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Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Sheldon to Drew: Shut Up About Me

       One minute, it was a slightly boring, back-down-to-business, first day of real preparation for the season opener.

       Then, suddenly, it was 2005 again.

       Reporters wanted to know Wednesday how Sheldon Brown felt about Drew Rosenhaus, the agent of his friend and teammate, Lito Sheppard, saying that Sheppard should be starting ahead of Brown in a video Rosenhaus disseminated last week.  (link here.)

     Brown had several thoughts on the matter, starting with his view of Sheppard's idea that changing agents, from  Peter Schaffer to Rosenhaus, would somehow get the Eagles to trade him, which was the ultimate point of last week's video.

    "If you know (Rosenhaus') track record, it's more of a disappointment to me that he enticed the guy into signing with him," Brown said. "Thinking that he could get the deal done. Agents don't get the deals done. The player gets the deal done. That's what's disappointing.

    "I wouldn't say it bothered me, because I'm bigger than that, I'm a professional ... Drew hasn't been with Sheldon Brown for 7 years; I think he's been with Lito for 2 months. He hasn't followed by career. He hasn't broke down any film; he probably couldn't tell you what number (Brown wears). It's really irrelevant ... (from watching the video) you would think the guy has been scouting tape and know(ing) the statistics and following us our whole career.

   "A lot of times, people should just worry about their (own) jobs."

     Brown said he had not spoken to Sheppard, who dresses in the next stall, about what Rosenhaus said. It's a problem for Rosenhaus and Sheppard if Sheppard doesn't start this season, because whenever a trade occurs, Sheppard wants a state-of-the-art contract for an elite corner, which he is unlikely to get as the third guy.

      Brown and Sheppard have been the Birds' starters since the Super Bowl season of 2004. After Sheppard missed 14 games over the past three seasons and began seeking a contract revision, the Eagles signed Asante Samuel to a $57 million free agent deal and gave him Sheppard's spot at left corner. That left Brown and Sheppard to compete at Brown's right corner spot, a competition Brown seems to have won, for now.

       Sheppard saw the large group of reporters at Brown's stall and took a seat at Sean Considine's cublicle, several lockers away from his own. But the savvy newshounds eventually realized he was not Considine, and approached him for comment anyway.

    Sheppard said he hadn't seen the video. But under pointed questioning about how smart it was for Rosenhaus to get one of Sheppard's closest friends angry about being included in Sheppard's get-away bid, Sheppard adamantly defended his agent.

    "That's between him and Drew," Sheppard said at first. "I didn't say it. (Bleep). What did (Rosenhaus say)?"

    Given a quick synopsis, Sheppard said: "Ask Drew about that."

     When it was pointed out that Rosenhaus represents Sheppard, and thus said these things in Sheppard's name, Sheppard said: "He wasn't talking to ya'll, he wasn't talking to Sheldon, he was talking to the organization."

    Someone pointed out that a YouTube video is not a private conversation with Joe Banner.

   "You're right, he did put it out there, didn't he?" Sheppard agreed.

     "I have no control over how he forms his argument about my situation," Sheppard said. "Stats are stats. It is what it is. If it takes him to say stuff like that, then obviously, he feels like it's a point to be made. As far as me, I'm never going to talk bad about somebody else, especially on my team, to try to uplift myself. I'm not that kind of guy.

     "So ya'll tell me why I'm not starting. I mean, that's the question. (Signing Samuel) has nothing to do with me."

   (Insert photo of puzzled reporters scratching their heads. Huh? Of course it had something to do with you, Lito.)

     "I let him do his job and I do mine. I ain't got no problem with nothing he does. If that's what ya'll are asking, I don't have a problem with it."

   Ask if he worried this could become a distraction similar to the Terrell Owens follies of 2005 (also co-starring Rosenhaus), Sheppard said: "If it does, it does. If it don't, it don't. I'm just playing football and doing my best and letting everything else take care of itself."

      Asked if he felt the T.O. drama affected the team, Sheppard said: "Of course ... but it started with you guys ... the distractions start with you."

