Post by MikeGrim on Oct 8, 2008 11:50:30 GMT -5
Rookies, Strippers, Receipts and a Loss- Back to the Linc (10/5/08)
by: Jeff Bradley
So the day starts with my alarm going off at 5:33am. I look at the clock and exclaim "oh hell no!!!!" but then realize I really don’t have a choice. The Giants are at home at 1pm and I have to pass by their stadium to get to the Eagles game. So unless I want to get stuck in their traffic AND the Eagles traffic, I better get started on my way now. So I jump out of bed and get a quick shower. I pack 2 granola bars, 2 apples, 2 gatorades, and a PB Twix bar I forgot I bought about a month ago. I grab my cell phone charger and Brian Dawkins jersey, kiss my wife goodbye and head out to my car to get the journey started.
I go out through the garage and as the door is coming up I see it is raining, and somewhat foggy. I wonder for a second if I should grab a jacket, but decide not too. I have a shirt on and will be putting my jersey on later too. So what if they are both short sleeve, I should still be fine. Hoping I won’t regret that decision later.
In my last trip report I noted that I made a decision to not drink any more carbonated beverages, and as of today, I still haven’t. But another thing I have been doing lately as well is keeping track of all my money and how I spend it. We all have checkbook ledgers and account ledgers and all of that, but I also want to track my spending money, how much I pay a year on gas, and so on. So during this trip I will be asking for receipts whenever I buy something so I can keep track when I get home. First stop and receipt, the gas station to fill up for the long day.
I pull into the gas station and it is still dark, lights not on, inside closed. But the pumps are on, so I fill up and wait for my receipt. It says "receipt inside". Wow, my goal to get all my receipts is already foiled within 5 minutes. Inside is not open yet. So I make a phone call back home and ask my wife to write down how much I just paid for gas. I drive up the street one block and pull into the next gas station to use their ATM to get some cash for tolls and what not. One dollar and fifty cent ATM fee to be recorded.
I leave the second gas station and head for 91 South to start toward The Linc. It is barely past 6:00am so the sports talk radio stations do not have sports talk as of yet. I turn on my XM and head for XM Sports Nation but then quickly decide I am not ready for sports yet and throw on Opie and Anthony. Opie and Anthony last until about 7am when Ron and Fez come on. I still get disappointed when Ron and Fez come on since they are hit and miss with me. So are O&A but I guess I have listened to O&A longer so even when they are miss I keep them on. When Ron and Fez don’t grab my attention right away, I turn them off.
The show starts off with some baseball talk. They are shows from during the week and this was from around Tuesday or so after the Cubs lost a game or two. At one point they have a caller named Blow Hard call in who is a Yankees fan but somehow is considered an authority on Chicago sports too. He goes on about how true baseball fans in Chicago are White Sox fans and the people at Cubs games are just looking for a party, and eating cheese and drinking wine. A few callers call in to disagree with this caller and some funny arguments ensue. Blow Hard admits he has never been to Wrigley so suddenly everything he has said about it and the Cubs fans means nothing. But it was an entertaining way to kill 30-45 minutes of the drive.
The next phase of Ron and Fez, or maybe even the next replay (could be on to Wednesday by now) featured a vicious battle between a regular on their show Lilly, and a newcomer to the show, "New Lilly". Lilly is in her mid 20s and has been part of the show and other shows for awhile, while New Lilly just walked into the studio one day and made herself a part of the show. Apparently Lilly thinks New Lilly is moving in on her territory and going after her men and what not. Baby Girl eventually joins the show as well and helps Lilly turn New Lilly into a pile of tears. The Lilly vs. New Lilly battle literally takes me all the way to Trenton, New Jersey. It was a good 1 ½ to 2 hours of cat fighting, crying, and accusations. New Lilly confessed she has no friends and just wanted to be a part of something. Lilly just seemed to want to be a part of making New Lilly cry for hours.
As I drive further into South Jersey I come to that point, that will be a crossroads in this journey. The exit where I made my Burger King stop last time, thus preventing me from having room for the Oregon Diner cheesesteak!!! I promised myself not to stop for food so I can have a cheesesteak this time! But as the exit approaches, the BK Italian Chicken is calling my name. I get close to the exit, and closer, and closer …. And …. I take it! I take the exit!
But, my willpower wins out this day as I take the exit, only to head toward 295 South. I drive right past BK with a "I told you" smirk on my face and continue on to 295.
Around this time I am checking out 610 WIP and 660 WFAN along with Ron and Fez. Didn’t really settle on any of the three, but kept checking them all out.
Oregon Diner here we come. Oh, let me backtrack a bit. As I said it was raining when I left CT. And along the way from about my house, til right around Giants Stadium, I saw about 4 accidents. And these were not small accidents. One on the GWB was a single car rammed head first into a concrete divider. Had to be driving too fast on the slippery roads. The one right before Giants stadium was on the other side, but there were about 10 police cars and 3 ambulances and an SUV hanging over the guardrail with about 15 people standing at the driver’s side door trying to pull someone out. But, somewhere along the way, the rain stopped and the sun came out and I actually had to turn on my AC. It was getting close to 70 and sunny. Glad I didn’t bring a jacket. Leaving early also made it so when I got to Giants Stadium, the only traffic was those stopping to look at the accident. This also meant once again I would arrive at Oregon Diner far too early.
I pull into the Oregon Diner parking lot early again, but safely with not much delay. I roll down my windows and settle in to relax a bit until Tony arrives from Maryland. I turn on The NFL Now with Mike Francesa on WFAN and also have 610 WIP on as well to get some Eagles news.
By the way, the homeless lady beat me here this time. She is already in place. I, once again, am right across from the ATM machine. I am going to keep a lookout for Tony but everytime an SUV pulls out of the spot to my left, another pulls in blocking my view. So I am left with my radio. I turn off the XM and put it away hiding it.
Some of the things covered on 610 WIP and 660 WFAN while I waited (thanks to my notes I text messaged myself just for this column) were:
--Redskins coach Greg Blanche comparing rookies to strippers saying they are good for some things but usually disappoint you in the end
--Why didn’t Donovan McNabb run a QB sneak when the Eagles had the ball on the Bears one yard line. Instead they were stopped on 4 downs and ended up losing the game. Merrill Reese says he knew going into the game that the QB sneak was out of the playbook due to McNabb’s condition. Said he could take hits in the backfield, but a QB sneak would open him up for hits in areas that he was hurting and it wasn’t worth the risk.
--Why Eagles fans don’t hate the Redskins or Redskins fans. Pretty much to a man, everyone said they did not hate the Skins or their fans, and didn’t know why. The only people who said they did have hatred were former players Hugh Douglas and current announcer Merrill Reese. They both claimed that between the players, the Redskins were the most hated team, more so than the Cowboys and Giants. The rivalry was more intense. Reese hates the Redskins due to where Daniel Snyder (who he said he hated about 10 times) put the booths in the stadium for visiting announcers. Eagles fans said they don’t hate the Skins fans because unlike Cowboys and Giants fans they are pretty intelligent and are not obnoxious. While the lack of hatred for the team lays in the fact that the Skins have not won much lately and the games between the two teams usually only mean something for the Eagles.
--Why both the Phillies and the Eagles are playing at 1pm. Yes, the Red Sox should be the late game so that game must stay where it’s at, but why not move the Rays game to 1pm and have the Phillies come on at 4. The Buccaneers are also playing at 1pm and the Bears as well. But you shouldn’t care about Tampa as they haven’t cared about the Rays. Having the Phillies and Eagles on at 1pm takes away from the Phillies audience. At least if you put the Bears and White Sox both on at 1, Chicago is a split town and the baseball game would lose less viewers. This conversation reminds me to text message a couple friends to send me Phillies updates during the Eagles game.
--I turn on WFAN just in time to hear the end of a caller calling Mike Francesa a 400 pound gorilla. It was because he said the Cowboys are overrated and their defense isn’t that good and they would struggle with the Bengals. So a Cowboy fan calls in, and not knowing much about football like most Cowboy fans, just resorts to name calling. Stay classy Dallas fans.
--A caller asks Mike Francesa if Terry Francona can be considered in the same class as great managers such as Joe Torre and Mike Scioscia. Mike Scioscia?
Pounce on him Mike!! Wait, what? Francesa says that Francona can be mentioned with them, but below them. Huh? Mike Scioscia?? Who has lost what …. 7 straight playoff games? Swept by Francona last year? Down 2-0 to Francona this year with game 3 tonight?? Stupid 400 pound gorilla.
As I am listening to the radio some lady drives in front of me stuffing her face with chicken nuggets while yelling "not even looking! Not even looking!!!" to herself. She continues to stuff her face with one hand while I look to my left and see a car backing out on the other side of the massive SUV blocking my view. "Not even looking!!!!"
More radio topics:
--How Clinton Portis’ mom punched a fan in the stands in Philly last year.
--How Wes Hopkins once gave tickets to his wife and his girlfriend for a game in Philly and they ended up in the same section and got into a fight.
--A Yankee fan calls in saying the playoff format is not fair. Says it isn’t fair that the Red Sox can take out the Angels in the first round and something has to be done. How is it fair that a 100 win team can lose 1 game and all of a sudden have their backs against the wall. The system must be changed etc etc etc. Francesa points out that the Yankees have been on both ends of that spectrum and no one complained then.
--Hugh Douglas sees an Eagles fan walking by with a #92 jersey on and asks why he is wearing an Andy Harmon jersey. Macnow and Hughes don’t let him live that one down the rest of the day.
--Chase Utley’s hip
--Jason Bay having such a fast bat because he is Canadian and grew up playing hockey. The same reason golfer Mike Weir has such a quick swing.
Tony is here!!!!!! Time for a cheesesteak!!!! We head inside after passing by the homeless woman who actually wasn’t angry today. I order my cheesesteak deluxe with a side of bleu cheese to dip my fries into. Tony goes with pancakes, or as the receipt said "pan-cakes".
Our food comes very quickly as it always does at the Oregon Diner. But I notice my fries are missing. Tony and I try to think of rather it always comes with fries or not. We both think it does but then why are they missing? So maybe it doesn’t. Then what does "deluxe" mean? "No fries but a cup of mayonnaise" And what will I do with my bleu cheese now? Too many questions so I begin to eat waiting for the waitress to come back to ask her about my fries. But one bite into the pickle and one spoonful of the coleslaw and I forget about the fries. The coleslaw is pretty darn good and I am a coleslaw diva. And the pickle, very tasty. No waitress yet, so I move on to my cheesesteak. Before I know it I am getting full and not even missing my fries. But should I still point it out hoping for a free meal or something? I decide not to. We both finish our food and leave a lesser tip than we normally would have and go pay.
Tony and I make our walk up Oregon Avenue, to 7th Street, and toward the stadium. Tony said he thinks it is about a 15 minute walk as we leave the diner around 12:10. I tell him I think it was 30 minutes last time. We go at a brisk pace and I am proud that I am not getting winded at all, but my legs are loving me too much. But nothing too bad. We get to the stadium pat down line around 12:35, 25 minutes after we left the diner. We shaved 5 minutes off our pace. Nice!
We make it through the lines rather quickly and head up the stairs toward the escalator, whose line is pretty darn long but it moves fast. We get to our seats at 12:58. Perfect timing! I immediately scan the crowd for Redskins jersies and don’t see too many. Back to normal after the Steelers game I guess. Maybe 1-2 Skins jersies per section. A few Cooleys, a few Portis, maybe 1 Moss, and 1 Dexter Manley in the row in front of me. But he was here for the Steelers game too in that jersey.
The Eagles march the ball down the field to start the game and the crowd is going crazy. I turn to Tony and say "they usually start good on their first drive then do nothing" as I contain my excitement. Eagles get pressure on Campbell and the Skins have to punt it away. DeSean Jackson fields the punt and is off ….. but I see a flag so I sit down as he returns it all the way. I point out the flag to everyone and they get upset. The refs huddle and for whatever reason pick up the flag. Touchdown!! 14-0 Eagles. I get my first Phillies text … leadoff homer by reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins. 1-0 Phillies!! And my next text … 1-0 Phils … and another text … 1-0 Phils … and another … and another ….. not to mention the lady in back of me and guy in front of me listening to the game telling the score too. Maybe I didn’t have to ask five people to text me with Phillies updates.
Around this time Marky Mark Wahlberg and Ludacris are shown in the big screen and get a nice ovation. I did notice I saw a lot of Vince Papale jersies in the stands today for some reason. Maybe he was in one of the tents outside for an appearance with Wahlberg or something. I text my wife telling her Wahlberg is here and she texts back reminding me of a dream I had two years ago where I was a member of the Funky Bunch. She asked I asked him to make me a member.
Around this time my prophecy started to come true. The Eagles early dominating slid away. The Skins started inching back in the game, their offense led by my new fantasy tight end Chris Cooley. Brian Westbrook’s name started to disappear, DeSean Jackson’s wasn’t heard again. All I heard was Portis and Cooley. Not even Santana Moss was needed. L.J. Smith who had a great first drive was no where to be found now either. Reggie Brown seemed to be the only Eagle on offense. Well, he and David Akers. Akers used to be the #1 ranked kicker of all time. Now a 40 yarder for him is a challenge. He misses a field goal that would increase the lead.
The defense is playing decent, but much like the Cowboys game, they are not blitzing. Against the Cowboys they didn’t blitz and lost. Then they blitz all day against Pittsburgh and win. Now they aren’t blitzing the Skins and are losing their grip on the game. Skins get a field to end the half on a drive that took less than a minute I believe.
Second half starts, and as the Eagles are being called for a penalty, there is a murmur in the crowd. And now spontaneous cheering. I feel my phone vibrating so I know the Phillies just did something good. Three run home run by Pat Burrell! 4-0 Phillies! About 5 minutes later they post the score on the scoreboard and the place erupts. As it is up it changes to 5-0, more cheers. I would say at least 50% of the fans if not more must be listening to the Phillies on headphones at the game. I try sending out a text message but it won’t go through. After 5 minutes it finally does, only to have 4 more coming the other way about the Phillies.
As the Eagles game is slipping away I am finding myself caring less and less about it and more and more about the Phillies game. They can’t blow this one can they? As it gets later it doesn’t seem like it. But the Eagles sure can. Touchdown Chris Cooley. At least 6 more points for me, but also 6 more for the Skins. The Skins are a lot better than I thought. They are now beating the Eagles. And I still can’t bring myself to dislike them.
The Skins pad their lead and are up by two scores! Eagles get down to the 1 yard line, and just like last week, do not go with a QB sneak. Even worse, on 3rd and 1, McNabb audibles out of a play and goes for what appears to be a sweep, that loses 3 yards or so. You don’t even need a QB sneak, just run the ball straight ahead. Use the fullback, something.
