Eagles in Transition

Now that the Eagles are making plans for 2008, it's time to revisit comments from Mark Eckel of the Trenton Times made back in November 2007. Eckel wrote a devastating column regarding the Eagles' front office woes, including lots on Tom Heckert, who was considered by Atlanta and Miami for its front offices:

Heckert wouldn't know talent if it walked into his office, and it would have to walk into his office since he never leaves the building...

Here's an exercise for you to do in your spare time. Go over the Eagles' current 53-man roster and circle the good players -- not solid players, not players the Eagles tell you are good -- the truly good players.

If you get to 10, you circled too many.

Then go over players who probably shouldn't be on the roster, or any other roster. When your hand gets tired, you're done.

Just like the Eagles.

The Eagles continue to insist they are "a few players away." However, QB Donovan McNabb, who sees his own time in Philly coming to a close, stated on his blog that the Eagles need lots of better players - after all, 8-8 isn't good enough to get you in the playoffs anymore, not with the NFC East as good as it is now.

ESPN 920's el foldo

ESPN 920 closed up shop earlier this month. Once it revives, Philadelphia's REAL sports station will be New York's REAL sports station, as they will simulcast NYC's ESPN 1050. Fans of Stephen A. Smith and Mike Missanelli, rejoice (yes, the sound of one hand clapping).

Previously I bashed ESPN 920 because:
- It billed itself as Philadelphia's REAL sports station (don't talk smack if you can't back it up).

- Its signal barely reached Philadelphia, and if you live in Chester or Delaware counties, you mostly just got fuzz.

- At night, its signal was overcome by a Canadian country station (CKNX, Ontario). Basically the only sports on 920 I heard in Delaware County were Canadian. Ooof.

- There was only one local show during the week - afternoon drivetime, which featured a rotating cast ending with Program Director Dan Schwartzman, who was let go as a result of the latest move. Schwartzman wound up on SportsRadio 950's The Locker Room
a few nights last week.

Simulcasting 1050 from NY is fine if you want to hear NY personalities after the national shows. But couldn't listeners just tune in to 660 The Fan if they wanted NY radio?

As for the national ESPN shows, Mike and Mike are take-it-or-leave-it for me - they're OK. Colin Cowherd doesn't do anything for me. The few times I've heard him, nothing special jumped out. The departed Dan Patrick was a little too smug for my liking. His new show was picked up by SportsRadio 950 and airs 11 PM - 2 AM. His replacements on ESPN: Mike Tirico (1 PM - 2PM) and the aforementioned Screamin A. and Mikey from 2 PM - 4PM. Ugh.

-X

Pats win again (ho hum)

What happened since the last time we were here? The Sawx won another World Series, the Celtics picked up Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, and (yawn) the Patriots are back in their fourth Super Bowl in seven years. Not bad.

We went to the Temple-Duke game at the Wachovia Center earlier this month. LOTS of Duke fans in attendance. The Blue Devils played an average game, good enough to beat an average Temple team, but will Duke be good enough to challenge Carolina? Hm. Probably not.