What kind of sports fan would drop well over a hundred dollars for the jersey of their hated rival? An Eagles fan with a deviant idea, of course.
One loyal Birds fan who contributes to Bleeding Green Nation thought it would be a good idea to purchase a Tony Romo jersey and have it altered a bit. He writes about putting the jersey on for the first time:
i almost threw up ... im dead serious ... my gag reflex kicked in like 3 times putting it over my head but i still didnt have second thoughts of my purchase ... and i want to know the oppinions of you guys would you honestly rather have romo then mcnabb ?
Now, we're sensing a tinge of sarcasm from our fellow Eagles fan.
Follow the jump to see the final product with the custom name clearly displayed.
He'll either take this team loaded with talent and win the Super Bowl and ride off into the sunset afterward. Or the Cowboys will fall short of their goal, and Jerry Jones will give him a golden parachute to leave so he can promote Jason Garrett.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is obviously enamored with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and obviously envisions Garrett as a future Cowboys head coach, but I'm not so sure that Jones wants to get rid of Phillips that quickly. Jones basically wants two things out of a head coach:
1. Win more games than you lose. 2. Let me call most of the shots.
Phillips qualifies on both counts, and as long as he keeps qualifying on both counts, I don't see Jones pressuring him into leaving. But it says a lot about the Cowboys that Phillips enters the 2008 season with at least one local columnist saying that whatever he does, he's out of a job in seven months.
It was a night of knockout soccer that saw three games go to extra time, two games go to penalty kicks, and one famous Mexican lose his temper and get sent off. By the time the smoke cleared, the glass slipper still fit for two USL First Division clubs, who had advanced to the U.S. Open Cup semifinals.
Why isn't this competition on TV again?
The Charleston Battery obliterated FC Dallas, 3-1, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX, scoring before an after an hour-long lightning delay in the first half and shutting down all but one meaningless strike in the 93rd minute. Meanwhile, the Seattle Sounders fought the Kansas City Wizards to a 0-0 draw and advanced 6-5 on penalties, thanks in part to a 12-save performance by Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander, who also saved two PKs to help Seattle advance.
Meanwhile, USL Second Division club Crystal Palace Baltimore pushed the defending Open Cup champion New England Revolution to penalties, but lost the shootout, 5-3. In Boyds, MD, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Mark Burch were shown red cards in extra time, while Bryan Namoff scored the winner in the 99th minute to push D.C. United past the Chicago Fire, 2-1.
Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton may have taken the former #1 pick with all the potential in the world but got involved with drugs before dropping out of baseball and re-emerging with the Reds before being traded to the Rangers and becoming a Triple Crown and MVP candidate road that we've all seen a million times before (holy run-on sentences, Batman), but that doesn't mean he doesn't do anything out of the ordinary from time to time.
Hamilton made it official yesterday when he announced that he would be participating in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium over the All-Star break, but in a touching twist, he'll be bringing along an old friend with him.
Hamilton said he's asked Clay Council, a 71-year-old longtime American Legion and high school coach from North Carolina, to pitch to him.
"He's hit me hard over the years, but he's done that with most people," Council said. "He told me he'd bring me years ago if he was in the derby. I'm excited to do this."
Council said he's been to Yankee Stadium one other time, to see Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
You know, the more I read about Hamilton, the more I root for him. How Hallmark hasn't made a movie of the week about his life yet, I have no idea.
D.C. United and the Chicago Fire meet tonight in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals, one month after their testy match in Toyota Park in which three red cards were given and Luciano Emilio got a surprise goal in stoppage time to lift 9-man D.C. to a 2-1 win.
If you want to watch this rematch, though, you'll have to go to the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds and buy a ticket. By all accounts, this match will not air on TV or online. Neither will tonight's New England Revolution v. Crystal Palace Baltimore match, providing further proof that the U.S. Open Cup -- a competition in which the winner receives a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, no less -- is truly the most disrespected competition in American soccer.
The other two quarterfinal matches at least have online video feeds. FC Dallas v. Charleston Battery will be shown on MLSLive at 8:30 PM ET, while Seattle fans log on to USLLive get a free glimpse of their future MLS club's home when the USL-1 Seattle Sounders face the Kansas City Wizards at Qwest Field at 10:00 PM ET. Let's hope the groundskeepers actually try to cover up the gridiron lines this year.
Next to Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop was the clear #2 most valuable asset Dallas sent away to New Jersey in the midseason acquisition of Jason Kidd. He was the best defender the Mavericks had at a key defensive position. Surely, we would have helped some in rejecting the advances of David West and Tyson Chandler in Dallas' five-game first-round loss to New Orleans. He wouldn't have flipped the series -- but he would have helped.
