The score is 14 to 10, Eagles. McNabb scrambles and sprains his knee. He is out until the 4th quarter. Who plays Kevin Kolb or AJ Feeley?
Personally, I play Feeley. He is battle tested, played in a big time conference and knows how to win a game. While Kolb played two big games a year in college, one early and one in a bowl game, that he usually lost.
So, speak, please???
This was one of those orgasmic football weekends that only comes around a few times a year. Naturally, I watched almost all of it.
Arizona faced off with Atlanta in the early game and while most of the country probably did not care, I did because of my alegiance to the Cardinals. I thought in the beginning the Warner was looking old, but the Edge looked like the running back from Indianapolis and Rod Hood played like an Eagle, giving the Cardinals a hard fought win.
The best game of the weekend was the one that looked like the best on paper, with Indianapolis and San Diego facing off on Saturday night. I know I maybe one of the few people in the country that has ever heard of Darren Sproles, but he singlehandly sent Peyton Manning into golf season.
The worst worst game of the weekend was Miami hosting Baltimore. Once Ed Reed ran back that interception for a touchdown, you knew you could go and take a shower, which I did. In fact, this game is not even worth a picture.
Finally, it was time for the Eagles vs Minnesota. Deep in my brain, I knew the Eagles would win, just because they are the better team. However, I was not convinced of a win until Westbrook did what Westbrook does on a screen and sent the Eagles to a matchup with the hated Giants. There will be plenty of email smack talk this week for Sparky Duck.
As I saw Eli Manning loft the ball up in the air from the 30 yard line, I knew the pass was going to Plaxico Burress. How did the New England defense not know the same thing? To say I am shocked is an understatement. And it has taken my Poetry Train post right out the window.
Well, one last football cheerleader pic
With the improbable way the Eagles played last night, even though they lost to the Patriots, there is a slow building groundswell to play AJ Feeley at QB the rest of the way in place of superstar, Donovan McNabb. As for me, I am all for it!
Not only does AJ seem to make his decisions quicker and actually try to get rid of the ball if he is under pressure, rather then get sacked, but he also has that certain IT factor to him. McNabb is not a leader, a loss like that last night would have sloughed off his shoulders as the breaks of playing football. Feeley still sounds down, almost 24 hours later, sounding like someone stole his puppy. The fans of Philadelphia want someone who lives and dies the games just like we do, and McNabb, with his carefully calculated image and sullen attitude is not that kind of guy.
So I hope Coach Reid gets off his fat ass and makes a decision that makes sense, playing AJ Feeley next week against Seattle.
in not the most enviable place in the world, which would be jail. Yes, Andy Reid's other son, who has been under house arrest since late August for possesion of drug paraphenalia as well as admitting to taking Heroine after a January 30th car accident, find himself back in jail today for failing to show up for a mandatory drug test. The incident is being painted a bit as miscommunication, but as one of the bloggers at The 700 Level put it.
It's never fun when a miscommunication lands you in jail.
Yes, its been a little while since I have posted or visited blogs. I either really didn't feel like it over the weekend, or was running around, one of the other and the combination of both made me lax. Everyone has those moments though right?
The Ups were the Eagles game yesterday, a game they actually decided to go out and win. It was a beautiful day, and the game had a great first half, Westbrook running like a monster and McNabb actually completing some passes, which was a new thing for him this year at least. The second half was dull, because the Lions sort of packed it in midway through the 3rd quarter, but anytime you get to see a game with a final score of 56 to 21 and your team has the 56, its a good day.
Another up was the new lamp we picked up at Home Goods. Its got this cool kinda stone pilon look to it and it is much better then the brass lamps that we had been using, mostly because the brass can be such an 80's thing. Plus, the story behind the brass lamp was one I personally was not to fond of. Another small purchase that is ours (Mrs Duck and mine) as opposed to something we got as a hand me down from some relative or something.
The downs unfortunately also stopped into pay a visit. Its a shame to because Mrs Duck was actually very cheerful Friday, in one of the best moods I have seen her in, in a little while. But, another trip to the doctor, for a check up on the oozing scar, as well as some pain she had in her jaw showed a hair line fracture in the jaw bone. We were both surprised and upset. It means another 3 weeks of a liquid diet and taking it easy in the hopes of not having the bone displace, which would mean more surgery for the Mrs. It is beginning to become one of those frustrating times, mostly because there was very little we could do to prevent the injury, since the bone was already weak from her own disease and from the surgery, but you still feel helpless. Plus, you wonder when exactly things may start to go right as opposed to wrong.
Plus, no phone calls from the resume dump and apparently I am a bad beta, whatever that means. So, the downs were plenty darn down.
