. The Trocadero is a rock theater, so she asked how many people in the audience were musical theater nerds and thus this was their first time in a rock theater. Only a few people cheered, so she said “ohhh, this is a pretty cool crowd. If it had been me, I would have [raised hand]. My first concert was Bette Midler at the Staples Center.” She introduced the band, which included Adam Schlesinger on piano and Jack Dolgen on guitar/bass. She said that women have been known to throw their underwear at Adam...and in fact, somebody in Boston had given them their dirty underwear, so we just had to be trashier than Boston. She then said women have been known to throw their tampons at him and mimed removing a tampon from her vagina and throwing it at him. She then said “that is terrible and classless, do not laugh at that joke.” Obviously we all laughed. Then she said “speaking of classless, let’s do a song.”

Song was Sex with a Stranger! Dance moves were appropriately raunchy. Girl was feeling herself, as she should. Highlights included “My name’s Jason.” “Shut the fuck up, Jason, I don’t care about your fucking name.” 

She then came back and asked if there were any children in the audience, because it was going to be on a full on sex show. (There was, in fact, one child in the audience, she was behind us in line, haha.) She brought out Vinnie (who walked out with TP on his shoe, oops?) and said “Vinnie...have you ever hooked up with someone in your life...I mean, have you ever hooked up with someone in your life...Vinnie are you a virgin?!” and then got back on track and clarified hooked up with someone you SHOULDN’T have, which then led into We Should Definitely Not Have Sex Right Now. Yup, full on sex show. Lots of thrusting. It was fab and awkward and anything. Honestly, just watch the Facebook Live. It’s about 16 mins in. 

Vinnie then wanted to show off his West Covina hoodie that you can buy at merch. Rachel said he’s a really big fan of capitalism and therefore you should buy his hoodie. FUN FACT in the Facebook live when you hear Rachel say “and that gentleman is holding up a t-shirt,” that was my friend holding up the CXGF he had bought before the concert, BOOM RECOGNITION.

So then apparently Boston had an ASL interpreter, and they shared that Period Sex basically looks like holding up a pager to your face, then two bunnies fucking. So she then demonstrated “paging all bunnies...time to fuck.” Oh Rachel. 

Rachel then exited and left Vinnie on stage. He said he wanted to share something really personal with us, and when he was little he was super into martial arts and thought that was all he wanted to do, but then he saw a Gene Kelly film and that transformed him, and then he went from wanting to do this [martial arts move] to this [fancy Gene Kelly-esque dance moves]. And he talked about how excited he was to have this number in S3...yes, of course, I’ve Got My Head in the Clouds. Oh, but a great moment was before he started he took off his hoodie, and the audience went wild, and you could just hear Rachel from backstage go, “You all are thirsty. He just took off his hoodie.” LMAO WE HAVE NO SHAME IN OUR THIRST. But the number was great, and the HOLY GHOST came out and was AMAZING and sparkly. And then Vinnie said “let’s see who the Holy Ghost is tonight!” and it was GABRIELLE, who did a high kick and smiled and waved goodbye. (Sidenote, can’t remember when this happened, but Gabrielle was all about the high kicks and Jack would always do a drum hit when she did, and at one point made a crack about how Gabrielle never leaves the house w/o a drum set...to which she responded with another high kick.)

So then Rachel came back out and asked who was single, and made all singletons stand up and lock eye contact with someone, and then said “there, you know each other. Now go meet up for drinks afterward.” She then went into this whole bit about how, and she was totally serious, if anybody met their sig other at this concert, she would marry them at their wedding...but don’t think you could cheat the system, bc she would check up on you. She’d go through social media, interview you both, probably watch you have sex to see if you had chemistry...so honestly, is it really worth it? But then that led into Fuckton of Cats, which was amazing, and the whole cast came out with cat ears and they each had their own kitty personalities and it was just the cutest thing ever. 

Then at this point (I’m pretty sure at least) they said how they’d love to meet fans at the stage door, but their schedule is so tight they don’t have time to, so this was time for everyone to get their selfies. So then they posed facing each direction of the theater, like “okay, now this pose is how you’d look when the Eagles won! And now this is how you’d look if someone told you the Eagles suck.” NGL I got some pretty amazing pictures...

Also I can’t remember if this is actually when it happened, but I know the whole cast was on stage for it and it was toward the beginning, so I might be right...there was a center row reserved for cast comp tickets, and there were 3 empty seats. Rachel went “whoa, whose comps didn’t show?” And everybody was mumbling to themselves like “well my people are here.” So Rachel said “actually, those seats are reserved for our founding fathers. That one is Thomas Jefferson... and that one is Benjamin Franklin...and that one.....is Betsy Fucking Ross. Because everybody else is out there with their quills, and she’s like, you know what? I’m gonna sew a GIANT FUCKING FLAG.” 

Next up was The Math of Love Triangles. Rachel segued into it by saying she writes with two guys, so sometimes it feels like she’s in a love triangle. She was going back to flirt with the guys in the band...and when she was by Jack, COMPLETELY wiped out, fell right on her ass. But she kept going, so at first we weren’t actually sure if it was an accident or not. Still amazing. But then she got to the end and she couldn’t hit the high note...just raspy air. We cheered anyway. And she then said the cast has been getting really run down with the tour, and in other shows they’d been telling the audience that, but then Jack said it was a real downer, so she decided not to that night...and LOOK what happened. And Jack goes “yeah, well I also say things like...don’t fall.” ASJDKASLFJASLFD They just roasted each other CONSTANTLY it was amazing and honestly Jack is my new fave. 

Pete came out next, and Jack stood next to him on guitar as they did I Love My Daughter But Not in a Creepy Way. Pete was super earnest and made a lot of uncomfortable eye contact, and all the while Jack was making these “wtf this is so creepy” faces. ALSO there was a guy in the balcony right by the theater who dressed up like Darryl in Getting Bi, right down to the ‘stache, and Pete pointed him out and you could tell he genuinely loved it and said it was his favorite venue just because of that. OH BUT ALSO when Pete came out, he said “wow, Rachel, you’re looking very rock and roll tonight, all that leather.” She thanked him, and then he said “now you’re supposed to say something about me.” So she said “you look....exactly the same as you always do. It’s like the TV show Doug...you know when he opens his closet and it’s just all green sweater vest? Hmmm, which green sweater vest should I wear today? That’s like Pete...but with yacht clothes.” ASDJLKFNASFAK

Next up was Donna Lynne doing Maybe This Dream, and omg, that woman is a goddess. Seriously. That’s all there is to it. On a really shallow/superficial note, it became really clear to me that they frump her up on the show, because she is GORGEOUS IRL, and also a lot thinner than she looks on TV. But her voice...goddamn. She just makes it seem so effortless. Audience adored her and gave her a standing ovation because she’s magnificent and that’s just what you do in the presence of magnificence. But her niece was there and had just gotten engaged so she congratulated her and said “yay love!” before starting, it was so cute. (Jack, being a snarkosaurus, was like “oh they got engaged? And Donna Lynne said yes, and he goes “I don’t know those people.” AJSDKLASDNA)

Then was Women Gotta Stick Together. Gabrielle referred to it as “remember in S1 when Valencia was just always hangry...let’s go back to that.” Apparently normally during this song she comes into the audience and twirls people, but this stage didn’t have steps so she said “if I point at you, you better fucking dance.” Some people were a bit hesitant but overall people were into it and it was fab. Oh and when Gabrielle got to the line “so if some weird troll named Rebecca moves here from New York and is all up on my boyfrienddd” she turned to Rachel, who gave a tiny wave and said “hiiiiii” in that little voice, you know the one I’m talking about. It was adorable.