They stop the Skins and get the ball back, needing a TD to take the lead. But the drive comes up short and the stadium starts to empty out. Brewers get a run and cut the Phillies lead to 6-1 (Burrell added another home run).
As we are walking through the parking lot everyone starts cheering and you can hear the people left inside cheering too. But no fireworks. So it wasn’t the Eagles. It was the Phillies. They beat the Brewers and won the NLDS and are now off to the NLCS against the Dodgers. The Dodgers have not made it this far in the playoffs in awhile, probably due to a curse from letting J.D. Drew go. The Phillies haven’t been there since 1993, probably also due to a J.D. Drew curse.
Tony and I walk back to the Oregon Diner, a 25 minute walk that should seem longer due to the loss but isn’t for me, due to the Phillies win. Tony on the other hand, is a much bigger Eagles fan than Phillies fan. May not even care too much about the Phillies. So the walk wasn’t as fun for him.
My normal "Phillies suck" phrase that I repeat once a day at home is now replaced with "Eagles suck" as we walk back. I tell Tony I think people don’t realize that Brian Westbrook is not the most important player on the team, Shawn Andrews is. And when he went out during the Dallas game they gave up the lead and let pressure get on Donovan. Then the offense didn’t do much against Pittsburgh, and allowed too much pressure in Chicago. They need Andrews back.
We get to our cars and make our way back toward our respective routes home. I was too busy texting myself so I missed my turn for the Walt Whitman Bridge and was thrown right into game traffic that I just walked 25 minutes to avoid.
I make my usually stop at the Bellmawr gas station on the way home and fill up (another receipt) and then to the Wendy’s down the road for a Strawberry Frosty Milkshake and Large Hi-C Fruit Punch ($5.76 total). As I am waiting in the line for Wendy’s I glance over and notice the Bellmawr Hotel one lot over and again, for whatever reason, wonder if anyone from ECW used to live there and how their days were spent if they did.
Driving home I turn on ESPN News to catch up on what I missed. I hear the end of the Phillies game on a replay and hear the crowd booing the Brewers. I remember back a couple days when the Cubs were booed at home by their fans. I remember how Corey Hart was being abused by his own fans as well. Yet Philly is the only place talked about when it comes to booing. Everyone does it and the playoffs are just driving that home.
I hear enough NFL news and playoffs news after an hour or so and just start turning the channels. Red Sox come on at 7:30pm, I will listen to them then.
Knowing the Turnpike gets backed up around exits 7 to 8A all the time, I figure I will avoid that area today. Should be worse with the game traffic. So I hop on the Turnpike after Wendy’s, only to get off at Exit 5, head to 295 and take that north to Yardville. Then drive through Yardville, Hightstown, Cranbury, and get back on the Turnpike around 8A. I then exit the Turnpike again at Exit 10, to take 287 home to the Tappan Zee, knowing that Giants game day traffic could do nothing but make the GWB worse. Three Turnpike receipts in one day!! WOO HOOO
7:30pm approaches quickly and I turn on my XM to listen to the game. I have the Red Sox announcers on but then decide I want to hear the Angels team. So I scroll til I find the game on another channel and listen to them. The more I listen to them the more I think how the Angels have the best announcers in baseball. They are totally being impartial. At one point they said "Vlad may think it was good to steal there but he was only distracting Napoli". Another time they mentioned "Aybar and Kendrick are just killing the team this series". And then they pointed out "If anything, Jason Varitek has just proved this series he is much smarter than any Angels hitter." …. Who are these guys? And what do the Angels players think of them doing their games? Joe Saunders has a 1-0 lead due to Josh Beckett’s ineffectiveness. With 2 outs he has Jed Lowrie up. As these honest announcers tell Joe to just throw a strike to this guy and get out of the inning, he keeps throwing balls, and eventually walks him. Then gives up a hit to Varitek. And another walk. As his pitch count rises the announcers mention Saunders has no one to blame but himself for getting fancy with Lowrie, who has all of 2 home runs and is in a slump. Jacoby Ellsbury then hits the postseason’s first ever 3 run single, which the announcers call a glorified pop up and ask "where was the Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter?" and again put the blame on Saunders.
It wasn’t until around the 4th or 5th inning when I realized I didn’t have the Angels broadcast on, I had the ESPN Radio broadcast. It was Dave Campbell and Dan Shulmann (spellings?). They got me! Weird because they hardly ever talked about the Sox, just the Angels.
Another accident on the way home. Another car into a concrete divider. More people pulling someone out and loading them into the ambulance. That’s at least 5 accidents today and too many ambulances and police cars to count. Luckily this one didn’t delay me long.