But, its another beautiful day, so we both try to strive for the positives. But with my family coming in less then 2 weeks, and me not even figuring out what I want for my birthday, mostly because it just seems like I dont feel like thinking about what I might want, it makes it a tad stressful even if its not either as stressful as it could be, or its not a time with these heavy amounts of dire stress. Am I rambling too much yet?
I know I was tagged for this meme, but for the life of me I can not remember who actually did the tagging. It could have been here, or here, or possibly here, or hell even this blogger, but its so old, and im a so late, I'll just give credit plenty of places.
Anyway, another day, another meme.
A philanthropist awards you $50,000 with the stipulation that you may use half of it for yourself and the other half you must use for the benefit of others. By "benefit of others" it can mean anything really, buying a gift for a family member or donating to a charity.
a. How do you spend the money on yourself?
Not even close, pay off most of my credit card debt. I would save a little bit for a rainy day and then I would take Mrs Duck to the Jersey Shore for a fun weekend, since we have not seen a beach this summer.
b. How do you use the money for others. Please be detailed, so if you say "give X dollars to charity, let us know what charity and why you select that one.
I have my favorite charities already, so it would be pretty easy. I would give 10,000 to Action Aids out of Philadelphia, since I still think HIV and Aids is a problem that has not be correctly taken care of. I would give $10,000 to Shriners Childrens hospital, which i talked about a lot within the blogathon. I would give $5000 to Nothing But Nets, which raises money to buy insect nets for people in 3rd world countries. These Nets help prevent malaria by just keeping the bugs away in the first place.
c. If you were to spend part of your money to have a performer do a show for you, who would it be and why?
While I think spending the money would sort of be a waste, since its not something that would stay with me, beyond my memories and bootlegs of it, but I would of course have to pick U2. Social Conscious and also kick ass musicians
d. If you were to use it on a new vehicle for yourself, what kind?
A hybrid vehicle of some kind, possibly a Volvo or a Honda. I'm not a car guy, it gets me from point A to Point B
e. If you spent part of it to go to a "fantasy" camp, what type would you choose?
Its not technically a fantasy camp, but every year, Disney and ESPN team up for a long weekend where ESPN takes over Disney World. One of the most fun places in the world, jammed with athletes and sports. Yep Im there.
f. If you were to use it to buy season tickets for a sports team, what team would it be?
In a total fantasy land world, I would get season tickets to Autzen Stadium for the University of Oregon football team. But, logically, since its only 50K and I have to get to the games, I would spend that dough on Eagles tickets.
g. If you were to use it to go on a cruise (assuming you like cruises) where would you cruise to?
Alaska, because I think it looks gorgeous and man the pictures would be sweet and plus most Alaska cruises start in Vancouver and I have always wanted to visit there.
h. If you were to use it to go to NYC to see a show (or shows) what would you see?
Les Miserables (again) and Wicked as well. Plus Phantom, yea, Phantom would be cool too.
I will only tag:
Lady Jane
&
Sea Hag
since I know that there is no way they tagged me for this meme.
You know, it just hit me, last Friday was one sports filled Friday. First there was golf, and then the Eagles at the Linc. I may not see sports in person for a while now just to make up for it with Mrs Duck.
Preseason games are usually boring as heck. Especially when they are pro football preseason games. Most of the guys do not want to get themselves hurt, so they don't play. The coaches don't want to tip there hands for the upcoming season too much, so they use base defenses and offensive schemes (english translation:the plays are very vanilla and chocolate). So, most times the games are not that exciting and the tickets are easy enough to scam off the real ticketholders.
However, a game like this can be exciting as all get out when you are 7 rows from the field on the 25 yard line! I used to watch games this close all the time, high school games in NJ. When I looked at the tickets that Mrs Duck had gotten from a career oriented connection, I think I almost fell over. And when we found our seats, we had to double check that we should have been that close.
I can see why the big guns pay that much for a ticket that close now. You hear the different calls on the field, are able to wave to the long snapper as he practices and see the sweat glisten off the cheerleaders. Ok, it was hot as all hell and Mrs Duck will hate that last line, but it was true.
One other benefit, is some great pictures, which I will share a few of now. Again, I think I do have some skills when it comes to photography, but when it comes to pictures at football games, its all luck, or at least being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.
Best action shot:Lito Sheppard returning an interception for a touchdown.
I savored these seats, because I will probably never get this close again.
It was all political and complex. It probably would have pissed some people off, which is something I really do love doing. But, I turned around and it was 10:00 and the kitchen was still dirty from dinner, Garden State was the on TV set (a darn fine movie by the way) and I was stuffed.
Plus, golfing again tomorrow morning, at Makefield Highlands or something like that. Subway and Doc are in town, its Subway's annual family reunion at the shore and they come by and see us before they head down for the weekend. This happens every summer at this time and it usually involves an exhibition game of the Eagles. Yep, we got the tickets too, so we are off to do that tomorrow night. Sounds like a full weekend, all crammed into one day, which is usually how it is when Subway and Doc head up this way.
