Category Archives: Philadelphia Eagles

American culture, Chip Kelly, fired NFL coaches, gossip, Hollywood, Philadelphia Eagles, Star Wars, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Uncategorized

Perceived Perfection

Two thousand sixteen.

We have arrived in this, the future, and it by all accounts resembles the recent past. In some cases, it might even resemble a distant past, too.

As a society, we seem to be tempered in our expectations of what we can accomplish because we see firsthand what we have been unable to accomplish to this point, all the while unaware of the fact we very much hand a part to play in what was unaccomplished all along.

So much displeasure going on all around us. So much lamenting. So much longing for the future, too busy to enjoy the present. A present which will become the past that we will begin to long for.

Ironic.

After all, what kind of malcontents would be if we didn’t endlessly hype how excited we were to be taken back to a galaxy far, far away in film, doll out a collective $1.7 billion in three weeks to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only to turn right around and bash it as “unimaginative” and whine about the former film prodigy J.J. Abrams’ lack of originality?

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We beg – no, demand – updated classics, then complain when it’s too retro? We want retro Jordan’s and then complain that they are either too identical or not similar enough. Didn’t we skewer Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for being not enough like the other Indy movies?

I can’t keep up. No one, pardon the pun, forced you to see that movie.

The same as no one forced George Lucas to sell the Lucasfilm and Star Wars galaxy for $4 billion to Disney. Those “white slavers” as he calls them.

Didn’t Lucas create Jar-Jar Binks?

Uh, I’ll just leave that out there, Mr. Lucas.

But Lucas is simply much the same as the rest of us in the modern age: immediately regretful of what we no longer have, though we didn’t treat it all that well when we had it and unable to move on to something else until we’ve sufficiently trashed it.

Sadly, the rest of us don’t have the $4 billion to ease the burden of negativity. Careful, George; remember what that path of anger and resentment can lead to?

But there’s another, deeper, more sinister than Sith reason we turned so quickly on Star Wars: The Force Awakens: snark.

The snark is all around us. Our snide remarks are becoming our only remarks as we remove ourselves more and more from the actual world to engaging with the vast majority of people electronically.

Would you really type half of what you do if you were to see the person in a hallway?

And how often has pressure from others led you to comment or fire off at the fingertips that which you wouldn’t have said previously?

Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie called Chip Kelly a culture-builder, an excellent coach, someone he liked and respected and someone who didn’t need to prove anything to anyone just four months ago, in September 2015.

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Last week, Lurie couldn’t fire Kelly fast enough, leaked false info to the press about it, and generally smeared him for 48 straight hours.

Why?

The nameless, faceless social media mobs in full snark attack mode, pushed Lurie – who gave Andy Reid 14 years on the job until hiring Kelly – to do the exact opposite of what he said.

We’re all engaged in social media in some way, yet we’re terrified of it at the same time.

We hate to scroll through the feeds and see nearly 75 percent of what we are subjected to see, but addicted to the habit or the “information” we think we’re getting.

We don’t want to put it down, but we can’t put it up.

For every viral post about a child who had their wish fulfilled or someone doing a good deed for someone, there are 4,553 posts of selfies, quizzes and generally everyone complaining about something.

Better still: a good deed has to go “viral” to get the proper attention for it. Remember, if it is not on social media, it didn’t happen right?

Then again, there’s plenty of jibberish that passes through social media that does not pass the sniff test. Take the endless election cycle, for instance.

I’m not sure what I think about any of the 2016 presidential candidates because of the sensory overload I’ve experienced during the start of the campaign season.

And because I have no idea what they actually want to do through some combination of overexposure and underexposure, I feel completely unprepared to vote in six months, even though my state will vote too late for the primary to actually matter.

There’s both sincerity and sarcasm in that last paragraph. Sadly.

The truth is, I somewhat pity these folks. True, they make these boneheaded mistakes themselves, only to nosedive in polls that I thought everyone agreed three years ago didn’t really matter, but still.

If we thought the era of social media and treading and mea culpas had reached it’s pinnacle, think again. We’re roasting these candidates on the open fire of social media.

You step into the world of snark, you best come ready. Not many survive. And unfortunately, these candidates can’t play it cool like the rest of us: chilling on the sidelines, sharing only what we want to share, what we assume the online world wants to see from us: perceived perfection.

