Crossing Broad

DeSean Jackson Tweeted a Picture of 2Pac Shaking Hands with Osama bin Laden

I don't even know what to say. Maybe there's a sick punchline that I'm missing here besides them both being dead but rumored to still be alive. Maybe there's not. But probably D-Jac is just an idiot. 

Jason Babin Missed the Start of OTAs Because He was Stranded in the Alaska Wild

Jason Babin had a more difficult week than you, and this time it didn’t involve the plight of NFL players with non-guaranteed contracts. 

Babin - who this offseason was quite outspoken about NFL players needing more job security* - missed the start of OTAs because he was bear hunting in Alaska, an exploit he chronicled on Twitter.

The OTAs are, by their given name, optional, so his absence is hardly bears mentioning (I giggled). But the reason for his delayed return does: Babin was stuck in Alaska after bad weather pinned him and his guide in a remote spot.

Babin explains: [Philly.com]

"When the weather blows in, you don't have a lot of options," Babin said after arriving for his first OTA session, on a humid morning in sprinkling rain. "There were times when the tent bent in so hard, the tent was in our sleeping bags. There was snow drifting over."

"[I] Survived," he said. "You've got to pack in your food, which are freeze-dried meals. You got to hike up a glacier with snowshoes to get your water. You gotta boil it. If you fall through and get wet while out hiking, no one's gonna come dry you off with a towel. You've got to survive on your wits ... Some of the most extreme climates in the U.S." 

 

Glass. When do they chew glass?

Babin added that he’d like to run with the bulls in Spain before training camp begins. 

And you wonder why they don’t give football players guaranteed contracts...

*His words - and I quote - "[The franchise tag] is a scary proposition because, you know, if you get hurt before the season, during the season, you know... they can release you and only pay you medical, which is substantially lower, I think. There's risk involved. Everyone loves a long-term contract."

Eagles Sign LeSean McCoy to Five-Year Extension

Guess who's back? 

Shady will be back... for five years.

The Eagles have signed LeSean McCoy to a five-year extension through 2017. The deal is for $45 million with over $20 million guaranteed, according to Jeff McLane.

Jason Peters is Going to Sue Roll-A-Bout After His Device Broke and He Ruptured Achilles... Again

Riddle: What’s a sadder sight than an all-star first baseman blowing out his Achilles and lying on the ground in heap as he makes the final out of his team’s best season ever three steps short of a championship? 

A 350-pound star offensive lineman blowing out his now-repaired Achilles for the second time in two months and falling on his face after his Roll-A-Bout broke in the kitchen.

According to a report by Derrick Gunn, host of Gunn-On-One, Jason Peters ruptured his Achilles again yesterday when his walking aid failed him: [CSNPhilly.com]

According to a league source, Peters ruptured his Achilles tendon again after the Roll-A-Bout he was using malfunctioned. Peters was maneuvering in his kitchen when the device broke, and he fell on his face and re-injured the Achilles.

The five-time Pro Bowler needed a second surgery, and his recovery was set back three weeks. He is going to sue the manufacturer of the device.

 

It doesn’t get more unfortunate than that, ladies and gentlemen. 

The fact that Peters re-ruptured his Achilles by performing presumably the most basic of tasks shows just how uncertain recovery from that injury can be. Ryan Howard’s Achilles setback was significantly less severe, as he merely had an infection near his wound. Peters needed a second surgery to repair his Achilles, and this will undoubtedly keep him out for all of 2012 and perhaps the rest of his career.

Though Peters is listed at upwards of 350 lbs, the Roll-A-Bout should have been able to hold him. The company lists several models with 400 and 500 pound weight limits:

Last fall after his Achilles surgery, Howard was spotted at Whole Foods on a Rascal Scooter, which, in unfortunate hindsight, appears to be a better choice of device for gigantic athletes needing assistance following Achilles surgery. 

