Chatting at a local tin-foil hat tea party confab, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell yesterday described himself as “an Eagles™ fan, first and forever,” despite the recent trade of talismanic QB Donovan McNabb. However, Rendell told Fox News, “I believe with getting rid of Donovan, they are not going to make the playoffs. I believe the Redskins adding Donovan are going to make the playoffs…so if we are not in, and the Redskins have Donovan, and they™re in, I will root for Donovan and the Redskins.” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s John Gonzalez (who thinks he’s blown the lid off the “Werth’s Smurf’s” meme) “this might qualify as an impeachable offense.”
Suddenly rooting for the Redskins – regardless of whether Rendell agrees with the McNabb trade and whether the Eagles make the playoffs – is unacceptable and, frankly, un-American. What’s next? Denouncing capitalism? Photo op with Hugo Chavez ? Burning the Stars and Stripes? Defecting to Jersey? Throwing Rendell in the gulag for the transgression is probably a bit much, but there has to be some sort of penalty for his crime against Philadelphia fandom. The governor, as you know, moonlights as an Eagles analyst on Comcast SportsNet. I dashed off an official, super-serious e-mail to the CSN higher-ups demanding they suspend the governor – even though it isn’t Eagles season at the moment. That was sort of a lapse in logic now that I think about it. I’m still waiting to hear back. At the very least, the network ought to send Rendell to CN8 (Comcast’s version of a Siberian prison camp) for a few weeks. I had another idea that involved demoting him to Daily News Live, but I doubt that kind of punishment would hold up in court. There isn’t a judge around who wouldn’t find that cruel and unusual.