Back to the sex with Let’s Have Intercourse. Again, nice and raunchy. At the end Scott handed Rachel the condom and walked off stage, and Rachel asked who wanted it. Crowd obviously went wild, which led to her asking “you DO know it’s not a used condom, right? You’re acting like he personally used this condom...to be clear, this is an unused condom, still in its wrapper.” People STILL cheered, but then one woman in that balcony near the stage by Fake!Darryl shouted “I lost my job three months ago!” Rachel looked taken aback and was just like “whoa, okay, well ifI don’t give you this then I’m the asshole, here you go, take your unused condom.” There was a bit of an exchange trying to get the condom to the woman because it kept falling back down to the stage and Rachel joked about stopping the show so we could get this woman her condom, but alas, had to move on.

Rachel brought out Kabir Akhtar, who is an editor for the show and is from Philly. They talked about Philly for a bit (here). Rachel was also giving him props for being so great at editing and said how he fixes their acting and is so nice about it, because she’ll say “do we have a take like this?” and he’ll say “no, the actress was not in the mood that day,” or she’ll say “oh do we have a shot of my dancing from this angle?” and he’ll say “well the actress had some trouble with this choreography.” And he said “well it’s better than saying ‘ya did it wrong, bitch.” WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THEM CONSTANTLY ROASTING EACH OTHER?! and then Rachel said since he’s from Philly, she told him he could perform any song he wanted...he chose Where’s the Bathroom (here). Then Rachel said she forgot a prop so he had to kill some time...so he talked some more about Philly and then led the crowd in the Eagles chant. Jack was SUPER judgey and was like “I cannot believe a bunch of CXGF fans know ANYTHING about sports let alone care enough about them to know the Eagles chant” LMAO.

Rachel came back out and said “let’s do a song that makes me feel the opposite of how I feel about sports...which is interested,” which of course led into Strip Away My Conscience. Gabrielle and Vinnie joined her and it was appropriately sexy. Rachel tossed a thong out into the audience at the end. Alas, just slightly too far to the right for me to grab.

Then Rachel said there are really three types of guys...there are the Josh Chans, the Nathaniels, and the Gregs. And the problem with loving a Greg is how hard it is to have a relationship when they don’t love themselves. So then Jack came out and did I Could If I Wanted To. He changed a verse to be all about Philly, and it was HILARIOUS. It sounds like he changes a verse at most, if not all, venues to be about their current city, but at least some of this HAD to be improv, which made it even more impressing. He went on a rant about how everybody from Philly has to tell you that they’re from Philly, all you ever hear is that they’re from Philly, if he knows where a person is from they’re from Philly bc it’s all they can talk about, he doesn’t even know where his own family is from except for his Uncle Joe, who’s from Philly. And THEN he went off about how he STILL can’t believe a bunch of musical theater nerds care anything at all about sports or the Eagles or the Flyers, our faves are Miss Saigon, and honestly, I’m SO upset it wasn’t recorded because it was ACCURATE and hilarious and I’m in love. (Seriously Jack, please marry me, bye.)

Then everyone came out and Gabrielle announced it was the intermission and time to stretch, so we all stood up and did I’m So Good at Yoga. At first people weren’t really joining in and she said “no, this is no good,” and insisted we do the yoga moves. (But honestly it was really hard, there wasn’t much space.) Rachel was hilarious in this, basically reenacting the scene from the show. And then at the end the whole cast circled her mockingly while she was on the floor, and Scott ended his post basically thrusting his crotch in her face? And the entire cast burst out laughing and Rachel afterward was like “wow, if I had a nickel for every time Scott’s dick was in my face...I’d have one nickel because that has NEVER happened before.”

Oh also after this Rachel was like “you know, that line ‘I come vaginally...’” and went off on her PSA about how most women can’t climax from vaginal penetration alone and gave us extensive details about the wonders of the clitoris. But she acknowledged there were still going to be some guys in the audience going “no, my dick’s so good,” lmao. It was amazing and Jack was amusing here as well but I can’t quite recall what he said, except he expressed wonderment that nerve endings from the clit extend toward the anus in some women.

That led into the Horny Angry Tango. So they were using handheld mics the entire show, and at one point Vinnie and Pete came out to hold the mics in front of their faces so Scott and Rachel could do the dance and still sing. It was oddly comical. Also at some point here, can’t remember if it was before or after, someone in the audience shouted out “SCOTT I LOVED YOU IN ONCE UPON A TIME” and he seemed startled and said thank you. Rachel said “wow, that was like the equivalent of YouTube comment,” and Scott said “yeah, and I think I did the equivalent of liking it.” Then somebody called out “Rachel, they did a musical episode in S6, you should check it out, I think you’d like it.” Rachel said “okay, and that was an Instagram comment.” They then joked that they just needed someone to say “Come to Brazil!” to make it complete.

Then Adam did What’ll It Be and it was lovely and beautiful but honestly I miss Santino sigh.

Next was First Penis I Saw and i was a fucking delight. Donna Lynne is the cutest, Gabrielle and Rachel doing backup were delightful, and seriously, that song is just so much fun and seeing it live made my life complete.

Then, of course, we had Getting Bi. Pete came out and gave it his all, and the cast joined in with inflatable musical instruments. Scott did the sax solo on a kazoo held up to a mic. Digging it.

This is a random aside because I can’t remember exactly when it was said or why but I need to call it out. At some point Rachel was talking (honestly can’t remember to whom or what about, which is making me sad) and it was going on for a while, but then heckler Jack called out “what are we doing, recording a podcast?” And it was LOL seriously this man is my hero can he be onscreen in S4?

So then Rachel did I’m a Good Person and honestly, what else is there to say? It’s an amazing song, Rachel killed it, she made someone in the audience tell her she was a good person...god I just love this concert take me back please?

