EL BARIO, DE BRONX – Apologies for this article not being in its regular spot. Life away from the keyboard had me miss my Saturday slot, so I’m pinch-hitting today. Anyway, in the cross-hairs today are Philly fan reactions to the LeSean McCoy trade, Anthony “Tony Duke” Duclair, the NCAA sanctions against the Syracuse Orangemen and the Ma Blaber getting it wrong when she chose Tuck-It Away storage. Rather than re-hash what has already been said, today will give a new spin on things.
LeSean McCoy: I know I said I was done with the NFL but the reaction by fans to this trade pulled me back in. Philadelphia fans are all okay with this trade – which is crazy. They make jokes about him being a bad tipper and about feeling sorry for the waitresses in Buffalo. They say he should have restructured his contract like Peyton Manning, Larry Fitzgerald or Tom Brady. They hope his millions keep him warm in Buffalo; it’s just business. Now, I know there are stupid people on the Internet but this is overkill. All this hate towards a pro footballer is too much. It is all part of this country’s new political landscape, where the billionaire owners demanding public funding for their stadiums are good the guys and the players playing a sport with a very finite career expectancy are the bad guys.
All this jealousy because we know how much he makes and can rate his performance compared to his contract?! Enough! We are better than that – as a group of people, as citiz… well, it is kind of par for the course for Philly… but for the rest of America, we are better than that! McCoy, has never given short shift. He holds team records, played well behind a crap O-line, never complained, no drugs or steroids, no hookers, no beaten kids/girlfriends/or wives. Instead, his crime was not tipping enough in the eyes of world.
If you look at the arguments against him – they are all poor. Peyton and Larry haven’t won anything and Tom cheated his way to his titles. All three guys have separate endorsement contracts, while McCoy isn’t sexy enough – like most RBs unless they win a Super Bowl.
He has earned that contract by being a top performer every season for his team. He is a Pennsylvania boy who has only played in that state… but that is not enough. If he left as a free agent for more money, his loyalty might be under attack but because he gets traded for not renegotiating his contract, he is a bad guy.
If your boss says he sees you are over-worked and wants you and the 3 guys on your team to take a 10G paycut so they can bring on an assistant, what would you say? I would tell him, “Nope. I am fine.” The company can cut fat elsewhere and get me the help I need, I ain’t taking a pay cut. McCoy, however, is a millionaire so he should just agree to make less than he is worth. Hang your heads in shame.
Finally, Chip Kelly is a genius now?! He hasn’t won anything at the college level or the pro level and that offensive line is terrible – but he is a genius coach and GM, so despite these cuts to the payroll, I am sure he can fix that. And now that he has traded Nick Foles for Sam Bradford, what are Philly fans thinking?
Tony Duke: I know Different Matt put his foot down re this trade. This kind of transaction makes fans feel uneasy. The Red Sox traded away prospect Jeff Bagwell to try and win the title in 1986. The Hornets traded away top draft pick, Kobe Bryant, for a veteran in Vlade Divac. These are memorable ones because the prospect turned into a big name and the team that traded him never won it.
The vast majority of these trades don’t end up with the prospect becoming a star, so we forget them. It is the one where the player becomes a star that we remember. This feels like one of those trades.
A 19-year-old phenom has just been traded and the pain in my right knee tells me Anthony Duclair will be as influential a player as Jerome Iginla. NY has missed out on a talented player and marketing machine (he is a talented BLACK hockey player in NY for Christ sakes!). Time will tell.
Syracuse Orangemen: Apparently Jim Boehiem is in trouble. The NCAA and it’s selective rule-enforcing process is back it. It is not that I don’t believe Jimmy bent the rules, it’s just that I believe everyone does it. Seriously, it is like the dude who does coke in the bathroom telling you what your doing wrong with your life. You just shake your head and just go, sure dude.
Mama Blaber: My mom is rarely wrong. Don’t believe me, you can ask her. Well, she did get something wrong. She chose to use Tuck-It Away Storage to store her stuff. Despite my objections she choose them because they were within walking distance from the house. 
Little could she have known it was such a predatory operation! Never having had any items damaged at any of the 6 previous storage places we used, we didn’t agree to insurance… The place floods when it rains, which was only revealed to me by an employee after Mom’s priceless African dresses got damaged – among other things. They never called us and we only discovered the boondoggle when we needed an item.
Considering what happened to us, we thought they would show some humanity, but as mentioned they are a predatory operation. They denied us access to our stuff because we didn’t pay rent after discovering the damage. They denied any blame and we had to pay to move to a proper storage space.
To this day we don’t know how it flooded, so they are probably renting it out to someone else. Unfortunately, the law doesn’t equal justice, so we lost in small claims court. But the court of public opinion should have no problem convicting this operation of being a bunch of scumbags.
That’s it for now, come back tomorrow for Dr. Diz, another fantastic member of the MTM staff.
