Eagles' Throttling of Giants Marred by Shock Jock's Cheap Shot at Fallen Cruz

Philadelphia sports fans (myself included) complain with righteous indignation about the way we are perceived nationally.

They are tired of hearing about booing Santa Claus, and vomiting on children, and cheering Michael Irvin's career-ending injury, and...oh, read the rest of the list already if you need to.

All Philadelphia sports fans really want are some respect and a Super Bowl parade, not really in that order. Then the most successful sports talk radio host in the city does this:

And we realize why we can never have nice things.

I would like to tell you that this is Mike Missanelli's first run-in with poor judgment. No sense in lying to you, though.

In February, Missanelli was benched "for his use of homophobic language towards a caller," per Eliot Shorr-Parks on NJ.com.

In September of last year, Missanelli took a gratuitous and unfair shot at Michelle Beadle when he wondered if questioning her weight was OK.

Missanelli's inability to keep his iPhone holstered is really remarkable considering how hard he had to work to get back to the top of the Philadelphia sports talk radio market after being unceremoniously dumped by 610 WIP in 2006. Per CSNPhilly.com:

"

Sources say Missanelli, 50, hit part-time WIP producer Brian Robbins after the two men argued during a live remote broadcast Friday at Brownie's 23 East (23 E. Lancaster Ave.) in Ardmore.

"

So crooked and spiked was Missanelli's career path that it inspired a 2008 Philadelphia magazine profile that sought to sanitize and smooth the edges on Missanelli's reputation and persona.

And now this.

On a night where Philadelphia Eagles fans are supposed to be able to gloat and revel in a 27-0 shutout victory over the despised New York Giants, instead we are very likely looking at yet another autopsy on Philadelphia's civic sporting culture.

As seen above, Twitter wasted little time condemning Missanelli's loose words. Dan Hanzus' tweet was needed above because Missanelli has pulled the offensive message from his timeline.

But the Internet never forgets:

Not surprisingly, Missanelli was in full damage control mode before the final gun sounded:

Which basically made things even worse:

Maybe Missanelli really did not know how badly Cruz was hurt (or even if he was). But he has a law degree, and as such he surely ought to know that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Here, the law Missanelli ignored was to never, ever revel in a player's injury—even by accident. No matter who the player is.

Along with everything else—that the remark was in terrible taste, that it was unnecessary and ignorant, we can go on ad nauseam—Missanelli made the mistake of biting the hand that feeds him.

Missanelli's jab at Cruz played on Cruz's habit of dancing after scoring touchdowns. Cruz's shimmies thrill Giants fans and annoy their opponents' fans.

They also create talk show fodder for people like Missanelli, who makes a ton of money to sit in front of a microphone and talk about sports.

Whether Missanelli gets suspended or fined this time is unimportant in the wide view.

Philadelphia fans are, in fact, a lot better than this, and they just don't need to have to answer for yet another black mark on their already pretty much ruined name.