Eagles

Marcus Hayes Doubles Down After Not Showing Up for A.J. Brown Locker Room Scrum

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Jan 4th, 2024 · 11:53 AM EST

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Last night was great. It felt like the old CB for a second. A guy named Kyle criticizing Marcus Hayes is what a part of this site was built on.

In case you missed all of it, I’ll fill you in.

Wednesday afternoon, A.J. Brown talks for the first time in two weeks, and calls out Marcus Hayes, who wrote a report about A.J. splitting the locker room, but didn’t show up after Brown gave an almost 24 hour warning:

AJ on report of veteran saying he is splitting locker room pic.twitter.com/1ssm18LGZw

— Chris Franklin (@cfranklinnews) January 3, 2024

So I tweeted that I couldn’t believe Marcus Hayes wasn’t there to face the music:

I still can’t believe Marcus Hayes didn’t show up to the AJ Brown scrum today. Like isn’t that at least the ethical thing to do to look someone in the eye when you try to shank them @inkstainedretch? What kind of ship are you running @escobarinquirer @dlboardman?

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) January 3, 2024

Ant SanFilippo didn’t agree. A writer sticking up for another writer he’s worked with. I’ve got no problem with that:

I frankly couldn’t disagree with this more. A.J. Brown was given an opportunity to talk when Marcus was writing his story. He chose not to. The culpability is on the player at that point. Marcus’s schedule should not be altered on the whims of an emotional athlete.

— Anthony SanFilippo (@AntSanPhilly) January 3, 2024

The problem I do have is that, again, A.J. Brown announced this on Twitter almost 24 hours in advance. You’re a Philly sports columnist. You write 20 columns a month. These aren’t investigative dives. Everyone pays their bills off the backs of the Eagles. If you really wanted to, you’d be there:

AJ tweeted that he was talking 24 hours prior. If you’re not dropping everything and going to that press conference, especially after you try to slander the guy, it looks cowardly. You’re there on Sundays asking questions why can’t you face the music on a Wednesday in January? https://t.co/7DyYzOKxEH

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) January 3, 2024

Ant comes back and wants to talk about track record:

Maybe AJ should have spoken when he was asked to speak initially and if he didn’t have a track record of doing this maybe his teammates wouldn’t be whispering in Marcus’ ear about what they did.
Dont make the writer the story just because you are a fan.

— Anthony SanFilippo (@AntSanPhilly) January 3, 2024

…and that’s where I stuffed Ant in a locker (respectfully):

Ok lets talk about track records. Like Marcus who once accused Ken Griffey Jr. of taking steroids with no evidence, implying things Brett Brown never said, and has other sports reporters in the city not wanting to be mentioned in the same breath as him. https://t.co/4bjDIqhdJZ

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) January 4, 2024

Now, fast forward to Thursday morning, and Marcus writes another column capitalizing on the media scrum he didn’t attend, which to me feels dirty. In it, he gave this excuse for why he wasn’t there:

As an aside:

I wrote a column after Sunday’s game after interviewing several Eagles about both Brown’s media boycott and that of Haason Reddick, which ended after Sunday’s game. As mentioned above, some Eagles said they were disappointed with Brown’s body language on the field, and one agreed to be quoted anonymously. Brown indicated Sunday that he would continue his silence indefinitely, and when he announced his availability, I was unable to rearrange my schedule to attend. Brown was disappointed by my absence:

“I was going to ask him, ‘Who was the veteran?’ “

Brown says he majored in journalism at Ole Miss. He must have missed class the day they explained protecting sources. Further, the Eagles have all my contact information. Brown had three days to ask his ridiculous question; because, as he should know, I will never betray my sources.

Aside over.

It’s important to show up after criticizing someone right, Marcus? Isn’t that what Stan Hochman taught you?

Marcus Hayes on the importance of showing up when you write something critical about a player 🤷🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/0j1NxRpMmZ

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) January 4, 2024

Don’t worry, Marcus will get there on his own time when he’s able to.

One thing that really bothers me in this city are a lot of media members will write something or deliver a hot take on sports radio, but they’ll never answer for it. I’ve criticized people on social media and rather than having a rebuttal they’ve jumped in my DMs alleging, “I don’t argue on social media blah, blah, blah.” It’s a coward’s way out. They hide behind the dump button on their radio stations and their columns. Marcus Hayes should come on Crossing Broadcast. Me, him, Ant, and Kinker and we should hash it out. New media vs. old media. Provide some context to the report. Listen to both sides. Let the people decide. That’s fucking democracy if you ask me! But there’s this arrogance of the old media that still exists like they’re better than everyone. Us, the fan, etc. Take the first line from Marcus’ column today, for example:

A.J. Brown started doing his job again Wednesday.

This is why no one likes you man. That line reeks of arrogance. It’s not insightful. It’s not reporting. It’s a shot at a player for no reason. No Eagles fan, your customers, care whether AJ Brown talks to the media or not. No media member is doing god’s work in this town. We care about him producing on the field. When the season is going welll, you hear nothing. But when it nosedives, we’re all of a sudden talking about internal strife and player X dividing the locker room.

Time to dust this off: