"I want Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie to fail"
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"I want Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie to fail"
OK, so the headline was a little bit of Rush Limbaugh-ism there. I don't really want Joe Banner and Jeff Lurie to fail, since their mission -- or so we've been led to believe -- is to get the Eagles' back to the Super Bowl, and to win it this time. Any Philadelphia football fan wants that with a passion.
Still, it would be nice to have an election every four years, so we could throw these bums out. When you think about it, being an Eagles fan is a lot like being an American citizen. You support the colors, whether it's the red, white and blue or the latest shade of green, and you celebrate the underlying principles, whether it's the Bill of Rights or a Sunday of hard-hitting football and tailgating in South Philly. But you don't have to blindly support your "government."
OK, it's not on the level of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shredding the Constitution, but the Eagles' management sure is pretty heavy-handed when it comes to the concept of free speech. It's merely tacky and classless when they complain to the newspapers that other teams are getting more coverage than them (although the Phillies pretty much put that issue to bed by winning the World Series). It was chilling when they reached out to get WIP's Angelo Cataldi suspended for two days for criticizing Eagles' security policies over the air. (OK, he used the "n" word, as in "Nazis," but still...a suspension?), creating the no-doubt-desired perception that criticizing Eagles' management can be hazardous to your career.
Now we have this absolutely infuriating episode:
On game days, Leone served as the west gate chief. The gig required Leone to hustle to different areas of the stadium as needed. That was tough. His left leg is weaker than his right, and standing for too long gives him severe pain in his right knee and hip because that's where he shifts all his weight. While on duty, he sometimes needed a wheelchair to get around.
"They had me running all over the place like a nut, but I didn't care," Leone said. "I was so proud to work for them. It was my dream."
Last week, the Eagles fired Leone.
Like a lot of Philadelphians, Leone was upset when Dawkins became a Bronco. So he did what a 32-year-old does these days: He vented on Facebook. "Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver. . .Dam Eagles R Retarted!!"
The story's been out there for a couple of days, but if you missed it you should read the whole thing. Understood, the Eagles are a private company and are within their rights to fire an employee. A private company, but as the only pro football franchise in a football-crazed city, a kind of a public trust. A public trust that cares more about shallow public relations than their actual public. Reprimand this guy, sure, but fire him? The whole thing just feels like a metaphor for how Lurie and Banner view the "little people" who pack their stadium every fall.
I won't even get into some of their recent baffling on-the-field moves, losing Dawkins and their puzzling strategy for the offensive line (i.e., they don't have one). The most offensive line is the one coming from the Eagles' front office, that ultimately harmless criticism gets met with massive retaliation. By the way, I do have one quibble with Dan Leone, which is I don't like it when "retarded" is used as an insult, but I don't think that's what offended the Eagles.
So I'd love to see all of Philadelphia paraphrase Dan Leone, rise up and say in unison:
Dam Eagles R Screwed Up.
Boo freaking hoo. He can't spell, he uses a derogatory slur and he trashes his employer. Idiot.— jimmymack
Since Will is always wrong, the opposite would have to be right. Support Eagles management.— jmc
A sweet irony nonetheless. Fire the guy for fear he's a public relations threat ("can't be trusted"), and end up with infinitely more bad press than if they'd ignored it. By the same standard, the person who decided to fire him should get a "courtesy call", too.- E. Pleb., I'm totally confused by your post. Do you mean that by posting "Dam Eagles R Retarted", he is not trashing his employer? By putting quotation marks around "employer" do you mean that the Eagles weren't his employer? I would sarcastically argue that the "city's major newspapers" has about the same readership as Dan's facebook page. Maybe you haven't seen the articles, but people are getting FIRED for putting, "xxx is bored at work" as their status on FB. This clown takes a shot at his own organization, and uses a culturally insensitive way to do it?? Try this, E. Pleb. -- make sure your boss, and bosses several layers up are your "friends" on FB. Then use a racial or sexual slang way of saying how incompetent your organization is. Report back on how long it takes to lose your job.— IggleFan68
- There are two lessons here: don't rip your employer in a public forum, and don't post dumb stuff on your Facebook page--your employer could be watching.— Captain Awesome
- How does George Bush become a part of this story ?— g.farm
- Iggle, in addition to the 'omerta' code I referred to in Will's previous post, there was another unwritten code in my hometown. I can remember coming home as a child and repeating a phrase I'd heard at school, "Uncle Dupie" to my mother (a mildly derogatory term the locals used to refer to the DuPont plant nearby). I got a good scolding never to repeat that in public, for fear that it could jeopardize my uncle's job as a technician at the plant.
- Ed Snider and Peter Lukko would have never handled it this way. Just sayin'...— Tartan69
- Wilburrrr- isn't it time for a story about the utter failure of the Wizard of UHHHH'sssssss ???????? Stock market down over 25% SINCE HE TOOK OFFICE. Have you heard about this yet?— WriteWinger
- Anyone who says that they Eagles shouldn't have fired this clown has never ran a business.— Delco Conservative
- "How does George Bush become a part of this story ?" . . . Only that he's the current bellwether by which all acts of fascism should be judged.
- That's funny, my face post on the eagles genius front office moves and all of a sudden a care package with jersey's, stickers, beersteins, a replica of my sect 126 seat chair arrives at my door. If you needed a wheelchair you should've been fired already, what kind of dirty old man has a face page anyway? Funny how you haven't gotten interviews on national shows.— Onlineps2beast
Comment removed.- "Anyone who says that they Eagles shouldn't have fired this clown has never ran a business." . . . . To paraphrase an earlier comment, what does "running a business" have to do with this story? Or the Eagles, for that matter?
- ---}}} Stock market down over 25% SINCE HE TOOK OFFICE {{{--- You gotta love this logic. Yesterday, the Dow rises some 6%? Why? Because Citi announced profits and it stirred a positive momentum among investors. Imagine that. It seemed that investors were making decisions based on the profitability of companies, but clearly that is a misconception. Thank god WriteWinger is around to straighten us out.— Talking point sleuth
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