Before Turtle came in for work that morning, there was a digital board lit from top to bottom displaying the dozens of callers on hold, the topic they'd like to discuss and the amount of time they've been waiting. Pete from Pennsauken is up next. Brian -- in the car -- has been waiting for 45 minutes. On Sundays after football games, callers can experience hold times in excess of three hours.

The board of potential topics -- Eagles, Eagles, Eagles, Eagles, Tebow, Tebow, Eagles, Eagles, Eagles -- reveals the obvious: It is football season. The team's odds of winning the Super Bowl have dipped below 10:1. Nothing else matters.

Though talk radio is merely a subset of Philadelphia's sports culture, it provides a certain fuel that makes the city one of the most interesting -- and difficult -- places in which to coach. Consider that Cataldi famously led a convoy called "The Dirty 30" to the 1999 NFL Draft. It was an organization of fans intent on mercilessly booing any player the Eagles drafted, should it not be Texas running back Ricky Williams. The team, of course, ended up selecting quarterback Donovan McNabb. Cataldi would later admit that he regretted that decision.

"I think the talk-radio culture does drive discussion in Philly to some extent," said Mike Sielski, a sports columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. "This is a different market from New York. There, the papers and websites still are the primary movers of the needle, and most people, I think, recognize that as such. Here, the papers and websites have the same function; none of the talk-radio hosts here would have much of a show without us. But there is a greater sense among the public that being on the radio is somehow 'bigger' than writing. I get lots of 'I heard you on WIP or The Fanatic' feedback whenever I do an appearance.

"That said, more than anything talk-radio is the best representation and outlet for the angst that seems to be inherent among Philly fans. People around here always keep their eyes to the sky for the falling anvil, no matter how well things are going for the Eagles, and talk-radio gives them a place to vent that apprehension and outrage."

A month later, on the Monday following Philadelphia's second regular-season loss, that anvil dropped, shattering the delicate house of cards Eagles fans had used to contain their Super Bowl dreams. WIP afternoon hosts Michael Barkann and Ike Reese, a former Eagles player, are awarding callers for the best Eagles rants they can spit out. If the callers had any decision power, McNabb would still be quarterback and Kelly would be on a bus back to New Hampshire. Seventy-two percent of them vote that the team will not make the playoffs.

A sampling of callers heard on the radio that day: