So the Eagles’ season-long attempt to definitely prove that
nobody knows what they’re talking about when it comes to professional football continued
appropriately enough.  The great-no-dead-no-great
Eagles marched past Purple
Jesus and the Vikings and into the divisional round.  They’ll face a Giants team fundamentally
different from the one they lost to early in the season yet surprisingly
similar to the one they beat four weeks ago (Thanks, Plax!). 

In other news, I hope everyone’s New Year has been
appropriately debaucherous (how is that not a word yet?) and Holiday
season went well.  I’m entering 09 with
one resolution that I can tell you – always
remember, nobody knows anything – and one I can’t.  Lets focus on the first.

Time and time again I’ve found myself fixated on how
obviously wrong-headed everything I read is. Part of this is probably due to the fact that I’m a bit of a jerk, but a bigger part (well, hopefully) is that I’m always reading or re-reading outdated predictions. I love them. I keep old SI prediction issues and breeze through them every now and again (check out the hits and misses in this next great college football coach article, which includes cameos from both Bob Stoops and Turner Gill and this NFL draft preview which reminds us that Big Daddy Wilkinson was a Parcells favorite and that Heath Shular and Trent Dilfer were once counted on to save franchises) as much for the names I don’t recognize as the ones that I do. Still, all these look-backs lend themselves to one obvious conclusion: in the business of predicting outcomes, more often than not, even the smartest, most informed commentators are wrong.

It’s a topic I’ve touched on before but one I obviously keep missing. Whether you’re declaring that the Phillies are done or that Kareem Rush is all set to take Willie Green’s minutes, when it comes to sports, if you prognosticate enough you’re going to miss something important. In sports, where everyone goes on the record enough, everyone ends up looking like a moron in hindsight. It’s a simple lesson – be open to all possibilities and remember that my opinion isn’t the only valid one and just
because Bob Ford wrote it doesn’t automatically make it wrong – but one that I’ll devote the first two weeks of 2009 to devoutly keeping in mind. (After that? My resolution goes the way of your gym membership.)

Chris Clemons, manning up

Ron Cortes | Philly.com

“You don’t want to be down two scores in the fourth quarter to those guys, it’s like blood in the water for them.”

Vikings center Matt Birk

Three lines on their world:

1. The Chargers knocked newly crowned MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts out of the playoff race

2. The Ravens’ D is as good as advertised
3. and UNC will not be going undefeated this year

Three lines on ours:

1. The Eagles took down the Vikings

2. The Flyers fell to first place (surprisingly enough, that is not a typo)
3. and the Sixers have yet to win this year

Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and what everybody is talking about after the jump

EAGLES

READ

Bob Ford says that this game said more about the Vikings’ ineptitude than it did about the Eagles’ awesomeness.

Paul Domowitch tries to explain how the Birds managed to bottle up All Day, then looks behind the box score. 

Steve Aschburner breaks down the play that broke the Vikings’ back.

Troy Graham actually writes an entertaining ‘fans watching games’ story.

Phil Sheridan and Bob Brookover break down David Akers‘ success, and more.

SKIP

John Gonzalez takes the Birds to task for not getting Westbrook the ball quick enough then rips the Dawkins haters (those jerks) in his cheers and Jeff Lurie in his boos.

John Smallwood thinks that if you keep getting Westbrook his touches, he’s going to keep getting you big plays.

Phil Sheridan notices McNabb gaining the ability to manage a game.

Rich Hofmann explains the slugfests are rarely won with shots to the body, and that Asante Samuel is all about the haymaker.

Rich Hofmann talks to the Vikings about Donovan McNabb.

Ashley Fox points out just how big Asante’s pick-six was.

Ashley Fox breaks down the screen pass.

Les Bowen’s notes focus on the Birds’ special teams success.

Paul Domowitch delivers the talking points.

Don McKee runs his game notes, which once again lack any attempt at insight, analysis, or humor.  You’re better than this, Cohen. 

Tom Canavan talks with the Giants about the Birds.

PHILLIES

READ

David Murphy breaks down what arbitration may mean for Cole Hamels and the rest of the arb-eligible Phils.

SKIP

SIXERS

READ

Phil Jasner says the Sixers scored a moral victory in the results-oriented NBA.

SKIP

Kate Fagan says that while the wins aren’t yet coming, the Sixers are playing better. Wasn’t this team expected to compete?

FLYERS

READ

Wayne Fish says John Stevens is positively giddy about the Flyers’ west coast success.

Ed Moran, however, is a little more pessimistic about the trip – he says it was plauged by injuries.

SKIP

TODAY and MORE

The last time I posted I was putting the finishing touches
on this beaut
(I’m sticking by everything I wrote, but I’m not afraid to admit that the obvious answer to the question ‘Now What?’ is a Super Bowl and a deleted achieve), after which I
decided to take it easy, sit
the next one out, and stop talking for a while.

Anyway, I’ve got plenty of pent-up
rants and opinions to get out there.  We’ll
spend most of the day clearing out the hundreds of tips and old emails.  If you’re looking for breaking news circa ten
days ago … well, you’ll hear it here first.

Look for plenty of that, probably a couple of
week-old plugs, and a Charles Barkley takedown. Oh, and because I’ve been on a schedule that calls for me to fall asleep at
the time I need to get up to write these rounds I’m writing on an accidental all-nighter. Sorry Bikel, I apologize in advance for the inevitable grammar mishaps. 

As always, feel free to email with any questions,
suggestions, comments or complaints.

and … we’re back.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am and is filed under Morning Rounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.