That's what makes this city so great. They're passionate about football. When it's all said and done, there is nobody more loyal than than Philadelphia people.
-Andy Reid on Philadelphia fans
Yesterday evening's drive time radio was full of big name interviews. 610 WIP and 950 WPEN battled it out with interviews of Andy Reid and Pat Gillick both happening at the same time. Who did you choose? Well, it doesn't matter because they're both archived for your listening pleasure. Eskin must have made 37 jokes about Reid's weight. I don't think I laughed once. Perhaps the highlight of the Reid interview was when Reid gets in a jab about the Burger King mascot. Jody Mac's interview style is not surprisingly much more professional.
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Some highlights below. I even typed out some quotes because I wanted to make Gregg and Glenn's job easier.
Andy Reid on 610 WIP with Howard Eskin
Andy and Eskin's interview is fairly predictable and goes exactly how any regular Eskin listeners would think. They spend too much time on the 4th and 15 call, but Reid gives some perspective that makes pretty good sense.
Andy on the 3rd and 1 play, "when Marty called the play, I was on board with it... They did a good job and got outside pressure on us."
Turns out Brian Dawkins was sick for the game on Saturday, "I didn't see that being a factor."
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Eskin: do you think your defensive line needs improvement? Reid: "No. What I think we need to do is, Bunk needs to be a year older, Patterson will be a year older, Cole will be a year older, get Kearse back, maybe add somebody in there." No mention of Juqua Thomas in this portion. Telling?
On Donovan, "He's working like crazy right now... He came out today and ran in the pool for the first time and didn't have a limp when he ran in there. Those are all positive things. He's focused in right now, he's working his tail off right now."
Andy admits to being wrong a couple times with his first round draft picks, talks about Donte Stallworth and Jeff Garcia's future, and touches on Jabar Gaffney's success in New England. I'm okay with keeping Avant and Baskett over Gaffney. The Reid interview is well over a half hour, so put on your headphones and go to town -- if you can stand Eskin that long.
Phillies GM Pat Gillick on Sports Talk 950 with Jody MacDonald
Gillick mentions if Chris Coste were to make the roster, he would have to play a more versatile role than simply catching and being a bat off the bench, "Unless something goes south, Barajas and Ruiz will probably be the two catchers right now." I hope Coste finds a way to make this team. I really do.
Gillick on Ryan Howard's contract, "Right now we're concentrating on the players we have to get done: Utley, Geary, and Myers... like you said, Ryan isn't even arbitration eligible at this point. We'll start talking to Ryan sometime in February."
Gillick also tries to dress up Pat Burrell's numbers, notes that the back end of the bullpen is one of the bigger concerns, and says that if any pitcher has a chance to come out of spring training to make the roster in the pen it'd be Joe Bisenius.
Pat Gillick talking roster spots with Jody Mac will surely get you excited for the 2007 Phillies. I'm ready to talk more baseball and less Eagles for the next couple of months.
>>Pat Gillick interview with Jody MacDonald [950 WPEN]
>>Andy Reid interview with Howard Eskin [610 WIP]