I finally get home around 9:30pm. 242 miles from the Linc. Roughly 4 ½ hours of driving time for the ride home. Not bad under the circumstances. Red Sox are winning and it looks like they will get another postseason sweep. Phillies won. I check my fantasy team and even they are winning. I got about 20 emails while I was gone today, but it appears about 15 of them were text messages from myself. Turns out to be a good day despite an Eagles loss. At least it was to the Redskins. What a bunch of nice people they are!
by: Jeff Bradley
So the day starts with my alarm going off at 5:33am. I look at the clock and exclaim "oh hell no!!!!" but then realize I really don’t have a choice. The Giants are at home at 1pm and I have to pass by their stadium to get to the Eagles game. So unless I want to get stuck in their traffic AND the Eagles traffic, I better get started on my way now. So I jump out of bed and get a quick shower. I pack 2 granola bars, 2 apples, 2 gatorades, and a PB Twix bar I forgot I bought about a month ago. I grab my cell phone charger and Brian Dawkins jersey, kiss my wife goodbye and head out to my car to get the journey started.
I go out through the garage and as the door is coming up I see it is raining, and somewhat foggy. I wonder for a second if I should grab a jacket, but decide not too. I have a shirt on and will be putting my jersey on later too. So what if they are both short sleeve, I should still be fine. Hoping I won’t regret that decision later.
In my last trip report I noted that I made a decision to not drink any more carbonated beverages, and as of today, I still haven’t. But another thing I have been doing lately as well is keeping track of all my money and how I spend it. We all have checkbook ledgers and account ledgers and all of that, but I also want to track my spending money, how much I pay a year on gas, and so on. So during this trip I will be asking for receipts whenever I buy something so I can keep track when I get home. First stop and receipt, the gas station to fill up for the long day.
I pull into the gas station and it is still dark, lights not on, inside closed. But the pumps are on, so I fill up and wait for my receipt. It says "receipt inside". Wow, my goal to get all my receipts is already foiled within 5 minutes. Inside is not open yet. So I make a phone call back home and ask my wife to write down how much I just paid for gas. I drive up the street one block and pull into the next gas station to use their ATM to get some cash for tolls and what not. One dollar and fifty cent ATM fee to be recorded.
I leave the second gas station and head for 91 South to start toward The Linc. It is barely past 6:00am so the sports talk radio stations do not have sports talk as of yet. I turn on my XM and head for XM Sports Nation but then quickly decide I am not ready for sports yet and throw on Opie and Anthony. Opie and Anthony last until about 7am when Ron and Fez come on. I still get disappointed when Ron and Fez come on since they are hit and miss with me. So are O&A but I guess I have listened to O&A longer so even when they are miss I keep them on. When Ron and Fez don’t grab my attention right away, I turn them off.
The show starts off with some baseball talk. They are shows from during the week and this was from around Tuesday or so after the Cubs lost a game or two. At one point they have a caller named Blow Hard call in who is a Yankees fan but somehow is considered an authority on Chicago sports too. He goes on about how true baseball fans in Chicago are White Sox fans and the people at Cubs games are just looking for a party, and eating cheese and drinking wine. A few callers call in to disagree with this caller and some funny arguments ensue. Blow Hard admits he has never been to Wrigley so suddenly everything he has said about it and the Cubs fans means nothing. But it was an entertaining way to kill 30-45 minutes of the drive.
The next phase of Ron and Fez, or maybe even the next replay (could be on to Wednesday by now) featured a vicious battle between a regular on their show Lilly, and a newcomer to the show, "New Lilly". Lilly is in her mid 20s and has been part of the show and other shows for awhile, while New Lilly just walked into the studio one day and made herself a part of the show. Apparently Lilly thinks New Lilly is moving in on her territory and going after her men and what not. Baby Girl eventually joins the show as well and helps Lilly turn New Lilly into a pile of tears. The Lilly vs. New Lilly battle literally takes me all the way to Trenton, New Jersey. It was a good 1 ½ to 2 hours of cat fighting, crying, and accusations. New Lilly confessed she has no friends and just wanted to be a part of something. Lilly just seemed to want to be a part of making New Lilly cry for hours.
As I drive further into South Jersey I come to that point, that will be a crossroads in this journey. The exit where I made my Burger King stop last time, thus preventing me from having room for the Oregon Diner cheesesteak!!! I promised myself not to stop for food so I can have a cheesesteak this time! But as the exit approaches, the BK Italian Chicken is calling my name. I get close to the exit, and closer, and closer …. And …. I take it! I take the exit!
But, my willpower wins out this day as I take the exit, only to head toward 295 South. I drive right past BK with a "I told you" smirk on my face and continue on to 295.
Around this time I am checking out 610 WIP and 660 WFAN along with Ron and Fez. Didn’t really settle on any of the three, but kept checking them all out.
Oregon Diner here we come. Oh, let me backtrack a bit. As I said it was raining when I left CT. And along the way from about my house, til right around Giants Stadium, I saw about 4 accidents. And these were not small accidents. One on the GWB was a single car rammed head first into a concrete divider. Had to be driving too fast on the slippery roads. The one right before Giants stadium was on the other side, but there were about 10 police cars and 3 ambulances and an SUV hanging over the guardrail with about 15 people standing at the driver’s side door trying to pull someone out. But, somewhere along the way, the rain stopped and the sun came out and I actually had to turn on my AC. It was getting close to 70 and sunny. Glad I didn’t bring a jacket. Leaving early also made it so when I got to Giants Stadium, the only traffic was those stopping to look at the accident. This also meant once again I would arrive at Oregon Diner far too early.
