Lets show this LA A-Hole why you don't mess with Philly fans. I'll post his email address below...send me a copy of any emails you send to this tool, I'd love to read them!

t.j.simers@latimes.com

In a matter of 2 minutes I went from hoping my Phillies play a great series against the Dodgers and looking forward to a great matchup to wanting to punch every single LA citizen in the face. This is quite possibly the worst sports article I have ever read and not simply because he bashes the city that is home to sports teams I love. Read his takes on the Lowe-Hamels matchup, Brett Myers, and Jamie Moyer. Unbelievable that an accredited writer could discredit them so much.

Heres his email if you'd like to write to him:

t.j.simers@latimes.com

No one on the corner has SWAGGER like us, SWAGGER like us, SWAGGER SWAGGER LIKE US!

This is going to be the longest day ever...click that link and GET PUMPED FOR TONITE!!!!!

Man I really hope we can throw our hat into the ring and actually have a chance at signing him!

We all know that L.J. HAS to have a big year and theres no reason he won't.

you know what to do....click it

Man is he fun to watch!

click it...

True to the regimented nature of football, the Eagles' lockers at the NovaCare Complex are doled out by position.

Enter the locker room and immediately to the left are the quarterbacks. Across from them, the defensive backs. Walk the length of the carpeted room and the players get bigger as you go along, especially on the right side, where the defensive backs give way to the defensive linemen.

Then you reach the far corner. That's where the buffalo roam - the offensive linemen. A doorway separates the starters from the rest of the blockers, and after a practice day during the season, they typically tend to their business apart from the media horde scouring the room for stories.

The offensive linemen make up the engine room of any successful offense, but they may as well be parked in a garage with the door closed because they are rarely noticed by the public unless they mess up.

Indeed, the Eagles' blocker who probably received the most attention last season was Winston Justice. In the fourth game of the season against the New York Giants, Justice made his first career start because veteran Tra Thomas was injured. It was a prime-time disaster for the young Justice. The Giants piled up a record 12 sacks, and defensive end Osi Umenyiora sprinted around Justice for six of them. Thomas returned to action the following week, newly appreciated because of his absence.

A welcome break

Friday is a light day at Eagles practice. There is no serious hitting. It is pretty much a dress rehearsal for the next game, the linemen having thumped on one another on Wednesday and Thursday.

So the offense and defense run plays against scout teams. It is a chance for the linemen to visualize their opponents and further familiarize themselves with their moves. No longer can a blocker zero in on one defensive lineman because more and more teams use rotations to keep them fresh.

"It's like the pitch count in baseball," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "So many games are won in the fourth quarter, or lost in the fourth quarter, so as much as you can, you want to keep those guys fresh for the fourth quarter. When we go into the fourth quarter, I want our best soldiers on the field and you want to press. If a guy plays 65, 70 plays, you go into the fourth quarter [and] he doesn't have much gas left."

Jon Runyan is the Eagles' most visible offensive lineman, and not just because the 34-year-old tackle stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 330 pounds. He has endorsement deals with McDonald's and Ford and is frequently a guest on television and sports-talk radio. His dry wit and durability - he has started 194 consecutive games - make him one of the team's more popular players. He believes blockers face more challenges than before because defensive linemen have become more specialized.

"The game has changed a lot in the 13 years I've been in the league," he said. "Before, [defensive linemen] had to do everything. Now you have guys to rush the passer, guys playing against the run. They used to have to do both. You have to study more because you're probably going against more than one guy."

click the link to read the rest...

Gotta say how much I laughed at all the people on here jumping on this kid before he even had a chance, but thats typical of Philly fans. Hopefully he showed enough to silence those critics in the preaseason. Kolb has a VERY good chance of being our QB of the future and has showed nothing but growth and maturity in the West Coast Offense in his 1+ seasons with the Birds. He delivers a great ball with plenty of spiral and zip on it. Whenever the day comes for 5 to step aside, we should feel confident that we have a capable backup waiting in the wings.

You know what to do to read the actual article....click it

There hasn't been much to look forward to in recent years when talking about our LB corps...this year is another story. With 5 young and talented guys ready to make names for themselves (Gaither, Bradley, Gocong, Mays, Jordan), this season should be fun to watch.

On the road to victory...

He always thought he could do a better job (though even a 5 year old could have of late) but he will he get his chance? It used to be an almost certainty that Troy would take over and now there is a void to be filled. Gotta say that it would be great to see one of our own running that show.

Usually I can't stand Les Bowen, but this article is pretty darn good. He does a nice job of stating the facts, making a speculation or two, and throwing in some much needed comedic relief.

Enjoy it as much as possible

Its like deja vu all over again!

