When the Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick to a two year deal the only people who were not surprised were the Eagles front office and Vick, his agent was probably stunned. Then Roger Goodell decided suspension until week three was enough of a penalty, Tony Dungy must be a heck of a salesman. Due to those two events we’ve been steamrolling towards this weekend, when he would actually step on to the field against the Kansas City Chiefs. Given Vick’s past actions the move has garnered understandable scrutiny and speculation; it’s even produced questionable marketing opportunities. Now I can’t help you navigate the complicated moral quagmire that is getting your dog a #7 jersey, I can tell you that getting yourself a #7 Ron Mexico jersey would be freaking sweet! I can also give you some easy answers to questions you might face at your local watering hole …

Mid-day sports talk host Jody Mcdonald announced at the end of his show Friday that he would be leaving 950 ESPN.

“This is the last show I will be doing for this radio station. The radio station has decided to go in another direction and I am perfectly fine with that,” said the veteran radio host. “They informed me this week that my services are no longer needed.”

Apparently, the move did not come as a surprise to Mcdonald.

“I saw it coming…I knew this job was going to end at some time, and it officially ends today. I will miss talking to Philadelphia sports fans, they’re the best on the planet,” Mcdonald says. “I’m not retired, I’m not going anywhere, I’ve got other gigs right now…This has been my home for 19 years…I truly hope I get to talk Philadelphia sports with you again down the road at another radio station.”

Dan Schwartzman, currently the host of the evening show The Locker Room, will join current midday co-host Harry Mayes as Mcdonald’s replacement.

According …

The Erin Andrews peephole video has touched a nerve with many in the sports and news community, me included. In case you were out of the country for the past week, a video was posted on the internet that was allegedly of a naked Andrews in a hotel room, apparently taken through a peephole from an adjacent room. The video was then given credibility when Andrews’ lawyers, and counsel for ESPN, began contacting the various websites that had posted the video. [NOTE: To those of you who try to search for the video, beware. Many of the supposed videos out there right now contain viruses for  both Mac and Windows computers.]

The video has generated outrage from all over the sports and news world, and has imposed what I can only imagine is limitless amounts of humiliation upon Andrews. Unfortunately, those of us in the blogging community [and quite frankly anyone that watches ET or buys US Weekly] are too used to this kind of …

Phillies’ reliever J.C. Romero is eligible to join the team Wednesday, as his 50-game suspension for banned substances officially ends.

Romero was arguably the Phillies best reliever in 2008, aside from the perfect Brad Lidge, with a 2.75 ERA.

How will Romero fit into a bullpen that is already about a third of the way through the season? Manager Charlie Manuel addressed that topic last week.

“Chan Ho Park, [Chad] Durbin, and [Clay] Condrey . . . can become two-inning pitchers for us,” Manuel said. “Then we have [Brad] Lidge, [Ryan] Madson, Romero, and Scott Eyre.”

Absent from that list were lefties Jack Taschner and Sergio Escalona. Chances are, one of them will be sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for Romero.

With Madson and Lidge firmly entrenched in the eight and ninth innings, respectively, and Eyre performing as a late inning left-handed specialist, look for Romero to slide right into the seventh inning slot. Durbin, Condrey, and Park are able to pitch multiple innings and largely do …

If you’ve ever listened to the afternoon drive show on 950 ESPN Radio with Mike Missanelli, you know that nothing upsets him more than when a member of the out-of-town media refers to Philly’s reputation as a town of tough, mean, rude fans. If you listen to his show, you also know that Missanelli, unlike many other radio personalities, does not hide behind the mike, but will confront those people he has issue with head on. He has recently taken on various members of the national media, from Yahoo sports to his own ESPN, including the oft controversial Collin Cowherd. This is why I have an immense amount of respect for Missanelli and in the spirit of full disclosure, I am an avid listener to his show.

That being said, it came as no surprise that Missanelli took particular issue with comments made on ESPN’s First Take on Monday by Skip Bayless. Bayless was discussing the actions of Dallas Maverick fans during a recent playoff game, and …

Well even the return of Thaddeus Young, and the absence of Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and the limited playing time of Paul Pierce could not stop the Sixers from losing, again.

Yea, Young looked good, scoring 18 pointsin nearly 29 minutes. But I don’t care. This team sucks, lately. I know, I’m being harsh, but this is ridiculous.

The Sixers led through most of the game last night, but did what they have been doing all season, let the lead slip away at the end.

Last night was the home finale, Fan Appreciation Night. They were playing a depleted Celtics team with literally zero to play for (they have the second seed locked up and can’t make it to the first seed), and how did they repay a well packed house? With another uninspiring, blown-lead loss.

The loss means the Sixers have to win tonight in Cleveland and the Bulls have to lose tonight at home against Toronto in order to lock up the sixth seed and play the Magic …

The Eagles are going to the NFC Championship Game!!!

And oh, by the way, the 76ers recorded their fourth straight game with a 109-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, the fifth best team in the Eastern Conference.

“First I’d like to thank the people who watched our game,” said Sixers’ coach Tony DiLeo.  “They are true Sixers fans. I know there was another game going on.”

The Sixers played perhaps their best game of the season, shotting 54.7 percent from the floor, 60 percent from the three-point line, 85.7 percent from the free-throw line, 27 assists, a plus-15 rebounding margin.

