Nick Piccone
The new Philadelphia mayor, Jim Kenney, hasn’t had a conversation with Chip Kelly yet. I’m assuming he probably won’t in the future, either. His predecessor, Michael Nutter, did in fact have a conversation with Chip before, so one has to wonder what the deal is with Kenney and Kelly.
The story apparently starts all the way back in 2013, when Kenney approached Kelly in a grocery store to congratulate him on a win against the Bucs, and Kelly completely snubbed him. That didn’t sit well at all with Kenney, and he let everyone know about it on Wednesday morning.
Kenney joined Angelo Cataldi on the WIP Morning Show, and talked about an incident that he hasn’t even thought about forgetting any time soon. And he went all in on Chip Kelly.
I didn’t like him,” Kenney told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Wednesday. “There’s a saying that says, you’ll forget what people say and you’ll forget what people do, but you never forget how people make you feel. And I live in Olde City and three years ago, it was a Sunday night [October 13th, 2013] about ten o’clock. Eagles had played [the] Tampa Bay [Buccaneers] away and they were losing most of the game and they came back and won. And I walked across the street into this little grocery store to get some milk or whatever and Chip, he was living in the neighborhood at the time. And the only two people in the store was he and I, and the owner.
“And I said, ‘Hey coach great game.’
“And he turned away and never said a word and walked out the door. And as he walked out the door, I said, ‘Andy Reid would have said thank you.’ It was that kind of attitude and that stuck with me. And I said to myself, if he’s a great coach I’ll overlook that because Bill Belichick isn’t exactly the friendliest guy either, but they win. And when he didn’t win and with that personality, I was like, you know what? I’m done with it.”
Kenney, 57, grew up in South Philadelphia. He graduated from Saint Joseph’s Prep in 1976 and received a bachelor’s degree from La Salle University. He bleeds green.
“If you’re a Philadelphian — and I’m not just talking about Philadelphia city,” Kenney said. “I’m talking about the region and South Jersey. If you’re a Philadelphian, the Eagles are in your DNA. It’s part of who you are.
“Through the course of my life, every Sunday was centered around football. It was church and football and actually I think church has taken a back seat these days to the NFL. But football was it.”
You know, evoking Andy Reid was bad enough, but guys like Kenney cannot continuously harp on the great years of the past. We’re in a new era, and coaches and players are tired of hearing about the past of the franchise. And sometimes, so are the fans. I am one of them. As much as I love the previous Eagles era we had compared to what we have now, we’re not really painting an admirable picture for the players and coaches of our future. Are we really pushing great players and candidates away? We’ve certainly run players out of the city. We’re not above doing it again.
Since Chip’s been fired, a lot of dirty laundry has been aired publicly about his lack of people skills – somewhat unfairly, I might add. But, it is what it is and Kenney decided to roast Kelly because he took that snub personally. Could Chip have not heard him? Entirely possible. I doubt Chip would even remember that moment to recall if someone were to ask him about it. So, this kind of thing is a little annoying. Honestly, what if Chip didn’t hear him? Kenney would look bad here. But, unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll get the second side of this story any time soon. Or at all.
Audio of Kenney’s interview on WIP below.