Birds-Sh**!

Honestly, Eagles, are you for real?? In case you haven't heard, the Eagles, who lead the league in dropped passes and possess an extra first-round pick in this year's draft, did not offer enough to Detroit for Roy Williams. In case you missed it, the Dallas Cowboys did. My anger is indescribable. The Eagles could have gotten a proven receiver for free, essentially, but passed. Mark my words, Roy Williams will be extremely solid in Dallas. He'll make a few Pro-Bowls and he'll likely beat the Eagles once or twice over the next few years. There have been rumors that the Eagles are satisfied with being a perennial contender, but refuse to spend what it takes to become a champion. I've brushed off these rumors because I've seen the Birds make some moves here and there and offer the right people the right amount of money (their offer in this last offseason to Randy Moss that exceeded what the Pats had offered him comes to mind). However, combined with the fact that we refused to give up enough to get Tony Gonzalez, who was reportedly an Eagle if they so chose, I'm beginning to rethink my stance. How can you let a player who is young, proven, and already a Pro-Bowler go your bitter, DIVISION rival at a cost you could have afforded?? I'm beside myself. Just when it looked like the Cowboys were imploding into a pile of their own feces, they pull off a trade that immediately makes their offense look like, by far, the top offense in the league... even with R(H)omo on the bench with injury. If allowed to make a prediction, it would be the following. The Eagles will spend their two first round picks on linemen who, as with every draft pick, may or may not pan out. We will be told that our receiving corps is adequate for what Andy Reid wants to do. We will be told that we didn't need the distraction that Roy Williams would have brought with him. We will be told about how good Brian Westbrook is as a receiver. What we won't be told is that the Eagles have signed a proven, elite wide receiver. Two years from now, we may even be told that DeSean Jackson, the only receiver we have with any chance of being an elite, NFL receiver, is too expensive and that's why we are letting him walk. We will probably come to find out that he is signing with an NFC East rival. I'm sick of this dance. The one year that Donovan McNabb had an elite receiver at his disposal, we were the best team in the NFC and nearly won the Super Bowl. How can they keep telling us we don't need an elite receiver??? In the end, after this weekend's developments, I was cautiously optimistic about the Birds. Now?? I am just waiting to see what OT and DE we draft in the 2009 draft. What did we do as fans to deserve this??

On another note regarding the Birds, we apparently gave Tony Hunt his walking papers today. The same Tony Hunt whose drafting by the Eagles prompted some friends of mine and I to be kicked out of a bar due to our exuberance over him becoming an Eagle. In all honesty, the Eagles never gave him a chance. For whatever reason, Andy Reid doesn't like Tony Hunt. The Eagles will tell us that his pass blocking was horrendous and that's why he's packing his bags, but wasn't Lorenzo Booker the one who gave up that sack that resulted in Donovan's chest injury? That doesn't mean I don't like Booker, in fact, I love him and what he could bring to the table, but it is more an indictment on the Eagles for their hypocrisy. As mentioned before, I am beginning to believe this team loves successful mediocrity. Tony Hunt was a perfect back to plug into Andy Reid's original offense, the one that provided us with the "Three Headed Monster". For those who do not remember, the "Three Headed Monster" consisted of Duce Staley, Correll Buckhalter, and a young Brian Westbrook. That offense may have been the most successful, sustainable offense of the Andy Reid era aside from the T.O. year. For whatever reason, that offense seems to be a thing of the Eagles past, just as is Randall Cunningham, Chuck Bednarik, and Buddy Ryan. T-Hunt is a powerful back whose yards per carry only increase as his touches increase. Obviously, with Westbrook being our feature back, touches are limited for the other running backs on the team, however, one could argue that had Hunt received 8-10 carries a game, Westbrook's body would be in much better shape health-wise right now, as well as the Eagles offense as a whole. Despite his personal setback, I honestly believe that Tony Hunt will become a successful running back in the NFL, likely with a team that isn't as averse to the ground game as are the Eagles. My guess is a team like Buffalo or Chicago or Baltimore would love to have him and will use him to their advantage as he should have been used in Philly. It's too bad that the only thing he has to show for his time in my hometown is a DUI. I almost want to send him a fruit basket so that he doesn't hate us.

When it's all said and done, at least the Phils are one win away from the World Series, a World Series that looks likely to be played in Tampa Bay (actually St. Petersburg, if you want to get technical) and Philadelphia. Mind you, this does not mean that I'm saying at least we have the Phils. Come November, that mantra will come back to bite us in the hynie when we are rooting for teams that are, at best, 5 months away from their respective playoffs (NCAA tournament for those who are doing the math). Tomorrow night's game is not nearly as big as it would have been had Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs not shown up at the Chavez Ravine last evening. However, with it being the playoffs and all, any opportunity you have to close out a series, it is essential that you do so as soon as possible. The positives are innumerable. More rest for pitchers, which can never be underestimated as proven by a tired Phils bullpen Monday night. A few days to get over the fact that you have actually made it to the World Series, which in this town would probably (note: probably) be a plus. Cole Hamels is on the mound against Chad Billingsley. I'm thinking the final score will be 9-4 in the Phillies favor with Ryan Howard finally getting a piece of a ball and parking it in the LEFT field seats. That is correct, I'm betting on Howard getting an opposite field home run.

Truthfully, I think Ryan Howard has caught some undue flak this postseason. Why? The man hasn't consistently seen hittable pitches all postseason. If you watch his at bats, the Dodgers aren't comfortable with throwing him more than 3 hittable pitches per game. If you've ever played baseball, you know how much this ruins your timing and, ultimately, your average. Imagine being trained to see bad movies. When you finally see a good one it will blow your mind. In Howard's case, the trick is predicting which movie will be the good one. He has less than .2 seconds to decide whether the movie is good or bad and a majority of the movies are bad. Obviously, you would become pre-disposed to believe that the movies will be bad, so much so that it takes an extra split second to identify a good one. This is Howard's dilemma this postseason. He never sees a good pitch and, on the rare occasion that he does, it takes him .0003 more seconds to identify it, being as he is so used to bad pitches. This throws off his timing just enough that he misses the ball by millimeters and what could have been a moonshot becomes a can-of-corn. How can Ryan Howard get untracked?? Consistent hitting from Utley and a show of relatively consistent power from Burrell will get Howard the consistent strikes he needs to see to become the Howard we are used to seeing. I find baseball strategy to be a relatively simple puzzle, but for those who don't really understand the intricacies of the game, I can see how Howard's dismal postseason could be cause for concern. However, my friends, this is baseball and it is very rare that, without great protection in the form of hits ahead of him and power from behind him, a power-hitter has a great postseason. Howard has found a way to affect to outcome of games despite his MIA bat, and, for that, Phils fans should be thankful.