Then Rachel came out and said in a stage whisper “okay, I just don’t want the band to hear this. But we’re going to do what’s known in rock venues as an encore. So since for a lot of you this is your first time at a rock venue, an encore is when the band, let’s say Smash Mouth (here we all laughed bc wtf Smash Mouth? And she said it was the only rock band she could think of) finishes their set and they walk offstage to go shoot heroin up their eyeballs, and everybody in the audience goes NOOOO WE NEED MORE SMASH MOUTH and starts chanting SMASH MOUTH SMASH MOUTH, and so then the band goes okay we’ll stop shooting up heroin and do one more song, and so they close on All Star instead of Walking on the Sun. Okay, we’re gonna do that.” 

And then Donna Lynne came out to do Face Your Fears and did I mention this woman is a goddess????? Seriously her RANGE is phenomenal, she didn’t even break a sweat hitting any of those notes, her voice is just FLAWLESS and SHE IS A FLAWLESS QUEEN. She started off solo and then the whole cast came out wearing white choir robes to do backup behind her. And when she finished she got another standing ovation (of COURSE, Philly may be obnoxious but we know a little thing called RESPECT) and the cast literally got down on their knees and bowed to her AS THEY SHOULD.

Then there was an empty stage....oh no! But we know to do what we’re told! And started chanting... SMASH MOUTH. SMASH MOUTH. And we had a view of Rachel backstage then and she LOST IT, literally bent over at the waist laughing hysterically at us chanting for Smash Mouth. 

So Smash Mouth didn’t come out, BUT Vinnie and Scott did! They performed Fit Hot Guys. They stripped off their shirts to reveal t-shirts w/super ripped bodies drawn on them. They were doing their thing, and then who appears but PETE, wearing only fireman’s pants and a cap, his torso completely slicked up with what he told us later was Pam cooking spray. Vinnie and Scott were all “whoa what are you doing, have you even seen the show?” and Pete’s like “um YEAH HERE I AM” and got SUPER into it, and when they sang “without these pants” he stripped off his pants to dance in his American flag boxers. Anyway Pete is as pure as Darryl and I will protect him with my life. He also proudly stated at the end that he had just started working out this morning. LOVE.

We had the guys, so next up were the ladies doing Let’s Generalize about Men. The crowd just loved it, it’s such a fun song, and you could tell they were having a blast doing it, but I missed Vella. :( 

Then there was just Rachel. She spoke to us first (I think? I might be getting my order mixed up slightly here) and said how she had chills hearing us chant Smash Mouth, that it was the perfect mix of improv and flash mobs. So then some girl called out “Rachel, I have a question.” And she went “Wow, okay, that was so polite and direct, okay, what’s your question?” The girl then asked if they could do a song from Rachel’s Sugar Ray Jukebox Musical. She said no, they weren’t remotely prepared to do that...but then Adam started puttering around on the piano and Rachel was like “wow, you know some Sugar Ray?” Soooo that’s the story of how we had a brief singalong with Rachel Bloom to Fly by Sugar Ray, and yes, she did the dance moves she did in the video.

 Then we got to Stupid Bitch, which she said she knew everyone could relate to at some point in their lives. Right before the final note, she stopped, walked over to her water bottle, played up taking a looooooong drink of water, and then came back to center stage to hit that final high note. We were proud of her.

And then FINALLY, we closed out the night with Heavy Boobs. Rachel stripped off her shirt (she said we had earned it) and showed off her bra, which she said was a Natori. My friend shouted out that it was a great brand and Rachel nodded and agreed that it was a great brand. The entire cast came out midway with bras over their clothing to dance along with her...and that’s it! That’s the show!

Seriously it was beyond amazing. I didn’t take any photos/video other than the selfie moment since I was so close to the stage I thought it would be really obvious/obnoxious...I KIND of regret that just because I want to LIVE IN THE MOMENT FOREVER, but honestly, it was just SO MUCH FUN that I wouldn’t change a thing. It was more than 2 hours long and it felt like 10 minutes. I laughed SO much, and was blown away by all the crazy talent on stage. And I need them all to be my best friends. 

I know the tour’s winding down now, and tickets are all sold out, but seriously, if they do this again? Do NOT hesitate. Go. Just go. (Also maybe have a guy in your group if it’s general admission, really my best tip.)

Also if anybody was at Philly and remembers anything else PLEASE SHARE I AM TRYING MY BEST TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING FOREVER AND ALWAYS AND I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ALL YOUR RECOLLECTIONS AS WELL TO HELP WITH THAT EFFORT. <333

[mubal4]

Friday Funnies – Eagles Humor

 Allow me to begin with a disclaimer, this is about sports and specifically about professional football.  Some view it as game; as entertainment.  Others look at it with judgmental eyes, shaking their heads.  Some out there have canceled it for whatever reasons.  Yes, I do understand those thoughts although many I don’t agree with but that is the great thing about this world we live in; it is our choice.  I love football, both college and the NFL.  I also love the Philadelphia Eagles.  I am a fan, but I would stop to say I am a fanatic.  I wouldn’t call me a fanatic of any team or sport. The term fanatic can be seen in negative and positive ways.  Eagles’ fans (or fanatics), throughout the years, have been given the stigma, and in some cases rightfully so, as nuts, crazy, insane……. find the term.  However, just like any group of folks, a few bad apples have the tendency to create judgement for all. Yes, Philly fans can be over the top, but they are passionate, and most are incredibly knowledgeable.  

 Relative to the day’s entry on being funny, we Eagles’ fans of late, have had much to smile about.  The last few years have been tough and this past year, as well as this off season – well from an outsider’s perspective, and maybe even insider, has been laughable. The draft in several weeks should be interesting to see what Howie Roseman pulls.  (smh 😊) That said however, just a few short years ago, Eagles’ fans had one hell of a year.  Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles took us all on a wonderful run to the NFL Super Bowl and became Champions for the first time (beating Tom Brady’s Patriots…….just saying).  Reflecting on that year, specifically from the moment Carson Wentz got hurt and through the parade to celebrate, these times stood out most.  Yep – when he went down, I too was saying, “oh shit – now Nick Foles is the backup.”  Much skepticism and that whole fear of the unknown.  In those final regular season games, there wasn’t much shown that gave our circles much to feel confident about.  However, the Eagles were the first seed, had home field advantage throughout, so there certainly was a chance.  Oh, and did that entire team deliver 😊.  Yes, there was doubt leading into that first game of the playoffs with the Falcons and up until that final play but all that time, that team brought the city together.

