Random Things I think

Posted: June 30th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 46 Comments »

Rich Kotite won his first game as the Eagles head coach, beating the Packers 20-3. Unfortunately, that game felt like a loss since Randall Cunningham injured his knee and was done for the year.

Ray Rhodes lost his first game as Eagles coach, falling to the Bucs 21-6. You may better know this as the “For who, for what?” game. You could also know this as the Horace Copeland game. He caught 5 passes for 155 yards and a TD in the best game of his career.

Andy Reid lost his first game with the Eagles. That was a heartbreaker, as the Cards made a last minute comeback and won 25-24. The Eagles led 24-6 at the half. The Cards chipped away at the lead. The Eagles tried to put it away late, with a pass to WR Brian Finneran. He was open and should have sealed the game, but bobbled the ball. The Cards picked it off and returned it deep. They were able to then kick the winning FG.

So what will Chip Kelly’s debut be like? Based on the last three Eagles coaches, it won’t be good.

It also hurts that the Eagles have to face Mike Shanahan and the Skins in the opener. Jimmy Bama did an excellent post on just how good Shanny is in season openers.

If Kelly wants a good opening to his time with the Eagles, he’s got his work cut out for him.

* * * * *

I watched parts of the NBA Draft the other night.  That is one strange event.

Players are drafted and then traded. Sometimes multiple times. Check out these tweets from Andy Katz.

The NFL Draft has its share of crazy moments and odd things, but the NBA draft is just utterly confusing. The trades are complicated. The “NBA insiders” have bad sources or something. The whole Sixers/Pelicans trade got reported 10 different ways.

I’m not a big NBA fan. I was 30 years ago, but that ship has sailed. One of my beefs is the way the league does business. The draft is weird. Contracts are insane. Guaranteed contracts lead teams to trade player for expiring contracts. Just a weird league.

I have nothing against people who are NBA fans. Just not my cup of tea anymore.

* * * * *

I just watched the final episode of MI-5 last night. This is a BBC show that ended several years ago. I watch the episodes on the local public broadcasting station.

Great show and a great finale. I hope next week they start re-showing from Episode 1. I’ve got a few old seasons still to check out.

* * * * *

I love the NFL to the nth degree, but I haven’t watched the NFL Network’s Top 100 player shows at all. Players rating players is pretty useless. I’d much rather have a mixture of scouts, GMs, coaches and assistants vote for the top players. Now that would be interesting. It would be fun to see how they see things.

I remember back in 1992, The Sporting News polled personnel guys and coaches around the league to find the top players by position. The top ILB was Vincent Brown. Who? That’s what I said. He was a former 2nd round pick that was a big time run stuffer for the Patriots. Junior Seau was the guy the media loved, but football people appreciated Brown. Byron Evans was picked second among ILBs.

It was cool to see how my perceptions graded out against that of football people who evaluated every player in the league.

The problem with most all star systems and lists is that the same players get talked about over and over. Once you make it, you’re in for good.

* * * * *

This is easily the greatest Tab commercial of all time, assuming you think bikinis are a good thing.

* * * * *

There are a ton of people on Twitter talking about how much they miss football. I’m in the minority here. I like having time off. When games start, they take over my life. I enjoy having time to watch a Homeland marathon or to go visit my nephews or to sit around looking up old articles on the Eagles.

Games will be here soon enough. Enjoy the down time while it’s here.

* * * * *

There is some NFL scout info up over at ScoutsNotebook.

I put up a post on the Body Bag Game and how it came back to hurt Buddy Ryan.

_

46 Comments on “Random Things I think”

  1. 1 makarov123 said at 5:18 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Netflix streaming has the entire series of MI-5, for those interested.

    Another BBC show I’ll recommend is Luther – staring Idris Elba, better known as Stringer Bell in The Wire.

    Another great BBC show that hasn’t made it to Netflix is The Thick Of It. A while back someone had full episodes posted to youtube, though.

  2. 2 TommyLawlor said at 5:24 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Thanks for the info. BBC has some good shows.

  3. 3 Brendan Ekstrom said at 8:16 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I actually was going to recommend Luther as well. I was completely obsessed with that show. Very well done.

