The Eagles have signed free agent wide receiver Kevin Curtis to a six-year contract worth $32 million with $9.5 million guaranteed.
This space prefers Donte’ Stallworth, but I like the deal nonetheless. More to come…
In another questionable move by the Eagles’ front office, running back Ron Dayne will come in for a visit to discuss the possibility of become the team’s number two running back behind Brian Westbrook.
Many people view the 29 year-old, who was taken with the 11th overall pick by the Giants in 2000, as a complete bust who has never lived up to expectations. Actually, that’s the way Iview him. With that said, Dayne might actually be a decent fit for the Eagles, who will likely call on him for six to ten carries a game.
Last year, in only 11 games with Houston, Dayne 612 yards on 151 carries, for an average of 4.1 yards per carry. When you consider that he was running behind an absolutely awful Texans offensive line, those numbers begin to look pretty good.
The key with Dayne is understanding that he is not a push the pile type of back despite his stout 5′10”, 245 lb. frame. He is a little bit more of a shifty runner than people would anticipate him to be.
Given the choice between Dayne and Eagles free agent Correll Buckhalter, who has missed three of the past five seasons with knee injuries and was only OK in his return last season.
Of course, Corey Dillon still remains on the market, but the likelihood is that he will command more money and be less likely to embrace the roll of backup runningback. He is also three years older than Dayne.
It certainly isn’t Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush, but Brian Westbrook and Ron Dayne could form a nice one-two punch.
Have you ever been in traffic? I’m sure you have. You know when you’re in traffic and the car in front of you starts to slow down (also known as braking), what do you do? You also start to brake. Now, when that person stops, what do you do?? You also stop. So, how come when I’m still half asleep at quarter to 7 in the morning, driving to work, does some dickhead slam into me?? I’ll tell you why, because I was in Pennsylvania and noone in that fucking state can drive normal. What is wrong with people, slam on your goddamn brakes if you have to, that’s how you stop quickly, how you’re not supposed to stop is by slamming into the back of someone else.
So, thank you douschebag for hitting my car, thank you for making me have to wait for an hour and a half for the fucking towtruck to pick my car up, and thank you for making me sit in said tow truck for an hour while we were in the morning rush hour traffic going towards Philly. You suck.
The only saving grace is that the back of my car sustained far less damage than the front of his. Dickhead!
I realize this is a couple weeks after the fact but I felt the need to give Martin Scorcese his credit. This was his 6th time being nominated for the Best Director Academy Award (his 8th overall). I think it was fairly safe to say that everyone knew Marty was going to win, especially when the presenters of this award were Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Speilberg. That was an impressive stage to be on with those four guys.
Winning the Oscar isn’t everything and he sure didn’t need it to validate his legacy as one of the finest American Filmakers, but the man deserved it. Take a look at this, out of the five times he lost out on the Best Director Award, three out of the five were men who are known more as actors.
Robert Redford won for Ordinary People, Kevin Costner won for Dances With Wolves and Clint Eastwood won for Million Dollar Baby (In fairness, you could argue that Clint is far better as a director than he ever was an actor). Of those three, I think MDB was a better picture than The Aviator, but you can’t tell me the other two deserved to win the Best Director and Best Picture Awards. Raging Bull and Goodfellas are absolute gems. When you look at most critic’s picks for movies of the decade for the 80’s and 90’s, chances are you’ll see both films either at the # 1 spot or damn close to it. How could he have not won for either of those movies. Kevin Costner? are you serious Academy? Kevin fucking Costner has a best director oscar but Alfred Hitchcock doesn’t, Stanley Kubrick doesn’t, Sergio Leone doesn’t, ugh. Makes me sick.
Anyway, congrats Marty on your well deserved Oscar.
In case you missed it, the stock market tanked today on concerns about subprime lending. Linked at the bottom of this post is a PDF report that I helped compile last spring as a Graduate Student that goes into the horrors of subprime lending. Folks, these mortgages are bad for the common consumer and you all need to stop getting them!
In short, a subprime or “non-traditional mortgage” (NTM) is any mortgage product that is a departures from the longtime gold standard of lending, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. So when you see these commercials for low-interest loans to help you afford a bigger house - stay away!
These interest rates are only available for a short-period of time (usually a 1 - 7 years) and then an automatic “rate reset” sets in and completely jacks up your interest rate! There is nothing you can do about this rate reset because it’s locked into the terms of the loan. STAY AWAY!
The truth is that if you can’t afford to buy a house in the market today or if you plan on buying a house that you actually want to live in and not flip, then you need to be able to afford that house with a traditional 30-year mortgage rate (by the way, flipping has helped ruin many fixed-income communities - e-mail me if you want more information about that).
