Friday Fryer (September 22, 2006)

It’s that time of the week! Lets see who gets the honor of going to the Chair in the weekly Friday Fryer.

The first nominee is the New York Yankees. The Yanks are currently the favorite to win the American League pennant. You would not think this is true, however, this week. It looks as if there is a locker room war going on between Alex Rodriguez. In a Sports Illustrated story this week, it seems as though Joe Torre, Don Mattingly and Jason Giambi all seem to take swipes at A-Rod. Of course, A-Rod did not help his cause by comparing him to all of the Yankees greats from the past.

Anyway, what you have here is the foundation for a major explosion if things go poorly in the post season. And everyone must remember, the Curse of Ike is still very much alive. . . .

The next finalist is the Philadelphia Eagles. Up by 17 against a divisional opponent at home in the fourth quarter should equal a victory. Not for these birds. Instead it turned into a six point loss. I was at that game last Sunday, sitting in my usual seat in Section 106 of the Linc. This is the worse loss I had to endure at the Linc – yes – it beats the NFC Championship Game debacle versus the Carolina Panthers.

This loss by the Eagles was, however, not the worse that I experienced in person. That honor still goes to the September 1989 game versus the San Francisco 49ers. In that game, the Buddy Ryan led Eagles were up by three touchdowns going into the fourth quarter. End result? Niners won the game by 10. Since the Eagles play reminded me of that horror, they get the chance to go to the Chair this week. But like the game, they choked in this competition as well. So the winner is . . . .

The referees who were assigned to the Oklahoma versus Oregon college football game! They did not make one, but two major calls that cost the Sooners the game. And what worse, instant replay was available to correct the biggest mistake, which occurred on the Ducks’ successful on-side’s kick (it should have not been allowed).

So even though I am not a Sooners fan by any means, the referees from that game, for the bone-headed mistakes, still get the Chair for this week.

Until next Friday, AMF!