yesterday afternoon, the philadelphia eagles were defeated by the green bay packers in the wild card round of the nfl playoffs. last year, i really wouldn’t have cared. in fact, in the past, i’ve actively rooted against the eagles (especially during those terrell owens years…). as a niners fan, the eagles have done little more than stand in the way of our success. so, yesterday’s loss should have been a meaningless one for me.

but it wasn’t.

i was rooting for the eagles. rooting hard. rooting for them to march to the super bowl and pull off the unlikely championship.

and quite frankly, me rooting for them came down to one single player. a player who is both vaunted and hated by legions of football fans and non-fans alike. that player, of course, is the oft-debated, michael vick.

but wait, before we talk too much football, let’s talk about beauty and the beast. yeah, that’s right, beauty and the beast. (more…)