Indiana Jones and the Pile of Crap

I saw Indiana Jones and Quest to Ruin Its Legacy this weekend. What a load of crap. The whole movie was missing a gritty feeling to it. It did not feel like it was happening in the real world, especially the beginning Area 51 scenes. The storyline was convoluted and made little to no sense. I still don't understand why they had an inter-dimensional gateway and a spaceship.

One of the biggest flaws is that they didn't bother to make the bad guy hateable. She was just Soviet and there. Whoopee! It was neat to see the gopher from Caddyshack is still making movie though. Seriously?!? What was with the animals? Was he taking lessons from Lucas on how he ruined the Star Wars prequels? I was really starting to get back into the movie during that chase scene through the jungle, but then that part with the GOD DAMN MONKEYS just took me right back out of it.

The ironic thing is the part I was most worried about, I actually enjoyed the most. The relationship between Indy and his kid was written well. I was expecting it to be really schmaltzy but I thought it played out well and seemed somewhat different. I hate that Shia Labouf, but he wasn't too bad. That said, I will NOT go see a 5th movie if he's the main character.

Birds Eye Look at 2008

NFL schedule day is one of the most exciting days of the offseason for a couple of reasons. First off, most Eagles fans can't plan anything for September thru December until the sched comes out. We're planning on going to California this fall, and now we can actually figure it out.

From a viewing point of view (that one's for you, Scuba), the new schedule is fantastic. Lot's of night games spread out evenly across the season. No more that two weeks of back to back regular Sunday day games. Love the Thanksgiving Night game at the Linc. Since I don't do anything with extended family on that day, it give me something to look forward to other than smoking a turkey (that's not code.)

From a competition point of view, and that's what really matters, the schedule is good. Only one set of back to back road games. They do have to fly across country to play Seattle and SF, but that's no biggie.

The most hackey, easiest, laziest way to analyze the season is to break in into quarters, so with out further ado, here's my analysis by months!

September (St. Louis, @Dallas-Mon, Pittsburgh, @Chi-Mon)

I'm a fan of this start. The Rams are horrible and aren't going to get much better fast. They may improve as the season goes on, but it's nice easy win to start the season. I know the Birds have had problems with their season opener under Reid, but I think this will be an easy W.

Next week, we head down to big D for the last game at Texas Stadium, I really don't know what to make of the Cowboys this year. Will they bounce back or implode after blowing their #1 seed last year? Either way, the Eagles have played well in Dallas under Reid. I predict an upset W.

The team that was on the road usually does pretty poorly the following Sunday. Add that with the fact that the Eagles struggle against 3-4 defenses and the AFC, this looks like a home loss against the Steelers.

The Bears were in the Super Bowl two years ago. I can't really remember why. This team stinks. Put another W on the board.

End of September Record: 3-1


October (Washington, @San Francisco, BYE, Atlanta)

The Redskins were a playoff team last year (Really?) For once, Snyder didn't throw money at a bunch of crappy free agents. Instead he went out and hired a new head coach who no one has ever heard of. Like the Cowboys, and for that case all of the NFC East, I have no idea what to expect out of the Redskins, soooooooooooo let's put this down as a Win.

The Eagles are going to lose one of these two games to start October, since I picked them to beat the Redskins, I'll put this as a loss. It is also a long road trip across the country and we always seem to sh!t the bed the week before the bye.

For the bye week I predict that the Philly will think the sky is falling and everyone calling WIP is suicidal.

Boy the Birds play some bad teams to start the season. The Falcons have a bunch of quarterbacks that I wouldn't start on an arena team. Even if they draft a new QB, this is the kind of QB situation that the Birds feast on. Add that to Andy's post bye week record, and look for one of the biggest wins of the season.

Record for October 2-1 (5-2)


November (@Seattle, New York Giants, @Cincinnati, @Baltimore, Arizona-Thu)

Any of my loyal readers will see this one coming. I hate Seattle. HATE. It's not even the team, it's there stupid fans. I'm sick and tired of having to watch them in the playoffs every season talk about how they have they greatest fans in the world. Two points, you're only in the playoffs because your division blows and the reason the fans are so loud is because your dumb stadium is designed for acoustics. If you were all such great fans, then why did you all dress up as empty seats in the King Dome in the 80s and 90s. With all that said, I think the Eagles will lose this game.

Next we host the World Champion New York Giants (I die a little inside I have to say that.) Which Eli Manning is going to show up this season? The deer in the headlights guy we loved for the first few years of his career or the guy who stole his brothers soul in the playoffs last year? I don't know. If Shockey comes back, I think we got a better chance at deer in the headlights. Let's pencil a Win in hear with the teams splitting the season series.

Week 11 and 12 is the only back to back road games of the season. To add insult to injury, they are both against AFC teams. At Cincinnati, they face a quarterback who doesn't get rattled, and that's a real problem for the Birds. They feast on young inexperience QBs, but struggle against those with some oh let's call in moxie. It'll be interesting to see if Chad Johnson is still there, because if he sits out for part of the season, but still wants credit for it, he would have to come back this week. With or without CJ, smells like a loss.

The Eagles travel down 95 to visit their old assistant coach John Harbuagh. Harbaugh had been on Reid's staff since the beginning of his tenure. He probably knows are teams and schemes as well as anyone who is currently in the organization. Add that to the fact that we stink against the AFC, lets put this as a second loss in a row.

With a short week to the highlight of the season, the Cardinals come into the Linc for Thanksgiving Night. I think the fans are going to put completely up for this game, and I think the team's going to feed off that energy. The Eagles D has a big game with a bunch of turnovers, and the Birds bounce back in a walk


Record for November 2-3 (7-5)



December (@New York Giants, Cleveland-Mon, @Washington, Dallas)

I didn't realize what a tough stretch this is until I typed it out. At least the NFL didn't give them 3 road division games in a row again (although they did win all those.) As I said earlier, I expect the Eagles to split with the Giants. We'll go home and home, and give them a loss here.

Next we get the Browns on Monday Night. Cleveland have something like 5 or 6 prime time games this season. They strike me as one of those classic teams who came out of nowhere the previous season and either make a good playoff run or just miss the playoffs and then EVERYONE is picking them to make a big move the next year but then are a complete mess the following year when they aren't taking anyone by surprise. (see: 2007 Saints, most Cardinals teams of this decade.) Cleveland will probably be limping around by this point, trying to figure out who there next head coach will be. A much needed win for the Eagles here.

The Redskins will be a broken team by the end of the year. They seem to alternate between playoff years and bad years. Snyder will be measuring Zorn's office for Bill Cowher's chin. This whole team quits and the Eagles get a second win in a row.

That puts the Birds at 9-6 going into their final regular season matchup against the Cowboys at home. This game will almost definitly have playoff implications for both teams, and could be for the division. This game most likely be moved to the Sunday night game too. I really want to put this down as a W. I really do. But I gave their first matchup to the Eagles in Dallas, and I don't think we'll sweep them. I sadly have to put this down as an L. If this game is for the division though, I think they'll win, but my official decision as of now is a Loss. (How's that for covering your ass?)

Record for December 2-2 (9-7)

So I have the Birds at 9-7 which should get them in the playoffs. Before I went the schedule game by game I would have said 10-6. Either way, they'll probably be in the playoffs, win a game and then get pushed out.

Is that enough to keep McNabb around for another season? What about Andy? Is this BDawks last season? Damned if I know, but I can't wait for the season to start! 1-2-3 Let's go Birds!!!

I have a blog

And here it is! Yay me!(I'd say it's 50-50 at best that I'll ever post again.)