'Embarrassingly Wrong' - CNN's Jake Tapper Calls Out Sports Media
18/02/2025 17:56
CNN is busy fact-checking these days, but Jake Tapper took time to condemn anyone who doubted the Philadelphia Eagles.
On Friday, Philadelphia held a parade to commemorate the Eagles' Super Bowl triumph. Tapper, a devoted Eagles fan, took a victory lap and called out sports media pundits in a seven-minute "love letter" to his favorite team.
"Philadelphia celebrated the Super Bowl victory of its, our beloved Eagles today," Tapper said. "The team predicted to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs by so many experts, including the President of the United States, instead completely and utterly dominated them. This is par for the course for this team to be underestimated."
Tapper dusted off receipts of pundits who said anything negative about the Eagles. He started all the way back to Mike Greenberg writing that he "hated" them drafting Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
CNN played a clip of Chris Simms calling Hurts the "most overrated player in football" and Dan Orlovsky suggesting the quarterback peaked during the 2022 season.
Tapper turned his attention to Saquon Barkley, whom the New York Giants "idiotically let walk" last offseason. He shared the "ignominious moment" from Hard Knocks of general manager Joe Schoen informing the star running back that they'll let him pursue free agency.
"I'm glad they captured that on film," Tapper told Schoen. "Because that's going to be the first line of your obituary, buddy."
Tapper recalled "some jerk" on the Detroit Lions calling Darius Slay a "major cancer" before the star cornerback went to the Eagles and got named a team captain. He said a New York Jets fan was shaking his head in CNN's studio as the anchor brought up Mekhi Becton's redemption in Philadelphia.
Of course, Tapper had plenty of material of critics bashing Nick Sirriani before the head coach's Super Bowl victory. He noted a tweet from Bill Simmons joking about hiring Sirianni as a podcaster and found First Take footage of Stephen A. Smith claiming a "horrible start" in the coach's introductory press conference.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Stephen," Tapper mused. "Sirianni led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in 2022. The naysaying continued through last fall."
After playing a clip of John Middlekauff predicting that Sirianni won't be coaching the Eagles in 2025, Tapper concluded the segment with his grand salvo.
"So many of the guys on this team, so many of the Eagles have been told, 'You're not champions. You're not excellent. You're overvalued.' They've been shoved aside," Tapper said. "They've been dismissed. They've been told to move on and get over it, but their inner drives took all that crap from all those ridiculous voices and said, 'You are wrong. I do have value. I am a champion.'
"You know what? The Eagles were right. The Eagles were right, and we love them. Not just for being champions, but for proving the naysayers hugely, embarrassingly wrong. Fly Eagles fly."
Related: Eagles Star Praised For 'Classy' Move After Winning Super Bowl
