FORMER New York giant Safety Landon Collins recently said “I don’t feel like I bleed blue anymore. I feel like [the Redskins] know my value and how they’ll use me in their defense. I don’t feel like I was used correctly within the [giants] defense that I was playing in.“
You know, when Donovan McNabb was traded to the Redskins, when DeSean Jackson was released, when LeSean McCoy was traded to the Bills, when Connor Barwin was with the Rams, when LeGarrette Blount signed with Detroit, when Dawk went to Denver, none of these guys threw the team under the bus.
And they ALL spoke highly of the city. We got into their bones. Recently retired DE Chris Long referred to Philly as his favorite city. The aforementioned Barwin used to go to work riding the Broad Street Line. (For non-Philadelphians: That’s one of our “two” (really one) subway systems.) A multi-millionaire really has to dig the city to be willing to ride SEPTA.
Men who have traveled the country, have traveled the globe, and could afford to live anywhere in the world, come back HERE, to this place and regard it thus,
LeSean McCoy’s first return to the Linc.
Allen Iverson’s return as a Sixer
So you’ll understand my puzzlement, at the notion of people like Collins and Odell Beckham, taking shots at a storied franchise like the giants, and making no mention of missing a world-class city like New York.
We saw the same thing with new Eagle MLB Zach Brown in his unabashed dissing of the Redskins team, locker room and culture.
You never hear of players missing other places, but everyone misses being here. Well maybe not everyone. (Hall of Fame WR Chris Carter literally credits ^Buddy Ryan^ trading him from the Eagles, as what possibly saved his life.)
No. I didn’t go player by player for the last 10 years, and ask each man personally what he thinks, but you get the idea. Publicly, players put it right out there when they leave, that they don’t just miss the team they played for, they miss US. You and me. That connection.
There is something to be said for the capability to even BE unique. While a flower may be beautiful, they are generally sold in bunches where no single one stands out. However, that single, striking bulb set against the backdrop of all the sameness… There is a subtle bluntness to such beauty.
And that is apparently what Philly is. Athletes who’ve been the world over, still somehow manage to miss being here. My god. Let that sink in for a moment.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 