It is what we strive for now, perception. It can be any different types. We can become anything we want online, through our Insta-feeds, Twitter bios and Facebook posts.

We can be funny, we can be mysterious. We can be brooding, we can be political. We can be fit, we can be alcoholics. We can be vain, caring, jet-setters and turbulent.

I am sure it is not that cut and dry. I am certainly guilty of it, too. You can click through status updates and pictures of my five children, my wife and myself and you’d get a bunch of pearly whites and smiles at the intersection of Constant Fun and Perfect Family.

We are only perfect for us, folks. And some days, my neurosis leads me to wonder if I’m even perfect for them that day. We get angry. We cry. We lose our temper when the milk is spilled for the thirtieth time in 12 days.

You might like us for an afternoon or weekend, but we would get on your nerves, I swear. And likewise, I bet you would get on ours, too.

We’re all looking around at each other like we have got it together, but in reality, we are running our day-to-day lives more like the Cleveland Browns than the New England Patriots.

But apparently, life just looks better with a filter.

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Of course it does. Any sunset with palm trees and beaches looks enviable.

If it is your daily life that could use some contrast, sharpness, color and filter adjusted, consider being more social and less media.

Personally, my goal  in 2016 is to be a bit more transparent, to be more positive in my day-to-day life, less anxious and neurotic, and do my best to enjoy the present moment, unfiltered.

Plus, I have got to pay more attention to this presidential election thing.

I still don’t know what they stand for.

The polls say that’s not good, considering my gender, party affiliation, race, breakfast intake, height, income and inclination to watch Friends re-runs with my wife on Netflix.

 

 

 

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Chip Kelly, LeSean McCoy, Michael Vick, NFL, Oregon Ducks, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins

A Chip off the new Block

Chip Kelly thinks his Philadelphia Eagles – who rattled off 53 plays before halftime to the tune of 24 offensive points and 322 yards – were too slow on offense.
(Eyes roll across America).
Really, Chip?
C’mon, buddy. Don’t be that guy.
“I felt like it was slow, to be honest with you,” Kelly said when asked about the first quarter. “We put the ball on the ground too much, we didn’t get the ball to the officials, we could have sped things up. … That’s something we need to continue to work on.”
Fine, you go do that, Chip. Go work on it, run your guys into the ground and burn ‘em out.
But for today, just know it was fast. So fast Twitter’s obnoxious commentators couldn’t keep up. One play on average of every 22 seconds. Oregon in disguise as Philadelphia. Defenders sucking wind, Jon Gruden gushing your praises like he would pay anything to attend one of your coaching clinics.
If we talked about New England’s offensive speed, Philadelphia makes the Patriots offense look like a turtle crossing a highway.
But I’m actually not writing to heap more praise on top of Kelly for a great half of football. I’m writing because I want to know what’s wrong with us? Are we just that unhappy?
I’m referring to all those negative Nelly’s out there who take a beautiful moment like last night and begin bashing it.
To recap:
            It won’t work all season
            Michael Vick can’t survive this pace
            LeSean McCoy will need leg transplants
            Everyone will be hurt and ticked off by Week 7
These are all variations of things I heard in the first 24 hours of the Eagles rolling the Redskins last night. Whether or not they are valid is not the point. We’re so obsessed with “calling it” that we can’t enjoy anything. What I mean is we have a sick obsession with tearing others down. We write the history before it actually happens. We think we know exactly what’s going to happen before it happens.
The last thing we should do is listen to people who think they know everything. They don’t.
And this does not just apply to sports, but life in general. So I should listen to my broke friend on monetary advice? Tell me again why my new business venture won’t work, again, please.
How about some nutritional advice from someone who is in poor health, or relationship advice from someone who’s never really been in a relationship. Yes, single at 45, please tell me what the keys to a successful marriage are.
We think everyone wants to hear our opinion – on everything – but they don’t. The truth is, we’re watching people on TV who are paid to tell us what they think and we do either two things with it: agree or disagree.
There are varying shades of agreement, but really, that’s what it boils down to. The problem comes from others telling you why they think it’s right or wrong with a conviction of perfection behind it – an absolute believe of knowing they are right.
But you can’t know anything for sure. Nothing is guaranteed. A hundred things happening right now are changing the course of what will happen in the next five minutes. So we really don’t know anything – we just assume to know based on a number of internal factors.
So here’s the thing: I assume that I like this Philadelphia offense and Chip Kelly. I enjoyed what he did at Oregon. Did he ever win a national title? No, but he made Oregon games so much more fun to watch than other college football games. Which is what happened last night in the first half. I enjoyed the first half of the Eagles-Redskins more than I enjoyed any other NFL game this week. I would like to see more. I want to see what happens.
And I don’t need someone on the radio telling me within 12 hours of the game why it won’t ever work long term. Lots of things don’t work long term, partially because they are not supposed to.
So before we totally kill Chip Kelly for what this offense might not do or what it could do to his team, can we just enjoy it for a little while?
Do we know how to do that anymore?
No, because bashing and drama draw eyes and ears. Positive thinking?  Go to church, right? We’d rather trash the new iPhone before it’s been actually seen or used. We’d rather write off a movie that some critic didn’t like than go see it ourselves. We’ll trust complete strangers bashing something on social media before we do our own analysis.
Ease up, ‘Merica. Slow down and smell the roses and stop seeing only the thorns. Life ain’t always beautiful, but it is a beautiful life.
And for 30 minutes, I watched beautiful, fast, fun football last night.
Thanks, Chip Kelly.
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American culture, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, race relations, Riley Cooper, Society

