The Ringer's Philly Special

Shiel thanks for the clear eyed analysis you and EJ, Shawn, and BLG bring. There are other pods for people who just want cheerleaders. We come to you for a reality check. THANKS!

Love the pod and I’ve been locked in since its inception and will continue to because it’s by far the best Philly sports pod however I got to say the tone about the Phillies losing in the playoff collapsing essentially the SAME way as last year having no plate discipline and not crushing them the way the eagles get crushed (fairly I know) every week was crazy to hear……again love the pod but we gotta be fair

I’m going to be very blunt in this review. First the good.. •I follow Sheil Kapadia wherever he goes. Easily one of the best NFL reporters in my lifetime. So I am approaching this as someone who is an established fan of his work. My predisposition for anything he is associated with is to be overwhelmingly positive. •EJ is on point. Having him on the podcast is a home run. Seriously. He’s great. •In the time he is allotted to join the conversation, “Ace Producer” Cliff is also fantastic. In the limited time he’s on, it is very evident he has a bright future. Now the flip-side.. Let me just make something clear before I dive into this. Ben was incredible. Elite of the elite. Both in his football insight and his personality/entertainment factor. Seeing him leave sucked. But its part of the business. And I completely understand its hard to replace someone that good regardless of whether its media, sports, medicine, sales, or any other field. Having said that, replacing him with Shawn has been brutal.. •It constantly feels like he’s trying to do an impression of Ben… while being nowhere near as talented or witty •As a result, his banter ends up feeling fake, forced, and contrived. So much so that it ends up being uncomfortably cringe •His analysis is so dull I come away learning absolutely nothing more than I did when I watched the TV copy •He constantly hedges statements when asked pointed questions. He does so despite the **only** reason for the podcast in the first place is to be specific/detailed about what we’re watching. Give sincere opinions even if doing so may hurt the player’s and/or fan’s feelings. For example, in the most recent film analysis episode, Sheil asked him a specific question breaking down blame among Kellen Moore/Nick Sirianni/Jalen Hurts with all 3 as possible answers. What does Shawn do? Rather than actually picking one, he gave the politically correct answer of gently and delicately laying equal blame while not getting specific at all. Its such a cheap lame vanilla way to answer a question. Or to put that another way.. Its the complete antithesis of what was so good about Ben. If I wanted that sort of pointless disingenuous pandering drivel, I’d go watch Dave Spadaro. Just to reiterate, I’m not trying to be unnecessarily mean. I approach this wanting to enjoy it. But the episodes on which he appears are not coming anywhere close to being good enough for me to choose to spend 60-90 minutes of my time consuming.

Great for processing the trauma of Philly fandom. But Sheil, come on, political canvassers are volunteers trying to positively impact their communities, don't throw us under the bus, we are not predatory traveling salesmen. The canvasser you described saw you were busy and didnt bother you--not her first rodeo clearly. We get people dont want to open the door every time but you know a lot of times people love to talk about the issues at the door. I know there are other Eagles fans volunteering during election season, so think of us next time.