   (More head-scratching. Wasn't it Sheppard who two days earlier suggested we should all ask coaches why he wasn't starting?)

    "Right, but that's not down-talking anybody on this team," Sheppard said.

   "I back Drew, whatever he does and however he does it. Otherwise I wouldn't have hired him."

   Even if it upsets a close friend?

   "Hey, well, I'm upset. (Bleep).

    Bleep, indeed.      

Posted by Les Bowen @ 4:03 PM  Permalink | 57 comments
Comments   
Posted 01:57 PM, 09/03/2008
fladd
Love it Sheldon Brown. Spoken like a Champ!
Posted 01:57 PM, 09/03/2008
Shabba Rommel
Typical Rosenhaus MO. I hope the Eagles let Lito sit the whole season on the sidelines as tradebait. Why not, they got him cheap.
Posted 01:59 PM, 09/03/2008
fladd
My first post was 86ed for My honest opinion. Hat's off to S. Brown.
Posted 01:59 PM, 09/03/2008
phillybob
ROSENHAUS...a very smart, underhanded slime of a person who knows what he is doing and will use anyone in any manner to WIN...in the name of doing what is best for his client. SHEPPARD...a guy who doesn't completely understand what is going on or the ruthlessness and lack of ethics employed by the slime that he hired to represent him, and the effect that it is having on people he cares about and ultimately on him.
Posted 02:12 PM, 09/03/2008
MVKrum
Sad. Lito has NO business whining about a contract. Sad. Stay on the field you BUM.
Posted 02:15 PM, 09/03/2008
gho_matt
I hope he comes in on a nickle sitation and breaks his leg... who cares about our loss in trade value, he aint isht anyway.
Posted 02:24 PM, 09/03/2008
Stephen_Niksa
Rosenhaus is nearly as disgusting as Don King. They both thrive on greed.
Posted 02:27 PM, 09/03/2008
Super5
14 games missed in the last 3 years! & he wants a renegotiation? Come on dude!
Posted 02:28 PM, 09/03/2008
Bake McBride
Let Leeetoh return punts and play special teams deeefense!
Comment removed.
Posted 02:35 PM, 09/03/2008
JimG
Lito is dead on. TO didn't act alone back in 2005. You can't have a media circus with a "media". None of this stuff is a distraction if the media doesn't keep asking the players about it over and over every single day. The only distractions come from the media. How sad the state of Philly sports reporting has become when over half of "news" each day consists of asking coaches and players their opinion about something someone else said. This is getting ridiculous. "Hey Sheldon, did you hear what Drew said about Lito?" "Hey Lito, did you hear what Sheldon said about what Drew said about you?" "Hey Sheldon, did you hear what Lito said about what you said about what Drew said about Lito?" You guys are worse than a pack of junior high girls. By the way, there are 50 other guys on the team (plus 8 practice squad players). Can you guys please ask something of someone other than Sheppard, Brown and Samuel? You guys are beating a dead horse. Sheppard wants to start or he wants to be traded and he wants a new contract. We get it. This is the same story we've been hearing about for months.
Posted 02:37 PM, 09/03/2008
greaser0305
Eagles need to sign Sheldon to a lucrative long term deal today. See how how Lito and Drew like that.
Comment removed.
Posted 02:42 PM, 09/03/2008
nervegenerator
This is crazy...Trade him already...Get some value....a 2nd round pick...anything.
Posted 02:49 PM, 09/03/2008
kingsolomonsmind
I hope Lito has a private conversation with his friend Sheldon and patches up the misunderstanding before the season starts. Some things are more important than money. Friendship is one of them. By the same token, I also hope that Lito lasts through the season, plays spectacularly, and gets the new deal he deserves as one of the best corners in the league ... It's a shame that people would actually wish him harm for wanting to be well-compensated for doing his job.
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About Eagletarian Blog
Les BowenLes 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.

You can now follow Les Bowen on Twitter.

Paul DomowitchPaul 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.

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