A World of Words

“Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.”
If only this were true.
Those words, from an old nursery rhyme which first appeared in The Christian Recorderaround March of 1862, are perhaps even more relevant today than they were during the Civil War.
We think we’re past the past? That all that pain and anguish from our brutal past as a society is over?
Please.
In the larger scheme of history, we’re not even close to putting this behind us. And yes, while I am referring to the egregiously foul act that a drunken Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver performed at a Kenny Chesney concert, that’s not all we’re dealing with.
The word used by Riley Cooper is without question offensive and incendiary, and his leave of absence from the team today is the right move for everyone involved. But time will pass and in a few years, we’ll remember him as a buffoon or a racist. I hope his sensitivity classes actually bring about change within Cooper, but he is not without peers.
This has garnered media attention because Cooper plays in the NFL. Because the word he used is offensive. Because he is not of a race that is permitted to use the word because of the manner in which his ancestors meant it. Because of the way he meant it.
Yet in schools and playgrounds all over the nation, the word Cooper used is repeated, either with hateful spite or comedic intentions. And it’s not the only word. How about the popularity of using the r-word in a joking or spiteful manner about someone who is lacking intelligence? How about words meant to slander someone of another religious creed?
As humans, we inherently think we’re more advanced than those who came before us – but we have yet to move on from the divides that emotionally charge us.
Words without action, without intent, are indeed just a bunch of letters strung together. They can do no harm. But for thousands of years, we’ve lived in a world full of verbal and written communication. The power of words is never more evident that in our current environment. Laws are carefully worded so that the correct usage and intent are understood. Speeches are crafted artfully to convey meaning and invoke action. Words will continue to play an unparalleled role in the lives of people all over the world as they connect us – and disconnect us – from each other.
We ought to say what we mean and mean what we say. That way, we’d know what’s truly in someone’s heart. That way, we’d know if we should accept their apology should they make a mistake. Most of us recognize that we ourselves are not without blame. We’ve said the wrong thing and not meant it. Sometimes, we say the wrong thing knowing as we speak we don’t mean it, but it comes out in anger anyway.
This is why we forgive, even if we can’t forget. There are probably a thousand hurtful things I’ve said to people in my thirty-plus years (none as offensive as Cooper, though). I don’t remember them – but I can remember the 25 or 30 things that were said to me that I found most hurtful. Those words have left an impact on me forever. They will drive me or motivate me or cripple me.
As a forgiving as a society as we are, a lot of that forgiveness hinges on how sincere you are before, during and after an incident and how you ultimately purport yourself on a daily basis. Essentially, we answer the question for you: are you genuine?
Because really, that’s what it comes down to – being authentic.
And to be honest, we’ve lost authenticity in this world. We’re too easily influenced by our surroundings, popular culture, professional athletes and entertainers. We want to be as real as reality TV. Except we fail to remember how not real it is.
We’re losing ground, folks. There’s been a gradual loss in personal decorum over the generations and we’re now in this purgatory as a society. We’re not taking ourselves seriously with how we dress, act and speak – to each other and to ourselves. It has eroded our values. Yet we have lost – and continue to lose what makes us – and made us – us. As individuals, as families, as communities and as a nation. We are looked at funny if we say “Yes, Ma’am” or “No, sir.”
People don’t talk like that anymore, including adults. And if we don’t as adults, then why would teenagers or children?
Now, as the world rapidly evolves with technology, we’re at a crossroads. All the tools used to communicate have caught up to what we’re able to say, but we’ve got nothing good to say. We post Instagram photos of drunken celebrities, clever e-cards or retweet a link to some athlete complaining about how the rules for picking Pro Bowlers have changed.
Can you imagine what Machiavelli, da Vinci, Plato, Lincoln or a host other others would have done with a blog, a web site, Twitter account or Facebook profile?
So Riley Cooper has his problems. Yeah, well, we’re clearly not perfect either. This does not excuse his actions. On the contrary, I remain outraged by the word he used and the manner and context in which he used it. But before we sweep this whole thing under the rug, per usual, in a week or two, let’s use this as a teachable moment as a society.
We cannot change others, only ourselves. And if our efforts to evolve are meant with sincerity – if we mean what we say about wanting to move on and becoming a better country, about being better to each other, then it must begin with us as individuals.