I pull into the Oregon Diner parking lot early again, but safely with not much delay. I roll down my windows and settle in to relax a bit until Tony arrives from Maryland. I turn on The NFL Now with Mike Francesa on WFAN and also have 610 WIP on as well to get some Eagles news.
By the way, the homeless lady beat me here this time. She is already in place. I, once again, am right across from the ATM machine. I am going to keep a lookout for Tony but everytime an SUV pulls out of the spot to my left, another pulls in blocking my view. So I am left with my radio. I turn off the XM and put it away hiding it.
Some of the things covered on 610 WIP and 660 WFAN while I waited (thanks to my notes I text messaged myself just for this column) were:
--Redskins coach Greg Blanche comparing rookies to strippers saying they are good for some things but usually disappoint you in the end
--Why didn’t Donovan McNabb run a QB sneak when the Eagles had the ball on the Bears one yard line. Instead they were stopped on 4 downs and ended up losing the game. Merrill Reese says he knew going into the game that the QB sneak was out of the playbook due to McNabb’s condition. Said he could take hits in the backfield, but a QB sneak would open him up for hits in areas that he was hurting and it wasn’t worth the risk.
--Why Eagles fans don’t hate the Redskins or Redskins fans. Pretty much to a man, everyone said they did not hate the Skins or their fans, and didn’t know why. The only people who said they did have hatred were former players Hugh Douglas and current announcer Merrill Reese. They both claimed that between the players, the Redskins were the most hated team, more so than the Cowboys and Giants. The rivalry was more intense. Reese hates the Redskins due to where Daniel Snyder (who he said he hated about 10 times) put the booths in the stadium for visiting announcers. Eagles fans said they don’t hate the Skins fans because unlike Cowboys and Giants fans they are pretty intelligent and are not obnoxious. While the lack of hatred for the team lays in the fact that the Skins have not won much lately and the games between the two teams usually only mean something for the Eagles.
--Why both the Phillies and the Eagles are playing at 1pm. Yes, the Red Sox should be the late game so that game must stay where it’s at, but why not move the Rays game to 1pm and have the Phillies come on at 4. The Buccaneers are also playing at 1pm and the Bears as well. But you shouldn’t care about Tampa as they haven’t cared about the Rays. Having the Phillies and Eagles on at 1pm takes away from the Phillies audience. At least if you put the Bears and White Sox both on at 1, Chicago is a split town and the baseball game would lose less viewers. This conversation reminds me to text message a couple friends to send me Phillies updates during the Eagles game.
--I turn on WFAN just in time to hear the end of a caller calling Mike Francesa a 400 pound gorilla. It was because he said the Cowboys are overrated and their defense isn’t that good and they would struggle with the Bengals. So a Cowboy fan calls in, and not knowing much about football like most Cowboy fans, just resorts to name calling. Stay classy Dallas fans.
--A caller asks Mike Francesa if Terry Francona can be considered in the same class as great managers such as Joe Torre and Mike Scioscia. Mike Scioscia?
Pounce on him Mike!! Wait, what? Francesa says that Francona can be mentioned with them, but below them. Huh? Mike Scioscia?? Who has lost what …. 7 straight playoff games? Swept by Francona last year? Down 2-0 to Francona this year with game 3 tonight?? Stupid 400 pound gorilla.As I am listening to the radio some lady drives in front of me stuffing her face with chicken nuggets while yelling "not even looking! Not even looking!!!" to herself. She continues to stuff her face with one hand while I look to my left and see a car backing out on the other side of the massive SUV blocking my view. "Not even looking!!!!"
More radio topics:
--How Clinton Portis’ mom punched a fan in the stands in Philly last year.
--How Wes Hopkins once gave tickets to his wife and his girlfriend for a game in Philly and they ended up in the same section and got into a fight.
--A Yankee fan calls in saying the playoff format is not fair. Says it isn’t fair that the Red Sox can take out the Angels in the first round and something has to be done. How is it fair that a 100 win team can lose 1 game and all of a sudden have their backs against the wall. The system must be changed etc etc etc. Francesa points out that the Yankees have been on both ends of that spectrum and no one complained then.
--Hugh Douglas sees an Eagles fan walking by with a #92 jersey on and asks why he is wearing an Andy Harmon jersey. Macnow and Hughes don’t let him live that one down the rest of the day.
--Chase Utley’s hip
--Jason Bay having such a fast bat because he is Canadian and grew up playing hockey. The same reason golfer Mike Weir has such a quick swing.
Tony is here!!!!!! Time for a cheesesteak!!!! We head inside after passing by the homeless woman who actually wasn’t angry today. I order my cheesesteak deluxe with a side of bleu cheese to dip my fries into. Tony goes with pancakes, or as the receipt said "pan-cakes".
