There's probably a very practical reason why he's licking this mic

There’s probably a very practical reason why he’s licking this mic

He did.

ESPN today apparently decided to release ALL OF ITS GLORIOUS EAGLES LONGFORM PIECES DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU LOVE CHIP KELLY EVEN MORE. On the heels of a Grantland piece about Kelly’s brilliance, Seth Wickersham writes on ESPN about the eight things LeSean McCoy has learned from Kelly. Some excerpts:

“Hit the damn hole, Shady!”

When McCoy struggles, he tends to dance in the backfield. Nothing angers Kelly like throttled speed, and it boils to the surface against the Bucs on Oct. 13 when McCoy is slow to an opening.

On the sideline, Kelly unloads: “Hit the damn hole, Shady!”

“There was no damn hole!”

“Shut up!”

McCoy heads to the bench. But he can’t let it go. He brings Kelly a photo of the play and says, “Do you see a hole?”

Kelly returns to the game, and McCoy returns to wondering whether he can coexist with his coach.

But in the team meeting the next day, Kelly says something the players have never heard so explicitly from a head coach: “Shady and I got into it, and I was wrong.”

Hard ass

At an afternoon practice, McCoy slaps Kelly’s ass, just to mess with him. Later, Kelly approaches him, looking serious.

This time, Kelly says to Shady, “Did you get hurt?”

McCoy is confused. Hamstring? Knees? Shoulder? Nope, all good. “Hurt?” he says.

“Your hand! This thing’s tight.”

 

He sees you when you’re sleeping

Then why, McCoy asks, does Kelly badger him every day about sleep? Kelly pulls up video of practice after McCoy had registered a substandard night [on the sleep monitors players wear]. “You look slow, less explosive.”

It all clicks. McCoy becomes “crazy about sleeping.” He notices how much quicker he feels at 208 pounds than he did at the 218 he was in 2012, thanks to Kelly’s nutrition program of personalized protein shakes. He feels fresher when hydrated. He even likes getting to know guys on the rides to the stadium. “When he tells me to do something, I just do it,” McCoy says now.

Honestly? I kind of want Chip to watch me when I sleep– optimize my blog game.

Read the entire article here. It’s the best sports thing you’ll read today.