 Say what you want about football, or sports, but it does bring us together. It could be a school, a small community, a big city, a state, or a country.  There are some sports, and particularly some teams, that have that special season where it unites a group, or maybe a nation.  The 2017 Philadelphia Eagles did that.  I remember seeing it everywhere we went.  It wasn’t about anything other than that team and that led to conversations and connections about the city, PA, and life.  Yeah, maybe it was “just a football” team and maybe short lived too, but there were certainly bonds that were created.  We experienced this as the playoff run was going on and until the parade ended. It was, from my perspective, an experience that was awesome. Sure, the Eagles’ won but it was an experience I was fortunate enough to share with so many great friends we’ve known for so long.  Even more special, I was able to share it with my wife and daughter’s.  Having the opportunity to take my then 11 & 14-year-olds to the parade, celebrating with close friends, and a city; not something I will soon forget.  

 We had the opportunity to revisit that period of time and thankful for the folks that put this wonderful piece out there.

 https://www.maybenextyearfilm.com/

 You will definitely see some of the nuttiness that is what makes up the Eagles’ fan base but, I ask you to pay attention to the passion, love, and compassion these great folks have as well.  People will say, “it is just a game,” but for some it is much bigger than that.  Enjoy & Go Birds!

[viraljournalist]

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

New Post has been published on https://viraljournalist.com/andy-reids-super-bowl-liv-win-is-the-capper-on-a-hall-of-fame-career-for-chiefs-coach/

Andy Reid's Super Bowl LIV win is the capper on a Hall of Fame career for Chiefs coach

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — “MAN ALIVE!” Andrew Walter Reid bellowed from his toes as he marched through his Kansas City Chiefs locker room, glowing like a teenager who had just scored a date with the prettiest girl in school. Reid had just finished handing out credit for this epic Super Bowl victory as easily as one would hand out a business card at a job fair, even giving a shoutout to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, the billionaire who fired him.

Man Alive! Those two shouted words on the way to his office said it all. Reid was letting it all out, all those seasons of chasing in vain that NFL grail that was finally, mercifully, in his hands. Reid ended his 20-year title drought by ending the Chiefs’ 50-year title drought by coming from behind to beat Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers 31-20.

After the game, still on the field, Reid kissed the Lombardi trophy and raised it to the South Florida sky, and then Andy did what Andy always does.

Andy said this wasn’t about Andy. He talked about his whirling dervish of a quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and the executive who long ago saw Mahomes as a developing Mozart, Brett Veach. He talked about the Hunt family, his assistants, his players in Kansas City, his players in Philly. If Andy went long enough at his news conference podium, he would’ve gotten around to thanking his mailman, too.

But if Reid thought he was getting away with his selfless act, sorry pal, that was a no-can-do on this forever Sunday night.

This one was about the human teddy bear with a rainforest for a mustache, the guy who once put away a 40-ounce steak in 19 minutes.

This one was all about Big Red.

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“He’s one of the best coaches of all time; he already was before we won this game,” said Mahomes, the MVP of Super Bowl LIV. “But we wanted to get that trophy just because he deserved it. The work that he puts in day in and day out. He’s there at like 3 in the morning, and he leaves at 11 [at night]. I don’t think he sleeps. I’ve tried to beat him in, and I never can. He’s someone that works harder than anyone I’ve ever known, and he deserves it.”

The rifle-armed son of a former big league reliever, Mahomes said he had two goals when he became the starting quarterback of the Chiefs. One, to win the AFC championship and bring the Lamar Hunt Trophy back to the hometown of the late Chiefs owner who came up with the term “Super Bowl” for what has effectively become a national holiday.

“And the second-most important thing was to get Coach Reid a Super Bowl trophy,” Mahomes said.

Will this liberating triumph change Coach Reid? What do you think? This is a man who said he celebrated his AFC title game victory over Tennessee — which booked him a trip back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 15 years — by eating a cheeseburger and then going to bed. “I’ll have a double cheeseburger tonight,” Reid said Sunday. “Extra cheese.”

And why not? With this win, Reid finally proved that nice guys do indeed finish first, even if they have to wait a little while to get there. In the weeks leading up to his crowning career achievement, it was clear the 61-year-old Reid had already proven you can be almost universally admired and adored even if you don’t finish first once across two decades as an NFL head coach.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

But man, it will be so sweet for this grandfather of nine, the son of a Los Angeles-based doctor (his mother, Elizabeth) and a Hollywood set designer and artist (his father, Walter, a Navy veteran of World War II), to never again answer for his inability to win the big one over 14 seasons in Philadelphia, and then over his first six in Kansas City.

No more questions about time management, about choking in the playoffs, about Dee Ford lining up offside against New England, about watching his Eagles treat a two-score deficit late in their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots 15 years ago as an opportunity to move at a pace better suited for a ballroom walk-through.

Just like in that crushing defeat in Jacksonville in February 2005, Reid’s team was down 10 points in the middle of the fourth quarter. Only this time his players ran a Showtime fastbreak through the league’s most ferocious defense, led by a visionary, Mahomes, who handles the ball and passes it the way few quarterbacks ever have.

“Keep going,” Reid told his players as they struggled to put points on the board. “We’re going to be OK. We’ve done it before; we’ll do it again.”

Reid was a prophet carrying an oversize dinner menu for a play card. So now the questions will not be about Reid’s failures. Instead, they’ll ask Reid about the night he became football’s champion, the night his 222nd career victory silenced all that noise about him being the sport’s most prolific winner without a ring.

Now they’ll ask Reid about the night he almost certainly sealed his future induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Nobody deserves this trophy more than Andy Reid,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, son of Lamar, told the crowd and the Fox TV audience during the postgame ceremony.

“We got that ring for Big Red,” Travis Kelce said. “He acts like a father figure to everyone in the building, and you appreciate that. … We’re married together forever now.”

Many of Reid’s friends and colleagues had spent the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl being asked how they would react in the event that Reid finally won a Super Bowl. Some predicted they would cry. All predicted they would be choked up, and as happy for Andy as Andy was for his wife, Tammy, his sons, Britt and Spencer, and his daughters, Crosby and Drew Ann, and all those wearing Chiefs jerseys around them.

“Andy gave me a kiss right on the cheek when we won,” said Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach and an assistant who won two titles with Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants. “As soon as it was over I thought about Andy’s family, his kids, his wife, his cousins, his brothers, everyone associated with him. Not only Coach Reid became a world champ, they all became world champs. I was so moved watching Andy on the stage with his family around and all that confetti coming down on top of them.”

REID’S FOOTBALL JOURNEY, which started in 1971 when an outsize 13-year-old famously wore a Rams uniform while competing in the punt, pass and kick competition, culminated at last on the biggest stage in sports. With the NFL celebrating an entire century of games, and with old haunts Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the house for the ceremony, Reid was the right guy to lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory in a half-century. And San Francisco was a most appropriate full-circle opponent — Reid worked his first real coaching job at San Francisco State, where he sold hot dogs to help raise money for the now-defunct Division II program. He has come a long way, baby, and his generosity of spirit made him relatable, huggable and easy to root for.

