Staff Blog
Morning Rounds, January 14th
The Philadelphia-themed sports topic of the week, both
locally and nationally, seems to be the great discussion over whether or not
Donovan McNabb is a Hall of Famer.
“Mike and Mike” brought it up on ESPN (Greenberg thinks 5 is
in, Golic thinks he’s close), Barkann led the discussion on DNL (after much pitter-pattering around,
the consensus seems to be ‘win the Super Bowl’) and
John Smallwood dedicated a column to it this morning, one which I believe
fronts the sports section (it at least fronts the online sports section).
I’m not going to dive into my thoughts on the subject (not
yet at least) but rather wanted to just sit back and look at the fact that the
conversation was happening in the first place. It’s a fair and not all-together
uninteresting debate, but an odd one to surface so prominently.
The McNabb-to-HOF discussion isn’t an important one – at
least not in terms of the outcome of this week’s game – nor is it especially
relevant – it could happen this week, next week, or four years from now – and yet
it seems to have captured the imagination of the sports punditry, all at once. What
happened?
The obvious answer, and the one that probably is right, is
that once someone brought it up suddenly it caught on like wildfire. One person asked the question and everyone wanted to chime in. That’s fine, but it is also
confusing. This is a week with a million angles isn’t a bit
frustrating that this one is getting so much play – especially because, in the
grand scheme of things, it really can wait.
This isn’t the first time this has happened, of course. A couple weeks ago seemingly every outlet
decided to ask about the Eagles’ wide receivers and explore the difference
between having one elite guy and about 18 mediocre ones (the 04 to 08
comparison). The press dove in, asking every Bird they could find about the
topic, and nearly every local outlet ran the story in some form. The next week it was what
Donovan’s legs meant for his passing game, and after the pro bowl rosters were
announced it was the push for Quintin Mikell to get his pub.
Look, none of these are bad
questions – they’re all decent ones, and ones that as a fan I’m curious about -
but they’re all questions that should be original ones. I understand that the Inquirer, the Daily News, all the suburban outlets and tri-state papers have different audiences who might be intrigued by similar questions, but at a time when print journalism is suffering, shouldn’t we be making more a concerned effort to diversify coverage? I’m not saying that the editors at various papers should sit down and decide what angles which paper should cover – just suggesting that they should be sitting down individually and asking themselves that question instead of letting the same story come to all of them at once.
I’m fine with someone asking if McNabb is a Hall of
Famer, but I’d kind of like to know what isn’t being asked when everyone is focusing on that.
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| Ronald Martinez | Getty Images |
“Baseball is what we were, football is what we have become.” – Mary McGrory
Three lines on their world:
- Jodie Meeks put up 54 as Kentucky knocked off Tennessee in Tennesseee
- The Orlando Magic hit 23 three pointers in their beatdown of the Kings
- and the Braves came to terms with Derek Lowe
Three lines on ours:
- The Cardinals aren’t playing like the team who got dismantled on Thanksgiving
- Chan Ho Park is taking the WBC off to prepare for being a Phillie
- and the Pens got back on track against the Flyers
Phillies, Birds,
Sixers, Flyers and what everybody is
talking about after the jump
EAGLES
READ
Mark Brown gives the Cardinals view of an impressive Eagles’ D.
Bob Brookover’s notes look at what McNabb has to say and what others have to say on his behalf.
Craig Morgan looks at Arizona’s emerging defense.
Reuben Frank credits David Akers with turning around the Eagles.
*IYCOR1 Mike Sielski says that McNabb might get to be considered great just by being okay.
SKIP
John Gonzalez labels all of Arizona frontrunners.
John Smallwood thinks Reid and McNabb are playing for Canton.
Paul Domowitch says that the Cardinals are a good football team, and it should be Andy Reid’s primary objective to scortch that fact on the minds of his troops.
Jack MacGruder looks at the Eagles’ secret weapon: the stretch lady.
Bob Brookover thinks it is still about the ground game.
Reuben Frank says the Birds should expect to see an improved Cardinals team.
PHILLIES
READ
SKIP
Chan Ho Park announced his intentions to skip the WBC in order to turn himself into the Phillies’ 5th starer.
SIXERS
READ
Tom Moore says Royal Ivey has been earning his increased burn.
Phil Jasner talks with Elton Brand about practice and his shoulder.
SKIP
Bob Ford, Phil Sheridan, and John Gonzalez talk Charles Barkley and various announcers.
Kevin Tatum reports that Elton Brand was back in full-contact practice and should be back in action this weekend.
FLYERS
READ
Kerith Gabriel reports on how the Phantoms are piggybacking the Eagles’ success.
SKIP
Sam Cardichi’s notes report that Danny Briere will be getting back into game shape with the Phantoms.
TODAY and MORE
Rick O’Brien looks back on those Penn Charter teams with three pro players and Penn State lost another DEnd for the draft.
We’ll be headed to the Eagles’ Wednesday practice in the morning and the Sixers at night but should be back in force this afternoon.
As always, feel free
to email
with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.