But here’s something spooky: In August, 2010, Howard’s teammates jokingly bought the slugger a Roll-A-Bout after he sprained his ankle. Good thing he didn’t use it.

Another Eagle Has an Impostor

So this is happening again.

Last fall we told you about Stephan Pittman, the registered sex offender from Maryland who was impersonating Vince Young. At the time, Pittman was spotted in Manayunk, wooing young girls while pretending to be Young, and extorted various charities by using the backup quarterback’s (good?) name.

Pittman was arrested in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on September 24 and hasn’t been heard from since. He’s listed as released on a Maryland inmate lookup website, but as incarcerated on a sex offender registry. 

Anyway, Pittman may or may not have anything to do with this:

According to a Yahoo! Sports story, an impostor is going to great lengths to trick people into believing that he’s Phillip Thomas, the free agent rookie who was signed by the Eagles on Friday: 

Somebody has been pretending to be the safety from Syracuse, spinning a story so convincing that the fake Phillip Thomas has appeared on blog posts, conducted radio interviews and tweeted a bogus signing with the Washington Redskins. The fake Phillip Thomas created a Facebook page loaded with pictures of the real Phillip Thomas along with photos from inside Redskins Park. The fake Phillip Thomas even posted a picture of a Redskins playbook that appears to have been taken in a hotel room.

 

The fake Thomas was in communication with Les Carpenter, who wrote the Yahoo! story, saying that he would soon be a Redskin, a claim denied by a Redskins official... mostly because the real Thomas is, you know, an Eagle.

Not unlike Young’s situation, Thomas' fake is using Facebook to perpetuate his lie and the tale weaves through the D.C. area (Redskins). We’re not sure exactly where Pittman is - a call to the Prince George’s County media relations department didn’t yield a concrete answer - but the similarities in the two stories are striking. 

And that includes physical appearances. 

Look at this picture of Thomas (left) next to Pittman (right):

We’re speculating... but they don’t not look alike.

The fake Thomas, whether it's Pittman or someone else, seemingly knows his jig is up, though: [Yahoo!]

After meeting the real Phillip Thomas on Friday, I called the fake Thomas on the cell number he messaged me, which was the same one he gave Bradley for the Ball Hogs Radio interview.

"Yes, we talked yesterday," the fake Phillip Thomas said when I introduced myself. His voice was flat with no inflections, unlike the real Phillip Thomas, who has a hint of a Caribbean accent.

I asked if he was in Philadelphia.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

Then I told him I had just met the real Phillip Thomas.

He hung up.

 

Stay tuned...

Video: T.O. on Dr. Phil

I have no energy to write words today. So, as we mourn the misery of the Flyers loss, the Phillies being a disaster, and, well, the Sixers having no shot to win a title, let’s all be saddened by the existence of Terrell Owens, who was on the Dr. Phil Show yesterday.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about this is T.O.’s former conquests. Buzz, your girlfriends... woof.

Brian Dawkins: Better at Football

Brian Dawkins Retires an Eagle, Presented with Kickass Video

For this performance, Brian Dawkins will be reprising Johnny Depp's role in "The Rum Diary"

Well played, Eagles.

The football team, usually not known for embracing the past and honoring its former players, did a great thing today. Brian Dawkins was honored at press conference, where he was signed to a one-day contract to retire an Eagle. Many current and former players were in attendance, including Michael Vick... and Donovan McNabb, whose personality must have hovered somewhere between jealous and fucking enraged as he watched a safety receive a sendoff that he most-likely thought should have been given to him.

Anyway, Dawkins inadvertently (apparently) skipped over McNabb when hugging his peers during the event, but the Eagles state media czar, Dave Spadaro, was quick to tweet out a picture of the two embracing after the press conference: 

Cute.

Here is the must-watch video the Eagles put together for Dawkins (you'd think maybe they'd make these free PR clips embeddable...).