Everything you need to know: • Box score | Mahomes wins MVP • O’Connor on Reid’s legacy win • Barnwell: How Chiefs came back • Graziano: Mahomes to the rescue More: Super Bowl LIV » | NFL coverage »

“Andy truly puts others before himself,” says his former VP of player personnel in Philadelphia, Jason Licht, now the GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He’s been wanting to win this for everybody else before he wants to win it for himself, and he’s an unbelievable leader because of that. He’s one of those leaders that when things aren’t going well he takes all the blame, and when things are going good he gives credit to all the great work everyone else did. And that’s why everybody loves playing for him, and goes the extra mile for him.”

In the end, for Reid, it all comes back to trust and empowerment, and to letting his players breathe. In practice, his quarterback and receivers are permitted — if not outright encouraged — to close their eyes as they work on some creative pitching and catching. Mahomes says the everyday fun sanctioned by Reid “keeps us loose and ready to go on game days.” No wonder that the quarterback, at age 24, is already on record saying he wants to spend his entire career in Kansas City.

Reid is one of the brilliant offensive minds of his generation, or of any generation, and yet his belief in freedom of expression works on the defensive side of the ball, too. “This is my third program in the league,” Tyrann Mathieu says, “but I feel I can be myself here. … [Reid] wants us to be comfortable, relaxed, at ease.”

By all accounts, his insistence that his players stay true to themselves inspired them to play at the highest possible level, and doubled their affection for the coach who always looked as if he should be wearing a striped red and white jacket, red bow tie, and straw skimmer hat as part of a barbershop quartet.

“He tells them all the time in team meetings, ‘Let your personality show,'” says Britt Reid, his father’s linebackers coach. “I think that’s important. You can’t be someone you’re not. If you want to play this game to the best of your ability, you’ve got to be you.”

With a win over the 49ers, Andy Reid finally put an end to the questions over his big-game management — and secured a capper on his Hall of Fame career. Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes Merritt will head out to practice and find his defensive backs working on moves that have nothing to do with containing opposing receivers. “They’re dancing, the music is on, and they’re going crazy on the sideline,” Merritt says with a laugh. “But I can’t say anything to them because the head coach said, ‘Let your personalities show.'”

Britt says his father got his creativity from his own dad (Andy has a talent for drawing caricatures, including some of his youngest son, Spencer, a strength and conditioning coach at Colorado State), and his refined and calculating intellect from his mom, the radiologist. Those handed-down gifts have helped Reid coach his freewheeling Mozart at quarterback. Mahomes, Britt says, “has definitely reinvigorated him.”

Nothing against Mahomes’ predecessor, of course, as Alex Smith was a dignified winner in Kansas City who could not have handled the transition to the kid with any more grace. But Mahomes is a generational talent and an improvisational thinker who enables the artistic half of Reid’s beautiful football mind to dream up all kinds of exotic route trees in the middle of the night.

“The thing people don’t see about Andy is that this is still a kid’s game to him,” says Tom Melvin, Reid’s assistant for more than two decades and an alumnus of his offensive line at San Francisco State. “And during a play in practice, Patrick will throw the ball and before it’s caught he’ll go, ‘You like that throw, don’t you?’ He’s playing a kid’s game like a kid. So for Andy and Patrick, it’s just playtime now.”

It was playtime for all Chiefs during this championship run. The exclamation point was a fitting defeat of a team that suited up Dee Ford, the goat who allowed the GOAT, Tom Brady, to shake off what would’ve been a fatal interception last year and lead the Patriots to the AFC title. Sunday night, after winning the big game, Reid exonerated his former player for lining up where he did on the penalty, repeating for the 47th time, “It wasn’t Dee Ford, it was all of us. …We could’ve done four inches better.”

It was just Andy being Andy, taking on the burden himself to avoid making anyone — even a former player on the opposing team — carry a heavier load than he needed to.

FOR THE RECORD: Reid’s user-friendly practices shouldn’t suggest that good ol’ Andy is running the league’s answer to Club Med. He no longer has the GM responsibilities he had in Philadelphia, yet Reid still works absurdly long hours, even by NFL standards, and expects his assistants and front-office people to keep up. Licht said Reid slept in that office three or four nights a week in Philly, and it’s obvious that nothing much has changed in Kansas City.

NFL PrimeTime continues this postseason with extended highlights and analysis following the conclusion of each day’s playoff games. Watch on ESPN+

But Reid’s near-maniacal devotion to his craft, and to every imaginable game-prep detail, has never twisted him into an angry or paranoid mess. He can be stern with players and staffers when necessary, but Licht described him as a coach with “a relaxed California swag and chill way about him.”

“Andy can get along with anybody,” Licht says. “He has a way of coming into your office, sitting down, and realizing when somebody needs to get his mind off things. He’ll talk about anything and everything, and you love being around him. When he’s putting in all those hours, you just didn’t want to let him down and not be there in case he had a question for you. You didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have another five or 15 minutes of bonding with him.”

“The entire league wants Andy to win because of how he treats and leads his men,” says Dave Merritt, his defensive backs coach. Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Merritt sees the same man in Kansas City that Licht saw in Philly, and it comes as no surprise. “Leslie Frazier told me about him 20 years ago,” Merritt says of the former Eagles assistant. “He said, ‘Dave, if you ever get a chance to work with Andy Reid, don’t ever turn it down.'”

He didn’t, not after taking a call from Reid in the middle of a golf round and, by his estimation, completing contract talks between a pitch and a putt. Merritt’s experiences with his new boss are quite different from those he had in New York. Coughlin, he reminds, was an iron-fisted ruler who fined Giants for wearing the wrong socks in hotel lobbies. Reid responds to relatively benign rules violations more like a nurturing father.

“Another thing I learned is that Andy really trusts us to coach these players, and that gives you so much confidence as an assistant,” Merritt says. “With Tom Coughlin, we had staff meetings every day, sometimes twice a day, three times a day. I’ve never seen a coach operate the way Andy operates, where we go through the week and never have a staff meeting.”

REID’S STORY PROBABLY makes you feel good inside, unless you’re a fan of the 49ers or someone who lost a few bucks betting that their defense would win San Francisco its sixth Lombardi trophy. Who couldn’t feel good about an NFL head coach who still occasionally drives the Ford Model A his father bought after the war for $25? And besides, we all sorta needed a story like this at the end of a heartbreaking week in sports.

Andy Reid personally knew Kobe Bryant, another tough guy with Philly roots, and would talk about him here and there at the Eagles’ facility. “He would just say of Kobe, ‘That’s a good dude, man. That’s a good dude,'” Licht recalls. “People who know Andy know that’s high praise for him.”

Asked during Super Bowl week about the helicopter crash that killed the Lakers legend, his teenage daughter Gianna and seven other passengers, Reid predicted the Bryant family would “get back into the swing of life and do great things.” Just like the Reids did after one of their sons, Garrett, died of an accidental heroin overdose during training camp in 2012.

