I was beat last night. I got home, collapsed into bed and came across the NFL Network replay of the NFC Championship Game. It was like Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were reading me my new favorite bedtime story. A little weird, but nice. Anyway, right after the Torrey Smith touchdown grab, I noticed something that I somehow missed the other night:

Is that Phillies owner John Middleton losing his mind? Why yes, yes it is!

I think I’m in love. I was a big fan of the Carlos Santana acquisition, but this is probably the most positive Phillies-related development of the offseason.

Let’s break it down.

The Eagles went for the jugular on that play and delivered the death-blow. Middleton’s reaction occurs during the exact moment we knew with certainty that the Eagles were going to the Super Bowl. Here’s this billionaire owner, looking dapper as hell, belting out a guttural “YES!” with compact, T-Rex arms and double-clenched fists. A maneuver that was both primal and fierce. This, friends, is not a guy that would like to win, or would prefer to win. No, this is a guy that needs to win.

After seeing this, I’m stunned Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish weren’t on separate red-eye flights to Philly. His team’s starting rotation must make him want to light two of his company’s fine cigars and twist them into his eyes.

I draw two conclusions from this video:

1) I’m increasingly confident that some big-boy moves are coming. And soon. There’s no way the Phillies proceed as bottom-dwellers much longer.

2) The Gabe Kapler hire makes more sense now. Kapler probably had Middleton JACKED by the end of the interview. After watching this, tell me you can’t picture them head-butting each other and then taking a celebratory bottle of champagne to the face sometime in October 2020.

Plan accordingly.