Hmm, sure was a fair amount of hemmin’ and/ or hawin’ amongst the local blathermonkeys in re: a slightly snippy remark from Andy Reid in his Monday press conference. I hadn’t seen the clip until after I read the “stories” about it, and I think we can safely conclude that this wasn’t exactly a meltdown. More a gentle (and barely snide) suggestion that the blathermonkeys ixnay on the itolay.

But after the Garrett Reid news that surfaced in the 48 hours after Reid’s press conference, one might imagine that Andy wasn’t in a completely awesome mood that afternoon. That is, he knew that he was going to court the next day so that his oldest son could plead guilty to smuggling 89 pills into prison (via his rectum, we presume). Not exactly the sort of thing that puts one in a good mood.

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Donovan McNabb is scheduled to speak to reporters as part of the Eagles’ post-draft minicamp today. I’ve been able to get an advance copy of the transcript:

Donovan, you said earlier in the off-season that you thought that the team needed to bring in “playmakers.” Do you feel that the team has done that?

Well, I said that I thought that we needed to bring in playmakers in all phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. Obviuosly with the addition of Asante Samuel we have a proven playmaker, and Chris Clemons as well. We also made some acquisitions of guys who can help us on special teams. I also think some of the young guys we brought in in the draft and by trade, like Lorenzo Booker, have a chance to make a difference. So we’re very excited about the team.

Donovan, do you still think that the team needs to go out and get a true number-one wide receiver?

We have some great receivers on this team in Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown and Jason Avant and Hank Baskett. We brought in a guy like DeSean Jackson to add to that. We also have L.J. healthy. I think we have a great group of receivers.
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In the context of the Buzz Bissinger-versus-the-InterWeb freakout, let me send a big Yo Whaddup to the good folks over at Eagletarian, the Daily News‘ new Eagles blog. I know that we unpaid amateur journalists, ensconced as we are in our jammies in our many parents’ many basements, do tend to sully the otherwise pristine waters of PROFESSIONAL SPORTS JOURNALISM, especially in Philadelphia. So I can’t tell you how flattered we are to have you pretend to join our ranks!

In all fairness, I’ve actually enjoyed the first couple weeks of Eagletarian (and even have the positive comments to prove it!). What with the actual access that these guys have to players, coaches, scouts, other members of the MSM (in Philly as well as in other cities), giving them a forum to publish shorter stories with a bit more niche/ nerd appeal (that is, stories for the freaks for whom no level of detail is too minute) is an actual great addition to the overall portfolio of Eagles-related media.

Things I’ve liked so far:

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While Donovan McNabb has made no secret of his post-football TV blathermonkey ambitions (and we think he’d actually be pretty decent at it — he’s a sharp guy, decent sense of humor, watches a lot of sports), and while we tend to support his direct-to-consumer PR strategy on Yardbarker, we’re going to have to snicker a bit at his latest blog entry.

Is it cool that he has opinions about college hoops and the street cred (he played hoops at Syracuse his freshman year — JUST IN CASE YOU HADN’T HEARD THAT MILLION TIMES ALREADY) to back them up?  You betcha.  Does said street cred excuse the train wreck of cliches that he stuffed into that blog post?  Not even a little bit.    (Read the rest of this story.)

Mad props to Derek from Iggles Blog for his line-by-line demolition of a wildly incorrect guest piece that the Inqy had the poor judgment to publish today.

The link to said wildly incorrect guest piece is here.   

The link to Derek’s piece is here.     

My serving suggestion is to read the original that The Inquirer published, take a few moments to grind your teeth and mutter contemptuous obscenities under your breath, and then head over to Iggles Blog for the response.  You won’t be disappointed. 

As I mentioned in his comments, if The Inquirer wanted an in-depth salary cap story from an outsider, why not commission one of the very talented local bloggers (like Derek), who does his homework, has data, writes well, etc etc., instead of some lightly-informed blowhard who did well on the LSAT?  WTF?  I think it’s cute that they’ve included a nod to the bloggertariat with their “From the Bleachers” section on Philly.com, but it’s clearly just that — a nod.  They can check the box and tell their bosses that they’re relevant and hip with the young people.