Our food comes very quickly as it always does at the Oregon Diner. But I notice my fries are missing. Tony and I try to think of rather it always comes with fries or not. We both think it does but then why are they missing? So maybe it doesn’t. Then what does "deluxe" mean? "No fries but a cup of mayonnaise"
And what will I do with my bleu cheese now? Too many questions so I begin to eat waiting for the waitress to come back to ask her about my fries. But one bite into the pickle and one spoonful of the coleslaw and I forget about the fries. The coleslaw is pretty darn good and I am a coleslaw diva. And the pickle, very tasty. No waitress yet, so I move on to my cheesesteak. Before I know it I am getting full and not even missing my fries. But should I still point it out hoping for a free meal or something? I decide not to. We both finish our food and leave a lesser tip than we normally would have and go pay.Tony and I make our walk up Oregon Avenue, to 7th Street, and toward the stadium. Tony said he thinks it is about a 15 minute walk as we leave the diner around 12:10. I tell him I think it was 30 minutes last time. We go at a brisk pace and I am proud that I am not getting winded at all, but my legs are loving me too much. But nothing too bad. We get to the stadium pat down line around 12:35, 25 minutes after we left the diner. We shaved 5 minutes off our pace. Nice!
We make it through the lines rather quickly and head up the stairs toward the escalator, whose line is pretty darn long but it moves fast. We get to our seats at 12:58. Perfect timing! I immediately scan the crowd for Redskins jersies and don’t see too many. Back to normal after the Steelers game I guess. Maybe 1-2 Skins jersies per section. A few Cooleys, a few Portis, maybe 1 Moss, and 1 Dexter Manley in the row in front of me. But he was here for the Steelers game too in that jersey.
The Eagles march the ball down the field to start the game and the crowd is going crazy. I turn to Tony and say "they usually start good on their first drive then do nothing" as I contain my excitement. Eagles get pressure on Campbell and the Skins have to punt it away. DeSean Jackson fields the punt and is off ….. but I see a flag so I sit down as he returns it all the way. I point out the flag to everyone and they get upset. The refs huddle and for whatever reason pick up the flag. Touchdown!! 14-0 Eagles. I get my first Phillies text … leadoff homer by reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins. 1-0 Phillies!! And my next text … 1-0 Phils … and another text … 1-0 Phils … and another … and another ….. not to mention the lady in back of me and guy in front of me listening to the game telling the score too. Maybe I didn’t have to ask five people to text me with Phillies updates.
Around this time Marky Mark Wahlberg and Ludacris are shown in the big screen and get a nice ovation. I did notice I saw a lot of Vince Papale jersies in the stands today for some reason. Maybe he was in one of the tents outside for an appearance with Wahlberg or something. I text my wife telling her Wahlberg is here and she texts back reminding me of a dream I had two years ago where I was a member of the Funky Bunch. She asked I asked him to make me a member.
Around this time my prophecy started to come true. The Eagles early dominating slid away. The Skins started inching back in the game, their offense led by my new fantasy tight end Chris Cooley. Brian Westbrook’s name started to disappear, DeSean Jackson’s wasn’t heard again. All I heard was Portis and Cooley. Not even Santana Moss was needed. L.J. Smith who had a great first drive was no where to be found now either. Reggie Brown seemed to be the only Eagle on offense. Well, he and David Akers. Akers used to be the #1 ranked kicker of all time. Now a 40 yarder for him is a challenge. He misses a field goal that would increase the lead.
The defense is playing decent, but much like the Cowboys game, they are not blitzing. Against the Cowboys they didn’t blitz and lost. Then they blitz all day against Pittsburgh and win. Now they aren’t blitzing the Skins and are losing their grip on the game. Skins get a field to end the half on a drive that took less than a minute I believe.
Second half starts, and as the Eagles are being called for a penalty, there is a murmur in the crowd. And now spontaneous cheering. I feel my phone vibrating so I know the Phillies just did something good. Three run home run by Pat Burrell! 4-0 Phillies! About 5 minutes later they post the score on the scoreboard and the place erupts. As it is up it changes to 5-0, more cheers. I would say at least 50% of the fans if not more must be listening to the Phillies on headphones at the game. I try sending out a text message but it won’t go through. After 5 minutes it finally does, only to have 4 more coming the other way about the Phillies.
As the Eagles game is slipping away I am finding myself caring less and less about it and more and more about the Phillies game. They can’t blow this one can they? As it gets later it doesn’t seem like it. But the Eagles sure can. Touchdown Chris Cooley. At least 6 more points for me, but also 6 more for the Skins. The Skins are a lot better than I thought. They are now beating the Eagles. And I still can’t bring myself to dislike them.
The Skins pad their lead and are up by two scores! Eagles get down to the 1 yard line, and just like last week, do not go with a QB sneak. Even worse, on 3rd and 1, McNabb audibles out of a play and goes for what appears to be a sweep, that loses 3 yards or so. You don’t even need a QB sneak, just run the ball straight ahead. Use the fullback, something.
