Colin Cowherd: Philadelphia is ‘The dumbest sports city in America'

Share

Whatever you do today, I would advise you don't watch video of Colin Cowherd bashing the good people of Philadelphia. Don't give him the satisfaction. The entire unhinged rant is already transcribed for you, and once you've read it, you'll never have any need or desire to watch or listen to Colin Cowherd ever again.

Cowherd says Philadelphia "has to be the dumbest sports city in America" because we ran former Eagles coach Andy Reid out of town. Not just Reid, but former Phillies manager Terry Francona, too. And Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright -- well, he's still around, but no thanks to you!

Oh, it gets worse. Much worse.

I want to talk about the city of Philadelphia for three minutes, which has to be the dumbest sports city in America because they ran Andy Reid out of town. This is amazing.

Andy Reid's won 60 percent of his NFL games with average-to-below-average quarterbacks. Nobody's done that in 20 years. He got to five NFC Championships and a Super Bowl with a quarterback with an 85.0 passer rating in his career and a 59 percent completion ratio, Donovan McNabb. Nobody does that. Andy Reid has won 61 percent of his games -- that's better than Mike Holmgren, who had a Hall of Fame quarterback or two; Bill Parcells; Tom Coughlin; it's even with a legend, Tom Landry. But Andy Reid got run out of Philadelphia. Now think about that. He won four straight NFC Championships. Aaron Rodgers, with a great coach, with a good GM, in a weaker division, Aaron Rodgers -- eight years, three NFC Championships. Andy Reid went to five. Andy Reid was bum-rushed out of Philadelphia. (Laughter.) By the way, 19 years coaching, 16 non-losing seasons with average quarterbacks. He single-handedly resurrected Michael Vick's career. He single-handedly resurrected Alex Smith's career -- San Francisco kicked Alex Smith out of town. Who does that? Winning with average quarterbacks. Joe Gibbs? About the only one I can think of, and he's called a legend.

But this is what Philadelphia does. The Phillies had Terry Francona -- they ran him out of town. He's the best manager in baseball. He wins everywhere. Since leaving Philadelphia, Terry Francona's been managing 14 years. He's never had a losing record. Do you get how hard that is? They did it with Jay Wright at Villanova. Rollie Massimino won a National Championship, they gave the job to Jay Wright. He's won 71 percent of his games. In the last three years, he's the winningest program in college basketball. It's got tough academics. It's not big and large and profound like North Carolina. It's a small private school in Philadelphia, which has a number of good basketball programs in the region, and they've been on Jay Wright before he won that title for years.

Are you people crazy? You ran Andy Reid out of town. You ran Terry Francona out of town. Jay Wright's one of the top five coaches in college basketball, you're on him constantly. By the way, Philly was originally the nation's capital, and you blew that, too, late 1700s. You probably ran George Washington out of town. I'm sorry. Andy Reid's been in the sport 20 years. He's winning more than Holmgren, Parcells and Coughlin. Run out of town. Resurrecting careers.

Maybe Philly fans are so dopey, they just don't like the word "read." They don't like to read. I don't know what it is. But you cheered Michael Irvin's career-ending injury. I can't trust a fan base that has a courtroom and a jail under their stadium. But do you get and appreciate how good Francona, Jay Wright and Andy Reid are? He's going what nobody can do in football - win with quarterbacks people don't want. It's incredible, and they're the best team in the NFL.

I think most Eagles fans appreciated Reid's tenure with the club, or at least gained some perspective after he left. But it was 14 years, the last four of which the Eagles did not win a playoff game, or so much as reach the postseason the last two. Also, suggesting McNabb was only an average quarterback, or acting like Vick or Smith aren't tremendously talented is absurd -- never mind the myriad of other half-truths and flat-out inaccuracies Cowherd's rant contains. All of these situations are far more nuanced than he could ever comprehend.

But hey, this is Philadelphia, and we're used to unknowledgeable blowhards stereotyping the city and its fans. The Eagles summed up Cowherd's little outburst perfectly.

If you want to watch Cowherd -- and I strongly suggest you don't -- here it is. But do yourself a favor, and tell Cowherd and his employers how you really feel by skipping his show. With takes such these, clearly you're not missing anything.

Contact Us