Eagles

With Howard Eskin, it’s All Optics at this Point

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jul 29th, 2024 · 10:49 AM EDT

---

Howard Eskin was back on the radio Saturday morning. He remains suspended from Citizens Bank Park and the Sixers’ practice facility after a May incident in which the Philadelphia Inquirer reports he made an “unwanted advance” and tried to deliver an “unwelcome kiss” to a female Aramark employee:

Howard Eskin touching on the Aramark incident in his open: pic.twitter.com/MNAqwIXRR2

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) July 27, 2024

“I’d like to briefly address the recent reports about an incident at Citizens Bank Park. Now, I’m not going to get into specifics, other than to say that I recognize my actions have offended and upset her. I feel awful about that. I really do. I apologized to her at the time of the incident and I apologize again now. I’m truly sorry that this did occur. I know a lot of you want me to say more about this. But I don’t intend to comment on this any further and hopefully you understand.”

Howard mostly got crushed for giving a “non-apology” apology, but there’s a decent number of people on the other side who don’t seem to care at all. That’s probably par for the course with most things these days.

What’s interesting is that Eskin has been at Eagles training camp since it started, so no ban from the Birds. They haven’t issued any kind of statement on the matter other than telling the Inquirer on July 3rd that they were “monitoring the situation.” That was part of a Marcus Hayes column calling for every team to ban him for the rest of the season. Since Howard has been hanging around camp, we’re under the assumption he’s continuing with his sideline radio gig when the season starts.

That’s been question #1 for the people who are still interested in this story. Why baseball and basketball suspensions, but not football? We’re not counting the Flyers by the way, since I don’t think Howard has been to a hockey game since Eric Lindros was here. In the original reporting, Ximena Conde noted that “it was Audacy’s idea to ban Eskin from (Citizens Bank Park) for the rest of the season,” but noted that the Phils and Aramark were involved in the investigation. Taking that into consideration, you’d ask yourself if Audacy had jurisdiction over Howard’s Eagles presence, or whether that was the Eagles themselves. Howard may seem like an Birds employee because at times he’s more biased toward the team than Dave Spadaro, but the paychecks are technically signed by Audacy. Franzke and LA? Phillies employees. The relationships are slightly different from team to team, but WIP and the Eagles have obviously been very close for a long time and so the lines get blurry. In more simple terms, if Jeffrey Lurie tells WIP to jump, they’d ask how high.

That’s not to say that’s what happened here, but it’s always been understood that what’s best is for the Eagles is also best for WIP. It’s also entirely plausible that the Eagles looked into the situation and simply decided that it wasn’t that bad. Not everything is lecherous perversion. There are awkward misunderstandings as well, so as much as the King deserves heat for being a grandstander and a dope, you have to leave the door open in this particular situation since we weren’t there and didn’t see it and can’t cast any kind of meaningful judgment (though word on the street is that video does exist).

What’s interesting is that Jeffrey Lurie seems like a pragmatic individual and someone who would take these kinds of things seriously. When DeSean Jackson posted a bunch of Louis Farrakhan stuff on social media, Lurie came out and called it “disgusting and appalling” and the Eagles issued a statement as well. Mind you, Lurie is Jewish, so the infraction was more pointed, and was created by a well-known player. Howard’s situation is something that didn’t even happen on Birds’ property, so you’d ask yourself if a team mouth piece getting himself into trouble at Citizens Bank Park warrants the same kind of action as a veteran wide receiver posting fake Hitler quotes on Instagram.

So maybe the non-statement is surprising considering the Eagles are on the more progressive side of the spectrum, the side where “emotional intelligence” lives. Or, again, maybe this just wasn’t a big deal. We’ll see if it dies down and goes away, or if a contingent of Eagles fans express continued displeasure with what they believe to be inaction. There’s also the fact that Aramark serves Lincoln Financial Field in addition to Citizens Bank Park, which is a consideration that might carry if the story remains afloat.

But you know what happens from here. The gaps are filled in by people who create their own opinions, and the absence of information results in optics that may or may not be accurate and fair.