Behold the Beauty of the Tiger

Some deep fun from Britney Spears' website:

"In some ways, people are a lot like animals," Spears writes. "I'm mesmerized by tigers. Their eyes, their stripes, their constant quest for survival. They almost have a sense of mysteriousness about them. They pull you in and make it difficult to look away. They make you wonder what is behind their gaze. A sense of eerie awe comes over you in their presence. The fear they give you when you pass them is stunning. Behold the beauty of the tiger."

And yet, all news pales today before the mighty announcement: The Eagles are in camp.

And #5 is back atop the depth chart- where he belongs. I seriously doubt the Eagles can do much this year. Dallas is better on paper. The offensive line is a mess- and Donovan is the only thing that keeps them viable with the ball. The front seven on defense is a real nice mixture of yucky, hurt or real young.

But the Eagles ought to be strong where it counts- defensive secondary play and quarterback. Westbrook is a game-breaking player. And the kicking game figures strong. They ought to flirt with the play-offs- probably even make it if McNabb is healthy. But I can’t see anything more than that. They just aren’t good enough to win consistently on the road- success which allows you to not have to play a road game that really counts in late December.

In other semi-Philadelphia news, today Garth Snow is the new general manager of the Islanders. Of course, Garth was the team's backup goal-tender yesterday- and got off a good one when asked about today’s NHL players: "I think they're all overpaid.”

And who can’t get enough of Ryan Franklin bitching about his role?

One stumbling block for Franklin has been that, unlike most relievers who use only two or three pitches, he has more pitches he believes he can use effectively. Those are four different fastballs, his slider, curveball and changeup, the last of which he essentially has abandoned.

Four different effective pitches? Uhm… that’s debatable Ryan.

In better baseball news:

Right-hander Michael Lehmann, once a standout at Hannan and now a pitcher at Pearl River Central High School, committed to Tulane on Tuesday.

Lehmann, 6 feet 1, spent his freshman and sophomore years at Hannan, but he enrolled at Pearl River after the storm. As a junior, Lehmann was 10-0 with a 0.85 earned-run average and 111 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings and helped the Blue Devils to their best season in school history. He also hit .345 with four home runs and 35 RBIs as the team won its first district title and advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time.