Let’s leave the harm to sticks and stones and use our words to help and hope.
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Andy Reid, Chicago Bears, Chip Kelly, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, fired NFL coaches, Lovie Smith, NFL, Norv Turner, Oregon Ducks, Pat Shurmur, Philadelphia Eagles, Rex Ryan, Tony Romo

The Firing Squad


Round and round we go.
The yearly – and highly predictable – coaching carousel in the NFL made it’s big return.
Of the 20 NFL teams that began their off-season Monday, half of them made at least one firing of a head coach or front office personnel.
The names and faces change, but not really. They go from place to place. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so they say. If you were an NFL coach or general manager fired on Pink Slip Monday, fret not, you’ll most likely have a new job, in many cases the same as your old one, very soon.
Five NFL coaches were fired Monday, including Lovie Smith of the Bears and Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles, two long-tenured coaches with overall winning records. The list also included Norv Turner of the Chargers, Pat Shurmur of the Browns and Ken Whisenhunt of the Cardinals.
Why did these coaches get fired, but not, say Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys? Or Rex Ryan of the Jets? I mean that inquisitively as to the bigger question, not actually why. I get why – most of these coaches failed to do something, like reach the playoffs, win a Super Bowl, change the culture of the locker room – something. So the “why” is there, but not the “why” of “to what point and purpose”?
A friend texted me after Tony Romo turned into Tony “Oh-No!” again Sunday night, asking if the Cowboys would finally do something about Romo and move on. My response was that though it may be better for all sides, why? Romo isn’t a Top 10 quarterback in the NFL, but he is in the top half of the league, right? So if you’re going to “improve” or “upgrade” the position, it better be for someone, well, better, right? Otherwise, what’s the point? And are we sure Romo is entirely the problem?
The point is the same with coaches. Is Lovie Smith one of the top five or 10 coaches in the NFL? No, probably not. Is he better than half? Probably. Was Lovie the problem? How do we even know? He’s the same coach who guided them to a 7-1 start this season. But what has never improved and been a recurring source of problems is the offensive line. It’s downright gross. I don’t like Jay Cutler, but I fear for his future health all the same with the brutality of the hits he takes each year.
Yet it’s easier to fire a coach than it is to suddenly get a brand new offensive line that works. It may be a severely flawed theory, but it’s one all the same: the coach will make these less than mediocre lineman better, either through film, motivation or some other intangible. Basically, he’ll cover the scouts mistakes on draft day.
That’s like arguing that you bought bad fish at the market, but expect the chef to fork over the greatest tilapia you’ve ever tasted. It’s backwards logic.
But, as we’ve covered, it’s just easier. It gives the illusion and appearance that changes are being made and things are going to be different.  
New coaches! New era! Same players!
The culprit in many of these cases tends to be poor quarterback play or a bad offensive line that can’t produce a good ground game or protect said quarterback. But how much of that has to do with the coach? Generally, it seems as though bad coaches can win with good players (see Jim Caldwell’s Super Bowl appearance with Indianapolis), but good coaches have a hard time winning with bad players. There’s only so much a coach, good or bad, can do. I can diagram a terrific play, but if the players don’t execute it, it’s not a terrific play anymore.
Only 12 of 32 teams make the NFL playoffs, that means roughly 60 percent of the league is done now. If the requirements for coaching in the NFL include making the playoffs every year or two, then good luck with any semblance of job security. Some years you just don’t have it. We’ve rapidly increased our intolerance for meeting fan and front office expectations.