In a very weird development, restricted free agent linebacker Ryan Fowler, who reportedly signed a four-year offer sheet on Sunday with the Eagles, has opted to sign with the Titans instead.
Profootballtalk.com reports: “Late last week, the Eagles and the Titans were both negotiating with Fowler, who previously played for the Cowboys. Titans G.M. Mike Reinfeldt, however, had to return to Seattle to deal with a family medical issue. Over the weekend, Fowler’s agent, Alan Herman, was unable to reach Reinfeldt to determine whether the pending offer from the Titans was their final offer.
Acting under the assumption that they had the Titans’ best offer, Herman and Fowler weighed the offers from Tennessee and Philly and Fowler decided to sign the Eagles’ offer sheet.
On Sunday, Reinfeldt got back to Herman, and presented the Titans’ final offer. It was better than the Eagles’ offer. The only problem? Herman already had told the Eagles that Fowler would sign the Eagles’ offer sheet.
As we understand it, Herman explained the situation to the Eagles, and Fowler took Sunday night to make a decision. On Monday morning, he decided to sign the offer sheet from the Titans.”
The reaction here? Good. Perhaps this will force the Eagles hand at actually going out and drafting somebody worth a damn at linebacker instead of handing out mid-range contracts to nobody’s from the NFL’s trash heap.
Interestingly, this is the second time in two seasons that a free agent appeared poised to sign with the Eagles before a last minute change of heart. Last year, center LeCharles Bentley spurned the Eagles and signed a mega-deal with Cleveland, only to blow out his knee and miss the entire 2006 season. It currently appears unlikely that Bentley will play in 2007, putting his career in jeopardy.
The Eagles have not yet commented on the matter and it is not certain that they will.
So, news out of Batman world has Maggie Gyllenhaal being casted as Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins.
I have to say I’m a little torn on this. For one, I must say that I like Maggie. Despite the fact that she looks like a cross between her brother Jake and a Cabbage Patch Kid, she is a very talented actress. She will bring a lot to the role.
Having said that I’m a little disappointed Katie Holmes isn’t returning. Not that she is going to be confused with the Meryl Streeps or Katerine Hepburns of the world, but she was adequate enough in the first one, not to mention the fact that she looks good. One of the things that makes the Spiderman movies great is that all the principal characters have been together. I love that. I guess the silver lining is at least it’s this character and not that of Batman, or Alfred, or Gordon, or even Lucius Fox (I love Morgan Freeman by the way). So I don’t know if Tom wouldn’t let her or maybe she doesn’t feel up to it w/ a baby at home, but she should have done this movie. But, what can ya do. This movie still has all the potential to completely kick ass, and I can’t wait for it!
I don’t feel I need to justify that. Just every time I hear these ridiculous comments coming from her fat, bloated, idiotic mouth it makes me cringe. Go away already. You offer nothing; you’re not funny, you’re not intelligent, and I actually vomit a little every time I look at you. Ugh, I hate the fact that she’s in “A League of Their Own” because that actually means I like something that she was a part of.
Former Eagles’ wide receiver Donte’ Stallworth has signed a six-year contract with the New England Patriots for $30 million, $12 million of which is guaranteed. Reports suggest that the contract is essentially a one-year deal worth $3.6 million should the Patriots decide that Stallworth is not worth the rest of the rather large signing bonus.
It’s not that the Stallworth is fleeing Philadelphia is a surprise, it is that the Eagles opted not to match what appears to be a very modest deal from the Patriots.
Maybe the Eagles made Stallworth a similar offer and he simply chose New England, where he could catch passes from future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady on a team that is the early favorite to reach the Super Bowl. Maybe the Eagles didn’t offer him anything at all. Still, it is a disappointing end to the Stallworth saga for Eagles fans, who once again are left scratching their heads at another unpopular decision by Joe Banner, Tom Heckert, and Andy Reid.
The Eagles have signed Cowboys’ free agent linebacker Ryan Fowler to an offer sheet reportedly worth $10.5 million over four-years. Fowler is a restricted free agent, but because he was undrafted the Cowboys will receive no compensation should they choose not to re-sign him.
Fowler, a quality special teams player for the Cowboys, wants the opportunity to start and will likely have a chance to do that with the Eagles given the current uncertainty with the position. Fowler is best suited to play either middle linebacker or the SAM position. If Dallas opts to not re-sign Fowler, the Eagles feel that they have found a diamond in the rough. I, like many people in Philadelphia, know nothing about him, so only time will tell with this one.