Later that year, Andy ignored friends’ suggestions that he should take a year off to regroup after the Eagles fired him. Instead, he immediately filled the opening in Kansas City, where linebacker Jovan Belcher had just killed his girlfriend before taking his own life in the team parking lot. Reid needed the Chiefs as much as the Chiefs needed him. Andy immediately added to his staff his second-oldest of three sons, Britt, despite his own past of drug and gun charges and jail time.

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Sunday night, Britt was on the winning Super Bowl side as a sober linebackers coach for his old man.

What a moment for Kansas City. What a week for the Reids. The Chiefs honored Reid at the start of Super Bowl week by wearing his cherished Hawaiian shirts and Air Force 1 sneakers, and they honored him again at the end of Super Bowl week by scoring more points than the 49ers scored.

“An-dy … An-dy … An-dy,” the Chiefs fans chanted in the final seconds of Sunday’s game. Reid was Gatorade-d by his players. It was all hugs and kisses and confetti from there.

“Hey, how about those Chieeeeeeeeeeefs!” Reid roared to the crowd during the ceremony as he wore his white championship cap. Tammy Reid had described her husband as “calm as a cucumber” in the lead-up to the game, and soon enough Reid was in his news conference already talking about a potential title No. 2.

“I’m really excited about it,” Reid said. “You get one, you want to go get another one.”

When he was done at the microphone, Andy loaded himself into a golf cart with Tammy, the woman he still calls his girlfriend, and headed for the locker room.

He will surely spend the coming days handing out credit to everyone who has helped him in his eight college and pro jobs, and way back to his time as a student-athlete and aspiring sportswriter at Brigham Young. Back then, Reid wrote columns for The Provo Daily Herald. All these years later, that young journalist inside the old coach knows exactly how this story needs to be written.

Above all, Super Bowl LIV belongs to a vital member of the Kansas City Chiefs. The one in Andy Reid’s mirror.

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[junker-town]

Here’s your NFL playoff rooting guide for Wild Card Weekend

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Four games will kick off the NFL playoffs this weekend. Here’s one thing you can root for about all eight teams.

The NFL playoffs are here and they are coming in hot starting Saturday afternoon with an AFC clash between the Texans and Bills. The weekend wraps up in Philadelphia between the Eagles and Seahawks. In between, we have the Patriots hosting the Titans, and the Vikings heading to the Superdome to face the Saints.

If you’re not a fan of these teams, or not putting money on the games, what should you be rooting for? What is the reason a team will win? I got you covered.

Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans

Saturday, Jan. 4, 4:35 p.m. ET

Why should you believe in the Bills: Their secondary.

The Bills have an outstanding defense. Their EPA (expected points added) is fifth overall, but they’re really good in the back end of that defense. They are third in dropback EPA, and the passing defense is ranked fifth by Football Outsiders. Tre’Davious White is quickly becoming one of the best corners in the league, and they will need the entire unit to play well this weekend against the Texans’ passing offense.

When healthy, the Texans have multiple weapons to attack a defense. If the Buffalo secondary plays well, the defensive line can take advantage of Houston’s average to below-average offensive line. The Bills will need to win this game with their defense.

Why you should believe in the Texans: Deshaun Watson.

This one is easy. It’s clearly Watson, who’s going to have to make plays with his legs at various times to help the Texans get through this Bills defense. I do not trust Bill O’Brien, nor the run game, and I believe the Bills won’t be able to score much against the Texans. So it comes down to their quarterback playing like expected.

Watson finished the year seventh in QBR, even with some of his weapons injured for large portions of the season. Watson is a superstar and needs to bring that play to this game.

Tennessee Titans at New England Patriots

Saturday, Jan. 4, 8:15 p.m. ET

Why should you believe in the Titans: Play-action pass.

Ryan Tannehill has outperformed his expectations when he was inserted into the starting lineup. The Titans were looking for stability and instead found lightning in a bottle. And where Tannehill has excelled the most is play-action pass.

Tannehill has attempted 82 play-action passes, a high number for a quarterback with only 10 starts. However, Tannehill is seventh in EPA on those attempts. He also ranks first with a whopping 13 yards per play-action attempt. It’s no surprise, then, to see he’s second in on-target attempts in these passing situations. Why is this important for this weekend?

Well, the Patriots are going to sell out to stop the run — Titans running back Derrick Henry leads the NFL in rushing. Tennessee could use big plays from play-action pass, as we’ve seen with the Tannehill to rookie wide receiver A.J Brown. It won’t be easy, though. The Patriots only allow 7 percent of pass plays to be explosive.

Why you should believe in the Patriots: The mystique of Foxborough.

The Patriots are not playing good ball at the moment. Even though Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Dolphins torched the defense on Sunday, I still trust that unit. I do not trust the offense, which is 15th in weighted DVOA (adjusted for current play), because they are so inconsistent. They could still show up this weekend and if they do, the Patriots will win.

What the Patriots have going for them in this contest is the mystique of the home playoff game. The Patriots have not lost a home playoff game since the 2012 season, and I believe that record gives them a sense of superpowers at home. When things aren’t going well, they get energy from the crowd and have the confidence of knowing they’ve often won at home in tough situations.

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

Sunday, Jan. 5, 1:05 p.m. ET

Why you should believe in the Vikings: Dalvin Cook.

The Vikings’ star running back will be back for the wild card game in New Orleans. Without him, the offense was an utter failure against Green Bay in Week 16. It’s worth nothing that Cook has only rushed for 100 yards in five games this season. He’s only rushed for over 4 yards a carry in six games. Cook has been beat up, but if you listen to the discussion about his role in the offense, it feels like the Vikings “need” him to function properly on offense.

That is, of course, an indictment on Kirk Cousins, but we already know he’s come up short in these games. If Cook is healthy, it will fire up the offense and in theory, the Vikings should play better.

Why you should believe in the Saints: Luck.

It’s got to turn around for the Saints at some point. The Saints are the most complete team in the NFC, in my opinion, and they got stuck with the No. 3 seed. Not only that, but the NFL scheduled their potential divisional game at Green Bay next week for the primetime slot, which means it will be the coldest temperature possible.

In 2017, the Saints had Minnesota beaten but lost on the Minneapolis Miracle. If not, do they head to Philly and beat the Eagles? Who knows, but it’s possible. Last season, the Saints were robbed with a poor non-call on a pass interference, which would have given them the NFC title. I think they would’ve scored more than the three points the Rams did against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. So it feels they’re overdue for some good luck. I’m hoping it starts with a convincing win against the Vikings.

Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles

Sunday, Jan. 5, 4:40 p.m. ET

Why you should believe in the Seahawks: Russell Wilson.

