Finally figured it out...LeSean McCoy reminds me of Barry Sanders....

HAHA! It took a silly NFL Films retrospective on the "Greatest End Zone Dances of All Times" to jolt me to the realization... but after sitting through the NFLN's re-run of that last night, it suddenly hit me---  LeSean McCoy is Barry Sanders!

The irony of the film I watched was that Barry Sanders was voted by NFLN to have the best TD dance ever--- which was essentially---NONE! Sanders was a guy who simply handed the ball to the ref. I guess the pundits who voted on that ranking at NFLN were basically covering their arses, as the sensational footage of guys like Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, the "Icky Shuffle", Chad Johnson's "River Dance" celebrations, Terrell Owens' antics with the Dallas Star and the Sharpie pen, the Falcons' "Dirty Bird" dance, the Redskins' "Fun Bunch" and much more, had to be repressed into Freudian neverland because we don't want that kind of fun to be had here in River City!

Fact is, I kinda enjoyed all the TD celebrations as a fan...maybe if I were an opposing player, I would have felt differently... Chad Johnson's "H.O.F. Yellow Jacket" gig was the breaking point for me as a fan...I never want to see anything as orchestrated as that again...

But I thought his "proposal" to the cheerleader was cool... And I love me some Green Bay Packers' Lambeau Leap action...

But I digress...

When they got down to the Barry Sanders footage, and they were using it almost as an antidote or an apology for the hijinks they were featuring to sell the piece, I actually gasped in recognition of what we've got here in Philly in Shady McCoy...







Do you see it? Do you feel it? It's all about engineering and mechanics... and posture...

Wow. You can call it God-given talent, or you can call it human determination... but analyzing the geometry and the physics of these two athletes separated by a generation, you basically come up with the same engineered design...

Body types and sizes are nearly identical... running speed is identical. What's most amazing is both guys have the ability to cut back on a cutback... basically the equivalent of a Steve Carlton change-up which breaks down and away.

For the first time in LeSean McCoy's tenure here with the Eagles, I finally appreciated just how damn special he is... And it took a carney filler film piece from NFLN to drive the point home to me.

As for the TD Celebration theme of the NFLN piece, I could care less. I've got no problem with a little theatre in the NFL.

In fact, I'm still pissed that the NFL fined our Eagles for a harmless TD celebration in 2009--- which happened in the same game in which our quarterback was brutalized and left for dead without any fine at all upon the opposition.  

DeSean Jackson, Brent Celek and four other Eagles were fined $10,000 each for their end zone celebration after Celek's second-quarter touchdown in the Eagles' 38-10 win over Carolina on Sunday, September 13, 2009... Jamaal Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Stacy Andrews and Alex Smith also were fined. The players received letters from the league office via FedEx.

After Celek scored on a nine-yard TD reception, he handed the football to Jamaal Jackson. Several players encircled Jackson and DeSean Jackson. Jamaal Jackson spiked the football, at which point DeSean Jackson flopped to the ground. The other players -- Celek, Curtis Andrews and Smith -- hopped upon the spike.

DeSean Jackson received a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the celebration, and then a stern warning from coach Andy Reid.

Told that he could have avoided the entire mess if he had simply held on to the football, Celek refused to take the blame for $60,000 in fines and said he was appealing his fine.

"I was just trying to give it to a lineman to let him spike it," Celek said.

Winston Justice also was fined $5,000 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on a run by Brian Westbrook. He also said he'd appeal.

These fines came after the league decided that the hit on Donovan McNabb in the end zone by Panthers defensive tackle Damione Lewis was legal and not worthy of a fine. McNabb, of course, fractured a rib on the play.

No Fun League...