Hide Your Beagle, Vick is an Eagle

Posted by Matt Sebek, August 18, 2009

Truth be told, we've been quite smitten about sports headlines lately. As Patrick has observed the past two weeks, there seems to be an ominous sports headline czar dictating usage of the phrase "catching on" when describing NFL training camp experiments.

While readers continue to submit additional "Catching On" entries by the dozen, allow us to observe a rising star in the over-used headline department - because the evolution of the following cleverness is impressive.

Hide Your Beagle, Vick is an Eagle.

The Trentonian --

By our calculations, the Trentonian was first sports outlet to use the snappy headline on Friday morning as details emerged out of Philadelphia. Hell, it even contained a rhyme - which sits just behind "80's hair metal band reference" in a sports headline writer's "keys to success".

Others took note in the journalistic ingeniousness and followed suit.

SI.com's Fan Nation --

Hide your beagle, Vick is an Eagle.

Camel Clutch Blog --

Hide your beagle, Vick is an Eagle

From mainstream outlets to fan blogs, overall cleverness and jest in the original headline was recognized and reproduced.

But it didn't stop there. A budding entrepreneur on Zazzle.com decided to turn this digital brilliance into a financial windfall.

Michael Vick T-shirt

Only $21.95? A bargain for such creativity.

Then again, some people prefer to create their own masterpieces - namely, this guy who was spotted at Lambeau Field last Friday night and captured by a loyal, Midwestern fan hunter.

Hide Your Beagle, Vick is an Eagle

There you have it, folks. An inspirational story that traveled across the country, from Philadelphia to Green Bay...and evolved across mediums, from a snappy headline writer's head to a jean-shorted man with a Sharpie marker and a tank top.

You gotta love sports fans.

Dwinkler, December 6, 2009 08:12 PM

He should not be allowed to play the dogs cant any more!!!!!

Jody, September 13, 2009 06:09 PM

Donte Stallworth...He went out to get drunk and ended up killing some one. Vick mindfully torchered and killed dogs. Charlie can't you see the difference? Does the name Jeffery Domer mean anything to you. He also started out killing animals.

CJ, August 18, 2009 04:08 PM

"Jean-shorted". I love it!

Tom, August 18, 2009 03:08 PM

I've noticed that every michael vick article (barring this one) includes some form of the word contrite.

Jay, August 18, 2009 03:08 PM

Do you think the guy with the hand written t shirt, still lives with his parents?

Snoopy, August 18, 2009 01:08 PM

I am already in hiding!

Bob, August 18, 2009 01:08 PM

The problem with this, I believe, is that the Trentonian did not come up with it first. The first time I heard this expression was a report in a Philly paper about protesters outside the NovaCare Complex where the Eagles practice. One of the protesters held a sign that said "Hide your beagle, Vick's an Eagle". Not sure the Trentonian gets props for originality.

JB, August 18, 2009 01:08 PM

The Trentonian also had "he took it in the butt" for the Clemens steroid story.

Gregory, August 18, 2009 12:08 PM

The Trentonian is a classless operation.

Ernest, August 18, 2009 11:08 AM

The Trentonian is the same paper that had the headline "Roasted Nuts" for a story on a fire at the state psychiatric hospital. And Sportspoop, knowing what I do about The Trentonian and its loathsome parent company, that copy editor is lucky to be making $20,000 a year.

Fresh Jive, August 18, 2009 11:08 AM

There must be one guy coming up with those at the Trentonian. The inset in the first picture also has "From the Clink to The Linc", which is a pretty good runner-up idea. This man is a genius.

Timmy, August 18, 2009 11:08 AM

Awesome. The original headline was retarded anyway. He raised/killed/whatever pit bulls. Not beagles. The beagles are safe.

Sportspoop, August 18, 2009 10:08 AM

Congratulations to the copy editor making $30,000 a year who came up with the headline. They can now sit back and watch a) the newsroom managers take credit for it; and b) entrepeneurs make money off it.

Charles Darwin, August 18, 2009 10:08 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I think the beagle population in Philly is safe...except from really bad rhyming schemes and headline writers. And while we're here...Vick did 18 months hard time and missed two full NFL seasons for animal cruelty right? Can't we just give him credit for time served and move on? I mean, Donte Stallworth...never mind...