Welcome Back Donovan McNabb

Put those jerseys on next week!

The Philadelphia Eagles whipped the Detroit Lions 56-21, no thanks to a career day for Donovan McNabb. McNabb threw for 381 yards including 4 touchdown passes, 3 of those going to Kevin Curtis. Curtis had 221 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns. And finally, Brian Westbrook looked like Marshall Faulk in racking up 100 yards on the ground and 111 yards receiving.

The Eagles who came into the game 0-2, had no offensive identity. McNabb had only 1 touchdown pass to go with a 68.8 QB rating until he posted a perfect 158.3 rating this afternoon. Today though McNabb looked as sharp as ever. Marty Mornhinweg did an excellent job today of balancing the offensive attack that took some pressure off McNabb to make plays and allow guys like Kevin Curtis to step up.

On the opposite side of the ball, the Eagles defense played well considering that Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard were unavailable. The front 4 were responsible for 7 of the Eagles 9 sacks. Trent Cole led the way with 3 sacks while Broderick Bunkley lived up to his 16th overall selection with 2.

The Eagles play the New York Giants in the Meadowlands next Sunday which would give them a chance to get to .500 before their 5th week bye. The Giants will be coming off a close win over the Washington Redskins that improved their record to 1-2. Someone will be coming out of that game with a .500 record and if the Eagles offense is still clicking like today, the Giants are going to be in a world of hurt.


Look forward to tomorrow's podcast in which me and Jason will rundown NFL and NCAA football scores along with another top new stories.

The Cowboys Bank On Tank

Tank Johnson and his agent have reached a two-year agreement with the Dallas Cowboys just 10 minutes prior to a deadline the Cowboys had set. Johnson will immediately begin serving his 8 game suspension and will be available sometime during midseason. The Cowboys have been in need of a nose tackle ever since Jason Ferguson went down with a season ending biceps injury in Dallas' opening day win over the New York Giants.

The Chicago Bears waived Tank Johnson on June 25, three days after he was pulled over by police in Arizona. Prior to his run in with the police in Arizona Johnson had served a 2 month prison sentence after a raid on his home found enough weapons to arm a small militia. Johnson had previously told reporters on May 18 that he would become the NFL's Man of the Year.

Eli Manning Sidelined For A Month

A slightly separated shoulder will keep New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning on the sidelines for at least one month. Some people feared Eli had torn his labrum and would require season ending surgery. Giants fans were quick to exhale when an MRI showed no such damage.

In addition to Manning the injury bug also hit top defensive end Osi Umenyiora, and the Giants' new starting running back, Brandon Jacobs. Both players suffered knee injuries and are day to day.

Jared Lorenzen, aka Big Country (6'4" 285 lbs.), will start in place of Eli when the Giants host the Green Bay Packers. Fourth year starter Derrick Ward will start for Jacobs with Reuben Droughns getting more time as his backup.

Other Injuries Around The NFL

• Kevin Everett- Buffalo Bills / Suffered a severe spinal injury. Prayers and wishes that he makes a speedy recovery.
  

• Ko Simpson- Buffalo Bills / Broke his left ankle and is out indefinitely.

• Jason Webster- Buffalo Bills / Broke his forearm and is out indefintely.

• Mike Brown- Chicago Bears / Suffers a season-ending knee injury and placed on IR for the 3rd time in 4 years.

• Dusty Dvoracek- Chicago Bears / Suffered a season-ending knee injury.

• Orlando Pace- St. Louis Rams / Will miss the rest of the season with a torn right rotator cuff.

• Carnell "Cadillac" Williams- Tampa Bay Buccaneers / Bruised ribs and is questionable for next Sunday.

• Jason Ferguson- Dallas Cowboys / Tore his right biceps tendon and will miss the rest of the season.

• Lito Sheppard- Philadelphia Eagles / Out at least one game with a sprained knee ligament.

• Chester Taylor- Minnesota Vikings / Bruised hip and is day to day.
  

• Jon Jansen- Washington Redskins / Dislocated his right ankle and is out for the rest of the season.

East Coast Bias - August 3, 2007

Today's Headlines

- MLB Rundown:

Yankees, AL Central Race, Braves

- NFL Training Camp News:

Strahan, Moss, and Culpepper

The Weekly Phil

- Eagles Training Camp

- Phillies Wild Card Chances


On the podcast today, we start with news from Major League Baseball. We discuss the Yankees wild card hopes, the Indians-Tigers race, and the trade deadlines moves of the Braves. We then switch to the gridiron and get into some of the big stories from the NFL for our next topic. Strahan's possible retirement, Moss's fit with the Patriots, and Culpepper signing with the Raiders are the topics we debate. And finally, Brendan and I talk Eagles/Phillies news in a segment we like to call The Weekly Phil.

Michael Strahan Mulling Retirement

If things weren't bad enough for the New York Football Giants after Tiki Barber decided to retire, their 7-time pro bowl defensive end is considering it.

After failing to report to training camp today, it was learned through Michael Strahan's agent that he is mulling retirement. Strahan missed half of the Giants games last year because of a foot injury and would be entering his 15th season. The single season sack leader (22.5) could not be reached by Giants head coach Tom Coughlin who expressed his disappointment with Strahan not reporting for the first day of camp.

After am extremely mediocre 8-8 season last year, many were expecting Tom Coughlin to be fired but sure enough he is still the head coach. Chances that he won't be back after this season certainly are increasing however. With their best offensive player in Tiki Barber retiring and now their best defensive player considering it, Coughlin's pink slip could be coming sooner than later.

I'm An Atheist, But Not When It Comes to Sports

People in the world of sports happen to be some of the most susceptible when it comes to believing in the supernatural. Particularly, sport fans, are engrossed in curses. Whether it was Red Sox fans and the "Curse of the Bambino" or Philadelphia sports fans blame (including me) their lack of a major sports championship since the Sixers swept the Lakers in 1983 on the fact that the downtown skyline grew taller than William Penn in 1987 when One Liberty Place skyscraper went up. Coincidentally that curse is called "The Curse of William Penn". It doesn't necessarily end there however. Fans may even go so far as to have a shrine, like the one that Eagles fan had to Terrell Owens in those ESPN commercials. And let's be honest too Eagles fans, we had something similar to that.

Sport curses range from the absurd to just plain silly. In 1945, William "Billy Goat" Sianis tried to bring his pet goat, Murphy, with him into Wrigley Field for Game 4 of the World Series. Wrigley ushers at the game said the goat was too smelly and told Sianis he had to leave the stadium. Sianis then promptly cast a "goat curse" on the Chicago Cubs by saying, "Cubs, they not gonna win anymore". The Cubs lost the 1945 World Series to the Detroit Tigers and haven't made it to a World Series since. Cubs fans now refer to curse as the "The Billy Goat Curse".

One of the most well known curses is the "Madden Curse". The "Madden Curse" has allegedly claimed 10 victims since the video game started putting athletes on the cover instead of John Madden. That list of athletes includes the likes of Barry Sanders (abruptly retired in 1999 a week before training camp), Eddie George (never averaged more than 3.4 yards per carry after 2000), and Mike Vick (fractured right fibula during preseason game, only played in 5 games).

What is it about sports that make people who may not necessarily be religious suddenly start believing in a high power that is affecting their sports team? For me there always has to be a reason for something. I mean, Billy King can't really suck that bad at being a GM. There's just no way, someone or something has to be causing the man to throw money at over the hill veterans and unproven rookies. That's just one example of many in which I have blamed something involving Philadelphia sports on a higher power.

Maybe in essence sports is my religion. I mean, I can't be the only one who has some inane rituals in order to increase my team's chances of winning. For example, when the Eagles went to the Super Bowl, all the playoff games leading up to the game I ordered the same thing every time at the bar, tipped the waitress the same every time, and wore the same jersey/shorts/underwear. It's those little things that we tell ourselves will make a difference when our team, in this case the Eagles, take the field. And as always, in this case especially, we find some excuse whenever these rituals fail, as though it were not the will of the sports gods.

Much like how different regions of the world have their own religions, people from different cities of course have their favorite team based on where they live. And in cases, regardless of where they live, they attribute their love to a sports franchise because their family follows them and they grew up watching them. I suppose that if we must have a religion, sports is not the worst choice. There have been no crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, or terrorist attacks associated with sports. And while I don't condone it, it is still acceptable to marry someone who is the fan of another team and no one will burn in hell for supporting the New York Mets or the New York Giants even though they should.......just kidding. Go ahead and share your rituals and the like.