Competition is at the very heart of football, and the Eagles' coaching staff is looking to leverage that basic truth into extra juice during their offseason program.
A series of athletic competitions, including tug-of-war, agility tests and weight-lifting battles, have been introduced during the Eagles' offseason program this year. The winners get a series of prizes, including T-shirts, premium parking spots (this is underrated) and music selection privileges in the weight room. You have to go back-to-back as a competition winner to earn that last one, which makes sense considering how powerful being the DJ for all your friends can make a man.
Each win is added to a point total. The player with the most points accumulated during the spring is awarded a "WWE-style championship belt," according to the Eagles' official site. Men have killed for lesser possessions.
"The guys are really buying into it and getting after it. There is a great desire to compete, and when there is a prize at the end, the guys really want to win," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. "... They are competing like crazy for a T-shirt and a better parking spot, things we take for granted. But the players want to win and they love it."
The belt will be handed out in about a month. The recipient should be allowed to wear the strap on the practice field and use it as a foreign object (to borrow a Gorilla Monsoon-ism) when the inevitable training camp scuffles break out.