Cox

Big Cox

In case you hadn’t heard (or had it jammed down your throat by ESPN) yet, the Eagles traded up to draft Fletcher Cox (Cox all over Romo right now!!!), the top-ranked defensive tackle in the draft.

Cox is on Twitter, so be sure to hop on and follow. But don’t be offended if he is more excited for another member to get behind him:

@MikeVick follow back bro

— fletcher cox (@fcoxx_94) April 27, 2012

 

Looking forward to seeing Cox this year.

$1.1 Billion Gets You... Brand Synergy! (and Pretty Cool Eagles Sneakers)

Eagles Air Max 95 (No-Sew) - NFL Draft Pack - picture via counterkicks

For those wondering what Nike would do with the NFL license after the disappointingly and expectly overhyped unveiling ceremony, they finally showed some of the benefits of their freshly enacted apparel deal with their 2012 "NFL Draft Pack" of sneakers. Gimmicky, but I like it.

You say you love the Eagles but your team-related footwear options are limited? Boom-- NFL Draft Pack. Simply, Nike chose eight signature sneakers, either classics from the past or noteworthy current shoes, assigning one to each division, then laying out a custom colorway for each team within each division. Luckily, Nike chose one of their all-time best designs, the Air Max 95, for the NFC East.

Two notes: (1) nitpickers will notice these are actually the Air Max 95 No-Sews which, well, don't have the color panels sewn together as on the original design from 1995, (2) The Air Max 95 is my favorite sneaker of all time—yes, people have such things—so I'm not the fairest judge. Heck, I wear Air Max 95s on an almost a daily basis (thank you job with minimal dress code). But come on, with both Midnight Green and Kelly Green present and prominent, what isn't to like? (well, the list price is $150, so that's something to not like...)

Here are the rest of the NFC East Air Max 95s (No-Sews). The Redskins version is fantastic. I'm not sure I'd be able to pull off actually wearing them, but it just proves how well their color palette comes together. The Cowboys and Giants aren't quite as interesting, but I can't really find fault with either of them, with the Giants, well, "Big Blue" approach working quite well, though I wouldn't have minded some silver on the Cowboys [editor's note: I see purple?].

Counterkicks has close-ups of each team's sneaker. Some notables: the AFC West in the Nike Air Trainer SC (you may know them as "Bo Jacksons") and the NFC North in the Air Max 90 (also known as the original Air Max). Also, the Buccaneers' Free Trainer 5.0 and the deceptively complex Free Haven 3.0 looks good in any color (even neon green) are new designs which are only enhanced by this NFL tie-in program.

Here are all of them for the entire league. I'm giving this whole pursuit a big thumbs-up. Which ones do you like?

via Nicekicks and Counterkicks, two great sites for sneaker news.

Report: The Eagles Are About To Trade Asante Samuel

Well, in news that’s not really news because it was completely expected, the Eagles are on the verge of trading Asante Samuel to Atlanta.

Nice to see that Roob is in compliance with CSN's (apparent) mandate that every Tweet end with an annoying #[team]talk hashtag.

UPDATE: Done deal and all but official, according to reports. Asante agreed to three-year deal with Atlanta.

This Week in Yinzer Fashion: 2012 Steelers Throwbacks

from the Steelers.com Gallery of the Press Conference

Adding one last dig to our neighbors to the west before tonight's (hopefully) decisive hockey game, the Steelers did us a favor showcased their new-for-2012 throwbacks yesterday. Yikes.

Gone is the 60s-inspired alternate with its trademark yellow helmet. I never loved the previous throwback, but they were perfectly harmless, and a nice rearrangement of the design of the Steelers classic (hate to admit that one, but it's true) uniforms.

This new one? Well, the good news is that it's tied into an 80th anniversary celebration, so it's a safe bet it won't be seen after this year. The bad news is that it introduces a new type of "ugly" NFL uniform. Let's look at the types of ugly uniforms that are currently out there: