Joe Benigno had the same reaction every one else did Sunday night: What is happening at the Empire State Building?
Shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles put the finishing touches on their beatdown of the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, the famous Manhattan skyscraper displayed Eagles colors. It was a stunner, and it was mocked widely.
The building eventually displayed Chiefs colors after they beat the Bengals, suggesting that the plan was to beam the lights of the winning teams no matter what – even if it begrudgingly had to flash Eagles colors.
But whatever prompted the decision, Benigno ripped the decision in his weekly appearance on “Tiki & Tierney.”
"Ridiculous. Oh, it’s a disgrace," Benigno said. "I guess they looked at it this way, the Jets will never be in the Super Bowl so we want to put it in green for somebody.
"Just disgraceful, come on. That is a disgrace. And you know what makes it worse? It’s one thing to have the Chiefs, that’s bad enough. But to have a direct rival of one of the teams in the town is a joke. Are you kidding me? ...
"It’s a joke. You think they’re lighting up the William Penn building in Giant colors if the Giants (go to the Super Bowl). You think the Sears Tower in Chicago is getting lit up? Come on, it’s a disgrace. … Don’t get me started. I heard you say how far the city has fallen. I don’t want to get into all of that, but you’re dead on. It’s beyond sad."
Boomer Esiason suggested that maybe it was a contracted decision, and the building had gotten paid to display the colors for each winning team. That might be, but they had to have known the decision to display Eagles colors never was going to go over well.
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