They stop the Skins and get the ball back, needing a TD to take the lead. But the drive comes up short and the stadium starts to empty out. Brewers get a run and cut the Phillies lead to 6-1 (Burrell added another home run).
As we are walking through the parking lot everyone starts cheering and you can hear the people left inside cheering too. But no fireworks. So it wasn’t the Eagles. It was the Phillies. They beat the Brewers and won the NLDS and are now off to the NLCS against the Dodgers. The Dodgers have not made it this far in the playoffs in awhile, probably due to a curse from letting J.D. Drew go. The Phillies haven’t been there since 1993, probably also due to a J.D. Drew curse.
Tony and I walk back to the Oregon Diner, a 25 minute walk that should seem longer due to the loss but isn’t for me, due to the Phillies win. Tony on the other hand, is a much bigger Eagles fan than Phillies fan. May not even care too much about the Phillies. So the walk wasn’t as fun for him.
My normal "Phillies suck" phrase that I repeat once a day at home is now replaced with "Eagles suck" as we walk back. I tell Tony I think people don’t realize that Brian Westbrook is not the most important player on the team, Shawn Andrews is. And when he went out during the Dallas game they gave up the lead and let pressure get on Donovan. Then the offense didn’t do much against Pittsburgh, and allowed too much pressure in Chicago. They need Andrews back.
We get to our cars and make our way back toward our respective routes home. I was too busy texting myself so I missed my turn for the Walt Whitman Bridge and was thrown right into game traffic that I just walked 25 minutes to avoid.
I make my usually stop at the Bellmawr gas station on the way home and fill up (another receipt) and then to the Wendy’s down the road for a Strawberry Frosty Milkshake and Large Hi-C Fruit Punch ($5.76 total). As I am waiting in the line for Wendy’s I glance over and notice the Bellmawr Hotel one lot over and again, for whatever reason, wonder if anyone from ECW used to live there and how their days were spent if they did.
Driving home I turn on ESPN News to catch up on what I missed. I hear the end of the Phillies game on a replay and hear the crowd booing the Brewers. I remember back a couple days when the Cubs were booed at home by their fans. I remember how Corey Hart was being abused by his own fans as well. Yet Philly is the only place talked about when it comes to booing. Everyone does it and the playoffs are just driving that home.
I hear enough NFL news and playoffs news after an hour or so and just start turning the channels. Red Sox come on at 7:30pm, I will listen to them then.
Knowing the Turnpike gets backed up around exits 7 to 8A all the time, I figure I will avoid that area today. Should be worse with the game traffic. So I hop on the Turnpike after Wendy’s, only to get off at Exit 5, head to 295 and take that north to Yardville. Then drive through Yardville, Hightstown, Cranbury, and get back on the Turnpike around 8A. I then exit the Turnpike again at Exit 10, to take 287 home to the Tappan Zee, knowing that Giants game day traffic could do nothing but make the GWB worse. Three Turnpike receipts in one day!! WOO HOOO
7:30pm approaches quickly and I turn on my XM to listen to the game. I have the Red Sox announcers on but then decide I want to hear the Angels team. So I scroll til I find the game on another channel and listen to them. The more I listen to them the more I think how the Angels have the best announcers in baseball. They are totally being impartial. At one point they said "Vlad may think it was good to steal there but he was only distracting Napoli". Another time they mentioned "Aybar and Kendrick are just killing the team this series". And then they pointed out "If anything, Jason Varitek has just proved this series he is much smarter than any Angels hitter." …. Who are these guys? And what do the Angels players think of them doing their games? Joe Saunders has a 1-0 lead due to Josh Beckett’s ineffectiveness. With 2 outs he has Jed Lowrie up. As these honest announcers tell Joe to just throw a strike to this guy and get out of the inning, he keeps throwing balls, and eventually walks him. Then gives up a hit to Varitek. And another walk. As his pitch count rises the announcers mention Saunders has no one to blame but himself for getting fancy with Lowrie, who has all of 2 home runs and is in a slump. Jacoby Ellsbury then hits the postseason’s first ever 3 run single, which the announcers call a glorified pop up and ask "where was the Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter?" and again put the blame on Saunders.
It wasn’t until around the 4th or 5th inning when I realized I didn’t have the Angels broadcast on, I had the ESPN Radio broadcast. It was Dave Campbell and Dan Shulmann (spellings?
). They got me! Weird because they hardly ever talked about the Sox, just the Angels. Another accident on the way home. Another car into a concrete divider. More people pulling someone out and loading them into the ambulance. That’s at least 5 accidents today and too many ambulances and police cars to count. Luckily this one didn’t delay me long.
I finally get home around 9:30pm. 242 miles from the Linc. Roughly 4 ½ hours of driving time for the ride home. Not bad under the circumstances. Red Sox are winning and it looks like they will get another postseason sweep. Phillies won. I check my fantasy team and even they are winning. I got about 20 emails while I was gone today, but it appears about 15 of them were text messages from myself. Turns out to be a good day despite an Eagles loss. At least it was to the Redskins. What a bunch of nice people they are!