The answer is always Wilson for the Seahawks. He covers up so many warts for the team. Seattle finished the season 18th in defensive DVOA and 20th in special teams, according to Football Outsiders. Their offense ranked fifth, and it’s basically just Wilson.

He is able to make plays with his mobility in the pocket and use his legs when things completely break down. He’s calm under pressure and will not flinch in the moment. Wilson is able to overcome the conservative nature of his head coach and offensive mentality, as well as numerous injuries to his running backs, offensive line, and wide receivers. They will need to lean on him in Philadelphia on Sunday.

Why you should believe in the Eagles: Culture.

Plain and simple, the Eagles have a winning culture. They do not complain or make excuses. Carson Wentz has played fantastic the last month with a receiving corps made up of former AAF and practice squad players. His favorite tight end, Zach Ertz, is most likely out again this weekend. The offensive line isn’t completely healthy. They also have injuries on defense. And it does not matter.

Two years ago, the Eagles won a Super Bowl with a backup QB, left tackle, and middle linebacker. They have confidence in their ability to win in any given circumstance. I’m looking forward to watching them play.

Each team has gotten to the playoffs because it earned the right to be here. They all have their strengths and some weaknesses. Hopefully this gave you a better sense of something to root for this weekend.

[celldeal57-blog]

Mock Draft Monday: Eagles pick up a running back in the second round

There are 31 days until the 2019 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 25. Exactly one month away! We’re going to kill some time until then with our weekly Mock Draft Monday series. (You can also check out BGN’s latest mock draft roundup.)

This week’s mock draft goes two rounds deep. Here’s who SB Nation’s Dan Kadar has the Philadelphia Eagles taking with their three selections in the top 57 picks:

25. Philadelphia Eagles: Jerry Tillery, DL, Notre Dame: If Adderley were still available, he’d be the easy choice for the Eagles. With him gone, the safety value at No. 25 is questionable. Deionte Thompson of Alabama seems to be more in the second-round territory, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is more of a nickel corner. Tillery can provide the Eagles with good depth up front and can line up everywhere down the line.

53. Philadelphia Eagles (via Baltimore): Devin Singletary, RB, Florida Atlantic

57. Philadelphia Eagles: Max Scharping, OT, Northern Illinois

I’ve previously offered my thoughts on Tillery as the Eagles’ first-round pick. I think there’s a case to be made for him, even with Philly signing Malik Jackson in free agency. The trio of Fletcher Cox, Jackson, and Tillery would give the Eagles a real strong group of disruptive interior pass rushers.

Some may feel like Tillery is a reach at No. 25 but I don’t know that it’s so egregious. Daniel Jeremiah has Tillery as his No. 34 overall prospect. The Draft Network has him at No. 31. Rotoworld’s Josh Norris actually has him at No. 13 overall:

Age: 23 | Athletic Profile: 84th percentile. Where He Wins: Gives you a chance of winning a one on one rep every time he’s fortunate to have one. Won from a variety of alignments, face up or over top of a gap. Wins with immediate explosion or locking up, creating a balance advantage, and winning to one half of a blocker. It can be difficult to find interior players with balance, flexibility and explosion. He offers that combination. His awareness is at a high level, as even when his job is to create lanes for others, he still works towards the quarterback on a flat line when hitting depth. Add leverage and hand use to press above his eyes, and you’ve got a winner. Forecast: I know Tillery isn’t often ranked here, but he fulfills so many of my biases. He offers the potential to create disruption from the interior on every play.

With no guarantee that the Eagles can land Ed Oliver or Christian Wilkins, Tillery could be a real nice consolation prize.

But enough about that. Let’s get to the REAL reason you’re here for this mock draft: a running back! Omg! The Eagles finally address their biggest roster hole!

Singletary is a player we’ve previously discussed since Jeremiah said he sees him as a fit for Philly. BGN’s Michael Kist has the 5-7, 203 pound prospect as his fifth best running back in this year’s class:

The nation’s leader in touchdowns, with 52 trips to pay dirt in the last two years, rounds out the group. He isn’t going to wow you with a flashy athletic profile, but the more you watch his tape, the more you appreciate his game. He’s at one with contact and slips tacklers at an alarmingly high rate. From my article on Singletary back in December: “Pro Football Focus credits him with 89 broken tackles this season, which leads all other backs in the country by a comfortable 26. That’s an improvement on last year’s tally, when he broke 83 tackles. He’s been doing his thing for a while, amassing 714 carries, 4,289 yards and 66 touchdowns in his career at FAU.” It was smart for Singletary to declare early; he’s accrued 765 touches while at Florida Atlantic and needed to take advantage of a weaker running back class. Given the opportunity, Singletary is a solid complimentary piece to any backfield needing consistent production. Summary: Singletary projects as a “1b” that can be featured in spurts and will take time to develop in the passing game.

Singletary did not test well at the NFL Combine but his tape sure is intriguing. The way he cuts really reminds of you Eagles all-time leading rusher LeSean McCoy.

Singletary doesn’t project as a lead back but the Eagles haven’t truly employed one of those in the Doug Pederson era anyway. He could fit in Philly’s running back by committee approach.

Kadar’s final pick for the Eagles is an offensive tackle. The 6-6, 327 Scharping boasted good athleticism at the Combine. Here’s a scouting report from NFL.com:

Ascending tackle prospect with impressive combination of size and functional athletic ability. Scharping has the ability to handle bull-rushers and finds ways to recover and get guys blocked after getting beat early. However, NFL rushers will look to exploit the inconsistent footwork and balance that shows up when his pass sets become hurried and unfocused against true edge speed. He might get a shot at left tackle, but might be best-suited on the right side where he has the potential to become an above-average starter.

Jason Peters is 37 years old and Halapoulivaati Vaitai is currently set to be a free agent after this season. The Eagles could develop Scharping for a season before having him compete with Jordan Mailata for a starting job at tackle in 2020.

What do you think of this week’s picks?

Poll

Grade the Eagles’ haul from this two-round mock draft

7%

A

(148 votes)

37%

B

(774 votes)

38%

C

(798 votes)

12%

D

(254 votes)

4%

F

(99 votes)

2073 votes total Vote Now

Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/3/25/18280821/2019-nfl-mock-draft-eagles-pick-running-back-second-round-devin-singletary-philadelphia-tillery

[kittenplough1-blog]

Philadelphia Is the City of the Year!

Suddenly, Philadelphia has become a model city, with a Super Bowl-winning (and Trump-defying) NFL team and a new radical political class. Oh, and Meek Mill is finally free. We asked some of our favorite locals why they're celebrating 2018.

To be from Philadelphia is to be accustomed to losing. We have a history of losing. You learn about it in school. Every year we'd make the trek out to Valley Forge, 24 miles northwest of the city, where George Washington's army sheltered in place after losing first downtown and then the neighborhood I grew up in, Germantown, in a series of terrible defeats. Winter hit in Valley Forge, and Washington lost thousands more men. We'd go into their freezing huts, which still stand, and imagine loss.