Just because something seems like it should be working or winning doesn’t mean it does for a variety of factors. And what about if you’ve been terrible for a long period of time? For example, when I saw the Browns, they just looked different this year. They were competitive, they were going in the right direction. They ended up 5-11, but they feel like a team that could turns the corner next season. They, too, fired their coach.
So it’s been decreed: you must go to the playoffs to keep your job, no matter who you are. In some situations, you must go to the playoffs more than a certain number of times in a certain number of years, but we just can’t tell you exactly what that looks like. And we’d really like you to win the Super Bowl, even though only 7 franchises have won the Super Bowl in the last 11 seasons.
If we aren’t setting realistic expectations, then we’re expecting unrealistic results.
It’s not to say that some shouldn’t be fired. It’s necessary or just time in some cases. But 5-7 coaches every year? What have you done for me lately, Tom Coughlin? Welcome to the 2013 Hot Seat.
After being fired Monday, many of these coaches were rumored for other gigs on Tuesday – like Reid in Arizona or Kansas City. Lovie Smith might end up as a defensive coordinator for some team on the cusp.
And there’s our punch-line to this bad joke: these guys keep finding six and seven figure jobs in other places, within weeks of being let go for failure to accomplish nearly the same tasks in their old employment. If they were CEOs, they won’t sniff another job like that unless they built something else from the ground up, and never for a rival company.
From this perspective, it’s apparent professional sports still can’t decide if it’s a business or not. Less risk, less innovation. Coaches get hired and immediately get conservative. Take Shurmur with the Browns, again. Though I just partially defended his two years in Cleveland as not being long enough, there wasn’t anything revolutionary about his tenure.
Known for his offensive mind after grooming Sam Bradford’s solid rookie season in St. Louis, his players in Cleveland complained last month at how stale and predictable the offense was.
Predictably, Shurmur got the head gig and wanted to keep it and feared that veering too far from the norm as a head coach and trying radically new things would make for a more volatile fan base and negative media coverage. So he reverted to what everybody else did or does as a head coach. His results: much like everybody else.  
So who’s the hot coaching name this off-season? Chip Kelly of Oregon, who’s revolutionized the college game with his speedy offense. Why would Chip Kelly want to do go to the NFL and become like everybody else? Right now, the odds are long that Kelly will take a job. He turned down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, who had a better team than many of this year’s suitors.
Thus without innovation in the NFL, since there’s so much coverage of doing anything “different”, it basically ensures we get the same old candidates popping up, ensuring that the merry-go-round will just continue.
The same thing will happen next year, another 5-7 coaches will be fired, finding similar jobs in different cities. Maybe it’s a reflection of the times – we’re too impatient to build anything anymore. We’re not patient enough to completely innovate something new and give it time to grow. Coaches don’t stay in the same place very long, to the point where 5-8 seasons is considered a lifetime, either by choice or by force.
Are we fans that demanding, that our power sways those in the decision making positions of our favorite teams feel compelled to make swift change for the sake of showing that they care about what we want? If so, why doesn’t this work with our elected officials in government? They are put there by us, unlike professional sports. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Regardless, another post-holiday blues begins to settle in as the NFL winds down, once again with the stark realization that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Someone break the cycle – make real changes to who your workers are, invest in innovation, give it time to grow.
Maybe whoever does won’t be looking for a new coach in two or three years.
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