Philly's spiciest "thankful for" list 2.0
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Bless up, Philly. Generative AI God is good. A.J. Brown is burning like Jim Rome, Dem Boyz beat the defending Super Bowl champs, and if you don't like this year's T-Day roast, you can serve up your rebuttal on a (license) plate — or better yet, a billboard.
Why it matters: Traditions are something we take seriously here.
Without further ado — Philly's Spiciest "Thankful for" List, Part II:
🤬 Pennsylvanians' unparalleled ability to say, "EFFIT."
- Try getting that on a license plate.
🏈 Former NFL tight end turned Philly therapist Tim Massaquoi.
- His story of finding a calling after sustaining a career-ending injury is the stuff this city is made of: grit, resilience and a push to help Philly brothers and sisters heal after the 2023 Kingsessing mass shooting.
🍗 Sleepy Tallow. I'm fresh off a trip to Washington Irving's old stomping grounds, so my head is on how not sleepy this social media squawk was for Philly tallow-fried chicken joint owner Abed "Abe" Ibrahim.
- Twitter (err, X) fame is like a stiff T-Day cocktail at the family gathering: A little liquid courage can make you the life of the party, or quickly turn you into a pariah after you cracked what you thought was a chicken-stock-and-trade joke about your mother-in-law's dried-out bird.
- Good news: I recently checked in with Ibrahim, who told me "things have really turned 180" since our story ran.
🏈 The A.J. Brown soap opera. Dallas and Philly know a thing or two about diva wide receivers.
- Yes, but: Nothing tickles my tryptophan-filled turkey more than watching the week-to-week drama unfolding while Brown holds court with reporters at his locker.
- Dude has been burning 165-degree hot (safe for turkey consumption but not public consumption) for weeks about his lack of involvement in the Eagles' offense.
- Reality check: Brown is veteran enough to know how it works around these parts. He's done a decent job smothering some incendiary questions, but he's also gifted the media with soundbites that make it seem like he's filleting teammates.
- The part that's sweeter than yams: After all the whining and brining, Brown had a breakout game against my beloved Cowboys — but they still cooked the Birds with a walk-off FG.
🎄 Morgan & Morgan does it again.
- Snow-felled sidewalks and slick shopping aisles are you glistenin' ... 'tis the season for a slip-and-fall suit.
- The naughty law firm reached back into its Santa bag of puns and cooked up another classic billboard that's basically a call-out for litigation: "Fall Law Law" — a holiday riff playing on that old stereotype about ambulance-chasing lawyers.
📱 Chatbot Jesus. Philosopher Nietzsche once famously said, "God is dead."
- He's not. He's in your pocket. Maybe now someone can send some prayers up for Mr. Brown.
🖊️ Last, but certainly not least: Editors and readers.
- Yep, sometimes you feel like you could boil editors in their own pudding, but they also help us shape our pre-baked stories into a seven-course meal before we hit send on the newsletter.
- Without them, readers might be sidling up to a mushy pumpkin pie every morning.
The bottom line: As much as I look forward to readers' early-morning, fork-and-knife nitpicks, minimizing those pie-in-the-face moments is what I'm most thankful for.