Later we were the nation's capital, until we weren't. Our baseball team, the Phillies, has the distinction of having lost more games than any other professional sports franchise in the country. This magazine called us the “meanest fans in America.” One of our stadiums had jails and judges in it. Until recently, our one victorious athlete was Rocky Balboa, who is a fictional character. But then a weird thing happened: We started winning. I don't just mean the Super Bowl, which, you may recall, the Eagles won on February 4, 2018, in a thrilling 41–33 victory over the New England Patriots, who came out onto the field to the song “Crazy Train” for some reason. We came out to Meek Mill's “Dreams and Nightmares.” Even my parents were saying: “Free Meek Mill.” Then, in April, Meek Mill was freed. The first thing he did was take a helicopter to a Philadelphia 76ers game to see Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid play, because Simmons and Embiid are fucking amazing.

Eagles players became activists, speaking out about the flawed criminal-justice system. Donald Trump disinvited the team from visiting the White House out of spite; our mayor, Jim Kenney, then called our president “a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size.” Our recently elected district attorney, Larry Krasner, is the most progressive D.A. in the entire country. Our restaurants now regularly grace *Bon Appétit'*s Best New Restaurants list. Will Smith joined Instagram and immediately became incredible at it. You don't have to sell your plasma or your soul to afford an apartment in the city. It just feels…different in Philadelphia these days. Downright victorious, even.

Safety for the Philadelphia Eagles

GQ: What was your first impression of Philadelphia when you got there? Malcom Jenkins: I was coming from New Orleans, so I was surprised that the food was as good as it was, that Philly had so many good restaurants. Because I was worried about that.

Philadelphia's fans have a reputation for being difficult. Our fans are no worse than my dad. My dad is one of those guys who, after a game, says, “What happened on that tackle? How'd you miss that?”

What was it like during your run to the Super Bowl last year? It was crazy—especially the more wins we had. It was a fun energy. But also, nobody wanted to get overly excited. Philly's had some disappointing things happen to their teams. So they were a little nervous, right to the end. Like, “Is this going to be another one of those years, where we get hit by a jinx?” [Quarterback] Carson Wentz gets hurt at the end of the year: “Aw, here it is—it's a curse!” But luckily as players we didn't really buy into that.

How did you feel about being disinvited to the White House by President Trump? It didn't bother me. I wasn't going to go, anyway. I think it was a little disappointing for the guys who wanted to go. Their entire lives they've dreamed of winning the Super Bowl and going to the White House, partaking in that tradition. But that was a decision that came from the team. They were only going to send like a couple delegates, and I guess the White House didn't want that. But it didn't stop our celebration. We kept it moving and enjoyed our off-season.

Larry Krasner

District attorney

Larry Krasner was a teenage grease monkey. “One of the things I figured out back in 1978 was that when you tune a car, it gets better gas mileage, it gets quieter, it accelerates more quickly. There are just some kinds of systems, if you can get them to run better, they run better in many different ways.” Now, as Philadelphia's district attorney, Krasner is taking his wrench to the criminal-justice system.

In just a year on the job, he's instituted a sweeping set of reforms—reducing sentences, getting rid of cash bail for a host of nonviolent crimes, and not even prosecuting some offenses, like marijuana possession, at all. The result? Philadelphia's jail population has decreased by more than 20 percent—and crime is down, too. In the process, Philly has become a model of what a progressive, humane, and effective big-city law-enforcement operation looks like.

Krasner is an avowed liberal who spent 30 years as a criminal defense attorney and who isn't afraid to express his disdain for law-and-order types—“a notorious racist, a guy who, frankly, in my view, gets misty when he thinks about lynching,” he said of Attorney General Jeff Sessions—and his election last year was a watershed. “Philadelphia is fertile ground right now for criminal-justice reform for a lot of reasons—and one reason is, frankly, the past, of going the wrong direction for so long,” he says. “That had really alienated voters and had alienated the general population of the city, and made them very distrustful of the court system and to some extent of the district attorney's office and of the police department, so I think some of that bad history is exactly why it has a good future.”

Rapper and favorite son

I came up in the ghetto in North Philly. There was a lot of chaos going on. Just growing up in the wild, jungle-style environment, being a kid and just making it through. In 2007, I was falsely accused: A cop said I pointed a gun at him. And now I'm out on bail and still under supervision in 2018 because of that.

When I was in jail, the Eagles adopted my song “Dreams and Nightmares” as their theme song. It was a good feeling, just knowing I had support. I was in my cell watching the Super Bowl, and I saw the Eagles coming out to my song. I've been an Eagles fan most of my life, so just to see that was crazy for me. It wasn't really about the words and the lyrics; it was just about the excitement it brought the players and the energy it brought the players. I saw a YouTube clip of everyone saying, “Free Meek Mill.” There was cops, police officers, saying it. All the fans that rallied on Broad Street after the Eagles won were saying it. So, you know, it was a big thing. And then I got out.

I feel great about the city right now. I think the new D.A. they elected has integrity. It's good that we have somebody in office who's not just looking for convictions. We got a great mayor, we got a great governor of Pennsylvania. We got Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, the rest of the Sixers—they're connected to the community. Despite all the adversity we've been through, it feels like our time right now.

“I want to be in Philly for the rest of my life.” — Joel Embiid, 76ers phenom

Cristina Martínez

Chef and co-owner, South Philly Barbacoa

GQ: What do you like best about Philadelphia? Cristina Martínez: People are very attentive to our work here. The restaurant is busy at 5 a.m. My restaurant has had an impact on not only the Latino community but all the restaurants in the city.

Were you surprised that barbacoa could become so popular here? Barbacoa is a food to bring families together. It's also an affordable option for the community—I have the nourishment of hundreds of families in my hands. I feel a commitment to make sure everything is perfect when we are prepping for the day.

What do you like to do in the city when you aren't working? I like to visit Amis, the Italian restaurant where I met my husband. It's motivation for me. And I like to visit the studio of an artist called Isaiah Zagar, who has transformed the city with his murals.

How do chefs fight for the rights of undocumented immigrants? We are organizing 12 dinners with 12 different restaurants, bringing together cooks, chefs, and supporters with the lawyers and activists to listen to the needs of fellow restaurant workers that are undocumented like myself. We are working in the darkness.

Do you feel more pressure to keep silent now that Trump is president? We are here. We work hard. Sometimes I feel that when a person speaks the truth, it makes people uncomfortable; sometimes they come after you. But someone has to do it. So here I am. I'm not scared.

This story originally appeared in the December 2018/January 2019 issue with the title "Philly (Is) Special."

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Source: https://www.gq.com/story/philadelphia-is-the-city-of-the-year-2018