IS ON THE TRADE RUMOR TRAIL
What would veterans' check-in day at Lehigh be without an unexpected curveball?
As the Escalades and Hummers began rumbling into the players' lot this afternoon, the Pro Football Talk Web site reported that Birds guard Shawn Andrews might not report because he is dissatisfied with his contract.
Your Eagletarian immediately called Andrews' agent, Rich Moran (which is the sort of thing we old-media types still like to do, rather than just throwing rumors up on the internet to raise sand). Moran said Andrews will not be at Lehigh tonight, but it is "100 percent wrong" to say his absence has anything to do with his contract. Moran said Andrews is dealing with a personal matter. He would not elaborate, other than to say it isn't the kind of personal matter where you check into rehab, or anything.
"Shawn has been in contact with Andy Reid a couple of times today," Moran said.
An Eagles spokesman was attempting to get a statement from Reid as we posted this. We'll update when that happens.
Sounds like the kind of thing that will be forgotten this time next week, but you never know for sure.
Meanwhile, no Brian Westbrook yet. New agent Todd France has not returned calls seeking comment.
Asante Samuel is the only prominent veteran who has made an appearance. Samuel actually checked in this morning, a rare thing for an Eagles vet, given that you don't absolutely have to be here until 7 p.m., and few vets seem all that eager to get a head start on sampling the charms of Bethlehem.
Les Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
Paul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.
