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First let me say that I respect Mark Schlereth’s road to the NFL. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, wasn’t heavily recruited coming out of high school, and ended up going to University of Idaho, which was Division I-AA at the time. He was a 10th round draft pick in the 1989 NFL Draft. Schlereth then went on to play 12 years in the NFL (six as a Redskin and six as a Bronco), win three Super Bowls, and go to two Pro Bowls. Dude fought against the odds and won.

However, for some reason, he feels the need to take shots at the Eagles and their fans. Did Eagles fans hurt his feelings by calling him names or having clever signs about him when he played here? I doubt it, because he was an offensive lineman and they aren’t on most fan’s radars. I actually don’t even remember him as a Redskin. Joe Jacoby. Russ Grimm. Jeff Bostic. Mark May. Sure, I remember those Washington linemen. Schlereth? Nope. I Think of him more as a Bronco. For the most part, he was irrelevant to Eagles fans. Maybe that’s the bug he’s got up his derriere.

I only stumbled onto his fondness of trolling Eagles fans this weekend when I saw this on my timeline.

I retweeted that and PhillyMike jumped onto Schlereth and this followed:

I got to looking at his Twitter feed and he might be slightly obsessed with poking at Eagles fans.

This goes back to 2012.

Take a look at those retweet numbers. One tweet was retweeted over 1,000 times. He tweets a good morning to Eagles fans and that’s retweeted over 60 times. That right there is probably his motivation for taking shots at the Birds and their fans. Those retweets and responses are more action than most of his tweets receive. And, with good reason. He’s not the most insightful analyst.

I mean, only someone who played as long as he did could come up with this analysis, right? I don’t know who is more insightful, Mark or Donovan.

I’m going to theorize that this guy’s ego is too massive to deal with being just another NFL analyst and somewhat irrelevant in the twitterverse. If all he did was tweet thoughts and observations that most former high school players are capable of and retweet Adam Schefter (as he does constantly), he’d be nothing more than ex-player that sells okay chili sauce on social media. Taking shots at fans and teams generates a buzz, especially passionate fans like Eagles fans. They respond. They give him attention. His ego feels important. He feels relevant. Mission accomplished.

At first, I was annoyed with his trolling. After doing a little reflection, I feel sorry for him. He’s one of those kids who feed off of negative attention. If he grew up in Philly, he’d definitely be a Cowboys and Lakers fan. It has to be brutally painful to have to go through life needing your ego constantly stroked by any attention you can garner. Being a Pro Bowl Super Bowl Champion isn’t enough for the ego in question.

Is he an egomaniac? You decide. Here’s the definition according to wikipeda:

Egomania is also known as an obsessive preoccupation with one’s self[1] and applies to someone who follows their own ungoverned impulses and is possessed by delusions of personal greatness and feels a lack of appreciation.

SCHLERETHIs he preoccupied with himself? I mean, look at his chile sauce. He puts his face on the label and it’s not even his recipe. It’s his landscaper’s. Narcissism at it’s best, right? It’s not like he’s a major household face. Sure, he’s on ESPN, but he’s not Dan Patrick or Bob Costas and I doubt they would put their faces on food packaging. Hollywood legend Paul Newman’s face on his food products, sure! Mark Schlereth?

He recently argued with someone on twitter about having to have played the game to understand the nuances of football and called it moronic to think anyone could do it by simply watching TV.

He might be right, but by his own reasoning he wouldn’t be able to understand the nuances of acting simply by watching TV. However, that didn’t stop this guy’s ego from thinking he could act.

By his own logic, his attempt at acting is moronic because he thought he could do it by watching TV, but he can’t stop himself. That ego is hungry and not for chile sauce.

I’ve taken acting classes and taken a few film classes at the Ivy League level. I’ve made short films. According to his logic, I should be able to understand the nuances of acting. In my opinion, his acting makes Dolph Lundgren look like Dustin Hoffman.

Eagles fans, please show Mark Schlereth compassion. He’s carrying around the terrible burden of an out of control ego. That’s a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone. He needs to believe that he’s a top analyst like Jaws, Aikman, Seth Joyner or Brian Baldinger. He thinks he’s a good ex-athlete actor like the Rock, and that he has great chile sauce. Shhhhh! Let him believe all of that. He probably needs to believe it to sleep at night.

We know the truth. By his own admission the truth hurts. We are a loving bunch in Philly and would not want to hurt someone suffering from an ego on testosterone. It’s not him, it’s his ego. Don’t take it personally.

This should be easy for us. His trolling skills aren’t even that great since he’s been doing it for more than three years and most of us in Philly haven’t realized. He’s no Merrill Hoge! City of Brotherly Flub is his A-game material. See what I mean?

I realize his ego will love having an article written about him, but it’s a means to an end. Leave him tweet quietly to himself. Don’t feed the animal, I mean ego. Before you know it, he’ll be trolling the Giants. His ego will relish that since New York is more populated and will most likely generate a greater number or retweets and responses.

I think we should all tweet love and kindness to Schlereth. Embrace him. Save that vitriol for a real heel, like Bayless.

E-A-G-L-E-S!

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