With the Philadelphia Eagles set to battle the Arizona Cardinals this afternoon for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLIII, Inquirer scribe Jim Salisbury tracked down some key members of the WFC Phillies to see if they had any valuable championship-winning advice for their football counterpart.

Because like the Phillies, the Eagles seem to have peaked at the right time of the year.

To be honest with you, their words of encouragement probably won’t help the Eagles one bit, but this is the easiest way for me to pull off writing an Eagles-themed post on a Phillies site.

So here you go, Eagles — heed the word of the WFC.

All-Star second baseman, Chase Fucking Utley:

“To be honest, everything happened so fast in the postseason, I would just tell them to enjoy it. Enjoy the experience. It’s not every day you have the opportunity to win a championship.

They’ve gotten themselves into this position. Whatever the reason, don’t change. Do what you’ve been doing. And enjoy it.”

Postseason hit machine, Brett Myers:

“Be yourself, have fun. Don’t stress about it. Soak it all in. Stay loose. I know it’s not just another game, but you have to try to treat it that way. Do what you’ve done all year.”

Myers also recalls the time he played against Lito Sheppard in a high school football game in Jacksonville. Funny stuff:

Myers was a punter at Englewood High School. Sheppard, who starred at rival Raines High School, ran one of Myers’ punts back for a touchdown.

“I tried to tackle him,” Myers recalled. “I pushed him, and he didn’t go anywhere. He kept going straight into the end zone.”

The greatest manager in all the land, Charlie Manuel:

“I would tell Andy he’s on his own,” Manuel said with a laugh. “No, seriously, I don’t have to give Andy Reid any advice. He’s a tremendous coach, and I have a lot of respect for him.

“I think they’re going to win it, I like the way they’re playing. They look like a team on a roll, a team that expects to win. They’ve peaked at the right time.

From Sept. 1 on, we played our best ball, and the Eagles are doing the same down the stretch.”

The flyest Hawaiian, Shane Victorino:

“Every play counts, that’s what I’d tell them,” said Victorino, a former slot back who turned down a full scholarship to the University of Hawaii to pursue a baseball career. “The pressure gets bigger as you move along in the playoffs, but every step, every snap still counts. You can’t take a snap off.”

And with that, I’m about to throw on my #5 jersey and join some friends as we drink ourselves silly while we watch our Eagles put an abrupt end to Arizona’s season. Enjoy it.

Phillies have advice for Eagles | Inquirer

Philadelphia’s #1 source for repetitive music, Wired 96.5 FM, is currently running a contest on their Chio in the Morning show where the person who gets the biggest celebrity to call into the station would win a crispy pair of Eagles/Giants playoff tickets for this weekend’s game at the Meadowlands. According to station rules, this particular contest (which was done on The Howard Stern Show five years ago) officially ends tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock sharp. But thanks to a ballsy young gentleman named John Buto, they might as well end that shit right now.

Buto, a 17-year old high school senior from Gloucester County, NJ, had the bright idea of knocking on the door of Jimmy Rollins’ South Jersey mansion to see if the MVP-winning shortstop would do him the solid of calling in so he could win the tickets. Well, not only did Young James answer the door, but he invited the kid into his home and phoned the station on John’s behalf.

96.5 afternoon host Kannon (with a K!) took Jimmy’s call, verified that it was indeed the World Series champ and John Buto instantly became the front-runner for the Eagles tix.

Later that same night, Jimmy was caller #9 in a contest for backstage passes to the upcoming Rihanna concert, but forgot the phrase that pays.

Dan Gross: Rollins shows a fun side | Daily News

Did you happen to catch that most glorious day of NFL action yesterday?

With the Birds needing a win from Jimmy’s hometown Raiders and a loss from either the Bears or Vikes to stay alive in the playoff picture, most (including myself) didn’t think there was a shot in hell of all that actually happening. It’s not often a mathematically-eliminated team travels across the country to beat a potential playoff participant on the last week of the season.

But Young James must have given his Oakland boys a little tip on how to dismantle a Tampa team, and after that he popped a squat next to Number 5’s mom in the McNabb suite to enjoy the collapsing (both figuratively and literally) of the Romo-led overpaid losers from Dallas.

It ’twas the greatest day of sports since that brisk Wednesday night in late October.

BONUS! Three Tampa Bay jaggovs who didn’t realize they had to actually beat the Raiders before rooting for Philly.

Suck it, Tampa. Again. (and thanks, Michael Bush!)

After the jump, Comcast SportsNet’s D Gunn interviews the World Series winning shortstop…

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Prior to last night’s Eagles game vs. the Giants, Cole Hamels and Pat Burrell were on hand for the ceremonial coin toss at the 50-yard line. Via E at The Level:

[Pat & Cole] received a loud ovation from the crowd at the Linc. They received another ovation with 6 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first quarter when they were introduced a second time after the Eagles congratulated the 2008 World Series champions on both giant end-zone scoreboards.

But before getting that coin toss thing out of the way, the Phillies duo took time out of their busy schedule to pose for a pic with five attractive Iggles cheerleaders. They are true pillars of the community:

After the jump, more (less sexy) pics and an interview with EaglesTV…

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• BigMiles on Which One is More Likely?
• Matt on Which One is More Likely?
• Lynniemac on Which One is More Likely?
• Lynniemac on Playoff Diary: Nearly Bartmanesque
• RJ on Playoff Diary: Nearly Bartmanesque