Howard Eskin Be Creepin'

Strange, visceral reaction by Howard Eskin to a report from Dianna Marie Russini of NBC Washington, who said that the Eagles are trying to trade Matt Barkley and would potentially sign Tim Tebow if they did so (both plausible).

Howard starts things off with the really strange George Michael – oh he of The Sports Machine – rebuttal. Michael is credited with launching Howard’s career, but I have absolutely no idea how he factors into Russini’s reporting. Though perhaps only the page view, money-pile-diving-loving side of me wants the Eagles to sign Tebow, I now want this to happen solely so Howard can be the second Eagles “reporter” in under a month to question Russini and have it backfire on them. It happened to Geoff Mosher last week. Russini, who’s been a guest on our podcast (and a good sport about a lead-in conversation about pooping), is typically well-sourced on NFC East matters.

On the sports reporting spectrum, you’ll typically find nerdy middle-aged men on the left and attractive local news chicks on the right. To pretend that the former doesn’t few the latter with a degree of sexism would be largely incorrect, and I have to wonder if Howard would’ve had the same reaction to this report if it came from someone who looked a little more like him. Or, you know, maybe he’s just a jackass:

Love, love, LOVE Howard calling others out for loosely-sourced reporting. LOVE IT.

UPDATE: A reader points out that Russini works at Michael’s former station in D.C. So there’s the connection.