  4. 4 SteveH said at 3:36 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Luther was incredible, it was just a shame they only did 10 episodes. Gripping stuff though, some of the best television I’ve ever seen.

  5. 5 GEagle said at 11:06 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    I was disappointed when Luther was canceled.
    I just started watching season 1 of Magc City…pretty cool show

  6. 6 T_S_O_P said at 11:29 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    New series (3) starts tomorrow.

  7. 7 Cafone said at 6:18 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I was going to post the same thing about MI-5/Netflix. Here’s a sketch with one of the stars that you may enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RWOzWWWEI

    The Thick of it may not be on netflix, but the movie is: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/In_the_Loop/70112489?trkid=7203170 Makarov knows what he is talking about here. It’s great stuff.

  8. 8 D3FB said at 12:24 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Luther is amazing. Sherlock is also a very well done show by BBC that if you will enjoy if you liked luther.

  9. 9 Dominik said at 9:24 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Yeah, The Thick of It is great. Malcolm Tucker is probably the coolest choleric character in a TV show ever, second only to the incomparably great Ari Gold from Entourage.

  10. 10 John Gurney said at 5:32 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I agree it is nice to get a break from football for a little while in the summer, but I still find myself scouring the internet for even the smallest tidbit of news…

  11. 11 MediaMike said at 5:48 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Brian Finneran was a giant loser! That tipped pass INT was brutal. And to have to listen to bum Falcons fans talk that loser up was unreal.

  12. 12 TommyLawlor said at 5:55 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    He had a solid career. Screwed up for us, but that hardly means he was a loser.

    Finneran finished with 238 catches and 19 TDs. You don’t stay in the league that long if you can’t play.

    Tone down the hyperbole, Save that for Brian Baldinger so he can get Jamar Chaney into the HOF.

  13. 13 MediaMike said at 6:34 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    That play vs. Arizona was unforgivable in my book. Then to leave here and do better, rather than worse, is also a no-no.

  14. 14 MediaMike said at 5:49 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    The break from football is brutal this year because Ruben Amaro has turned Pat Gillick’s world f-ing champs into a horrible baseball team. I usually don’t obsess over football as much as this year, but the atrocious state of the Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers isn’t leaving us with much.

  15. 15 Baloophi said at 6:56 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Went to the game last night. After sitting in traffic for an hour to go 4 miles – thereby missing both Utley homers and the only “offense” for 6 innings – I was treated to a walk off loss. To add insult to injury, on the trudge to the car, at least two Dodger “fans” didn’t even know who won the game for them.

  16. 16 MediaMike said at 6:57 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Typical. In all aspects. They need to blow the team up and get working towards the future.

  17. 17 Baloophi said at 6:57 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Starting with Ruben.

  18. 18 MediaMike said at 7:02 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Agreed. What I truly hate about him is about how he answers legitimate questions about poor decisions and the ownerships arbitrary spending limits with bluster and bravado rather than honesty and/or improvement.

  19. 19 Baloophi said at 7:04 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Anyway, I’m sure he’ll make wise decisions at the trade deadline.

    Barf.

  20. 20 TommyLawlor said at 6:01 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Check this out. Larry Allen the athlete.

    http://scoutsnotebook.com/2013/06/30/wow-just-wow/

  21. 21 MediaMike said at 6:58 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    NICE! Larry Allen, although never doing a thing to help out any of my teams, was the man! The stories about his weightlifting numbers are also classic. A true Hall of Famer in every sense of the term.
    And Barry Switzer looking all types of salty in the video was a nice bonus.

  22. 22 Baloophi said at 7:02 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Certainly quicker than this Cowboy…

  23. 23 MediaMike said at 7:08 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Good for a laugh, but I preferred the snow game snafu.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrU8z4w8T-4

    plus, check out Keith Byars’ stat line from the game.
    http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199311250dal.htm

  24. 24 Baloophi said at 7:19 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Can’t ever forget the snow game.

    RE: Keith Byars, great stats for a guy with this ability…

  25. 25 Baloophi said at 7:21 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Also, I believe I owned this at one point.

