From the Desk of Eagles Outsider Barry Bowe

Meet the Ham Burglar

The Burger King transformed himself into the Ham Burglar today on WIP because he put little or no preparation into his radio show – and I’m pretty sure he got paid. If that’s the case, Howard Eskin stole money today.

When my radio automatically clicked on this morning, I was awakened by the “dulcet” tones of Howard Eskin doing his Saturday morning show on WIP. He was discussing some of the injuries already sustained by several Eagles players and some of the first words out of his mouth were to the effect that Zack Ertz may require surgery.

I reacted immediately because I didn’t want Howard to embarrass himself any further. So I wiped the sleep from my eyes and tweeted him:

Please notice that I said “pretty sure.”

I Love Eskin

Let’s get this out of the way right off. I love Howard Eskin. I can’t say I always loved him. Truth is I couldn’t stand him for the first year or two I listened to him. But I eventually recognized that Howard’s shtick was prodding people to elicit emotional responses and get them to call – and I love manipulation – both intellectual and sensual.

Back to my point – I then hopped online and quickly found verification from ESPN’s Phil Sheridan. So I tweeted again and included a link to the story. All Eskin had to do was click and he’d get the info he needed to sound like he knew what he was talking about.

And I got back online for more verification.

If Jeff McLane, Zach Berman, and Chip Kelly are to be believed, Dr. William Meyers of Penn Medicine operated on Zack Ertz at the Navy Yard on Friday.

McLane and Berman said so in their piece: “Ertz to miss all of preseason after ‘core muscle’ surgery” – and they included a quote from Chip Kelly:

“The biggest thing for us in this situation, to be honest with you, is that it’s something that we wanted to get cleaned up. So the [preseason] reps weren’t really important. I think in the long term, he’s going to be a lot better for it. We just wanted to get it out of the way.”

Out Six to Eight Weeks

And I tweeted Eskin for a third time.

A sports hernia procedure typically requires six to eight weeks of recovery time. Which means that Ertz may not be ready for the opening game.

Despite all that accurate input from an official Eagles Outsider, Eskin continued to say that Ertz may require surgery.

Ed Benkin

Making it more embarrassing, Ed Benkin was doing the updates when Glen Macnow and Ray Didinger followed Howard on the air – and it was obvious that Benkin had done his homework.

Ed Benkin correctly announced that Ertz had surgery on Friday.

Nick Foles

Nick Foles also came up in the conversation on Eskin’s show – specifically how Foles had performed in Friday night’s game between his new team the Rams and the Raiders.

Eskin said words to the effect that he didn’t think Foles started. He said he thought Case Keenum started.

Oh, Howard.

It took me three minutes of research on Friday night to see that Nick Foles not only started the game, but he also played for the first two series.

He opened the first series with completions to Lance Kendricks for 26 yards and to Tavon Austin for 35 yards which led to a field goal and a 3-0 lead for the Rams.

Foles finished the game 3-for-5 for 69 yards – no TDs and no INTs – 13.8 average and 104.2 QB rating.

Case Keenum, Sean Mannion, and Austin Davis finished the game at quarterback for the Rams.

Come on, Howard. Do your homework before you come on the air. That’s so unlike you.

Barry Bowe is also the author of:

• Born to Be Wild
• 1964 – The Year the Phillies Blew the Pennant
• 12 Best Eagles QBs
• Soon-to-be-published sexy, police procedural Caribbean Queen