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Happy holidays, humans! Leave it to Jason Babin to pull me out of my Christmas week stupor so I can write about his latest inane comment.

Speaking with Tennessee reporters during a conference call yesterday, Babin had some not so nice things to say about the Eagles. Specifically, he said that he was surprised by the way he was treated – that the Eagles tried to change him – and called the organization “socialistic.”

Here’s a transcription via Adam Caplan on Sulia. The entertaining parts are bolded, for your reading pleasure:

"They have a different approach and a different style than I do. It’s upsetting because they knew what they were getting when they hired me. I don’t know if they were going to try and change me. My stripes are kind of already the way they are, the way I practice, aggressive, loud, the way I play the game. I don’t know, I just guess they thought they could change the way I went about my business. I feel like I got the way I got because of how I practiced and worked and lived and played. I look at it as a great opportunity for me." 

 

On the way the Eagles separate with players and personnel

"That was probably their approach because they don’t have amicable splits with people. You saw how dirty they did (Jim) Washburn with leaking out the false stories and the way they talked about him on the way out. It’s kind of a big socialistic system that they have. I didn’t really care. I’m only going to worry about what I can control, and that’s practicing hard, working hard and playing hard on Sunday." 

 


He’s talking, of course, about the stories of Washburn being “a cancer” and calling Juan Castillo “Juanita.”  

More on Washburn:

"Yeah, and that’s the surprising part. You find out the fact that they had a D-line consultant the whole time they had him. Well, if you don’t trust the guy…It’s kind of like one of those things where they say they trust you, and they want you to do certain things a certain way, but then behind the scenes, they’re monitoring it and second-guessing it. It’s unfortunate because as you guys know, (Jim) Washburn gives his heart and soul every practice and gets the most out of all of his players. But that’s life, I can’t really sit up here and whine and complain about my situation when people around the country and around the world for that matter are in a lot worse situations than myself."

 

See, that last part is irritating because all Babin has done this season – both before and after being traded – is whine. Further, this is the same guy who spoke at length earlier this year about how NFL players need job security and massive contracts, for their families… and egos. So that throwaway line, I really don’t have room to complain, is like trying to point out the nutritional value of a Big Mac (Well, at least it’s not heroin!), because everything that preceded it was one big whine.

His defending Washburn is not a surprise. The two are sort of a package deal… and Washburn was able to exploit the narrow-spectrumed talent Babin has and turn it into a couple Pro Bowls. 

But Babin was oh so close to something with the socialism thing. Only, he meant the complete opposite.

The decisions the Eagles make are about as anti-socialist as it comes… they are purely business decisions– capitalism. In a way, though, how they treat players, media and fans could be likened to socialism: No one player – save for maybe Brian Dawkins – has ever transcended the team under Jeffrey Lurie and Andy Reid. And the state, the Eagles organization, is at the heart of decisions that fly in the face of popular opinion and often come at the expense of well-liked or still-valuable players. Those are all fair and necessary critiques of what has become a hated regime. And – I think – that's what Babin meant. But that’s more capitalism contained within a socialist culture, and we wouldn’t expect a lunkhead like Jason Babin to understand that.

Back in full in the new year. Stay tuned for the Top 10 Philly Sports Moments of 2012 this week.