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This Brian Dawkins story has longer legs than Stacy Keibler. And it keeps getting weirder. I’ve written a few posts about it already saying that the Eagles allowing Brian Dawkins to sign in Denver has angered and saddened the fans in Philly like no other story has in the city’s sports history.
News came out on Monday morning, from a story broken by columnist John Gonzalez of the Philadelphia Inquirer, that the Eagles fired game-day stadium employee Dan Leone because of a Facebook status update that said, “Dan is fu–king devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver…Dam Eagles R Retarted.” I’m not saying he was right for doing what he did, and his spelling of the word “retarded” shows he’s not the brightest guy in the world, but the Eagles are heartless for firing him.
It’s not like he was a marketing guy or a high level executive for the Eagles. He was a west gate chief for ten games a year (two preseason and 8 regular seasons games) which is a nice way of saying glorified usher. He apparently was good at his job because he had been doing it for the past six years. People typically take these jobs because they just want to be a part of the fiber and heart of the city, the Philadelphia Eagles.
The thing I’m most curious about is who actually narced on this guy to the Eagles. I’m sure Leone was one of the many Eagles crazies that updated their status and involved Dawkins in the subject line. I know of at least one other guy that did, me. It’s a good thing I don’t work for the Eagles. Here’s what I wrote after the signing:
On if he has any idea who dimed him out:
“I have no idea who it was. I honestly didn’t think it would cause this much repercussion. I’m loyal to the team. I did nothing but support them all the way. I did all I can to help that organization, I made one mistake in six years and now I’m no longer there.”
How many friends does he have on Facebook that could have known about this:
“Maybe about 100, I don’t know. Only a handful of them knew I worked directly for the Eagles.”
On getting fired over the phone:
“I was hoping I could go in and talk to him, have a face to face. I didn’t know it would escalate like this.”
Listen to former Eagles employee Dan Leone on ESPN Radio Philadelphia
After the jump, is more on this story as columnist John Gonzalez is also interviewed on ESPN Radio Philly.
ESPN Radio Philly also talked to columnist John Gonzalez about Dan Leone and the story Gonzo broke.
“I was mortified they would Dan over something he would put on his Facebook page.”
“It really makes me sick because they way they talked about afterwards. Their comment was keep in mind he’s a part-time employee like they don’t count. And that bothered me.”
On what was told to Dan Leone when he was fired:
“What Rachel Vitagliano said to him was well you embarrassed the organization. What do you think the PR hit is going to be when this happens and makes it into the news lady. If you think he embarrassed them, then what do you think you did.”
On if a lawsuit could happen:
“I was listening down the dial earlier and Senator (Arlen) Spector was on, and he thought there was a real freedom of expression issue here and that Dan may have a legal case.”
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