Andre Iguodala led all scorers with 27 points, to go along with nine assists and six rebounds. Thadeus Young continues to prove that he is the best Sixers’ draft pick since Iguodala, or perhaps even the other A.I., with 22 points and nine rebounds of his own.

Equally as impressive was rookie forward Marreese Speights, who was 6-of-7 for 12 points and eight rebounds.

“I’m just going out …

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With the news Monday that the Phillies reached a two-year agreement with pitcher Jamie Moyer, and the signing late last week of Raul Ibanez, resolving the question of who will replace Pat Burrell in leftfield, GM Ruben Amaro Jr. should now focus on sowing up the rotation and signing a fifth starter.

I know that sounds a bit aggressive, especially for the usually play it safe Phillies, but if they can sign someone like Derek Lowe or Ben Sheets, it will give them arguably the best rotation in the National League. Picture this: Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Lowe/Sheets, Moyer and Joe Blanton.

Adding a fifth starter would ensure that Kyle Kendrick, J.A. Happ, and Carlos Carrasco will be able to spend more time developing in the minor leagues. It would also ensure that Adam Eaton has no shot at starting for the Phillies, and would make it very unlikely that newly acquired Chan Ho Park gets a shot at the starting rotation either. As much as I like …

Major League Baseball started rolling out their individual awards Monday, naming Geovany Soto and Evan Longoria the National League and American League Rookies of the Year, respectively.

Longoria, a third baseman for the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays, was the unanimous selection of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He notched 27 homers and 85 RBIs in his first major league season.

Soto, the catcher for the Chicago Cubs, was nearly as popular after hitting 23 homers and 86 RBIs of his own.

Longoria is the first Rookie of the Year in the Rays’ 11-year history. He is also the first third-baseman to win the award since his teammate Eric Hinske did it in 2002 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Soto is the first Cub to achieve the honor since Kerry Wood did it in 1998. He is also the first Rookie of the Year catcher since Reading native Mike Piazza did it with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993.

The NL Cy Young award winner will be announced Tuesday.

This year’s World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays is about as an unlikely matchup as we’re ever to find.

Despite only being in the major leagues for 10 years, the Rays have the worst winning percentage of any team in the league. They have won just 42% of their 1779 games, four percentage points worse than the next worst team, the San Diego Padres. Until the 2008 season, the Rays were better than last place just once, and that was in 2004 when they were in fourth place in the AL East.

The Phillies, as we all know, have more losses than any other franchise in professional sports history. That is due in large part to the fact that the franchise has been around for 125 years. It is also a result of them having a winning percentage of just 47%, 26th worst in major league history. The Fightin Phils have a better winning percentage than just the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, …

It is hard to be too upset and down about your football team when your baseball team is sitting pretty in the MLB “final four”, but alas, we are in Philadelphia and this is still a football town.  Until the Phillies prove the same dominance that the Eagles have in recent years, this will remain a football town.  However, if things continue on the path that they are on now with the Eagles struggling and the Phils on the verge of their first World Series berth since 1993, this will slowly but surely become a baseball town.

On that note, the Eagles are still the king and therefore, they deserve our scrutiny and constructive criticism.  After a disappointing performance versus the Bears, the Birds looked to rebound against a team in the Redskins who were riding an emotional high after defeating the Cowboys in Big D.  Unfortunately, here we are five weeks into the season and the Birds sit at 2-3 after a 23-17 loss at the hands of Washington.

Boy…where to begin?  Well, the easy place to start …

1) New York Giants:  Record 4-0 (Beat Seahawks 44-6)

2) Washington:  Record 4-1 (Beat the Eagles 23-17)

3) Dallas:  Record 4-1 (Beat the Bengals 31-22)

4) Denver:  Record 4-1 (Beat the Bucs 16-13)

5) Tennessee:  Record 5-0 (Beat Ravens 13-10)

6) Pittsburgh:  Record 4-1 (Beat the Jags 26-21)

7) Carolina:  Record 4-1  (Beat the Chiefs 34-0)

Tampa Bay:  Record 3-2 (Lost to Denver 13-10)

9) Buffalo:  Record 4-1 (Lost to Cards 41-17)

10) New England:  Record 3-1 (Beat SF 30-21)

11) Jacksonville: record: 2-3 (Lost to Steelers 26-21)

12) Indianapolis:  Record 2-2 (Beat the Texans 31-27 )

13) Miami:  Record 2-2 (Beat the Chargers 17-10)

14) Arizona:  Record 3-2 (Beat the Bills 41-17)

15) Philadelphia:  Record 2-3 (lost to Redskins 23-17)

16) Chicago:  Record 3-2 (Beat Detroit 34-7)
17)  New Orleans:  Record 2-2 (Lost to the Vikings 30-27)

18) San Diego: record: 2-3 (Lost to Dolphins 17-10)

19) Green Bay:  Record 2-3  (Lost to the Falcons 27-24)

20) Atlanta:  Record 3-2  (Beat Green Bay 27-24)

21) New York Jets:  Record 2-2 (Bye)

22) Minnesota:  Record  2-3 (Beat the Saints)

23) San Francisco:  Record 2-3 (Lost …