John Milton never witnessed a sporting match of any kind. Despite this tiny obstacle, the seventeenth century Englishman might be the most prophetic sports writer ever to pen a single line. Amidst Milton's extensive Paradise Lost, a single line explains the premature decline of successful sports teams: "Our torments also may in length of time become our elements." Thus, treading down the same miserable path that ensnared the post John Gruden Oakland Raiders, the post Barry Sanders Detroit Lions, and the post Jim Kelly Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles have fallen from the upper echelons of the National Football League.

Whenever a Martin Scorsese film debuts in theaters, the American public reacts in one of two ways. Recently, the majority has sheepishly fallen in line with the words of misguided critics who Scorsese's works as more spectacle than film. While this reaction is understandable given Scorsese's resumè includes classics like Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Casino, it often subverts the essence of Scorcese's newest work; all critics are happy to slaughter the film's quality, exaggerating every inadequacy - flaws that would go unnoticed in any other film. For those salivating at the opportunity to do just that, take heart and choose the second so-called "typical" reaction to Scorsese's films: pop open a bag of Orville Redenbacher, relax, and enjoy a nearly flawless film.

Former Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cory Lidle died when a plane he was piloting crashed into a fifty story high-rise on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Wednesday afternoon. New York authorities have said that the small four-seat Cirrus SR20 plane Lidle piloted departed from Teterboro Airport in Northern New Jersey around 2:30 pm. The aircraft slammed into an apartment in the Belaire Condominiums at 524 E. 72nd Street near the East River only fifteen minutes later. Within minutes after the crash, more than 150 firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the raging fire on the 39th and 40th floors of the building, a consequence of the crash. The thick black spoke billowing from the building created a scene eerily reminiscent of September 11th.