Matt Williamson of ESPN.com says the Eagles are "on the right track" so far this offseason, and have to enter the '07 season as the favorite in the NFC East.
This may come as news to everyone who gets their sports info from talk radio in Philly, who have been led to believe that Philly is about to become the worst team in the league. The argument goes that the Eagles aren't "committed to winning" because they haven't signed enough free agents. If only they had the guts to do things like giving Eli Manning a $5 million bonus for no apparent reason.
Speaking of which, there was a funny story in Sunday's Inquirer about Donovan McNabb going to a Philly restaurant with his wife and running into WIP morning hosts Angelo Cataldi and Rhea Hughes, along with their respective spouses. The WIP table was debating whether to send drinks over to the McNabbs' table when they were informed that McNabb wanted to buy them a round.
Cataldi was the one who led a campaign in 1999 to prevent the Eagles from drafting McNabb. Since then, he has pretty much been at the forefront of the campaign to undermine the quarterback, and convince Eagles' fans that their team, which has been near the top of the league for eight years, is really run by idiots. McNabb saw Cataldi in a restaurant and, showing what a class act he is... bought the man some drinks. I don't want to know what Joey Porter would've done in that situation.
I can't help contrasting this Eagles situation with the Minnesota Twins, another team I follow, which like the Eagles has won four of the last five division titles but not any championships in its current run. I don't really understand the idea of bringing in Ramon Ortiz and Sidney Ponson, and putting them both in the season-opening rotation.
However, much like Andy Reid, the team's GM, Terry Ryan, has a proven track record of being right about these things. I concede that as a longtime baseball professional, and the reigning MLB Executive of the Year, Ryan might know a little bit more about baseball than I do, and like Andy Reid, chances are pretty good that he knows what he's doing.
If Ryan worked in Philly, everyone, I'm sure, would want him fired.
Posted by Stephen Silver at March 19, 2007 05:20 PM