Apparently, the Mavericks think so too, as the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports Diop has reached a five-year deal with Dallas for the full mid-level. That will take DeSagana right through his prime (he's 26), and could leave Dallas with one of the best defenders in the league at center, which seems important as Andrew Bynum, Amare Stoudemire, Al Jefferson, and Greg Oden hang around the West.
The key question, one partially answered by the signing: how will Rick Carlisle use Diop? In three seasons under Avery Johnson, Diop averaged no more than 18 minutes a game. You might blame foul trouble, but Diop recorded only 1.9 fouls per game this season in his 17 minutes with Dallas.
Johnson is (was?) a notorious micro-manager, and his constant in-game substitutions always offered an opportunity for jokes for road crowds. Diop's never going to be even so good as a Dikembe Mutombo on offense, but with a steady diet of minutes, he could at least become a Mark Eaton type anchor through his prime.
Milton Bradley is crazy, but in a sympathetic way. Like, he just has a temper. Lots of us have tempers. Not all of us have to restrain ourselves because we do our jobs in front of thousands of people every night. Still, the fact remains: Milton Bradley is kind of crazy.
But even he scoffs at the ball of round mound of unbound (thank you!) that is Sidney Ponson (via BBTF):
Bradley was quoted last month as saying of Ponson: "Man, that dude has some issues." Bradley took issue with that yesterday, saying he'd said only that Ponson had issues while he was a Ranger and that the two said hello before Monday night's game at the Stadium.
Bradley sort of reversed that yesterday, saying he didn't think Ponson was a bad guy. Either way, the damage is done. If Milton Bradley thinks you need to figure some things out, something is seriously wrong.
Crystal Palace supporters still suffering from the loss of that Premier League promotion playoff last May might be taking a little solace in their American counterparts today.
Indeed, the club was founded in 2006, 101 years after Crystal Palace FC was founded in London, and it serves as a player development wing for the Coca-Cola Championship club. Clearly, player development is going pretty well there, though as Ives Galarcep notes, too many Red Bulls just didn't come to play last night.
Two other USL clubs pulled off upsets, as USL-1 leaders the Charleston Battery defeated MLS Cup holders the Houston Dynamo on penalty kicks, while the Seattle Sounders topped Chivas USA, 2-0. Other USL clubs didn't get away so easily. The Kansas City Wizards came back from a 2-0 deficit to topple the Carolina Railhawks, 4-2, in extra time, and FC Dallas scored a 2-1 comeback win against Miami FC. D.C. United, the Chicago Fire and the New England Revolution also cruised to victory over USL clubs.
The 3rd round of the U.S. Open Cup kicks off tomorrow, and if you're looking for the MLS clubs that are taking this tournament seriously this year, just look for which clubs are playing at home.
Unlike England's FA Cup, where the home team is determined by random draw, MLS and USL clubs place bids with the U.S. Soccer Federation to host games, and the highest bidder plays at home. If you look at the schedule for tomorrow's games, you'll notice that the New England Revolution, the Chicago Fire, D.C. United and FC Dallas are all playing at home.
By contrast, the Houston Dynamo travel to South Carolina to face USL-1 leaders the Charleston Battery, and the New York Red Bulls head to Maryland to face USL-2 side Crystal Palace Baltimore. Perhaps Houston and New York aren't quite as interested in the CONCACAF Champions League bid that comes with winning the Open Cup.
D.C. United, however, suddenly seems much more interested in the Open Cup than they were last year.
During a rather pedestrian draft night last Thursday, one of the more tender moments was Shan "Don't Call Me Shane" Foster's playing of a song he wrote just for the NFL draft. At the time, I may have said something cynical about it, but the more I think about it, rooting against the Joey Harrington of the NBA is just wrong.
Here's Shan's little jam he put together to discuss his feelings about being a professional basketball player.
It's actually kind of catchy, in a very irritating way. And, all Joey H. jokes aside, the dude does have a pretty sick voice. Or, as Dirk said*, "He's no 'Hoff, but he's pretty good."
As 
It was a night of knockout soccer that saw three games go to extra time, two games go to penalty kicks, and one famous Mexican lose his temper and get sent off. By the time the smoke cleared, the glass slipper still fit for two USL First Division clubs, who had advanced to the 
Texas Rangers outfielder 
D.C. United and the Chicago Fire meet tonight in the 
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Crystal Palace supporters still suffering from the loss of that Premier League promotion playoff last May might be taking a little solace in their American counterparts today.
The 3rd round of the 