    And IT’S NOT A DOLL SO SHUT UP!

  26. 26 Sb2bowl said at 11:09 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I’ve got a bunch of those guys at home– Quick, Randall. Came across it when I was going through some old Eagles cards…… I miss that team!

  27. 27 Baloophi said at 12:40 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Ouch. Well, you got a great story out of it at least…

  28. 28 TommyLawlor said at 11:57 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    How did you get hold of Official Eagles Scouting Reports?

  29. 29 Baloophi said at 12:39 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    I smuggled them out on microfiche.

  30. 30 SteveH said at 3:40 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    True story: Larry Allen in his prime would have smoked me in a footrace, and he probably had 150 pounds minimum on me.

  31. 31 mcud said at 6:02 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Biggest tragedy about losing Tab cola (and Pepsi-free) was that their absence now lowers Back To The Future’s joke success rate from 100% to just 99%.

  32. 32 TommyLawlor said at 6:04 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I should have known you would see the big picture. Kudos, sir.

  33. 33 Baloophi said at 7:08 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Good call. Thankfully this still plays (from the same scene):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyYoJlINTHo

  34. 34 the midatlantic said at 6:17 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    “Spooks” as MI-5 is known in the UK, was a great popcorn show — just fun every episode. Recommend the Season 4 episode “Diana”.

  35. 35 eagleyankfan said at 8:24 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Break from football? That’s blasphemy.

  36. 36 planetx1971 said at 9:09 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Are you the ubiquitous “creepy uncle” in the family Lawlor? Sorry man, couldn’t help myself. Bored as Ron Jeremy in a convent. Wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t have football to teach my legion of nephews! (and start the Iggle brainwashing process from the time the start crawling lol)

  37. 37 TommyLawlor said at 11:59 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    I’m their only uncle. So I have to be the good guy and the creep. Hard work.

  38. 38 planetx1971 said at 1:27 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Preaching to the choir my friend lol. Try SEVEN sisters each with a minimum litter of 3 ! Wouldn’t trade ONE second with any one of them though. Best part, I get to be the good guy then go home and drink. While their folks have to be the “heavies” lol and try and undo their uncle Tommy’s handiwork :))

  39. 39 Mitchell said at 9:37 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    You know what another great show is in BBC?!? Star Trek The Next Generation!!!! Love me some Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn.

  40. 40 dislikedisqus said at 10:07 PM on June 30th, 2013:

    Enjoyed the body bag link but the clip (55mins) is way too long. Lots of stuff cd be cut. Shd be half that length.

    3 of the Eagles starting D are dead (Reggie, Jerome, Andre). Wow.

    Every Randall throw was off the back foot. Incredible. Makes Vick look like a star pupil.

    Heath had 35 carries!

    Ironic to see Todd Bowles start for WAS. And Brian Mitchell.

    Appreciated the back story about how Gibbs used this as motivation. But you can see the Eagles’ offense really sucked. Not surprising they lost the next one.

  41. 41 SteveH said at 1:18 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    I gotta start drinking tab.

  42. 42 P_P_K said at 11:02 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    You won’t be Master of Your Domain for long.

  43. 43 bptess said at 2:09 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    This was the Tab commercial I remember. Came on the same time everyday after dinner while I was at school. Everyone was in the TV room waiting for it to air.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2JAYBiOGk

  44. 44 phillychuck said at 6:59 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    You want to go over the top on TV commercials try this one (from Russia). Must love bikinis and car washes:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSpL1H2Iudw

  45. 45 pitteagle said at 10:43 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    Can I make a request? I have seen some rumors swirling about some eagles trades. The ones the interest me specifically are for the eagles obtaining Jairus Byrd From the bills and sending Maclin or DeSean to the Patriots. What do you think we would have to give for byrd and what would we get for one of our wide recievers? Would they be good trades and such? Thank you.

  46. 46 GEagle said at 11:05 AM on July 1st, 2013:

    I think it’s cool that next years NHL draft will be held at the wells Fargo center. I would pref being able to attend an NFl or nBA draft in Philly..but I still think checking out an NHL draft live will be a pretty cool experience