So, next week, the post in my head. So now, how do I tick people off before I go?
Starrlight sent this to me this week, and I said to myself I am going to go nowhere near it. Eh, Fuck it.
Ladies and gentleman, the V.P. as Kreskin...
Let me start off by saying right off the bat, I really can't stand that stupid song. Fight Songs are meant to be played by marching bands, with coeds running around and the wishbone offense being run. Not sung by a bunch of drunk dopes in the upper deck.
Ok, rant over, I am an Eagles fan, I swear, its just very very hard to get excited about going to a game at The Linc. And for goddess sake, the Vet was 10 to 20 times worse.
But, training camp opened this weekend, and the idea of hope springing eteneral for the Eagles to make a run back to the Super Bowl again.
I will be perfectly happy with a run into the playoffs, once you get into the playoffs you never know from there. One of the big controversies around here this year is whether Kevin Kolb is the heir apparent to Donovan. The way Donovan's knee has been acting the last few years, I would think AJ Feeley will be the heir apparent way before Kolb is ready, because I would bet you dollars to donuts that McNabb will not make it through the whole year.
But, I am not a McNabb guy. I think he takes away possesions from Westbrook, who has become easily the best player on that offense.
When it comes to defense, they are still lead by Brian Dawkins, but Dawkins can't cover everybody anymore. He still hits you like a brick bleep house, but the rest of the secondary is suspect when it comes to coverage.
So, at the end of this ramble, how do I think the Eagles will do? Wildcard, 11-6 and have a decent shot at getting to the bowl again. Once you get to the show, you never know.
In the last post, Dragon, who will be an interview subject later by the way, asked who Billy Penn was. Thanks to Dragon, I have another post now.
William Penn was the founder of Pennsylvania. He was the leader of the Quaker religion, who were the first settlers in what would be formed into Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is in fact named after his father, after the King of England wanted to show his gratidude to his Penn's father Admiral Penn. He is a founding father of the United States and one of the only that was the sole controlling power until 1776
Billy Penn is a statue on top of City Hall. There was an handshake agreement between the city's founders and the citys planner, Kevin Bacon's father I do believe, that no skyscraper would go above the top of the statues hat so that Billy would still be able to watch over what he created.
In the mid 1980's Liberty One and Liberty Two were built and they dwarfed the Billy Penn Statue. They were soon joined by more and more skyscrapers. Since that time, none of the major sports teams has one a championship in there selected sport. While the Wings and Phantoms have won titles, the Flyers, Phillies, Eagles and Sixers have all fallen short of there championship goals since the mid 80's The curse of Billy Penn was born.
So the draft came and went this past weekend. Nothing really shocking, unless you are a Brady Quinn/Notre Dame fan. The fall of Quinn was one of those train wrecks that had me at least glued to the TV until he got picked.
Oh yea, and the Eagles drafted a new QB in the second round. Ho Hum, no big deal. Have to plan for the future you know. Donovan McNabb is not going to be around forever. We all get old. What? Their was controversy? The coach called his #1 QB before and then after he made the draft pick to tell him not to worry? No one knows who Kevin Kolb is you say? (Well I knew, but I am a college football junkie). Now their is an uproar about Donovan's help, when the time for a change will come, what becomes of Kelly Holcomb, yada yada yada.
So, you would figure, someone in the McNabb family would want to quench the fire, not let it go into a fully engaged inferno? Right, good politics. Except the McNabb family is more of the slash and burn variety. Dear old dad went to the papers this last week and told the Philadelphia fans that his son is just an employee of the Eagles, nothing more and that Eagles fan don't appreciate what they have? Way to make sure the fans stay behind you. Why don't you just insult their mothers while you are at it. So, McNabb, as always won't be a leader and he is just biding his time. Sam, do me a favor and just keep counting that Chunky Soup money your wife gets, would ya?
And then, their is Alycia Lane of KYW3, our local CBS affiliate. Now, this is just comedy really, and comedy that some of you female readers of mine might actually find interesting. Big Hub Bub around town because Alycia got caught sending a multitude of emails to one Rich Eisen of the NFL Network. In the course of these emails, she happened to include pictures of her in a bikini (or for you google searchers out there, Alycia Lane bikini).
Of course, here is the rub, said emails, including the picture one, were intercepted by Mr. Eisen's wife. UHOH, not a good thing. Lets just say she was not happy and I can almost guarantee we all know the person that leaked this story and some of these pictures to Page 6. Cupie doll for the right answer.
So, the NFL still lives and breathes in Philadelphia, even though minicamps don't start until sometime in May. Though we do help ourselves in the news just a bit. Now here is the question, if you have not skimmed over the entire post, if your significant other got pictures in email from a single good looking gal, would you let him explain or just knife him/her on the spot?
