Sports week so far

Rumors are this should be resolved one way or another today. This can't be happening, right?

Clear, concise research

The Eagles will likely make a decision this week whether to re-sign their longest-tenured and most popular player, S Brian Dawkins. To help with that decision, I humbly submit the following data.

12 years before Dawk: 107-99-2 regular season record (.514)
12 years with Dawk: 116-90-2 regular season record (.556)

12 years before Dawk: 2-6 in the playoffs
12 years with Dawk: 10-8 in the playoffs

12 years before Dawk: 0 NFC champs, 0 Super Bowl visits
12 years with Dawk: 5 NFC champs, 1 Super Bowl visit

12 years before Dawk: 989-1050 Phils record, 0 champs
12 years with Dawk: 1053-1061 Phils record, 1 championship

12 years before Dawk: Zero Arena Bowl Championships
12 years with Dawk: One Arena Bowl Championship

12 years before Dawk: Median Philly income of $24,041 (1990)
12 years with Dawk: Median Philly income of $37,565 (2007)

12 years before Dawk: Average Philly temp of 53.7 F (1984)
12 years with Dawk: Average Philly temp of 54.6 F (2000)

So Philadelphia is warmer, richer and has more championships since Dawkins arrived from Georgia. I think next move for Philadelphia is pretty obvious.

UPDATE: Got the years right on this, finally.

Let's get it out of our system

The baseball season is 162 games, and that doesn't count the pre-season and post-season. And at just one joke a day, we're looking at more than 200 A-Rod steroid jokes over the next few months.

So start collecting the nicknames now. This should be enough to get you to the end of March.

** A-Fraud (already used by Joe Torre)
** Nay-Rod
** A-Roid (already used by the NY Daily News)
** Roid-Rod
** Way-Fraud
** A-Hole (already used by the NY Post)
** Sob-Rod
** Fake-Rod
** A-Flawed
** Pay-Rod
** A-Scrod
** Gay-Rod
** A-Rot
** Odd-Rod
** A-Cod
** A-Rob
** Barry-Rod

For comparison's sake

Feel like you can't get a handle on just how much Ryan Howard's new three-year, $54 million deal can get him? Click on the chart below. The baseballs seem like a particularly good deal, since he'll likely keep losing them in the outfield stands.

Give me a %$&* break!!!

With just three minutes left in the fourth quarter of today's Pro Bowl, with the NFC up by a field goal but the AFC moving down the field with all three of their timeouts, DE Julius Peppers intercepted the ball and returned it 12 yards. All that was left was for Andy Reid to call three running plays and get ready to go home ...


HOLY CRAP, ANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CAN'T YOU EVER JUST RUN THE DAMN BALL????

It's an exhibition and he still won't use basic football sense. For the love of gawd...

Appreciate the last days of the season

A lot of folks will try to convince you this week that next Sunday isn't important.

They'll tell you the Sunday after the Super Bowl never matters. They'll tell you you just watched a great football championship game, and it's time to leave the past behind. They'll tell you none of the players are thinking about Sunday. They'll tell you the Sixers and Flyers are having good years, and you should start focusing solely on them. They'll tell you it's time to let the season go.

These people are wrong.

Next Sunday is about the fans. It's about appreciating the success and failures of the season. It's about looking back objectively and appreciating what the hometown team accomplished. It's about admitting that everything wasn't perfect, but in the end the ride was more than you hoped for. It's about seeing your team making a run and making the whole city proud.

So next Sunday is important. Celebrate it. Enjoy it. Make sure your friends stop and enjoy it too.

Because not every Sunday is the 100-day anniversary of the Philadelphia Phillies' triumphant World Series parade down Broad Street. It's the first 100 days of a new, curse-free city. It's 100 days of being on top. It's 100 days of freedom.

Wait, you thought I was talking about the Pro-Bowl?

Hell, no. Nobody watches that crap anymore.