Normally FOX Sports’ radio and television host Colin Cowherd comes up with reasonable ‘takes’ about the sports world on his show. And he knows when he should be praised and when he should be humbled. He literally has a segment titled ‘where Colin was right and where Colin was wrong’.
But on Tuesday, this host took it too far by calling Philadelphia “the dumbest sports city in America”. You see there is a fine line between having a ‘hot take’ and being downright absurd and ignorant. Today Cowherd was the latter.
Philadelphia is the dumbest sports city in America pic.twitter.com/gx10OchApB
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) October 3, 2017
He made the argument that Philadelphia fans ran out two different coaches who have gone on to have success in other cities. And he’s not wrong about the fact that Philadelphia ran out both Andy Reid and Terry Francona. But he was dead wrong in calling the fan bases dumb.
It must have never occurred to Cowherd that Reid’s voice in the Eagles locker room may have grown redundant over time. That happens to every coach. Players start to hear the same things from coaches and begin to tune them out. It’s a trend in other cities, not just Philadelphia.
Did Cowherd realize that in Reid’s last year as head coach, he was unable to get the best out of superstar players like RB LeSean McCoy (five touchdowns total that season), WR DeSean Jackson (zero touchdowns in 2012), and QB Mike Vick (10 interceptions in 10 games)?
It was Reid’s time to go. And the Eagles did extremely well with McCoy and Jackson in Chip Kelly’s first year as head coach in 2013, before he shipped them off in trades that still make zero sense (but that’s a story for another time).
"We're from Philly, f*****g Philly! No one likes us, we don't care!"
You're damn right.
Video by @acascarelli13 pic.twitter.com/vocLTvQoC9
— Life of a Philly Fan (@PhillyFanLife) July 23, 2015
Let’s look at Terry Francona and his four years spent as the Phillies manager (1997-2000). This accusation that Phillies fans drove out a potential World Series champion is bogus. The Phillies equipped Francona with little to no talent as he managed a rebuilding Phillies team. The team was still hanging on to pieces from the 1993 World Series team while trying to develop prospects like Scott Rolen. Rolen would eventually leave because he simply didn’t like Philly, so that didn’t help Francona that his lone All-Star caliber player didn’t even buy into the culture.
You can argue that Francona had Curt Schilling on those teams. That’s great, one potential win every five days…big whoop.
Francona has gone on to manage the Red Sox and Indians. Two teams that at the time of their World Series runs had a plethora of talent both in the lineup and on the pitching staff. Yeah, sure makes a manager look good when he’s got talent on the field.
I need to fight @ColinCowherd. Probably to the death. That is not hyperbole. https://t.co/IWmPTrD4cK
— Smitty (@SmittyBarstool) October 3, 2017
Let’s not forget Cowherd’s two statements at the end where he called Philadelphia fans dopes because they didn’t like the word, Reid, in part because it’s similar to the word ‘read’. Real clever, Colin.
Or even saying how Philadelphia ran George Washington out of town since Philadelphia used to be the Nation’s Capitol. Because that has so much to do with sports.
Cowherd was one ‘throwing snowballs at Santa’ or Rocky Balboa reference away from sounding like every other media outlet that uses the same Philadelphia fanbase cliches. This was a low blow, Colin Cowherd. Consider yourself public enemy No.1 in Philadelphia this point forward.
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