The now infamous Dan Leone.

First Brian Dawkins, then Tra Thomas, and now Dan Leone, a 32-year old lifelong Eagles fan who worked as the west gate chief at Lincoln Financial Field on game days for the past six years? Who’s next? Donovan for standing up on draft day and booing the Eagles first pick?

Dan Leone was fired by the Philadelphia Eagles for speaking his mind on his Facebook page, which is supposed to be a place where you can speak your mind. (Note to self: write article on how post-college adults ruined Facebook.) He was, and probably still is, really ticked off about Brian Dawkins leaving sea level and heading to Denver with his Tasmanian devil-like personality securely tucked inside. Most Eagles fans are not happy about the departure of someone so beloved, but they’ll get over it if the results are there come game day. Dan included, I would imagine. We’re mature like that. We may not like what the team did, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, while still voicing our opinions on how the situation may have been handled.

Dan was is a lifelong Eagles fan and was a game day employee until he wrote this: “Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver. . .Dam Eagles R Retarted!!” So, let me get this straight: Dan wrote a harmless (try and convince me this is not harmless) statement on his Facebook profile and the team felt the need to terminate him immediately without taking into consideration his apology and solid track record of employment? Dan, you play your cards right and you could get Terrell Owens to hire you as his BFF if Sean Avery doesn’t get to you first.

Had Dan not been fired none of us would know about this situation unless you were one of the 100 or so friends Dan had at the time. Ah, but look at what a little termination will get you. Dan is up to 180 friends and just wrote the following update: “Dan Leone is in shock of the response im getting! You are all wonderful, thank you!” 8 minutes ago. The Eagles step in it again. A loyal employee fired for being passionate? What’s next? Outsourcing seasonal jobs to soccer fans? Replacing vocal season ticket holders with eunuchs?

I think it all started when Jeff Lurie high-fived his wife Christina directly on the nose after a touchdown during the final regular season game against the Dallas Cowboys. (If it weren’t such a nerdy move I would see a trend of face-fiving…call it being ‘Luried’.) That little move displayed the Eagles’ Achilles heel - at the most inopportune moments they miss the mark in their reactions to situations. The organization is clenched, rigid and uptight. That’s a bad sign for players and fans alike.

There are more normal responsible ways of dealing with someone who does something inappropriate, but not destructive, to an organization for which it was his dream to work. Like tell him not to do it again. There’s one…just off the top of my head. The other thing the Eagles can do is remember that this is just football. Yes, tons of cash is at stake, but that’s not the fault of fans and people like Dan. Or like us, who still see the NFL as fun football to watch with friends and family. Hopefully with some wings and beers at the ready.

This sure kills our dream of one day getting a hint of criticism from Andy Reid during a presser!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under Fantoo Blog Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.