Who Died and Made PFT God?

I've been going to ProFootballTalk.com less and less and less...I used to go there for the humor mostly and because the site didn't take itself too seriously....but as they've acquired sponsors et al I grew less enamored with them...

They still have the occasional witty line or good piece of analysis...but the site seems to posit itself as some of arbiter of what's right...their "Turd Watch" was entertaining at first, but tracking every little scrape with the law that every football player has is getting tedious. Government watchdogs are one thing, but I doubt very many of us in the private world would appreciate this sort of scrutiny. Does it come with the territory? Perhaps. I think a reasonable argument can be made that is DOES....I am just saying, are we as fans so hung-up on tearing people down that we need to keep score???

Now as you know, I am an Eagles fan. This blog, especially during football season, becomes engrossed with all thing green and white, so I took umbrage at one of PFT's latest grievances. They posted: "EAGLES SITE OFFERING UP GAMBLING ADVICE" in which they take issue with Spuds (that Dave Spadaro, unabashed Philly-homer who writes on Eagles.com for the uninitiated) writing: "I noticed in the newspaper the other day that the Eagles are three-point favorites for the opening game in Green Bay. Maybe I'm wrong for addressing this, but take the Eagles right now. I love the Eagles in that game against the Packers."

Of course, this comes a few lines after their "we know we're picking nits" caveat....and how news in the slow in the off-season and they wouldn't normally talk about this sort of stuff much.

My response: THEN DON'T! For Chrissakes, right after that they offer up the arrest of Bill Maas, and while they don't draw a line, the two issues do not belong anywhere in the same article. Period. End of story. Spuds is trying to show his excitement for the season; that's he getting stoked, like a lot of other Eagles fans are now that training camp is in sight. Let it be.

The title itself is fairly misleading and the assertion that what Spuds wrote may indicate that he is somehow advocating gambling is the REASON most of us HATE LAWYERS...PFT needs to put down the gavel and stop the self-appointed cop routine and stick to actual football analysis...

I doubt they will, you see they have sponsors now. So that means they have to keep generating web-hits to justify why the hell Sprint (and others) is paying cash to advertise on their site. Oh and the little paragraph entry hawking Sprint-shit? Lame. That was my first indication that the site was going downhill.

Just my rant for today....

Eagles Thoughts This Week

As another mini-camp opens the Eagles announced the signing of the pair of 3rd rd draft choices they had, coming to terms with RB Tony Hunt and LB Stewart Bradley on 4-year deals. Now I know the Eagles generally like to sign rookies to 5-year deals, but changes to the collective bargaining agreement prevent that now, with the exception I think of 1st round draft choices, who can sign 5 year deals. This is, I imagine, designed to protect unsuspecting rookies from being pressured into signing longer deals and then missing out on unrestricted free agency (for which both Hunt and Bradley will be eligible if they are still in the NFL in 4 years).

Isn't that what agents are supposed to do? Protect their clients?

You know a lot people bag on Dave Spadaro, the primary "correspondent", who covers the Eagles for their website, Philadelphia Eagles.com. And to be totally fair, "Spuds" as he is known to Iggles fans, can be a bit grating with his "rah-rah-ness." I think many would prefer a bit more cynicism (they claim to want objectivity), but let's face it. He's a paid cheerleader for the Eagles...I would LOVE to have this guys job. Hang out at NovaCare, go to a few PCs, and deliver a write up about the Birds a few times a week.

This isn't about bashing Spuds, its about defending him, cause some folks love to pick on him. Look, the man is being paid by the Eagles! He's paid to be optimistic, not caustic. And in all fairness to him, the PE.com does occasionally loosen the leash and let him write a few topics from a more general-fan perspective and question a few of the moves (such as not re-signing Jeff Garcia and Donte' Stallworth earlier this off-season). I will admit, that such articles always also contain the: F.O.-has-done-this-before-and-its-worked-out caveat that calls for fans to trust that the Eagles know what they're doing....but isn't that sort-of to be expected? It is the Eagles website we're talking about after all.

And yes, he's not exactly a great writer (I like to think I'd be much more entertaining, even if I'd last about two articles with the way I fucking interject foul language) but he's "Sunshine Dave" and there almost no where else to go besides the medicine cabinet if one is looking for the silver lining about almost any aspect of the Birds. And sometimes, I admit. I need that.
So thanks Dave.