And that’s why we call them blathermonkeys.  (One of the reasons, at least.  Also they blather a lot.  Like monkeys.) 

In a sense, I’m shocked it took this long for someone in the McNabb camp to commit a PR faux pas. I mean, it’d been a whole week since the season ended; the employees of WIP need to eat too! 

To recap in case you haven’t been following closely (and it’s easiest to just review the excellent summary that Derek posted on Iggles Blog): two weeks before the regular season ended, a blathermonkey asked Dunavin if he thought that the Eagles needed to add more players in the offseason. Dunavin went to great lengths to give a very PC answer: that the Eagles needed to add playmakers in all phases of the game.

In response to follow-up questions, he did NOT say that he needed a wide receiver (and even chided the blathermonkey who asked the question for trying to draw him into a trap — yes, this is actually the state of things if you’re Dunavin: you have a jokey relationship with the jackals who are trying to goad you into a headline-worthy quote). He just said that the Eagles could be better if they had a couple more playmakers. Uh huh.

This sentiment was relayed to Andy Reid in a separate press conference, and Andy Reid scolded Dunavin for indirectly insulting his teammates. This was a little silly in itself (since Dunavin didn’t really say anything too crazy), but whatever. You’d think that this wasn’t such a big deal.

You’d think. (Read the rest of this story.)

The most exciting news in the NFL this week doesn’t actually have to do with football, but rather my consumption thereof. The oft-maligned-and-full-of-crap-but-still-essential-despite-it-all Profootballtalk.com has finally upgraded their site.

And by “upgrade” I mean “added all the features that every version of freeing blogging and content management software has offered for years.” While we could complain that this is about three years late, but instead we’ll focus on why it’s acutally pretty awesome: (Read the rest of this story.)

For the record, I definitely resisted the urge to go down this route earlier in the week. But thanks to the proud efforts of Ashley Fox, the door is open for what would have otherwise been a semi-innappropriate path of speculation in re: Embattled Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb.

I’m referring to Ashley Fox’s piece in this morning’s Inky, in which Mlle. Fox describes the unique challenges of being a female sports reporter (beyond gaining lots of weight and breathing through your mouth like the men):

Now, as a female reporting on sports, the issue gets even trickier. Men, be it athletes or executives, often tell us different things - and tell us things differently - than they tell other men. They can be more willing to show their emotions or to let their guard down because they aren’t threatened by a woman. Sometimes they think a woman is more sympathetic or less judgmental.

And sometimes, they have other motives.

What’s that you say? OTHER MOTIVES? You mean, like, um, that the boys on the team might, um, you know, want, to, you know, get witcha?

For the record, in re: Dunavin’s most recent “controversy,” other motives would be about the most awesome possible thing I could imagine happening. (Read the rest of this story.)

Yikes! 

The normally mild-mannered and family friendly GCOBB.com got a little bit blue yesterday!

Let me preface my critique by admitting my fanboy status in re: Garry Cobb’s most excellent website, GCOBB.com. Sure, he doesn’t have RSS feeds (BOOOOO!), but updates are frequent, he has good insider information, and he’s willing to criticize the whole roster and front office when it’s fair and/ or appropriate. 

(I’m less interested in his self-help book: “Don’t Be Clueless: 7 Keys to life in the real world,” ”a must read for teenagers and young adults.”)

But G really dropped some HR violations in a post on Tuesday.

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A moment of the sublime from the blathermonkeys this morning.

After months/ years of baiting Andy Reid in person and in the papers, the locals got a rise out of him yesterday (which I mentioned in my Nerdbird game review). Not a big rise, mind you, but he did get a little pissy. Which is, in the grand scheme of things, pretty understandable, given that (a) his team is going to finish with a losing record, (b) his franchise QB might be damaged goods (forever), and (c) he and his family have been publicly humiliated and torn apart by his two sons’ drug problems.  Oh, and also he has to deal with these jackals in these charming little sessions four times a week.

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