But lord knows it could have been better too. But, in the end, the Eagles just could not capitalize on some of the Saints mistakes and they could not stop the run. Now, the run part has been something that has been affecting them all year long, but during this nice little run, they usually came through when there opponents made an error. Unfortunately, they were the ones making a few more mistakes.
So, well done by the Saints, now go and win the Super Bowl would you??!? You have two impressive running backs, a QB that I bet Marty Schottenheimer still wishes he had, and a pretty good, or at least quick defense. Just hope if you do make it, you dont face Peyton Manning, he will cut your secondary to shreds.
As for the Eagles, is there anyway you think that Jeff Garcia could stay as QB, since that means the Westbrook may get the ball more, making the Eagles a better team? Um no I doubt it, just because thats not what the Eagles would do. Looks like the marriage to Donovan McNabb continues. YUCK.
Though on one happy note, I dont have any worries about hearing guff from my Dad, brother, or some of the Jersey boys, since The Eagles were still playing last week and there teams were on the golf course already.
Mrs Duck's jersey, which I bought for her. Dawkins is the heart and soul of the Eagles. I think I made a good choice as opposed to a T.O. jersey, dont you?
The Eagles continued there amazing run the other day, disposing of the NY Giants, 23-20. Though, the outcome should not have been that surprising since the Eagles really had beaten the Giants 2 times already, if not for the total choke job in the first game.
Jeff Garcia continued to run the offense without making mistakes, and also continued his love affair with the fans of Philadelphia. It will take alot for the fans to forget about Donovan McNabb, but to me its nice that the possibility exists that it still might happen. Wilma, Donovan's mommie, has been doing her best to make sure the fans dont forget her son, including posts to the Family Blog about how bittersweet a Eagles Super Bowl run would be to her. Donovan, it might be time to stick a soup spoon in your mothers trap.
Besides Brian Westbrook proving that he is the caffeine that makes the Eagles run, and David Akers being David Akers, the game was actually quite uneventful. Once NY left the Eagles with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, you kind of new the outcome already, before it happened.
So, Its off to New Orleans, the game that has any knowledgeable Eagle fan the most worried, especially with the loss of Lito Shepperd in a secondary that I have always considered suspect to begin with.
And on the Saints note:
Wordnerd, I am calling you out. You are the closest thing I know to a Saints fan, what do you say to a friendly wager???
So, I was sitting down, well actually culling through some of my emails and a light bulb went off. The Michigan Wolverines, and there faithful of the University of Michigan, and Philadelphia Eagle fans have a lot in common actually.
What? Sparky? have you lost your mind? there are so many more Eagles fans that have sufffered as opposed to Wolverine fans...
Well, Imaginary voice in my head, which I really need to get checked out by the way, I beg to differ. The Big House holds over 100,000 people. Now, many of those people are season ticket holders and students, so, lets just say there are about a half a million Wolverine fans. The Linc only holds about 60,000 or so, and I am being generous, so I would say the Wolverines are pretty close in number arent they?
Well, Sparky, yes I agree they have the numbers, but, please, its college football, Michigan fills there schedule with the University of the School of the blind, not like the Eagles, they have the Texans as a cupcake!
Ok, yes I agree, invisible chorus, that yes, the Eagles play many more teams that are tougher, but, look at the schedule, Michigan has one or two games that make or break there season, as opposed to the Eagles, they can lose 8 and still have a chance at the Super Bowl, look at the Giants of this year.
Puhleassse, Sparky, explain this nonsense
Ok, no need to get huffy! Look at it this way, your an Eagle fan, you play a whole schedule, go 10-0 and you have to play Dallas to get into the playoffs. And the playoffs are much smaller, there are no second chances. Now lets say, the Cowboys beat you 5 years in a row, keeping you from the Super Bowl, and then you have to play a consolation game against the Denver Broncos. And every year, the Denver Broncos beat you in front of a national audience, like clockwork, like the sun coming up every morning. Wouldnt you think your suffering some?
Ok, so Michigan can't beat Ohio State, we know that already, but, look, they won a Championship in 1998, thats something, The Eagles havent sniffed a title since the 60's.
Yes, but, in 1998 they shared the title. So it was like a tie, which is like kissing your sister. And how much does one really love kissing there sister?
oh touche
Plus, cmon, we need to have a little sympathy for them, all people in Michigan have to watch on Sundays is the Lions. And god, unless your are a fantasy geek or Matt Millen's mother, your not watching the Lions every week.
Ok, you sold us Sparky, we share the Philly love with our brothers and sister who are alumni and fans of the University of Michigan.
I knew I would win! So, all you fans out there, especially my favorite Pirate, and my favorite new author, lets just try and bask in the glory of old victories and forget about the recent history. It makes life so much better, well that and bourbon.
Colleen, Lady Jane, lets forget this
And bask in the glory of this
