Thanks to the good folks at Google (Do No Evil!  We swear we’re not tracking Google Toolbar users all over the web and then using that data sell more Ad Sense!  Honest!), we now have another way to stack rank the teams in the NFC East: web-site traffic!  See above for a trailing 12-month summary of site traffic at philadelphiaeagles.com, giants.com, redskins.com, and dallascowboys.com, ranked by daily unique visitors.  Probably best to click the image (will open in another window) to get a better view.

A few things worth noting here, beyond my mad skillz at getting the colors to map to each of the teams (Respek!): (Read the rest of this story.)

Things have been a little quiet on this end for the past week or so. Expect that to continue as we slowly approach the Long, Dark Teatime of the NFL Offseason. Not much going on right now for the Birds, and when we say not much, we don’t mean “not much” in a week-before-the-draft sort of way. This is the “not much” of the NFL-happenings-will-be-limited-to-mid-round-draft-pick-signings-and-occasional-arrests variety. Ain’t nothin’ doin’ in Birds land.

Still, the absence of actual news doesn’t mean we need to put away our Haterade for the next month. Oh no! There’s plenty to root for over the next month, specifically the ongoing mishaps, malfeasance and general discord of the Birds’ divisional opponents! While the goody-two-shoes Eagles don’t seem up to much this time of year (NOTE: said goody-two-shoes distinction does not apply to families of coaching staff), the G-Men and Cowboys seem happy to oblige will all sorts of pre-camp argy-bargy and nonsense.

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On the off chance you’re the sort of person who isn’t above the occasionl wager (Gambling Problem? Please call.), rest assured that you can now gamble on whether T.O. will test positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Note that the touts pushing this are fully aware that this is the sort of thing that tends to be be extra-popular in the Delaware Valley:

Will he test positive? What happens if he does? Will the Cowboy suspend him? What will this mean for the season?…Probably the only people happy about this outcome are die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fans.

Charming.  No.  Really.

Right right, it’s June 9, and we hate to overreact, but still — this is straight from Spuds hisownself:

The Eagles, coincidentally enough, spent a portion of Monday’s practice working against the Giants offensive and defensive schemes, and it was Kevin Kolb, not McNabb, who took many of the reps at quarterback.

That led to speculation that McNabb’s arm is hurting. McNabb was asked after practice if he is concerned about his arm.

“No,” he said. “I know it will get better.”

Exactly what “it” is was not made clear. McNabb didn’t want to answer questions on the subject, but he did answer when asked if he expected more or fewer practice reps for the remainder of this camp, which lasts through Thursday.

“We’ll see. We’ll see,” said McNabb. “We’re just taking it slow.”

Um, what exactly are we taking slow again?  Are we broken already, in a heretofore unbroken realm of our frequently broken body?  Also, how long is Soviet Central Media going to pretend that everything is totally cool, nothing to see here?  Not much longer, it seems, if Spuds is publishing stories like this.

This is me gritting my teeth and pretending to be more excited about the Phillies (I’m not unexcited, but it just isn’t the same). 

Wouldn’t say this bodes well for holding on to a roster spot.   

Still, it was lovely to have you in town. Hope you enjoyed the cheesesteaks and ambient level of hostility!

Dooooood, I guess not everyone has been watching their figure this offseason. Obviously, mine eyes are a bit untrained for this sort of thing (especially seeing these guys in street clothes), but Mike Patterson IS FREAKIN’ HUGE!  He’s like some sort of boulder with limbs!  How many coach-class airplane seats does he have to buy?  Is it more than two?  It might be.

Mike, we salute your sacrifice of good health for continued solid run-stopping ability in the middle of the defensive line.  I wish your cardiovascular system the best of luck over the longer term! 

More photos here.

Good for T.O. getting paid this week. Seems like a fair amount of guaranteeed cash for a guy who turns 35 this year, but hey, T.O. sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber, and none of us really know what that means.

Of course, now that T. Eldorado is liquid, there’s the little matter of all that money the Eagles’ legal department has established he owes them.  Luckily, Terrell is cool with that (little T really does know how to share!):

“I don’t mind paying that,” Owens told reporters, according to the Dallas Morning News. “It’s not a big deal considering what happened [Tuesday].

“They can have it how they want it. They want it in cash, pennies, they can get it.”

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OMG!  Do my ears deceive me?  Did Chad Johnson just list the Eagles BEFORE the Cowboys in his wish list of teams to which he’d like to be traded?

In an upcoming column in ESPN The Magazine (note that Chad also guest-edited said issue), he writes the following:

“Management told me I had a bad year. I was asked to stop being me. Okay, but how does that work? I am what some people would say is the face of Cincinnati,” he writes.

“If I can get out of Cincinnati, the sky’s the limit. What could I do in a place like Philadelphia or Dallas? It would be ridiculous. It’s (going to) be like a whole new me, like Ocho Cinco 2.0. Yeah, I like that. Ocho Cinco 2.0.”   

Yup, you heard that right.  Ocho Cinco 2.0 in Philadelphia (or also maybe Dallas, but Dallas less than Philadelphia because being listed first is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than being listed second).  My heart is a-flutter with visions of just how ridiculous it would be.  I would guess “very.”    

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Mired as we are in loose-rumor-and-puff-piece season, I probably enjoyed the Trevor Laws article on PE.com more than I reasonably should have. Things I learned:

1. He went to a high school with a really good debate team.
2. He’s into music and lists Modest Mouse as one of his favorite bands. Hey! I like Modest Mouse too! We should, like, hang out!
3. He’s had the misfortune of having his head photoshopped onto a Eagles body on his profile page on the team site. This would have normally bypassed my attention were it not for the presence of those little info interstitials that hover on the Eagles site (even after you mouse away). Poor guy; the photo makes him look like he has Charlie Brown’s head.

For some perspective, check the photo of Mike Patterson (below).  You figure these guys are about the same size — seems liks a good point of comparison.  Note the detail where he actually looks like a human being:

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