Archive for June, 2011

  Yeah. It’s a slow news day. The Eagles’ epic December comeback against the Giants continues to pile up accolades, earning an ESPY nomination this week for “Best Game of the Year”. The well-earned nod comes nearly a month after the NFL Network officially crowned the game the second greatest comeback in league history. Unfortunately, this might likely be the last bit of national recognition The Miracle gets. Other nominees in the “Best Game” category include Oklahoma City’s ridiculous triple-overtime win over the Grizzlies and Butler’s last-second upset of the top-seeded Panthers last March. While, in my opinion, I think [...]

Sorry for the brief hiatus loyal ITI fans. All six of you. A year or so ago I tore my ACL during an ill-advised “Urban Bourbon” party at my house and, as anyone who’s busted their knee will tell you, rehab has been a hell of set-backs and complications. It doesn’t help that I generally ignore doctor’s orders and play football without my special brace, but I’ll just say last week was bad and leave it at that. I have a newfound respect for guys like Stewart Bradley and Jamaal Jackson, and I’ll never again wonder why a guy isn’t playing full-speed only 10 [...]

  “Whatever happened to Fay Wray,” sang Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was referring to the lead actress in King Kong, who subsequently disappeared from view, certainly in the science fiction genre that he espoused. In the same way, I am asking what happened to the MVP of World Bowl XII, an Eagles running back who played a stormer of a game, just as he had done throughout the 2004 NFL Europe season. But more of him later. I wrote recently about the World League of American Football, which later became NFL Europe. One of [...]

  Beginning tomorrow morning, and hopefully continuing for most of the week, NFL owners will meet in Chicago with NFL representatives to discuss, among other things, a general outline for a possible revenue agreement with league players. In the 100-plus days since the beginning of the work stoppage, in the dozens of meetings and court cases and lawsuits and appeals and personal attacks in the media, there has never been a more critical moment. Make no mistake; what happens this week in Chicago will ultimately decide, one way or the other, if there will be football in 2011. If the [...]

ITI breaks down the war of words between LeSean McCoy and Osi Umenyiora.

Desean Jackson will land on this week’s installment of the Top 100. ITI breaks down who he beat out, and who is still to come.

  Labor negotiations between NFL owners and players concluded for the week yesterday in Maryland, and a number of sources and analysts are still cautiously optimistic that an end to the lockout is finally in sight. Greg Bishop, sports reporter for the New York Times, wrote a relatively revealing column yesterday which broke down the possibilities and expectations for the coming weeks from the perspective of individuals “with knowledge of the talks.” As usual, NFL fans looking for any specifics or even a few believable rumors in Bishop’s article are forced to trust in his unnamed, unverifiable sources, but we [...]

  The NFL Network program Total Access trained its sights on the Eagles today as part of its “32 Teams in 32 Days” segment, and head coach Andy Reid made a brief appearance via satellite to discuss the Kolb rumors, possible rule changes, the lockout, and – of course – Plaxico Burress. In response to a pointed question by show host Rich Eisen, which recounted Burress’s departure from prison wearing a Philadelphia Phillies cap, Reid responded: “We have a great pitching staff this year, and a really good shot at making it to the World Series.”

    For as long as I’ve been an Eagle fan, I’ve learned to accept that all sports reporters and national media outside of the Philadelphia area are going to stereotype us. Cliche, sadly, is just a fact of life. I know, for example, that no matter how Eagle fans behave at games or in public, ESPN analysts will always describe us as “dumb, violent hooligans.” They’ll make some joke about the jail at Veteran’s Stadium and someone, inevitably, will say: “Well, come on. You’re talking about the people who threw snowballs at Santa Claus”. Forget that the Black Hole [...]

    Saturday morning, Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal tweeted the following: “Told optimism is so high in NFL, players talks over labor deal that expectation is for a framework agreement in about two weeks.” And regardless of the fact that Kaplan’s source is unknown, or that his 127-character statement lacks specificity, evidence, and coherent English grammar, the blogosphere has lit up in the past 24 hours with raving, optimistic reports that the lockout is almost over, that “sources indicate players and owners will agree to a new CBA in two weeks.”

  Earlier today, ESPN’s divisional bloggers got together to compile a list of the most underrated players in the NFL. Among such odd choices as Matt Forte (Bears) and London Fletcher (Redskins), Eagles center Jamaal Jackson wound up the odds-on selection for Philadelphia. Originally an undrafted free agent signed by the Birds in 2003, Jackson first started for an injured Hank Fraley in 2005. After shining for the remaining eight games, Jackson was offered a massive contract extension that offseason, and wound up in a much publicized roster battle with Fraley throughout training camp in 2006. The two even made [...]

    by Brian Mathieson June is a bad month for me. It used to be bad because it brought the end of the season, a bit like how most folks feel in February, after the Superbowl. Now it depresses me because of the season that used to be, but is no more. Let me explain. In Europe, where I live, we used to have something called World League. Now, don’t laugh. It may have been a joke to you, if you even knew about it, but to many thousands of football fans on this side of the Atlantic, it [...]