I learned first-hand yesterday that not everyone is an Eagles fan.

At least among our readers.

Hell, among them, not everyone is even a sports fan.

Let me explain. Readers of the Daily Times are familiar with our print format. We’re a tab. We don’t use a lot of text on our front page. What we do is pick what we feel is our best story each day and splash that all over our front page. We add in a few teasers to other key elements inside the newspaper.

It’s the most important decision I make here each day. And yes, part of the decision is based on what I believe will sell. That’s part of my job, to sell as many papers as I can each day.

Does that mean we randomly sensationalize something that really doesn’t deserve to be on Page One? I don’t think so.

But you must remember that for the most part, we are a local newspaper. We focus on what is happening here in Delaware County.

I don’t especially care about the latest antics involving O.J. Simpson. We’ve been running him on the People page, amid the other celebrity news. He has not appeared on Page One. At least not yet. Will that continue? It depends on what he does.

If the Eagles said they were signing him as Brian Westbrook’s backup, I might consider it.

Which brings me back to sports. I got several phone calls Tuesday from readers who wanted to vent about our front pages from Monday and Tuesday. Of course, both of those involved the Eagles. Yes, I know I said we are a local paper. That includes the Eagles. In the fall, there is all the other sports, and then there are the Eagles. They rule. Add in an appearance on Monday Night Football and you have a fairly big story.

We led the paper Monday with the advance on the game, probing whether the Eagles, coming off a bumbling, mistake-filled opening day loss in Green Bay, were ready for prime time.

We followed that Tuesday with another front page leading with the Eagles dismal showing against the Redskins, an incredibly disappointing 0-2 start to the season.

One caller had seen enough. He called to vent that he wanted news on his front page, and suggested in no uncertain terms that we keep the Eagles on the Back Page. He wasn’t alone. Several other callers issued similar pleas.

All of them said they realized the Eagles were important, but they were not the reason they bought the paper.

And, of course, all of them indicated their belief that our choice was based on the idea of "selling papers." They weren’t completely off the mark.

But my favorite call came from a gentleman who wanted to argue not that we led the paper with a sports story, but that we chose the wrong sports story.

"You’ve got the loser all over the front," he said, referring to the Eagles. "And the Phillies you stuck up in the corner. It makes no sense. They won."

He’s right. Those Phabulous Phils continue to defy the odds. But they were not going to trump the Eagles playing on a Monday night.

The caller went on to add that he didn’t especially appreciate the fact that the story on the Phils’ big win focused on the fact that they almost blew an 11-0 lead.

Some days you just can’t win.

At least I get 365 attempts. There will be another one tomorrow. And another one next Monday. Guess what? I wouldn’t bet against the Eagles being the lead Monday, either.

Can you say "woe-and-3?"