{"id":100,"date":"2008-01-30T21:49:36","date_gmt":"2008-01-31T02:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=100"},"modified":"2008-01-30T22:18:22","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T03:18:22","slug":"i-dont-get-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=100","title":{"rendered":"I Just Don&#8217;t Get It&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>NOTE:\u00a0 Just when you thought you were getting tired of my gimmicky &#8220;recurring themes posts,&#8221; I want to add another to the mix.\u00a0 I am not a smart man.\u00a0 In fact, I am quite\u00a0dumb. \u00a0There is a wide range of things that I simply don&#8217;t understand.\u00a0 I have found, however, that it can be quite therapeutic to acknowledge what you do not know and ask the question.\u00a0 So, I am not looking for answers (though, they are welcome), I am just trying to relieve myself of the burden of my stupidity&#8211;or at least today&#8217;s reminder of it.\u00a0 As always, thanks for listening.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Okay, today&#8217;s burdensome reminder of my stupidity is two-fold because there are similar situations\u00a0for two Philly sports that I simply don&#8217;t understand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CASE #1:\u00a0 The Eagles<\/strong><br \/>\nOkay, let me see if I have the facts\u00a0straight:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Eagles are (and have been every year in the McNabb Era other than the Super Bowl year) in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=60\">desperate need<\/a> of a big-play wide receiver<\/li>\n<li>Chad Johnson, a clear #1 wide receiver, is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wikio.com\/sports\/football\/nfl\/nfl_players\/chad_johnson\">unhappy in Cincinnati<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The Eagles are, as always, very much <a href=\"http:\/\/www.footballsfuture.com\/phpBB2\/viewtopic.php?p=3507568\">under the salary cap<\/a> ($17.12 million under, actually)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\" width=\"170\" src=\"http:\/\/images.sportsline.com\/u\/photos\/football\/nfl\/img9047090.jpg\" height=\"240\" \/>Okay, I don&#8217;t get it.\u00a0 Why are there rumors swirling about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eatdrinkandsleepfootball.com\/php\/forums\/showthread.php?t=781\">Chad Johnson going to Miami<\/a>?\u00a0 Why are the Eagles not involved?\u00a0 Are they scared of another &#8220;loud&#8221; wide receiver after the T.O. debacle?\u00a0 Are they not convinced that Chad Johnson is really deserving of being a #1 wide receiver, and therefore, getting #1 WR money?\u00a0 Are they banking on Reggie Brown to finally have that break-out year?\u00a0 Is there someone in the draft that they have their eyes on?\u00a0 Are the Eagles\u00a0involved, but it just has not gotten to the media yet?\u00a0 Is Johnson intent on going to his hometown Dolphins now that they have Parcells?\u00a0 Or,\u00a0is the media blowing this out of proportion and Johnson is not really going anywhere?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All of these are possible, but if Johnson really is on the proverbial &#8220;trading block&#8221; and the Eagles are not in daily phone conversations with the Bengals, then\u00a0something is wrong.\u00a0 How perfect of a fit is Chad Johnson in Philadelphia?\u00a0 I just don&#8217;t get it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>CASE #2:\u00a0 The Phillies<br \/>\n<\/strong>There is a similarly vexing situation going on with the Phillies.\u00a0 Now, I understand that the Phillies have neither the prospects, the ownership payroll ability, nor the risk affordability to even pursue a Johan Santana.\u00a0 Players like Santana are only available to teams that play in New York, Boston, Chicago\u00a0or Los Angeles.\u00a0 Whereas the other side of the spectrum&#8211;the\u00a0Twins, the Marlins, the Pirates&#8211;only get star players for\u00a06 major league seasons, forcing them to build by trading the Santanas and Cabreras of the world.\u00a0 The Phillies are in the middle.\u00a0 They can keep their own star players, but once a star hits the open market, they have no chance.\u00a0 These mid-level teams can (and\u00a0recently have) win titles, but they have little room for error.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"180\" src=\"http:\/\/images.tsn.ca\/images\/stories\/20060405\/bedard_78006.jpg\" height=\"240\" \/>This leads me into what I don&#8217;t understand about the Phillies right now.\u00a0 Why are they not in the discussion for Erik Bedard?\u00a0 Right now, it seems as if the Orioles are in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sports.espn.go.com\/mlb\/news\/story?id=3221864\">serious talks with the Mariners<\/a>.\u00a0 Can the Mariners give a better package than the Phillies?\u00a0 Are the Orioles looking to ship Bedard off to the West Coast, so as to curtail a little of the hammering they are bound to take in the press?\u00a0 Do the Phillies think that the asking price is too much for a young, front-line pitcher?\u00a0 Do they believe that Hamels, Myers and Moyer are a &#8220;Big Three?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Just like the Eagles, who could fill a major need with an available player, Chad Johnson,\u00a0the Phillies can also fill a major need with an available player&#8211;Erik Bedard.\u00a0 So, why are they not involved?\u00a0 I just don&#8217;t get it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOTE:\u00a0 Just when you thought you were getting tired of my gimmicky &#8220;recurring themes posts,&#8221; I want to add another to the mix.\u00a0 I am not a smart man.\u00a0 In fact, I am quite\u00a0dumb. \u00a0There is a wide range of &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=100\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[198],"tags":[200,4,199,16],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-i-just-dont-get-it","tag-chad-johnson","tag-eagles","tag-erik-bedard","tag-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}