You know what to do...click it

THE WORDS still ring less than 3 weeks later. They seem to mean more, somehow, under darkening skies. They were spoken by Eagles owner

Jeffrey Lurie and they were intended to convey an organizational philosophy. There was no mistaking what he was trying to say, no need for context, explanation or elaboration.

The philosophy, Lurie said, "isn't about rebuilding, retooling, or anything - this is going for it. That's our approach. It's pedal-to-the-metal.''

Which means they have no alternative now, no choice, but to conjure up a starting-caliber wide receiver and get him in here immediately, right?

Well, doesn't it?

Now that Kevin Curtis has caught the sports-hernia bug - who knew it was so contagious, and will somebody please make sure that Brian Westbrook is up-to-date on his immunizations? - a lot of things just changed for the Eagles.

Now that Curtis figures to miss at least a month of the season following surgery scheduled for today, now that the Eagles are going to be without their best wide receiver for the start of the season and potentially longer, they have to go out and scare up a replacement. That is especially true given the hamstring that the other starting wide receiver, Reggie Brown, continues to nurse.

Pedal, metal.

Now.

To tell them the name of the wide receiver they should acquire is to pretend to know the personnel end of the business better than they do, which is foolhardy. That said, they still have to do something. They owe it to the rest of the team, which must have begun to notice the shadows cast by a gathering storm of injuries - at wideout and along the defensive line, especially. They owe it to quarterback Donovan McNabb, whom everyone believes is entering the or-else year of his tenure as the Eagles' starter.

There can be no pretending here, not if they are really serious about getting something done this season. To bide their time is to waste everybody's time. They need to add a piece.

This is not to say they have been wrong in the past about how they evaluated wide receivers - because they were not wrong. Curtis, Brown and Co. are a skilled-enough group to win a lot of games in the NFL if McNabb is healthy and confident. The Eagles really do have that part of it right.

The problem is, there really wasn't much of a margin for error - and the loss of Curtis combined with Brown's iffy hammy just reduced that margin to nothing. They can't bluff their way through this.

The counter-argument goes like this: The expectation is that Brown should be OK for Opening Day against St. Louis, and that Curtis will have his surgery and do his rehab and get back relatively quickly. Given that, why would you spend a fortune on another wideout who will be a redundancy by Columbus Day?

The problem is that you cannot operate with those kinds of positive expectations. Given the nature of the sports-hernia injury - and the Eagles know enough about it to publish a textbook at this point, after Donovan McNabb, Sheldon Brown, L.J. Smith, Dirk Johnson and now Curtis - to project a speedy and uncomplicated recovery is only for brave people.

Realists, on the other hand, need a backup plan - and that is especially true given the Reggie Brown complication.

There is no question that the Eagles have the trade ammunition to get something done. First of all, they still have the Lito card to play - with cornerback Lito Sheppard still the third wheel in the defensive backfield and still hoping to go someplace and get a chance to start.

They also have an extra first-round draft choice next season, which they might be able to slice and dice into some kind of package - the other team gets the first-rounder, the Eagles get a wideout and a high second-rounder in return, or something like that.

There is no question that it would be bold (if not Anquan Boldin). But if not now, when? You do not want to enter the season in a circumstance where the offense's only choice is to wear Westbrook to a nub. You do not want to leave McNabb feeling alone and unconfident in the weapons arrayed around him.

If Kevin Kolb was the starting quarterback, and the team was starting over, you would suck it up and wait for people to get healthy. But that isn't the situation, not this year, not if Jeffrey Lurie meant what he said.

Pedal, metal.

Now. *

Brad Lidge will be saving games in Philadelphia through at least the 2011 season, after the pitcher agreed to a three-year, $37.5 million contract extension.

The deal includes a 2012 club option and performance incentives.

Working for $6.35 million in the final year before becoming a free agent, Lidge is off to the best start of his career, with an 0.77 ERA in 35 appearances. He's one of two full-time closers in the Major Leagues, along with New York's Mariano Rivera, not to blow a save this season.

The right-hander has anchored the NL's best bullpen, which has a 2.74 ERA. His devastating slider/fastball combination has produced 47 strikeouts in 35 innings.

Talk of a long-term agreement seemed to begin since Nov. 7, 2007, the day Lidge was acquired by the Phillies with Eric Bruntlett for Michael Bourn, Geoff Geary and Michael Costanzo. It continued through Spring Training and accelerated with each save Lidge recorded this season.

Cincinnati's Francisco Cordero signed for four years and $46 million during the winter, and that was believed to be the going rate for elite closers Lidge and potential free-agent Francisco Rodriguez, of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Philadelphia got ahead of the curve by signing Lidge now.